Brad Keller posted a 2.47 ERA, 2.06 K/BB rate, 5.76 K/9, and 52.8% grounder rate over 54 2/3 innings this season, as the 25-year-old continues to establish himself as a front-of-the-rotation option for the Royals. Keller was aided this season by an improved slider that essentially looked more like his fastball and moved like a curveball, as the right-hander told Fangraphs’ David Laurila. The first step was remaking a slider delivery that initially left Keller unable to “see the plate because my front arm was covering the catcher….I was constantly pulling off on everything, yanking my front side. I needed to clean that up and keep my shoulders more square.”
Working on advice from Royals pitching coach Cal Eldred during the league shutdown, Keller fixed his delivery and turned his slider into a prominent part of his arsenal. 38.2% of his pitches were sliders in 2020, well up from a 31.2% usage in 2019 and a 26.2% usage in 2018. As per Fangraphs’ pitch value and slider runs above average (wSL) metrics, Keller had the third-most effective slider of any pitcher in baseball, behind only Dinelson Lamet and Zach Plesac.
More from around baseball as the Dodgers sit a game away from a championship…
- Dan Straily’s first season in Korea was a success, and the right-hander tells Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News that he has yet to make a decision about a potential second season with the KBO League’s Lotte Giants. Before anything, Straily wants to return to the United States to see his family for the first time in nine months, as COVID-19 travel restrictions kept him in South Korea. “I want to be with my wife when the decision starts coming up and my agent starts talking to the team about this,” Straily said. After inking a one-year, $1MM contract with the Lotte Giants last winter, Straily posted a 2.50 ERA with 205 strikeouts over 194 2/3 innings, becoming arguably the league’s top pitcher and a popular figure with fans. It was a solid rebound season after a tough 2019 for Straily that saw him allow 22 homers over only 47 2/3 innings with the Orioles, resulting in a 9.82 ERA.
- The Phillies hold a $7MM club option on Hector Neris for 2021, which the team could see as an acceptable price tag for a reliever who has been generally solid over parts of seven MLB seasons. However, in an offseason where the Phillies are dealing with revenue losses and trying to get under the luxury tax threshold, NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Corey Seidman sees Neris as a possible extension candidate. Seidman floats the possibility of a two-year contract worth $9MM-$10MM, which seems like a good number from the Phils’ perspective, though it remains to be seen if Neris or his agents would accept such an offer. The team has some leverage in the sense that Neris probably wouldn’t like to test the very uncertain 2020-21 free agent market, yet Neris might also have confidence that the Phillies wouldn’t actually decline his option since the Phils are in such dire need of bullpen help.
- Chaim Bloom’s first year in charge of the Red Sox front office was a tumultuous one, and the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier looked beyond the unprecedented events (the pandemic’s effect on the season and the Mookie Betts trade) to examine patterns about how Bloom will shepherd the team going forward. The Sox mostly targeted controllable players, and the sheer volume of transactions was also different, as the 2020 club had the most roster turnover of any Red Sox team of the past decade. “It goes back to being more open-minded and willing to be more aggressive with the bottom end of our 40-man roster,” assistant GM Eddie Romero said. “The 40-man roster became more of a living document. It was a daily conversation. It required daily upkeep.”
Neris is terrible and even on a team with the worst bullpen of the modern era it’s impossible to justify him pulling down $7m next year. They should try to trade him and if there are no takers simply let him go.
I truly believe Neris is a non-tender candidate. An extension for a lesser amount is somewhat interesting, but Neris is also a middling reliever who only has one plus pitch. There is very little chance of the Phillies picking up that $7mm option.
Neris is still arb-eligible. Team will decline option, and likely tender him a contract. Probably will be back at a slightly lower salary than his option ($5M?)
“Neris is terrible and even on a team with the worst bullpen in the modern era it’s impossible to justify him pulling down $7m” … “we should try to trade him.” If hes so bad why would anyone give up anything for him?
$10 says if they do trade him for bag of used balls, this guy will be in the comments section complaining they should’ve got more.
Neris should settle back in if he’s moved out of the 9 spot, but in an era where good BP help can be cheap he’s not worth $7 million. too much for a uncontrolled variable.
I think we’re going to see teams spending far less than in recent years due to uncertainty with fan attendance and fans boycotting sports.
i really dont think the boycotting will have as much of an impact as you think. people forget things pretty quickly.
