caulfield12

As a closer…not in the 7th or 8th. There are hundreds if not thousands of guys in baseball history that could pitch the 6th-8th but not the 9th. There are only a handful who will make it to Cooperstown for that elite skill of dominating in your designated role of finishing games for a decade plus.. So why try to pound a screw in with a hammer when it will never fit? Why demote someone essentially that was the best closer in the NL if not all of baseball the first 3-4 months of the season? Why would you want to mess around with a successful dynamic and also mess a bit with the psyche of your newly-signed and All-Star FA closer?

https://phillysportsnetwork.com/2021/11/17/jean-segura/ “How much cap space do they currently have to do so? $43 million. Considering Jose Berrios‘ seven-year, $131 million contract extension in Toronto and Noah Syndergaard’s one-year, $21 million move to Anaheim, and that does not seem like much. Sure, the Phillies could go for cheap options to fill the gaps like they did last year, but we all know how well that worked out.” The White Sox clearly won’t take Gregorious, but dealing Segura to another team that really wants him for SS (one of the teams losing out on the Big 4 at SS and then Semien as well) to free up that money to turn around and spend it on CF and LF makes equal sense for the Phillies. They have prospect depth up the middle and need to open up those spots by trading Segura and attempting to get a rebound from Gregorious. Realistically, they could use Kimbrel AND Vaughn, but then who would the White Sox be going after beyond Segura? Obviously not Wheeler, Realmuto or Harper…and trading Nola at a discount doesn’t make much sense either, because you just opened up another hole in their rotation.

We can excuse it away…shortened season. See Semien, Marcus.

He didn’t have to be. Kimbrel had to be better as closer than Diego Castillo or Kittredge in Tampa…because they were looking at adding him for $5.33 million as the defined CLOSER. Balta and Tony LaRussa could have known this without watching Kimbrel with the Cubs once in 2021. And the Rays did come up short in the post season, so they obviously had concerns. As far as the Dodgers go, they were considering moving on from Jansen…and it would have been a tryout for the 2022 option as well with Jansen an impending FA. Now you can argue that the Dodgers had a lot of bullpen talent, but there was always the nagging feeling that Jansen would implode again in the postseason or some point during the second half. Whether as co-closer or supplanting Jansen, they had their own vision…but it wasn’t a must have like Scherzer and Turner. And, once again, they came up short as well despite adding 2 of the Top 5 talents available at the deadline. Their starting pitching ran out of depth, in the end…forcing Buehler to go twice on short rest was too much to ask. In no world did it make sense to pay two closers that kind of money…with Hendriks already in place for three subsequent seasons. Having Kimbrel around even in 2022 was illogical, too.

Is that a trick question?

The Dodgers aren't going to deal Bellinger if they want to win another WS title, because selling him for 50-65 cents on the dollar just doesn't make sense when his ceiling is league MVP.

"Billy Koch, his wife (Brandi) and their children have been suffering from a condition, called Morgellons disease by those who believe it to be a true condition but generally thought among the medical community to be a type of delusional parasitosis, which can cause sufferers to experience what they perceive as a crawling feeling and ...Sep 27, 2015"

Leading to an average out of 4 2/3 IP every time out as his K and BB total escalate. Prior to re-discovering the strike zone in 2021, he was actually in that 4.75-5.25 IP range per start over three consecutive seasons. Last year up to over 6 IP per start and 193+ innings, a jump of over 140 IP from 2020 and by far his most in a season by roughly 20 innings. That’s a pretty loud red flag.

“His numbers declined with the Sox, but they did not use him to close games. Kimbrel thrives on save situations. The Padres will likely need to move salary to obtain Kimbrel. Jurickson Profar, Ha-Seong Kim, and Adam Frazier all make sense to some degree. The Padres would love to move Eric Hosmer or Wil Myers, but neither fit on the White Sox roster. The two sides match up well in trade, but they will need to get creative adding prospects here and there to even out a potential deal. Kimbrel would give the Padres a solid closer for the 2022 season, and the Padres could not add payroll if Preller plays his cards right. Only time will tell. Kimbrel will be dealt. That is a given.” https://www.eastvillagetimes.com/closing-options-for-the-padres-in-2022/ While I would enjoy all the squirming if Hosmer or Myers ended up on the Sox for Kimbrel…it would have to be either Profar (money matches up pretty closely) or Kim (ditto). They would be replacing Leury Garcia on the roster, but at a price almost twice as high as we were willing to pay him heading into this offseason. Kim is a great defender who can’t hit, so I will go with the long-coveted Profar. And nobody will be all that happy, in the end. For the record, I think they would rather have Melancon and Kirby Yates back again for the price of one year of Kimbrel…

Well, that’s the Cubs fan’s excuse for the blown Heyward deal (but his leadership during that Game 7 rain delay!!!) and Gleyber Torres trade…which looks not quite so terrible about right now. Sox fans can say how great Cotts was in 2005 and forget that original trade.

