Building a Bullpen, 2019 edition

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Kelly was very good last October, started out well this season, had a glitch, and ended pitching better than he ever has. As long as they know the reason for that glitch, I would be ok paying him multiple years at market rate for a veteran healthy and effective middle reliever. That would be about 3 years, $21 million or so. Something like the Joe Smith contract (2/$15).
That "glitch" lasted for the better part of 4 months. He was bad more than he was good this year, and continues to be an incredible tease.
Let him take his talents elsewhere.
 

InsideTheParker

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Kimbrel was expected to decline all along, as he's expected to command a large four- or five-year deal on the open market. The Cardinals, Braves, Phillies and others are rumored to have interest along with the Red Sox, who remain interest in a reunion.
Kimbrel has apparently turned down the qualifying offer. This may have been posted elsewhere, but anyway, here it is:
https://www.masslive.com/redsox/index.ssf/2018/11/boston_red_sox_free_agency_cra.html
Are the Red Sox going to make him a multi-year offer? (I hope not.)
 

joe dokes

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4+ would be insane. I suppose I could stomach 3 as I think that's the minimum it would take to get him (would he accept 3/45?)
I dont think committing 15M to a closer for multiple years is a good use of resources for this team. I think the Sox would be wise to let him see what his market is, and if he's so inclined, let the team decide if they want to beat it.
 

moondog80

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Kimbrel could be one of those guys who gets no offers because of the QO and the Sox get him at a relative bargain.
 

sackamano

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I know most of us expect Kimbrel to be gone. But I just want to express my admiration for the guy. Shaky in the playoffs, yes. Tipping his pitches? Maybe. Did he struggle this year? Yes. For HIM. By HIS standards.

Here's the list of MLB relievers in 2018 that pitched 60+ innings, compiled 40+ saves, had a sub-1.00 whip, a sub-2.75 era, and a > 13.5 k/9:

Kimbrel, Bos: 62.1 ip, 42 sv, 0.99 whip, 2.74 era, 13.9 k/9

That's the list in its entirety. Lots of innings. Relatively low era for a closer (not his best but still not bad), extremely high K rate (again, not his best, but really good), low whip, and even though I don't love this statistic, lots of saves, meaning he slammed the door a lot.

He wasn't the *best* reliever in MLB this past season, not at all. But for a "down" year, he was still pretty damned good. Replacing that won't likely be easy.
This post makes no sense. Only 3 closers in baseball had over 40 saves.

Edwin Diaz also makes your list ... so the only closer with 40+ saves who doesn't is Wade Davis.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Kimbrel could be one of those guys who gets no offers because of the QO and the Sox get him at a relative bargain.
I can't see it. Wade Davis was the only closer who got a QO last year and he scored a 3/$52M at age 32. Kimbrel is a year younger and has a longer, better track record. Someone's going to bite on him at a comparable level.
 

Minneapolis Millers

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I can't see it. Wade Davis was the only closer who got a QO last year and he scored a 3/$52M at age 32. Kimbrel is a year younger and has a longer, better track record. Someone's going to bite on him at a comparable level.
Agreed. He might be starting to decline, but he's still a very good late inning arm. There are a fair number of teams out there with money and they're not all signing Harper or Machado. Kimbrel will get his.

I don't think it will be from the Red Sox. I think it was telling that Cora brought in Sale to close out the Series. IIRC, he didn't even have Kimbrel warming. If they're not going to bring him in to close out that game, will they re-up with him at market rates on a multi-year deal? I'm doubtful.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Agreed. He might be starting to decline, but he's still a very good late inning arm. There are a fair number of teams out there with money and they're not all signing Harper or Machado. Kimbrel will get his.

I don't think it will be from the Red Sox. I think it was telling that Cora brought in Sale to close out the Series. IIRC, he didn't even have Kimbrel warming. If they're not going to bring him in to close out that game, will they re-up with him at market rates on a multi-year deal? I'm doubtful.
I agree that the Sox are unlikely to pony up for Kimbrel, but I don't think Game 5 had anything to do with anything. Kimbrel had thrown 56 pitches over the previous two days and 78 over the first four games. Sale was the freshest pitcher on the roster not named Drew Pomeranz. I have zero doubts that that game is Kimbrel's to close out if he'd not been needed in one of the previous two, or if either of those outings had been about 15 pitches shorter.
 