I have quite a few acquaintances that have stopped watching sports in general and I honestly don’t see them going back. As a die hard fan like myself I could never do it but there are a ton of casual fans that are tuning out.
Regardless of anyone’s political views, it’s troubling
Like your name Fred and more importantly I agree. No accounts I know suggest he used and one HR keeps him out? Clutch at the plate too. No offense to Mr. Shea or others but he’s the one from that line up that I didn’t want up rooting against the Braves. Similar to the late 70s and the Yankees. For every big HR you got from Reggie, how many times did Munson (or even Sweet Lou) beat you?
Nice to hear Straily became a star in Korea. Hope he can come back and put on that same performance!
At first glance, Dan Straily seems overqualified for that Korea/Japan route back into MLB, he’s actually had 2 or 3 pretty solid seasons in the majors.
But, I get it, he probably sees all these crappy pitchers who dominate there and get pretty decent money and financial security to come back to the majors so he took that route.
Boston should be completely embarrassed over trading Betts. Rather, they’re spinning the matter in their PR machine – inexcusable.
Mookie refused a 10 year, $300 million contract. Time to go.
Low-ball offer they knew he’d reject, but one they could use to claim they tried to sign him, knowing some fans would carry their water. Don’t strain yourself.
No excuse for an organization as rich as the Red Sox letting a home-grown generational talent leave. Payroll mismanagement.
Thank you, lord (literally). The Sox traded the best player in baseball to save money. Disgraceful – 100% “payroll mismanagement.”
To be fair, he said he was testing free agency all of last year, then he gets traded and immediately signs a huge extension. It’s also well known that he prefers and plays better in warmer temps usually… It all just points to him never indenting to re-sign with Boston.
Why do so many people react to the Betts trade as if the Sox thought he was washed up? Everyone knew he was still one of the best players in the game right now. Get back to me in 6 years when he’s only half way through his extension he signed with LA and we’ll check how he’s doing then. Add to that the fact he made it abundantly clear he wasn’t re-signing with Boston and they really had no choice but to deal him.
Chris and King – 100 percent correct!!!!
Boston’s goal was to get under the prohibitive luxury tax to reset it, which they did. that they got Verdugo in return as well as some other good pieces should make that trade more then worth it for them.
I love the comments that explain the obvious – “prohibitive luxury tax.” That’s my point, you’re okay with cutting loose the best player in baseball so a billionaire can save some pocket change? Verdugo and the “other good pieces” (so good you needn’t include their names) will come nowhere near the skill level, tenacity, and leadership offered by Mookie Betts – the best player in baseball. They didn’t even get those “other good pieces” correct – Graterol looks pretty damn useful to me. I digress.
30 Parks@, your foundational points or premise is flawed are flawed. Mookie Betts is not the best player in baseball. I would take two or three starting pitchers before I would take Betts and of course Mike Trout maybe another positional guy or two I’m not thinking of. Betts is 5-10 185 and as we saw with Andrew McCutchen that body type will not hold up to Superstar status in his early 30s. He’ll be good but not a superstar for very long. He peaked two years ago.
#2, Luxury tax penalty times 3 is not pocket change.
My “foundational” point is the Red Sox willingly traded Betts to save money – you’ve got the “foundational” point wrong, Gary. Secondly, it’s a matter of opinion as to whom the best player in baseball is at present. Your comparison to McCutchen is meaningless (you can’t reasonably think Betts peaked two years ago at 26 – absurd). Lastly, exactly the PR nonsense I’m speaking against is the same you are espousing – the Red Sox put themselves in the position of having to move Betts and that, to circle back to “foundational” points, is inexcusable. The Red Sox are a billion dollar enterprise crying poor – come on.
30Parks@, I think trading Betts was not about SAVING money.. I think it was about not paying Mookie Betts four hundred million dollars for the next 10 years. There’s a difference.
30Parks@, Why is the comparison to Andrew McCutchen meaningless? Similar Superstars at the same age and similar size. Similar skill-set. Not sure why it’s meaningless. And yes I do think Betts has peaked in his MVP season. I will go so far as to say Betts will NOT meet those numbers again.., ever, the rest of his career. And the Red Sox agree with me.
Gary … “saving” money and not spending money – half a dozen roses or six roses? Your comparison to McCutchen is meaningless because you simply picked a player to validate your point of view. Smaller stature players won’t hold up because they’re small, large framed players will not hold up because they’re too big – what is the mystical, appropriate size for a baseball player? No excuse for trading Betts – none.
