Dumpster Diving

[DanoooME]

With the pitching staff especially getting a little thin in depth, maybe it's time to consider some of the free "talent" available out there to fill in the back end of the roster. These are all guys that are going to have warts, but may be more useful than what's on hand or can help supplement the Paw Sox roster.

I'd like to start with Joe Thatcher, who recently opted out of his minor league deal with the Dodgers and is a FA. He's pitched moderately well in the PCL this year (15 IP, 3.60 ERA, 21/5 K/BB) and has had decent K/9 numbers in the majors. If he can command pitches, he could be a useful 12th man on the staff.

Some other names recently released or opted out include Edwin Jackson from Miami, Joel Peralta from Seattle, and Jeremy Guthrie from San Diego.

Does anyone out there that's freely available interest you?

 

[Leather]

I'm having flashbacks to 2006. Who will be this year's Kyle Snyder or Jason Johnson?

 

[The Gray Eagle]

Any of those guys would be good to bring in on minor league deals, if they would be willing. If they are looking for major league contracts, probably not. With No Way being sent down again, I don't know that I would expect any of those guys to be better in the majors right off the bat than anyone we already have, including Hembree and Pat Light in AAA. They could be, but I wouldn't cut anyone from our bullpen to make room for them.

Thatcher might be better as a lefty guy than Layne, but we don't use Layne that much anyway.

Another guy I would like to see on a minor league deal is Burke Badenhop, but we presumably don't have any interest, since Texas cut him from a minor league deal back in mid-April and I haven't seen any news of him signing anywhere else. As solid as he was here a couple years ago, he might just be washed up.

Pickings are slim out there for pitching. Probably our best hope is that one of our internal solutions really improves. For the bullpen, that would be Hembree, Light, Noe, Kyle Martin, Wesley Wright, Robbie Scott or Varvaro, or maybe one of the PawSox starters.

For the rotation, that would be Owens, Kelly, Wilkerson, Elias, Johnson when he is back, Cuevas, etc. None of the starters are looking particularly good right now, but things might change in a few weeks.

 

[NoXInNixon]

If they're going to be forced to give a spot in the rotation someone who's probably not going to be very good, why not Buchholz?

 

[The Gray Eagle]

Because Buchholz wasn't just not very good, he was horrendous. His ERA as a starter was 6.35 and he wasn't looking like he was getting any better when he was banished to the bullpen.

Maybe Buchholz can get himself right as a reliever and earn another shot at that role, but we needed to improve on what he was giving us and try someone else. If all else fails, and he starts pitching better, then he can get another chance.

By adding someone not very good, we're hoping to find someone who would be 2 full runs per 9 better than what Buchholz was. A 4.35 ERA wouldn't be very good, but it would be a huge improvement, especially if it was someone who was consistent, not someone who throws a gem once in a while but is pounded out of the game by the 5th a lot of other times.

 

[alwyn96]

For what it's worth:

Roenis Elias today - 9IP 6H 1ER 2BB 8K

Selective endpoint alert!
Last 4 starts - 29IP 20H 8ER 8BB 33K

 

[YTF]

Encouraging. I know he's been pretty good his last few times out, nice that today was another positive outing. Should get at least one (perhaps two) starts before the Sox need to go back to a 5 man rotation. Fingers crossed that perhaps he can step in and help out.

 

[Sox and Rocks]

Is cliff lee an option? IIRC, He never retired. He wanted a better contract than what he was being offered. Does anyone remember the suggested numbers? Is he even healthy?

 

[AB in DC]

I'm having flashbacks to 2006. Who will be this year's Kyle Snyder or Jason Johnson?

I'd be happy with 2015 Alejandro De Aza.

 

[Plympton91]

What about trying to stretch out Hembree? He's gone 3 innings a bunch, could he go 5 and 6 on occasion? Does his velocity dip in the 3rd inning of work?

Very promising recent outings by Elias. Interesting that his good stretch is coming when it became clear there were openings in the rotation. I wonder if his early season troubles were a little bit of being demoralized from being stuck in AAA without a path to the majors? Once Wright dominated, and Owens started so strong, he was 7th on the depth chart and headed for 8th once EdRo was healthy.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Saw the title and thought someone was suggesting this guy

and I laughed.

And then I stopped laughing

 

[czar]

The Red Sox have lots of guys in AAA (+ Buchholz) who seem to be logical candidates for 4.50-5.00 ERAs going forward if that's what we really want. We don't need to pick up the dregs of the rest of baseball for that "upside." The "good" version of Buchholz is much better than that and the "good" version of Joe Kelly is slightly better than that.

By adding someone not very good, we're hoping to find someone who would be 2 full runs per 9 better than what Buchholz was. A 4.35 ERA wouldn't be very good, but it would be a huge improvement, especially if it was someone who was consistent, not someone who throws a gem once in a while but is pounded out of the game by the 5th a lot of other times.

He's averaged ~1/3 IP per start less than Price and Porcello this year. He hasn't been very good when he's gone deep into games, but he's at least given them innings when he's sucked.

 

[Valek123]

Is cliff lee an option? IIRC, He never retired. He wanted a better contract than what he was being offered. Does anyone remember the suggested numbers? Is he even healthy?

The latest items I've seen on Cliff Lee were in Feb of this year with his agent basically implying he'd finally moved on from Baseball. He received medical clearance I recall in Nov or December last year, but didn't get many bites or even try outs. I think he's absolutely toast, but if it's a short season maybe he pulls one of those Clemens type seasons out. I watched several of the last starts and it was clear he was limited, maybe the time off allows for a final surge but the agent indication seems to say he's done, feet up and enjoying his $140+ million...

 

[chrisfont9]

For what it's worth:

Roenis Elias today - 9IP 6H 1ER 2BB 8K

Selective endpoint alert!
Last 4 starts - 29IP 20H 8ER 8BB 33K

In his two years with the Mariners he tended to be very good for 1-2 months at a time with some bad/miserable patches in between.

 

[TFisNEXT]

The latest items I've seen on Cliff Lee were in Feb of this year with his agent basically implying he'd finally moved on from Baseball. He received medical clearance I recall in Nov or December last year, but didn't get many bites or even try outs. I think he's absolutely toast, but if it's a short season maybe he pulls one of those Clemens type seasons out. I watched several of the last starts and it was clear he was limited, maybe the time off allows for a final surge but the agent indication seems to say he's done, feet up and enjoying his $140+ million...

He pitched well in his final season in 2014 when he was out there. FIP under 3.00 and a K/9 to BB/9 of 8/1.3. HR/FB of 9% so not getting lucky on flukishly low HR rate.

I admit I've always been intrigued by Cliff Lee coming here over the past several seasons. But I think you're all right in that he doesn't seem to have the drive to get back out there unless someone knocks his socks off with a big offer. He's 37 though and obviously rested so who knows, he could have a few months of good pitching in that arm.

 

[Coachster]

Wandy Rodriguez opted out of his contract with the Orioles today. Is he better than our AAAA options?

 

[Plympton91]

Another great start for Roenis Elias tonight. I think he's now earned the opportunity to be the 5th starter for three or four turns. He's got a track record as a 4-something ERA starter, so he's likely to be exactly what we'd be asking for in a trade.