chawson

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Kimbrel could be one of those guys who gets no offers because of the QO and the Sox get him at a relative bargain.
I'm also fairly certain the QO doesn't matter much in this case. The Sox get a 4th round pick when he signs, and unless I'm wrong think it's compensatory (and not at the expense of the signing team).
 

moondog80

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I'm also fairly certain the QO doesn't matter much in this case. The Sox get a 4th round pick when he signs, and unless I'm wrong think it's compensatory (and not at the expense of the signing team).
But the signing team still loses a pick and/or signing money, right? Regardless of whether or not the Sox gain from it?
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I'm also fairly certain the QO doesn't matter much in this case. The Sox get a 4th round pick when he signs, and unless I'm wrong think it's compensatory (and not at the expense of the signing team).
True, but the signing team still does give up something. What that is depends on if they're over the luxury cap or if they've received revenue sharing money, but it could be up to two draft picks and/or up to $1M in international signing bonus pool money.
 

snowmanny

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It feels a little like when the Red Sox offered arbitration to Eric Gagne after his horrible stint with the Red Sox. I was terrified he would accept it but he declined and signed a one year $10Million dollar deal with Milwaukee and of course remained horrible.

I guess Kimbrel hasn’t been quite as bad quite as long as Gagné but I think in this case again it was risky to offer the QO, and I’m Kimbrel declined it, and I’d prefer some other team take the gamble that he hasn’t fallen off the cliff.
 

joe dokes

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I agree that the Sox are unlikely to pony up for Kimbrel, but I don't think Game 5 had anything to do with anything. Kimbrel had thrown 56 pitches over the previous two days and 78 over the first four games. Sale was the freshest pitcher on the roster not named Drew Pomeranz. I have zero doubts that that game is Kimbrel's to close out if he'd not been needed in one of the previous two, or if either of those outings had been about 15 pitches shorter.
I think this is right.
 

Saints Rest

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Does anyone else think the Sox might go after David Robertson to replace Kimbrel? Seemed like he was wasted as the 3rd or 4th arm in the Yankee pen, but his peripherals still seem strong. He'll turn 34 in early April 2019, so maybe a 2 or 3 year deal?
 

BaseballJones

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This post makes no sense. Only 3 closers in baseball had over 40 saves.

Edwin Diaz also makes your list ... so the only closer with 40+ saves who doesn't is Wade Davis.
Just because it's a small list doesn't mean it makes no sense.
 

chawson

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Does anyone else think the Sox might go after David Robertson to replace Kimbrel? Seemed like he was wasted as the 3rd or 4th arm in the Yankee pen, but his peripherals still seem strong. He'll turn 34 in early April 2019, so maybe a 2 or 3 year deal?
I like him but I'd be wary. Fastball was less effective last year and he leaned on the curve a lot more, throwing it almost 50 percent. (Also he may be an EmBeDdeD YaNKeE.)

FWIW, Robertson's got a near-identical pitch mix to Matt Barnes, and, to an extent, Kimbrel (though they're different curves).
 

Lose Remerswaal

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I don't think it will be from the Red Sox. I think it was telling that Cora brought in Sale to close out the Series. IIRC, he didn't even have Kimbrel warming. If they're not going to bring him in to close out that game, will they re-up with him at market rates on a multi-year deal? I'm doubtful.
They brought in Sale because he wanted to pitch and they had deferred his start so he was ready and available. Cora wasn't concerned with that lead
 

Minneapolis Millers

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Yeah, you and RHF are right. I was reading too much into it.

But I'm still doubtful they'll re-up with Kimbrel! (Partly because they can use the money elsewhere down the road, partly because Kimbrel's > 30 and showing some signs of decline.)
 

Pozo the Clown

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Does anyone else think the Sox might go after David Robertson to replace Kimbrel? Seemed like he was wasted as the 3rd or 4th arm in the Yankee pen, but his peripherals still seem strong. He'll turn 34 in early April 2019, so maybe a 2 or 3 year deal?
Should they move on from Kimbrel, it wouldn't surprise me to see them sign Zach Britton. He's the same age as Kimbrel but should be available for a lesser commitment both in years and dollars. The bullpen as currently constituted is heavily right handed.
 

sean1562

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I think Kimbrel will get multiple offers from a lot of teams that will beat our deals. The Nationals have money to spend(its not going to Harper) and have had a ton of bullpen issues over the years. A bullpen of Doolittle and Rosenthal isnt very good. Add Kimbrel and it becomes a playoff worthy pen.