30 Parks you’re like the wife who says, hey I didn’t buy the $300 pair of shoes we saved $300 !! LOL
It’s not 6 in 1 and 1/2 dozen in another.
The way you look at things especially the Red Sox is overall flawed and makes no logical sense. Are you an ex-nfl player or rugby player? Bang your head a little too many times?
Gary – loves your comment:
30 Parks you’re like the wife who says, hey I didn’t buy the $300 pair of shoes we saved $300 !! LOL
Park must be related to my wife….and not too many concussions just stupid…..lol…….and my wife no longer uses flawed thinking …lol
Cluttered comeback, Gary. Poor effort. You can do better. Well, maybe.
Got no respect who gives himself a thumbs up. That’s the quickest thumbs-up I’ve seen in the history of mlbtraderumors.com. What was it 90 seconds?
it was about getting nothing if Mookie walked. He was not going to sign IMO with anyone until first setting his market. Then COVID, his fun in LA and their offer changed everything.
Gary, where you went wrong here is that you’re changing the subject to “thumbs up” and such. You’re reaching. You can’t stay on topic. Again, your responses are cluttered. I’d grade your effort here today at a C- . You can do better, you need to apply yourself. All the best, Gary!
That’s because you can’t think of three things at the same time. I’ll stay on topic for you next one. Appreciate it.
The sox mismanaged their cap sure, but what you forget is Price did not like it here, he wanted out in the worst way and packacking him with another superstar is literally the only way anyone would take that albatross contract. Verdugo, is everything we hoped benny would be but never was and we still havent seen jeter downs or conor wang so the Sox may have done better than you think. If Downs develops into a starter in the near future, the sox did well in trading a player they simply could not afford. Let us not forget, we traded Adrian Gonzalez when we was our best player and won the world series the following year! The sox farm is being totally rebuilt quick too!
Why quibble about who is best? He’s untradeable. Massive mistake – end of story. The Luxury tax was bs. Worst case a one time $10M fee and they paid JBJ $11M. Drop JBJ and keep Mookie. It’s that simple. Betts is not comparable to McCutchen he is more like Ernie Banks when it comes to the source of his power. Betts can hit HRs for 10 years. It’s in the wrists. His bowling prowess talks to his wrist strength.
Your argument doesn’t hold water. It’s a travesty that Mookie wasn’t kept.
Ownership’s biggest mistake in 100 years.
KD you make good points. I understand where you’re coming from. I guess we’ll see how it plays out in five years. Appreciate your opinion and the conversation. Thank you.
The Sox got the absolute best package they could get for Mookie. They owed too much money to too many players and odds were that they were not resigning him so they had no choice but to trade him. And for Mookie they got their new RF, future 2B and future CA plus they got rid of half of Price’s salary. I think they did very well in that trade.
I agree with most of your comment, however after seeing the plethora of young pitching arms the Dodgers displayed in the playoffs, I would have liked to see Graeterol or any one of the young lefties in addition to Verdugo for Betts, Price and the monetary savings.
Yes a pitcher from LA in the deal would have been better and the almost had one, but the three players they got are pretty decent plus the salary relief.
The Red Sox received a very good package of players considering the Dodgers were really the only team that had anything close to what the Red Sox wanted (SD and Myers was never going to happen because the Red Sox would not have gotten below CBT). Myers is not a low cost, controllable, under 30, high upside player like all of the trades Bloom has made. SD was only leverage to use against LA.
The Red Sox wanted a starting pitcher and when Graeterol’s medicals showed he probably was not capable of being a starter that is when they switched to Wong and Downs.
Sorry but we got crap in the deal. Verdugo had a bad back at the time. Downs had 12 good games in the minors and Wong was so far down the LAD depth chart it’s ridiculous. Verdugo, if his back stays healthy is the only sure thing and I had to qualify the sure thing! Given the incredible pitching LAD has we were idiots to deal in January not July. Mookie could have helped Atlanta be in the series or San Diego or LAD so why not have a bidding war in July when things are so close? That’s how Chapman got traded for Torres. Desperation needs to be a part of the deal and all three teams wanted this to be their year so no way trading in January was GOOD for Boston. It was a worst case scenario.