You would think. But those deals seem a lot easier for GM’s to justify…compared to closers making $16 million. Someone will likely give Tepera a similar deal and nobody will remember him ten years from now. Let’s think of it as the White Sox equivalent of Dotel and Linebrink. But everyone remembers Billy Koch, for example. GM’s take a lot more heat over that than fanbases going after general bullpen spending. Think the Mets and Edwin Diaz, or Wade Davis after leaving KC.

https://www.gaslampball.com/2021/11/27/22804872/talking-friars-ep-74-what-the-adam-frazier-trade-means-for-the-padres The bottom comments section of this article, might as well be Nick from Everett. Shockingly, fans from other teams go visit other teams’ fanboards to see what those particular fans think about a particular player, and not all are meatheads.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1880902-evaluating-the-success-rate-of-mlb-contracts-over-100-million David Price, Barry Zito, Johan Santana, Mark Hampton, Jordan Zimmermann, Jake Arrieta, etc., say hello. I wouldn’t particularly want to be tied to Stephen Strasburg either, but hey, he won a WS for them, right? We actually gave Contreras another 3 years we shouldn’t have based on that same reasoning, albeit nothing like the type of dollars we see now in the sport. To be fair, it’s a pretty mixed bag. That particular article looked at the first generation of $100+ million deals, and now we’re already onto $200 million as the new standard. If you look at the past decade, the biggest disappointments have been on the position player side like Chris Davis, Ellsbury, Sandoval, Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Hanley Ramirez.

But what about Northwestern vs. Illinois and then Harvard beat Yale 34-31 last week…? Chris Getz can celebrate too, and former Sox Jim Abbott.

The poster? Well, at least they could have a “Men in Tight Pants Admitted Free” promotion…that would be unique, at least.

Frazier basically averaged a 1.4 fWAR for four seasons before 2021. That said, he’s going to be 30 next year and likely jumping in salary from $2.5 to around $7.5 million…plus only one year of control. Compared to the money Hernandez would have made or Leury is projected to get…and the fact he MIGHT have figured some things out like Chris Taylor later in his career, or Graveman as a pitcher, a very much calculated risk. For SD, shedding 2022 payroll was the biggest point, when they already have Profar, Kim, Cronenworth and a full outfield. “In Seattle, we are happy. The M’s have a gapping hole at 2B and a LH bat. Frazier fills those needs. We were looking at Marcus Semien. He is still an option but now the team is no longer desperate. His price may come down as a result. There is no infield log jam here. The M’s can afford the $7.5M for one year. Then they re-sign him or let him walk. Instead of needing a 2B the team can look for an infield bat at any position. Kerr had no role in Seattle due to the numerous young pitchers at AAA. Corey Rosier looks like a good prospect but is too far away to predict what he will become. So, I think it works out for all involved.” It’s kind of ironic that he’s both LH and a slappy/gritty contact-oriented player in the Madrigal or Chris Getz mold.

"I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me."

Need the Indians to sign Jose Ramirez to a massive deal now…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Stove_League_(TV_series) You can watch this with her…just search the title and dramacool. Then she will get it.

There were never going to be more than 5-6 teams to begin with. Dodgers, pretty unlikely with all their options…and Jansen potentially returning. Have Treinen and Knebel already. Phillies and Blue Jays…the Rays hate to allocate that kind of money even for one season on a relief pitcher. Angels if Iglesias doesn’t resign. Padres too financially strapped, Melancon could return on a relatively cheaper deal despite his 2021 headline numbers. Finally, the Brewers are looking to trade Hader for the right return.

Gausman, Scherzer or Ray signing will basically force suitors remaining at the altar to take a hard look at Rodon. You’d have to believe Kershaw somehow ends up back with the Dodgers. Will believe it when I see it about all these options coming to fruition in the Keuchel and Kimbrel markets.

Haven’t heard any S.Suzuki mentions for awhile…if he doesn’t sign with a West Coast team, anything is possible.

If they were so prescient, they should have recognized Eduardo Escobar’s quad was going to hold up and Hernandez would go into a free fall on both offense and defense. Or are they going to blame that on Allen Thomas as well, instead of their scouts? On the other hand, the one who scouted Tepera deserves a promotion.

I never thought it was a good fit, because they already had five infielders for essentially three positions and a crowded outfield…so why would the Pirates not try to sell high on him? All it did was ended up putting more players used to being out there nearly every day on the bench, and the entire team lost its offensive rhythm. The White Sox discovered the same lesson trying to change Kimbrel’s role into something he has never been. Sometimes mo move is better, and certainly just making cosmetic changes without addressing the core problem (starting pitching) isn’t going to fix anything.

Never a good fit in SD…classic first half over performance based on career history followed up by a total fizzle.