Kimbrel will not be the guy people lowball. They have Miller, Britton, Robertson, Familia and Kelvin Herrera for that. He is best in class and will probably match the Davis deal, either with the Nats, Cardinals or some other team. Would we have any interest in Herrera? What kind of deal will he get? One year flyer could be worth taking
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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It feels a little like when the Red Sox offered arbitration to Eric Gagne after his horrible stint with the Red Sox. I was terrified he would accept it but he declined and signed a one year $10Million dollar deal with Milwaukee and of course remained horrible.

I guess Kimbrel hasn’t been quite as bad quite as long as Gagné but I think in this case again it was risky to offer the QO, and I’m Kimbrel declined it, and I’d prefer some other team take the gamble that he hasn’t fallen off the cliff.
Wow, that comp seems like a pretty big stretch to me. Further, as Theo used to say, there’s no such thing as a bad one year contract.

Kimbrel was a little shaky his first year here. Dominant his second. And somewhere in between this season, but much closer to the latter than the former. I’d much rather pay him $18M for one season than throw someone like Brasier into the fire. Kimbrel is still a top five closer, we should have been ecstatic had he accepted the QO.
 

chawson

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What happens with Thornburg? MLBTR estimates he'll get $2.3M in his final year of arbitration. He didn't show much last year. Should he be non-tendered? Is the chance the 2016 guy is still there worth the risk?
 

Plympton91

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What happens with Thornburg? MLBTR estimates he'll get $2.3M in his final year of arbitration. He didn't show much last year. Should he be non-tendered? Is the chance the 2016 guy is still there worth the risk?
I’d make a take it or leave it $1 million offer with postential incentives for games pitched prior to the tender deadline. The history of pitchers with TOS suggests he’s extremely unlikely to ever be more than the 11th guy on a staff again, and could be looking at a minor league invite if non tendered. But the Sox will lack bullpen depth if the lose both Kimbrel and Kelly.

The difference may be rounding error, but as this year showed, sometimes that rounds off to being above the luxury tax penalty threshold.

I think Kimbrel will get multiple offers from a lot of teams that will beat our deals. The Nationals have money to spend(its not going to Harper) and have had a ton of bullpen issues over the years. A bullpen of Doolittle and Rosenthal isnt very good. Add Kimbrel and it becomes a playoff worthy pen.

Kimbrel will not be the guy people lowball. They have Miller, Britton, Robertson, Familia and Kelvin Herrera for that. He is best in class and will probably match the Davis deal, either with the Nats, Cardinals or some other team. Would we have any interest in Herrera? What kind of deal will he get? One year flyer could be worth taking
The Nats also got Bearaclaw from the Marlins.

Herrera was dealing with a shoulder injury that had rendered him completely ineffective, then was shelved with a lisfranc injury. Run away. Run far far away.
 

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You non-tender Thornburg. They'll be able to sign another reliever at that price that has a better chance of having success. TOS does not have a good success rate.
Neither does mulitple TJS and most people want to throw a huge contract at Eovaldi.
The Sox are losing Kimbrel and Kelly. Thornburg stuff was good enough last year to take a $2 million chance on.
 

dhappy42

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Papelbon's Poutine

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TJ surgeries have a much, much higher rate of success even multiple ones than TOS does.
There’s been far too little research or sample size on either to make that claim. FanGraphs did a study on this just last year.

https://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/pitchfx-forensics-matt-harvey-and-thoracic-outlet-syndrome/
Edit: and I think we already established that multiple TJs it’s basically Capuano and like one other guy.

Second edit: not to pile on but:
“The only study of thoracic outlet syndrome in MLB pitchers was done by Thompson with help from the statisticians at PITCHf/x, and it was published in February. All 13 MLB pitchers known to have had the surgery at the time were included in the study. Of them, 10 returned to play in the Majors after the procedure. There were *no significant differences* pre- and post-op for 15 traditional pitching metrics -- including ERA, WHIP, BB/9 and strikeout-to-walk ratio.”

https://www.mlb.com/news/matt-harveys-surgical-procedure-demystified/c-217925354
 
Last edited:

sackamano

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Yep you're right. I forgot Diaz. Good catch.

Now, can you tell me what the point of my post was?
Again, given that only 3 players in all of baseball actually fit the criteria you created, and yet you still missed adding one of them (Edwin Diaz) to your "list" of qualifications, I don't think it was a good catch.

