It's no secret that Manny Delcarmen has struggled as of late, but the numbers are pretty shocking when you compare his first and second halves:
After a solid first half in which Delcarmen posted a 2.41 ERA, he had a fairly horrific second half, notching a 7.27 ERA. What happened?
"I don't know," Delcarmen said. "I just really don't know. One pitch would be 94 or 95 and another one would be at 90. I can't remember the last time I was that low. I'm working with [pitching coach John] Farrrell, trying to figure stuff out."
Terry Francona is still trying to figure out if Manny Delcarmen is going to be on the postseason roster. The combination of his car accident Saturday, plus his ineffectiveness, is going to make the decision tough. Here are the pitchers that should be locks for the ALDS:
- Jonathan Papelbon
- Ramon Ramirez
- Hideki Okajima
- Daniel Bard
- Billy Wagner
- Takashi Saito
- Daisuke Matsuzaka
- Clay Buchholz
- Josh Beckett
- Jon Lester
That's 10 pitchers right there. That leaves Delcarmen, Paul Byrd and, potentially, Michael Bowden fighting for another spot or two (depending how the Sox want to go). Matsuzaka should be the long man in the ALDS, so Byrd and Bowden wouldn't be needed in those roles.
It seems to me that there will be room for Delcarmen, unless he really does suffer setbacks from the car accident.
Your turn: if you had to choose from those three, who would you want on the ALDS roster?