I think 2 and 3 are exact reasons this is a year we can't judge him on. We had such a short bullpen that you had minimal options to take a struggling pitcher out. Byron Hood we couldn't trust at all the first 2 years, making 12 starts in those first 2 seasons. Now all of a sudden in 2018 we needed him to make 14 appearances. Abrahamowicz, Schreiber, and Watson were true freshmen we had to run out there that went 4.88, 9.82, 11.81 ERAs in 30 appearances out of the bullpen. #2 couldn't have been an issue the past 3 years when we were top 20% ERA nationally, unless him getting a quicker hook would have resulted in top 10%. I would need examples of #1 as I don't remember that but you certainly could be right. I think a lot of people got mad that we started Meyers in game 3 a lot of times but forget he was playing in the field the 2 games of a series before that.
But Silva can't go without blame. The Alvarado experiment was a complete disaster. Your Friday starter to begin the year went 3-7 with close to a 5 ERA. Couple that with taking his .283 average out of the lineup, and that was awful. The Hohensee move seemed to work, but one has to wonder what would have happened with Hohensee Friday, Waldron Saturday, Alvarado/Warren Sunday's.
If we are able to keep our pitching recruits from getting drafted, Silva should be right back where we always are nationally with a top ERA.