I'm guessing the point of your post was to establish how good Craig Kimbrel was/is, or something. Not really sure ,..
 

E5 Yaz

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Again, given that only 3 players in all of baseball actually fit the criteria you created, and yet you still missed adding one of them (Edwin Diaz) to your "list" of qualifications, I don't think it was a good catch.

I'm guessing the point of your post was to establish how good Craig Kimbrel was/is, or something. Not really sure ,..
I thought the point was his trying to make himself look smaht
 

sackamano

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The Craig Kimbrel from the past, the one where, you watched him pitch and you couldn't believe anyone could actually hit any of his pitches, or ever take him deep or anything is impossible (almost) to replace.

The Craig Kimbrel we saw in 2018 and then through the playoffs is not that difficult to replace and is highly unlikely to be worth anything close to what he will get in free agency.

I thought right out of spring training Kimbrel was off ...
 

Yelling At Clouds

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I like him but I'd be wary. Fastball was less effective last year and he leaned on the curve a lot more, throwing it almost 50 percent. (Also he may be an EmBeDdeD YaNKeE.)

FWIW, Robertson's got a near-identical pitch mix to Matt Barnes, and, to an extent, Kimbrel (though they're different curves).
The Yankees fans around here might have more insight, but I believe the increased curveball usage was a deliberate strategic move on the Yankees' part? And not just for Robertson, like a staff-wide thing. Here's a Fangraphs post: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-yankees-have-a-pitching-style-all-their-own/
 

InsideTheParker

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JoKe says he wants to be a Red Sox player forever.

“I still feel like that’s where I’m going to be for the rest of my career. When people bring up free agency it’s like, ‘Oh crap, I am a free agent.’ And I happened to pitch well in the postseason and now teams are going to want me to play for their team.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2018/11/13/joe-kelly-free-agent-red-sox/amp

Endearing.
Yeah, but why did his wife have to drive cross-country with the dogs? Couldn't he be with her? Huh?
 

chawson

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The Yankees fans around here might have more insight, but I believe the increased curveball usage was a deliberate strategic move on the Yankees' part? And not just for Robertson, like a staff-wide thing. Here's a Fangraphs post: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-yankees-have-a-pitching-style-all-their-own/
Yeah, totally, definitely by design. Yanks have thrown fewest fastballs in the league the last three years and second-fewest the previous two.

Though by even Yankee bullpen standards, Robertson had a fairly low fastball usage. Maybe that means the curveball's just too good? Who knows. But I think I'd rather have Joe Kelly's 31-33 than Robertson's 34-36.
 

Cesar Crespo

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The Craig Kimbrel from the past, the one where, you watched him pitch and you couldn't believe anyone could actually hit any of his pitches, or ever take him deep or anything is impossible (almost) to replace.

The Craig Kimbrel we saw in 2018 and then through the playoffs is not that difficult to replace and is highly unlikely to be worth anything close to what he will get in free agency.

I thought right out of spring training Kimbrel was off ...
The Craig Kimbrel we saw in the playoffs is very easy to replace. The Kimbrel we saw for most of 2018, not so much. For all his warts, he still had a WHIP under 1. I agree he's highly unlikely to be worth the contract he signs though.
 

BaseballJones

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Again, given that only 3 players in all of baseball actually fit the criteria you created, and yet you still missed adding one of them (Edwin Diaz) to your "list" of qualifications, I don't think it was a good catch.

I'm guessing the point of your post was to establish how good Craig Kimbrel was/is, or something. Not really sure ,..
Yes, as I mentioned at the top of that post. We see the warts from watching him pitch all the time, and his numbers certainly were down this year from what they have been, but still, he was a really good relief pitcher in 2018. That was the point. I apologize for missing Diaz.

I thought the point was his trying to make himself look smaht
Oh brother.
 

RedOctober3829

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There’s been far too little research or sample size on either to make that claim. FanGraphs did a study on this just last year.

https://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/pitchfx-forensics-matt-harvey-and-thoracic-outlet-syndrome/
Edit: and I think we already established that multiple TJs it’s basically Capuano and like one other guy.