Anyone saying the Price component was good knows nothing about finance or trading. First, we now have $16M less under the cap to spend for 3 years. Next, any value Price provides to LAD in 2021 further reduces their cost when you consider his NET value. Our NET value is guaranteed to be -$16M but that wouldn’t be true if we hadn’t paid to have him taken away. If we simply gave him to LAD and told them to hang on to Downs and Wong we would have been better off. If we would have kept him we would be better off even with him opting out in 2020. He has value and it offsets his cost. He’s still the second most talented SP on the team behind Sale except now his talent will be reaped by LAD not us and that only costs us $16M a year to watch him flourish in LAD. Brilliant move! Not only do we reduce available money under the cap but we get to watch him rub it in our faces for not wanting him. These type of decisions destroy baseball organizations for years. It’s like the clown that took over the Tigers after DD somehow was able to channel his ineptitude into ownership’s thinking. How to destroy an organization in one stupid move should be their next book about the Red Sox.
There is nothing redeeming about the LAD deal. Verdugo was fun to watch but nowhere near as much fun as Mookie.
30 Parks@ you have no clue the goal and direction of the franchise. It’s been explained to you dozens of times. Then you come in with a drive-by shot across the bow. Not seeing your point for doing so?
… life long Sox fan, Gary. But, an independent thinker – that’s where we part company. Enjoy the koolaid.
True fan would look Beyond the immediate moves and look at the overall projection. You want candy and you want it now. Going by your way of thinking it looks like that cry was satisfied one too many times at the grocery store checkout line.
30 parks, there’s more to life Then your paycheck on Friday. Perhaps you put a little aside for next week? Perhaps you try to understand what a billion-dollar Corporation is trying to do in regards to two years from now.
Gary do not mind 30 Parks as he is clueless like so many on this site. I simply skip their posts as they are clueless and will see the light no matter how obvious
I enjoy your posts, but it is truly a waste of time trying to convince some so dumb
Gary … a “true fan” thinks for himself. You lost this one, big guy. Try talking to ZZ, that seems more your speed. Always a pleasure – enjoy that koolaid.
I understand ZZz@, and your are right.. but I have confidence that he’ll see the light. All Red Sox fans deserve a chance.
Okay that makes sense…, now I know where you’re getting your information from 30 Parks. It’s not real life data or information from the Red Sox !! It’s from your own head. You’re making this up, you’re “thinking for yourself” with no outside influence such as facts. Starting to make sense now.
Thinking – yes. Generally, thinking is done in one’s own mind. Now you’re getting it! You have proven my point, Gary. Appreciated. You swallow the Red Sox PR nonsense hook-line-and-sinker – exactly my point. Have a nice day, Gary.
Gary – you have the patience of Job.
If you are a lifelong fan, then understand, teams dont always do perfect moves every season. Some things work, some things dont, some gms work and some leave you stuck with pablo sandovals and david price type contracts. You dont like the fact that we lost mookie, none of us do, but you should also open your eyes to the fact Bloom is doing an amazing job re stocking a barren farm. Pivetta gave up 1 run in 5 innings two games in a row and we have Seabold in the minors and gettinga stud reliever prospect like Jacob Wallace for 2 months of Kevin Pillar was an absolute Steal! The team also has Tanner Houck, Jay Groome, Jarren Durren, Triston Cases and Jeter Downs all waiting to come up and contribute. Now imagine if Noah Song ever plays? The Sox are in good shape going forward as Cases will replace Martinez at DH and Dalbec has immense power.
30 Parks – I agree with you that ownership’s viewpoint is being forced down fan’s throats and I for one don’t like, just like you don’t.
So lets debunk one more myth while we are discussing what Boston did in the last year. At the time of the deal, we had a projected $232M salary for 2020 because we didn’t non-tender several players that were above their value like JBJ and Hembree. If the Red Sox final number for 2020 had been $228M or less they would have owed no more than $10M in luxury tax. That is one million less than they paid JBJ, a long time favorite but a player who isn’t worth $1M based on performances over the previous 3 years.
So, why was it critical to get under the luxury tax in 2020 if we didn’t plan to go back over it in 2021? NO REASON. Bloom was hired to ensure we stayed under the tax so why not give him two years to get under and pay the one-time fee of $10M? That means 2020 becomes a year of opportunity along with 2021 to reduce payroll. We don’t have to move players when their value is lowest. We keep Mookie to a time when there is more demand in July and/or we apologize to him for whatever ownership did to make him want to leave. We pay him $27M in 2020 and sign him for $35 to $37 for a decade or 12 years. That is no more than a $10M jump per year so no JBJ off-sets Mookie’s raise. That makes it a no brainer to keep apologizing to Mookie and sign him and if you can’t we deal him in July for more than Verdugo and depth. We get a quality young starting pitcher, which is what we need more than a right fielder. We proved with Pillar, we can replace that position much easier than a quality pitcher.
