I think people like to gloss over the health aspect of these post TJS.
We need to supplement the "trade your minor league studs for starting pitching" strategy with reclamation projects because there are only so many minor league studs.
I think this is the full story. A 28 year old pitcher with excellent metrics checks all of Breslow and Co's boxes.
It seems like nowadays more guys are having some sort of elbow surgery than not, so I don’t think the recovery problems are really thought of as the same way these used to.
If he was healthy, he'd probably get three years, and be entirely uninterested in joining the back end of a rather crowded rotation in any case.
I mean, the data is the data. Lots of people have elbow surgery and most of them make it back, yes. But not all of them do, and sometimes there is more damage than “just TJS”.
Yeah, this is where I am. If everyone's running on fumes when August comes around, a fresh arm would be nice. I like it in and of itself, though of course it's not better than having a good arm for the whole year, and I hope we can still add another one of those.
Genuine question…at this point in Sandoval’s recovery (6 months post surgery), what information would they have on how his rehab is going? If there haven’t been any setbacks to date, does that de-risk the likelihood he bounces all the way back? Or do you not know how someone will bounce back until they’re fully ramped?
Do you think Craig Breslow knows more about pitching and baseball than the average SoSH poster? The average SoSH poster has a firm grasp on the "obvious moves", but not much else. In that company, I'm pretty comfortable with the idea that Craig Breslow is the smartest guy in the room.
I just don't get these moves. Wing and a prayer kind of stuff. I could see it if we already had a great team but we need a lot more for 2025.
Yes, but that is enough about Lucas Giolito.
Exactly. We already added a top-flight pitcher in Crochet. We've added bullpen depth. Now we're adding more starting depth to a staff that's already deeper than it was last year.
It's a high wire act to be sure. That's why my best guess is that a guy like Gil for example will never repeat his 2024 ERA performance.
How many innings (particularly in his first several outings) will Sandoval even throw when he returns from TJ rehab? I can't even contemplate him being the last rotation move this team makes for the 2025 season.
In related news, we also signed Juan Offerman, Carlos Crawford, and Will Buckner.
I imagine it's about his age, he is 28 next year, and had a 3.3 win season at 25. Not sure when the elbow started barking. But this seems like a reasonable depth stash. Oh and it's about handedness. If he is good and under 30, he's a rare commodity.
This is a flier and we should want them to take them. Along with the risk of signing MLB FA pitchers who may well get hurt during the term of the contract (the risk of doing business in the MLB and one that baseball savvy orgs undertake as well as survive all the time).
The entire major league staff last year, that could actually contribute positively, was too righthanded. Attempting to fix that I don't mind at all.
In watching Sandoval against us, his stuff has impressed but he's never been able to put it together.
2022 -- ERA 2.91 in 148.2 IP
As of now, the rotation is Crochet/Houck/Bello/Crawford/Giolito, with Fitts as next man up. (I’m assuming Whitlock is headed for the bullpen.) That’s pretty thin — Giolito may not be healthy, Crawford may not be any good, and Fitts isn’t ready to make 25 starts if someone ahead of him goes down. I don’t think we’re getting Burnes, and I’m fine with that, but a veteran who could compete with Crawford and Giolito for those last two rotation spots seems necessary. Someone who could lock down the 3rd or 4th spot and leave those two to compete for the 5th would be even better. Excess pitching depth is unlikely to be a problem.