Second edit: not to pile on but:
“The only study of thoracic outlet syndrome in MLB pitchers was done by Thompson with help from the statisticians at PITCHf/x, and it was published in February. All 13 MLB pitchers known to have had the surgery at the time were included in the study. Of them, 10 returned to play in the Majors after the procedure. There were *no significant differences* pre- and post-op for 15 traditional pitching metrics -- including ERA, WHIP, BB/9 and strikeout-to-walk ratio.”

https://www.mlb.com/news/matt-harveys-surgical-procedure-demystified/c-217925354
Jay Jaffe wrote this article I linked below in May on FG that updates the info you posted. 27 pitchers have had TOS since 2001. There's a table that Jaffe references that I can't add due to formatting. Here's an exerpt.

"The count is now up to 27 pitchers, with Carter Capps, Luke Hochevar, Tyson Ross, Nathan Karns and Vince Velasquez having followed in Harvey’s wake. (Edwards also seems to have missed counting Clayton Richard, and we both missed Nate Adcock, Daniel Bard, Mike Foltynewicz and Nick Tepesch, until readers alerted me.)

Here’s the table, ordered by post-surgery innings (for Hughes and Harrison, the numbers are with respect to their first TOS surgery):

The average total of post-surgery innings for the group is just 218, compared to an average of 657 innings prior. Excluding the three recent pitchers who have yet to return to the majors and the three who never did (Lowry, Rheinecker and Bard), those figures rise to 732 pre-surgery and 281 post-surgery. The relatively heavy post-surgical workloads of Cook and Rogers skew those figures; even excluding the zero-innings guys, the medians are just 595 innings pre-surgery and 134 post-surgery. As many as 13 of the pitchers on the list might still be considered active, though VerHagen is in the minors and Hochevar unsigned, so all of the aforementioned figures could rise with the passage of time.

Given those relatively modest post-surgical innings totals and the performance data, the numbers are rather sobering, and that’s while keeping in mind that pre-surgical performance may have suffered due to the symptoms that led to the diagnoses. Of the 21 pitchers who returned to action, only five lowered their ERAs relative to the league across any sample (Beckett, Cook, Foltynewicz, Harrison, and Richard), and only five did so with respect to FIP (Cook, Foltynewicz, Harrison, Richard, and Velasquez). The ERAs of four other players rose by less than 10% (Garcia, Velasquez, Cobb, and Rogers), with Cobb and Rogers the only two about whom the same can be said with respect to FIP; these pitchers were still quite serviceable if not exactly as effective after the surgery as before, and from that group, all but Rogers are still active, which is to say that they may yet join the first group."

At the other end of the spectrum, 10 of the 21 returnees saw their ERA- rise by more than 20%, and 10 did so with respect to FIP-, including Hughes (an ERA- 29 points higher, a FIP- 34 points higher). Harvey had the largest gains of the group, which is to say the largest fall-off in effectiveness (an ERA- 78 points higher, a FIP- 69 points higher), though at least he’s been trending in the right direction since being traded to the Reds. Ross, who struggled mightily last year, his first since surgery, has been much more effective this year (90 ERA-, 88 FIP-) and might be the strongest candidate to escape this sad group, at least in the near future.

That leaves very few pitchers in the middle ground — namely, the recently retired Young with respect to ERA-, VerHagen and Wells with respect to FIP-, and Carpenter with respect to both, albeit with just three post-surgical regular-season outings before retirement.

As Edwards noted, there’s no clear pattern here. The strongest correlations I found were between age and post-surgery ERA- (r= -.27) and pre-surgery innings and post-surgery ERA- (r = .21), both of which suggest, unsurprisingly, that younger or more lightly-used pitchers have tended to fare better with recoveries."

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/phil-hughes-and-the-sobering-history-of-thoracic-outlet-injuries/
 

Stanley Steamer

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To chime in with the sentiments above, I'd be happy to let Kimbrel walk, re-sign Kelly on favorable terms (since he wants to be here), and sign one of Robertson, Britton or Miller, informed by injury reports. That ought to do it, along with Thornburg.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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Jay Jaffe wrote this article I linked below in May on FG that updates the info you posted. 27 pitchers have had TOS since 2001. There's a table that Jaffe references that I can't add due to formatting. Here's an exerpt.

"The count is now up to 27 pitchers, with Carter Capps, Luke Hochevar, Tyson Ross, Nathan Karns and Vince Velasquez having followed in Harvey’s wake. (Edwards also seems to have missed counting Clayton Richard, and we both missed Nate Adcock, Daniel Bard, Mike Foltynewicz and Nick Tepesch, until readers alerted me.)