So the luxury tax was a ruse. Ownership knew how they alienated Mookie and rather than apologizing with Bloom and trying to make things work we prematurely trade him for some beans in hopes they will produce a beanstalk that rises up to the sky. But we didn’t even go after the beans we needed!! The trade was a complete and utter disaster and we’ll be scrambling for years to fix it.
Not defending the Red Sox, but baseball is a business first, a game/fun second. If they felt that it was their company’s best interest to trade Betts, that’s their call. However, fans can (and should) respond by not buying their merchandise, going to games (when permitted), or watching on TV so that the team knows letting players fans want to see go is bad business in the long-run. Unfortunately many fans don’t stand by that, and the team ends up making money off people who hate their decisions and swear to stay away.
Tom, I agree with your practical approach to the business but lets dig deeper into the financials to see if what you are suggesting is true. If the ownership thought it was in the best interest of the organization as you suggested, then I’m guessing you are saying they expected greater profits for taking this action. Right? Let’s consider the $10M a year more that we would pay to have Mookie at $37M a year versus $27M a year.
Do you believe the key factors that contribute to our revenue would be negatively impacted by giving up Mookie? Lets start with merchandising. There are two components to this revenue stream. One is Mookie sales which obviously will be gone but the other is sales based on the success of the team. Will winning 33% of your games in year 1 and possibly 45 to 50% of your game in year 2 hurt your overall merchandising compared to winning many more games a year with Mookie here? Remember, post season means more merchandising and more TV revenue too so how many more years without a playoff spots should we include to reduce the revenues?.
While hot dog sales and ball park revenues might not decline without Mookie I believe two big hits will be Mookie merchandising and team merchandising as well as TV revenues. Will they amount to more than $1`0M. I think the answer is yes so was this a good business decision? You are right they control that decision but was their decision good for the business as you suggested they thought it was? I think not. Maybe they need some new financial advisors, especially after the Price part of the deal.
The Red Sox were a “living document?” Look mostly dead to me, just like Bloom’s tenure so far. Looks like he won’t even be allowed to pick his own manager.
He won’t. It’s a Henry-Warner call. In the parlance of the article, Bloom is in charge of the “bottom end of the 40-man”…the rest is the area of ownership and Sam Kennedy.
To be fair, Bloom has the pedigree of dealing with the “lower half” effectively. But thinking he can translate that skill to large market/ large contracts is VERY TBD. And with Henry taking FSG public, there might not be a lot of wiggle room.
Freidman’s grown in stature (and salary, I assume) moving from TB to LA; it’s pretty well deserved. Can Bloom make that transition, with a more demanding ownership? So far, he’s been rather “meh”. But people get better with more experience. But again, “meh” doesn’t sell in Boston for a long period.
Bob if you are right that Bloom isn’t fielding his own team then you can understand why DD is gone. He wouldn’t have accepted that. Also, based on that premise, we need new ownership because Henry-Warner have already proven to be inept with the Mookie/Price deal.
Let’s all hope as fans that Bloom gets to choose his manager and pick the players on the team he wants. Otherwise, we simply have a GM to swap out minor league talent in a big market organization. That’s both sad and pathetic.
The Sox fans, and I count myself one for over 60 years, look at the dark side. The brighter side would be they got a young controllable RF and disposed of $54 Million of salary annually. The Question is do they make the same mistake all over again? If they do, so what–it’s not your money. Most of you, like me, don’t go to the games.
I actually found the team rather fun to watch. They started playing decent ball the last 10 games. If most teams lost their 4 best pitchers, Sale, ERod, Price and Porcello they wouldn’t do much in a shortened 60 game season.
Don’t worry about the Sox–they’ll be back eventually. Between Henry, Warner & and Bloom they will put a good product on the field in ’21.
Great points. Spot on. The only hiccup could be the availability of quality free agents this offseason. Could delay the quick jump back to prominence.
I also have been a life long RS fan. I saw my first game at Fenway in 1956. In my personal memory there were 48 yrs with ZERO WS titles before Henry bought the team. and FOUR titles in 18 yrs since. Enough said.
