caulfield12

See cutter vs. slider argument above highlighted in The Athletic. Clearly a pretty significant change in his repertoire that happened quite quickly. Everyone could see his slider was a pitch he was struggling to throw consistently with the Sox.

"The July 29 trade that moved Michael Kopech from the Chicago White Sox to the Dodgers was like going from the outhouse to the penthouse for the flame-throwing reliever. Kopech went from turmoil on a 100-game losing team to fighting for a pennant and possibly becoming a high-leverage closer." Bonus points for that description, lol.

What changed besides the team? In order to find the right balance with the fastball, Kopech had to find the right breaking ball. It wasn’t necessarily the slider he’d been throwing in Chicago. He’s switched over to a cutter that’s three miles per hour slower and has four fewer inches of drop than the slider. That lack of movement is the point. “The cutter is a pitch that I can just rip a little bit more, like a fastball, stay through it easier,” Kopech told Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. “I can throw it more in the strike zone with less action, rather than trying to turn over a slider. I can find a place for both, but that cutter is playing for me well in the zone.” Since coming to Los Angeles, no hitter has gotten a hit off his cutter anywhere in the strike zone, or even in the “shadow” area just around the strike zone. Those cutters have led to extra strikes and the count leverage to let that fastball rip above the zone, his bread and butter as a reliever. https://dodgersnation.com/how-did-the-dodgers-fix-michael-kopech/2024/09/13/

How about 10 of the 18 batters he faced in those five Sox appearances were below 100 ops+????? Brooks Lee 64 Heim 72 Foscue -52 K Hayes 61 Kepler twice 91 Wallner and Seager were the only two exceptional hitters he faced...Semien exactly at 100.

Isn't five consecutive appearances also SSS?

Better defense behind him in the out field and SS 2B 1B? Higher quality catcher in Smith to work with? More confidence/conviction behind his pitches? The flyball pitcher can be aided by the marine layer/fall night air in So Cal...especially late season in non day games.

You're quickly going to run out of starting pitchers after Burnes, Fried, Snell (most wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole, look at his average IP/start, Greg) and Flaherty... Manaea 3/$66 million Buehler 2/$50 million Eovaldi 2/$50 million Wacha (will leave Royals) 2/$44 million Severino 2/$40 million Kikuchi 2/$40 million Scherzer 1/$25 million (only a contender, in all likelihood) Sugano (JAPAN) 2/$36 million Pivetta 2/$36 million Nick Martinez 2/$32 million Verlander 1/$20 (only a contender, in all likelihood) Bieber 1/$15 (coming off a major injury) Good luck with that Greg...you have to pick two guys who are costing twice as much as Eric Fedde, and hit on both of them. Japanese pitchers are notoriously volatile (we don't even scout the Pacific Rim), Martinez was mostly a reliever and spot starter for Cincy, Bieber's coming off almost an entire year off...but that's where you are shopping, and we all know JR won't approve even ONE "semi-expensive" legit veteran starting pitcher, let alone two.

The Atlanta Braves traded Jorge Soler to the Los Angeles Angels on October 31. Trading Soler means the Braves are not responsible for his $16 million salary in 2025. FanSided's Zachary Rotman noted that the trade for Soler could clear up enough money for the Braves to sign Willy Adames of the Milwaukee Brewers. The Braves traded Soler for Griffin Canning. "On the other hand, though, the Braves cleared a ton of money with this move. Since the Angels didn't force the Braves to eat any of the contract, all they had to send away to get Soler was Canning," wrote Rotman. "Assuming the Braves do non-tender Canning, they'll open up $32 million to spend. Soler was set to make $16 million in 2025 and 2026." Spotrac projects Adames to sign a six-year, $152 million deal in free agency. He is the marquee shortstop available and the Braves will likely be in on him, along with the Los Angeles Dodgers. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/atlanta-braves/news/braves-trade-jorge-soler-opens-door-sign-willy-adames-brewers-mlb-news/ff77efa7eea70481f83ddfd1 The other choices for the Dodgers at SS are Edman, Rojas (better as utility guy), HaSeong Kim (coming off surgery on his shoulder)...or Betts, although they seem settled on moving him back to the outfield for now. Can't imagine they'd consider Javier Baez for ANY amount at this point. For ATL, looks like another version of the Bummer trade...dump someone (or multiple guys in case of Soroka/Lopez) they no longer wanted on the roster (Soler in this case, already have Ozuna at DH), non-tender Canning and reallocate that money more efficiently.

Well, theoretically he'd replace Sheets...or be a platoon bat depending on splits, but the Angels are on the hook for $32 million of the remaining deal. There has to be money going to LAA, except these trades are usually the opposite, where money is going TO Atlanta instead, as they are quite careful with their budgets (typically) as part of a corporate entity.

