I wouldn't mind him as the second name either, but I also wouldn't say this year was without concern for him. There was a velocity drop involved with that rise in BABIP, a full mile off his fastball from 2023.
The starting rotation is already really good, their starter’s ERA was top 10 in MLB last year and they have Giolito returning to replace Pivetta (assuming he’s gone). Two of their starters, as I’ve noted repeatedly, blew way past their career (including MiLB) highs in IP, they should be fine with the 180 inning workload this year. Another frontline starter to pair with Houck and Giolito is fine. Otherwise you’re going to have to trade either Crawford or Bello because they’re not moving to the pen. The one exception here is if Crawford is a required piece for Crochet or as part of a deal for a relief ace. Because other than that Crawford/Bello is a great 4/5 combo in a rotation.
Criswell, Fitts, Priester, Dobbins is as good of a group of secondary starters than they have had in a very very long time.
Yes. I hope we won't be seeing the likes of Chase Anderson and Brad Keller going forward. One thing all the guys you mentioned have in common is that there best days should be in front of them, not in the past.
How about that? The COVID year actually yielded a positive for the organization.
Jordan Romano may be a good buy low guy to have in extended ST 60 day DL type for 2nd half of season when some guys are hurt or ineffective.
But wasn't their bullpen awful last year? If we're replacing Martin and Janson with Chapman and Hendricks I don't see how we're in much better shape than we were. Sure, there's Guerrero who pitched well at the end of the season, and hopefully Whitlock can stay healthy, but I don't see enough of an improvement to say we're done here.
No, agreed. If Booser, Penrod, or Bernardino are outpitching him, he'll get cut. Just like Joely got cut last year after his first disastrous stint. If they operate like they did last year, then likely what will happen is the guy without options will get precedent for roster flexibility reasons, but he shouldn't get a long rope.
Wait… why wasn’t Booser liked around here? He was thrust into a role probably a little too heavy for his talent level but he seems a solid mid bullpen guy with some dominant stretches in him.
Yeah I think that describes Kelly too, who was really excellent for most of the year as a low lev guy but got pushed into bigger moments than he could handle.
this is the way I saw it play out too. There was a point where Kelly was thrust into the 8th inning set up role due to all the injuries. I see him and Booser both starting the season in AAA, but being important pieces at some point during the season. The big league experience they received last year can only help.
It's not that Booser isn't liked; it's that Booser is a 32-year-old prearb reliever with, if I am reading this right, all three option years intact. You need way more than 8 relievers to get through a season, so that means you want a bunch of optionable relievers (unless they're obvious studs like Slaten) starting in AAA in an up-and-down role. And you want those optionable relievers to be reliable like Booser; otherwise, you're left with waiver wire dregs like Trey Wingenter or Yohan Ramírez when the inevitable injury or ineffectiveness crops up.
Cherington has been gone since 2015. Those binkies are either flamed out or playing in the bigs now most likely.
There was some sentiment in the probably emotional aftermath of the season that the only guys we had under control in the bullpen worth keeping were Slaten, Whitlock, Hendriks, and that Booser, Weissert Bernie, Winck, and Kelly needed to all be shot into the sun. I'm not going to dig up names, but suffice to say I think that the bullpen looks alright, so long as the depth of Guerrero, Penrod, Fitts, etc. pulls through.
How many of these 12 pitchers currently on our 40-man roster could ride the AAA shuttle up and down this year?
I'd toss in Wikelman Gonzalez, too, whom I expect to be transitioned to relief soon.
Criswell also has an option remaining. I know he'll more likely be called up to start but he could certainly be a bullpen option if need be.
The real question is did Theo Epstein build a time machine and go back and get information from himself back in 2016 about Chapman's head when he traded (at the time) uber prospect Gleyber Torres for 2 months of him because he realized "if I'm going to win a World Series here in Chicago, I need a version of Keith Foulke or Jonathan Papelbon because Hector Rodon sure as **** isn't the answer."
He was much better as a starter last year. He seemed to get knocked around a bit in the first inning and then settle down. Same pattern as a reliever, except without the opportunity to settle down.
It also coincided with a lot of these guys trying out a new pitch, the sweeper, didn't it? The injuries hit pretty quickly after that, IIRC. I think that was the case for at least Giolito, Piveta, Murphy, and Whitlock.
Yeah it would be brutal to head into spring training again, only to see three guys hit the DL the second they start to ramp up. Giolito, Murphy and Campbell collectively threw like 8 innings of horrible baseball for us last year, and Whitlock only got through 4 starts. That's a lot of innings immediately shelved.
I'm bullish on Whitlock this year. He got hurt early enough in the season to have had plenty of time to rehab. More importantly, it seems like there is about a zero chance he is being considered as a SP going into 2025. When you look at his numbers as a reliever, they are elite. He misses bats, gives up weak contact for the most part, and doesn't walk guys. I wouldn't be surprised if he was one of the higher leverage, late inning guys.
So, names going out and the newer names (injuries, free agency, etc) to replace the innings:
Good point. Thankfully thats only a few days away, so we would be able to backfill that spot (if needed).
75 More innings at a lower FIP looks like a huge improvement; an additional 0.3 WAR does not. Hoping the first one is closer to the truth. Whitlock should be able to beat that innings projection by a bit if he's healthy.
even worse, they are officially announcing the Chapman signing tomorrow. Talk about an awful time to announce that signing.
Definitely announce this guy that you're hoping squeaks through Rule 5 has upside as a starter. Definitely no other teams are gonna see that and bump him up their chart.
I also thought that was really odd timing with the rule 5 draft happening tomorrow.