Jmi1950 – 4 WS since ‘04 is more World Series than the following franchises have in their entire history:
Cubs – 3
Braves – 3
Orioles – 3
Twins – 3
White Sox – 3
Phillies – 2
Indians – 2
Mets – 2
Royals – 2
Marlins – 2
Blue Jays – 2
Astros – 1
Angeles – 1
AZ – 1
Nationals – 1
Rangers – 0
Padres – 0
Rockies – 0
Rays – 0
Brewers – 0
Mariners – 0 (never even been in a WS)
21 franchises have fewer WS wins than the Red Sox (total of 9) have in the last 16 years, and those 4 are with the Henry ownership group. I think they are entitled to make whatever decision they choose. They have a proven track record which is unmatched this century.
49 year Red Sox fan
Not at least for me if they rehire Alex
*Cheat’n* Cora for 21.
Dewey – i was referring to players, but i would prefer they not hire Cora also.
Betts was never resigning and the players the Red Sox received were a good return considering LA was taking on $78 million in salary with no guarantee Betts would resign.
So many mlb fans keep saying RS front office should have kept Betts. They did not own him, and he was not a slave, the contact was not one sided. Betts signed where Betts wanted, so he had all the cards to make his decision.
What i do not understand is why more clubs do not trade guys they feel they will not be able to resign if they feel they will not compete fora WS…. There is usually a team that feels they are one player away and will take a shot to win a WS. Looking at the 21 teams that have so few of WS. Maybe when the RS win there 5th WS this century in a few years fans will stop talking about Betts.
Madmac44 – you are totally on point!!!! Missing Sale, Rodriguez, Price made 2020 unwinnable.
Houck era 0.53 and Pivetta era 1.80 were 5-0
in their 5 starts. If the season went another 102 games it would have been interesting to see where they would have finished. The RS won 5 of their last 7 and 8 of their last 13 and the 24-36 record could have easily turned in .500 or better. As the Red Sox started weeding out Godley, Hart, Peraza,….failed experiments and start to use some the players that will be on next year’s team the W-L record improved dramatically. There were more players at the alternative training site that looked great and that I would loved to have seen in the mlb. Almost all the games were available online.
Madmc44 – I’m like you in that I’ve watched nearly 50 years before we won and my dad watched 80 years and died in August of 03. I remember the dark side all too well and the bad choices made. For 20 years we’ve turned things around by finding the key elements to success. Pedro, Papi and many others. I believed Mookie to be one of those keys to success that historically we let go but not during the last 20 years.
Something changed within the ownership group this past year and now it resembles the dark days. We can all hope that Bloom can change things back to the bright days but I haven’t bought in yet. I’m not convinced he’s anything more than a puppet who can take credit for improving a farm system ranking that was wrong to begin with. The ;sustainability’ part of the speeches when we hired him didn’t ring true since we had sustained success for 20 years. Yes, it was an up and down pattern but two things held true during the time period – key star players with a knack for winning big games and lots of money spent. We just gave away one of our key players and we just cut back our spending so this Red Sox team isn’t like the ones of the past 20 years. We took a formula that was working and chose to change it when it wasn’t broken.
The only way we’ll be back eventually is if the money comes back and we acquire some clutch performers. Without money, that won’t be easy. You and I have far less time than most people on this site to see our next ring. When DD was here I expected to see one. Now I don’t. Things could change with our money situation or our quality of players but until it does, I think we’ve both seen our last rings. Ownership lost it’s mind about a year ago, let’s hope they sell or regain some perspective on winning.
The Red Sox have ALWAYS let guys over 30 and who wanted big money WALK. Let them walk, see ya, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Jason Bay Pedro Martinez Jacoby Ellsbury Johnny Damon. Let them walk. Mookie’s only 26 but he wants a 10-year deal. Let him walk. It HAS been the pattern the last 20 years.
I agree with most of your comment, however after seeing the plethora of young pitching arms the Dodgers displayed in the playoffs, I would have liked to see Graeterol or any one of the young lefties in addition to Verdugo for Betts, Price and the monetary savings.
ditto
They had Brusdar Graterol. They had him in hand. Deemed him unacceptable. Did you miss it? It was last winter when they traded Mookie.
And they instead got their 2B and CA of the future and a above average RF. Would have loved a pitcher too but they still got a great haul.