Benintendi the first 3-4 months...before the managerial change.

Let's not forget ripping on the guys who are likely comprising 2/3rds of his 2025 roster probably isn't the best approach when Grifol already tried that approach and it only served to unify the players against him.

Part of the Astros' makeup draft after the Aiken year with Bregman at 2, Kyle Tucker at 5 and Cameron at 37 before going to Detroit for Verlander...son of Mike.

Almost the kind of move you'd expect for Davis Martin if the Sox weren't cutting payroll and trying to foist Fletcher on fans as an everyday OF option.

Trades....Robert was the major Cuban signing after Abreu.

No no no Tobias Myers. 2.2 fWAR in partial season…top 3 playoff starter for Brewers. See 2022. 15.92 era in Charlotte. 1-15 in total that year across AAA stops. https://www.mlb.com/news/tobias-myers-becoming-brewers-breakout-rookie-in-2024 https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/player/203989/

That will give his good UCLA friend Trevor Bauer something to chirp about for awhile...

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/tobias-myers/22191/stats?position=P We briefly controlled his rights too, but he pitched like crap in the minors and has now been transformed into a front line playoff starter by the Brewers...shocking, right?

It's also that the skipper, as usual, folded in rookies such as outfielder Andy Pages, Landon Knack, Casparius and even Yamamoto, not a traditional rookie but a rookie nonetheless. It's also that when the Dodgers splurged at the trade deadline, adding Flaherty, Tommy Edman and Michael Kopech, they all fit so seamlessly on and off the field that it's easy to forget they didn't join the team until the end of July... In the NLCS, when the big three went a combined 1-for-10 but four relievers backed Yamamoto on a two-hit shutout and Teoscar Hernandez and Enrique Hernandez hit solo homers for the game's only runs. "He lets you be the player that you'll always be," Teoscar said of Roberts. "He lets you have fun. His communication with his players is one of the best that I've had in my career. I think that's why he's so special for this team and the players." https://global.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/42065023/2024-world-series-los-angeles-dodgers-champions-mlb-best-team

Much closer to NBA though...especially in terms of internationalization and high schoolers to the pros (almost never directly in MLB fwiw.)

Who is leading SoxTalk in "Internet credit" these days exactly? Balta or Look at Ray Run...? Can this be converted to Bitcoin? "The Dodgers excel at turning other teams' excesses into gold, with journeymen such as Ryan Brasier, Brent Honeywell and Anthony Banda becoming crucial contributors to the bullpen. Every bit as much attention is paid to the bottom 10 slots on the 40-man roster as it is to the top three. "It's about getting the right players, the right people," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "Talent is a lot, but it's not everything. You still have to be cohesive. I just think we do a great job of getting the right players in our clubhouse." The Dodgers have as much star power as any team we've seen in recent years, but they could never be accused of taking a stars-and-scrubs approach, or constructing a top-heavy roster. Depth or stars? We'll have both, thank you. "We have a culture here at the big league level," Roberts said. "But the scouting and player development is second to none." Bradley Doolitle, espn.com

The Dodgers’ biggest bullpen dilemmas start in the ninth inning. The team could continue to share that responsibility, or it could look to Michael Kopech, who thrived after arriving from the White Sox at the trade deadline. Alternatively, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Brandon Gomes could provide stability by adding an experienced closer. https://sports.yahoo.com/los-angeles-dodgers-2024-offseason-preview-will-shohei-ohtani-and-co-be-even-better-in-2025-035328294.html Blake Treinen, Daniel Hudson and Walker Buehler are free agents.

Just shocked he was even willing to pay Pedro Grifol $1 million per season, let along guarantee three years.

So no correlation whatsoever with the Dodgers and Yankees having roughly half their bullpens comprised of former Sox pitchers, while the actual real-life White Sox, suffering from SEVERE VOLATILITY APPARENTLY and not just poor personnel choices, went through the worst collective bullpen year in over a century of professional baseball...just random chance, bad luck, all landing unfairly on the head of payroll-cutter extraordinaire Chris Getz. Okay, sure. And when we had highly-paid bullpen guys like Kelly and Graveman, they couldn't even stand being in the same room with each other (well, at least Liam Hendriks and his wife)...failing to allow even cancer to get in the way of righteous indignation. But I guess we just picked the wrong bullpen guys as well to invest JR's FA $$$ in...

Kahnle goes down as one of the primary causes of the loss, along with Cole. Treinen and Buehler the heroes. No Freeman homer but he probably wins MVP...or Betts.

Referring more to 2022-24...but we also have to consider the Astros just didn't lose during that stretch of eight consecutive until the ALCS or World Series.