Here’s the table, ordered by post-surgery innings (for Hughes and Harrison, the numbers are with respect to their first TOS surgery):

The average total of post-surgery innings for the group is just 218, compared to an average of 657 innings prior. Excluding the three recent pitchers who have yet to return to the majors and the three who never did (Lowry, Rheinecker and Bard), those figures rise to 732 pre-surgery and 281 post-surgery. The relatively heavy post-surgical workloads of Cook and Rogers skew those figures; even excluding the zero-innings guys, the medians are just 595 innings pre-surgery and 134 post-surgery. As many as 13 of the pitchers on the list might still be considered active, though VerHagen is in the minors and Hochevar unsigned, so all of the aforementioned figures could rise with the passage of time.

Given those relatively modest post-surgical innings totals and the performance data, the numbers are rather sobering, and that’s while keeping in mind that pre-surgical performance may have suffered due to the symptoms that led to the diagnoses. Of the 21 pitchers who returned to action, only five lowered their ERAs relative to the league across any sample (Beckett, Cook, Foltynewicz, Harrison, and Richard), and only five did so with respect to FIP (Cook, Foltynewicz, Harrison, Richard, and Velasquez). The ERAs of four other players rose by less than 10% (Garcia, Velasquez, Cobb, and Rogers), with Cobb and Rogers the only two about whom the same can be said with respect to FIP; these pitchers were still quite serviceable if not exactly as effective after the surgery as before, and from that group, all but Rogers are still active, which is to say that they may yet join the first group."

At the other end of the spectrum, 10 of the 21 returnees saw their ERA- rise by more than 20%, and 10 did so with respect to FIP-, including Hughes (an ERA- 29 points higher, a FIP- 34 points higher). Harvey had the largest gains of the group, which is to say the largest fall-off in effectiveness (an ERA- 78 points higher, a FIP- 69 points higher), though at least he’s been trending in the right direction since being traded to the Reds. Ross, who struggled mightily last year, his first since surgery, has been much more effective this year (90 ERA-, 88 FIP-) and might be the strongest candidate to escape this sad group, at least in the near future.

That leaves very few pitchers in the middle ground — namely, the recently retired Young with respect to ERA-, VerHagen and Wells with respect to FIP-, and Carpenter with respect to both, albeit with just three post-surgical regular-season outings before retirement.

As Edwards noted, there’s no clear pattern here. The strongest correlations I found were between age and post-surgery ERA- (r= -.27) and pre-surgery innings and post-surgery ERA- (r = .21), both of which suggest, unsurprisingly, that younger or more lightly-used pitchers have tended to fare better with recoveries."

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/phil-hughes-and-the-sobering-history-of-thoracic-outlet-injuries/
Which is kind of my point. ‘No clear pattern here’. So, I find it tough to surmise that ‘the Tyler Thornburg before the surgery’ is gone and it’s not worth $2M to find out. We don’t know one way or another about it as much as we do TJ or even second TJs.
 

Dewey'sCannon

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Just read an article on The Athletic about Robertson.It was mostly about how he has declined to hire an agent, and will negotiate his FA contract on his own. But it also mentioned that he just moved his family into a house in RI - they had previously lived wherever he played, but are now moving into a permanent/year-round home. So maybe proximity to home will be an advantage for the Sox if they go after him. Which I would - him or Britton.
 

dhappy42

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Just read an article on The Athletic about Robertson.It was mostly about how he has declined to hire an agent, and will negotiate his FA contract on his own. But it also mentioned that he just moved his family into a house in RI - they had previously lived wherever he played, but are now moving into a permanent/year-round home. So maybe proximity to home will be an advantage for the Sox if they go after him. Which I would - him or Britton.
I’m surprised free agents don’t give lifestyle issues more priority and turn down high bidders to accept marginally lower offers from teams with good reputations, to play for great managers, with friends or in cities near their families. Maybe they do and we just don’t hear about it very often.
 

Cesar Crespo

79
SoSH Member
Dec 22, 2002
21,588
I’m surprised free agents don’t give lifestyle issues more priority and turn down high bidders to accept marginally lower offers from teams with good reputations, to play for great managers, with friends or in cities near their families. Maybe they do and we just don’t hear about it very often.
They definitely do in other sports but it's mostly weather related. With baseball, you can just live somewhere else in the off season to avoid winter.