Ellis – Let’s not exaggerate. They didn’t come close to a great haul. Torres for Chapman is a great haul. Why did it happen? Urgency. Was there urgency in January? No. If there had been insisting on a SP would have gotten us a SP. Urias or May rather than Verdugo. That would have been a good haul. The deal we got would have been surpassed in July when urgency existed. Three teams fighting to win the NL all would have killed to have Mookie. Atlanta, LAD and SD would have gone toe to toe since the one that gets him wins the NL. All have deep farm systems with pitching.
WS just ended. The NL winner among the 3 NL teams would have won the WS not just the NL!!! Friedman owes Bloom a yacht for taking such a low ball deal.
You don’t understand that it’s possible you could get less in July. Remember Mookie is in his contract year. That’s pretty important when trading for a guy. You’re not going to give up MORE in July LOL you’re going to give up more in January and get a full year out of him.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. You don’t pass up a good deal in January for the hopes to get more in July. Who’s going to give you more return for just two months of Mookie?
I understand what you’re saying but there’s two sides to some of these things you’re pointing out. Your statements are compelling but you’re not 100% right on some of these things. Good takes though and I appreciate it. They’re well thought out.
No I goy it. He was the Twins reliever heading to Boston. Bloom and Medical people questioned it. The Dodgers moved Maeda to the Twins to be sure Mookie and Price headed west and kept Graeterol.
What’s interesting is the Dodgers were desperate to move Maeda. And I’m not sure why. He was going to Minnesota and Brusdar Graterol was coming to the Red Sox. When that fell apart the Dodgers still moved Maeda to the Twins and just kept Graterol. I wonder why the Dodgers wanted to be rid of Maeda no matter who the return would have been. Either Graterol the Sox or back to the Dodgers. I wonder if anybody else has heard anything ??
Is it a salary thing because price was coming so they had to move Kenta Maeda?
So the Dodgers were being a little bit cost-conscious because you can never have too many starters. Oh heavens how could the Dodgers do such a thing and watch their payroll? As somebody said, saving pocket change ?
I don’t think it was a health thing because the twins wouldn’t have accepted him right? Anyway I wonder if anyone knows.
Over the past few seasons, the Red Sox have acquired four pitchers: Price as a FA and Sale, Porcello, Eovaldi in trades, who have cost them $384 million in salaries (includes $48 million to the Dodgers as part of Price’s contract). These acquisitions have also cost them Betts, Moncado, Kopech, Basabe, Diaz, Cespedes, Speier, Wilson, Beeks, and Price.
Price gave the Red Sox 46 wins and 24 losses in 4 seasons.
Sale gave them 35 wins and 23 losses in 4 seasons.
Porcello gave them 73 wins and 55 losses in 5 seasons.
Eovaldi gave them 9 wins and 6 losses in 3 seasons.
Just think, in the last few years the Red Sox got 163 wins and 108 losses from those four pitchers and all it cost them was $384 million plus Betts (and Price) and 8 other players (some of whom are now MLB players) for Verdugo and 2 minor league prospects. I’m impressed.
You’re conveniently leaving out the World Series championship. Selective reasoning much?
You’re also going to be impressed when the Red Sox come back and win again sometime in the next five years. Seems to be the pattern of this century. I’m sure you’ve missed that info as well as you culled you’re meaningless statistics from baseball reference.com.
Gee, and the Dodgers only had to give Betts a $365 million, 12-year extension.
BTW, I didn’t include all the money the Red Sox wasted. But to get to your question about “selective reasoning,” they also had four last place finishes during Henry’s ownership. After the club’s last two World Series’ wins, their record dropped off 26 and 14 games the following year.
David Price made $31,000,000 for throwing 1862 pitches in 2019,. That was $16648.76 per pitch, which is more than I make in Social Security a year. Baseball is not a game anymore and Manfred seems determined to make it worse while John Henry, et al, seem to be most interested in making money.
Since 2010, I been to 11 MLB games (about two-thirds of those while attending SABR conventions and only 3-4 at Fenway, even though I live about 50 miles away) and 94 minor league games. Now, I don’t know what going to happen with yearly minor league get-together with friends from around the country.
Otto – please refer to my post above….the Red Sox have 4 World Series titles in 16 years!!!! That is more than 21/30 mlb franchise in their entire franchise history!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Success speaks for itself…..lol how the clueless do not get it……Yankees have not been in a WS in 11 years and have spent over a billion dollars since then (actually it is overs 2 billion in those 11 years) and 0 WS appearances lol, lol, lol, lol
I think to me if they’re winning every 5 years, a last-place finish here and there doesn’t matter. Sometimes you finish last trying to “run it back” with the same Squad but people don’t realize how difficult it is to repeat. Giving that same effort two years in a row is a lot to ask of someone with a guaranteed salary.
Actually I’m not surprised at Last Place finishes after winning. A couple role players leave for big paydays and as I said repeating is not easy. Paying that price again is a lot to ask.
Gary – if you look at the rosters there was 80 percent roster turnover between each of the WS wins: 04 and 07, (no Pedro,Lowe,Millar, Mueller, Damon, ….in 07), 07 and 13, 13 and 18. Do not call it a rebuild as the Red Sox were in the playoffs 10 times in 16 years starting in 2003!!!! You and I get it as a WS title is definitely worth a last place finish!!
Red Sox have 4 WS since 04. The success of the Henry ownership has very few that can come close. As I posted above 21 franchises have never ever won 4 WS!!!! The Yankees have not been since 2009….my nephew Mr. Yankee bragger had no response to that.
it takes money to make money. Sox though now have four last place finishes in the last ten years if this farce of a season is counted. I won’t give back championships but the goal is to be consistently good AND win.
What is success? How is it measured? For me it’s measured in rings. I don’t remember too many second place finishes or too many last place finishes but I remember the rings. Does finishing last after winning matter if you win again within a few years or is it better to finish second for decades?
Everyone has their own preferences. I consider 4 rings in 20 years consistently winning as opposed to winning divisions and no rings for 32 years or 12 years. I take no issue with people wanting to finish in the money every year like the Patriots did with Brady but we still only count the Superbowls and World Series wins. Everything else is a means to an end.
So being consistently good can be a great added bonus to winning but it’s not necessary to winning. The Red Sox and Pats have found two different paths to greatness. Now, both are in deep trouble because they didn’t recognize the key components to winning. Tom Brady and Mookie Betts. There is always an exception to the Belichick rule that it’s the system that wins. Brady and Betts are that exception for their respective teams.
It’s a hard lesson to learn for Boston fans. Two huge mistakes and all the magic disappears. Let’s hope the spoiled youth who have grown up with all the Boston winning continue to see it going forward. Maybe it’s time for the Celtics and Bruins to rise to the top for a while.
Bloom blew it on the Mookie trade. I love Verdugo but NO PITCHING?
You have to understand that the state of the Red Sox farm system was weak at best. You get one pitcher and Wong and downs or you can get Verdugo Wong and downs and get rid of price. Picking up four young guys really helps the quantity in the farm. I can see why bloom made this particular trade for this particular return.
Perhaps now in trades the Red Sox can zero in on pitching? But I’ll tell you what, teams are not giving up pitching so easily. Bloom’s doing a great job in my opinion.
Actors always say: “Dying is easy, comedy is difficult..”
For MLB GM’s it’s: Getting fired is easy, finding quality pitchers is difficult.”
Jim – lol funny and true.
No GM wants to let pitching go, or if they do you have to over pay….
Pasha, he took the best available offer. No one knows what else was offered but don’t you think he would have accepted a young Pedro if one was offered?
LA hoards pitching for a reason. chances are they got better value then they would have to pry a pitcher away. and the concern over Brusdar is very valid.
Dewey – correct !! LA was not going to let pitching go and that is why the Twins were included in the original deal. Graterol was supposed to be a starting pitcher, but his medical showed this would not be the case. In the end it was more important to get the deal done than hold out for a pitcher.
ZZ – It was more important and that’s why it made no sense. Urgency is the key to winning a trade. There was none in January which is the biggest reason we didn’t get what we wanted. LAD would have gone hard after Mookie in July if they thought Atlanta or San Diego might get him. Pitchers would have been offered by all because they all had urgency for the ring in July. Ownership screwed up. It’s that simple. We keep selling low and buying high. Downs had 12 good games in the minors but somehow got ranked #44! Someone has an in with the people ranking prospects. Friedman completely outplayed Bloom and ownership. What a costly schooling.
When I watched the World Series I checked the total payrolls.
Tampa $ 28,773,481
Los Angeles $ 94,977,918
Tampa got there for 30%
I’m really glad I got to watch it for free.
And glad I didn’t pay over 3 times what Tampa did to get there.
And really interesting to watch a Moneyball team compete and almost win it all.