With the 2023 regular season now nearly 30% complete, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Kimbrel aims for 400:
Not even two weeks after Kenley Jansen made history as the seventh player to reach 400 career saves, veteran righty Craig Kimbrel is poised to do the same. Kimbrel was long among the most dominant relievers in baseball, with a 1.91 ERA and 1.96 FIP through the first nine seasons of his career between the Braves, Padres, and Red Sox. Since then, he’s struggled to reach those same heights, with a 3.96 ERA and 3.74 FIP since the start of the 2019 season. This year, Kimbrel has a 6.35 ERA and 4.70 FIP to go along with five saves in 17 innings of work at the back of the Phillies bullpen. Over his past five appearances, he’s pitched five innings, picked up two saves and allowed just one run with a 12-to-1 K/BB ratio.
2. Buxton to be evaluated:
Twins slugger Byron Buxton was out of the lineup yesterday after being removed from Saturday’s game with knee soreness, and it seems we’ll know more about his condition today. Manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com) that, while Buxton “probably could have stayed in and battled through” the soreness, the club will know more regarding Buxton’s potential return to the lineup today. The 29-year-old Buxton, who underwent arthroscopic surgery on that right knee last September, is slashing .235/.344/.484 with a 129 wRC+ as the club’s primary DH so far this season. Top propect Edouard Julien, who started at DH in Buxton’s place yesterday, would be among those to gain some extra at-bats if Buxton misses any time.
3. Roster moves ahead of White Sox/Guardians series:
Both teams are expected to make roster moves ahead of this evening’s game between the White Sox and the Guardians. Cleveland is expected to recall right-hander Hunter Gaddis to start tonight’s game, and a corresponding move will be necessary to clear space for Gaddis on the active roster. Gaddis has struggled through 19 2/3 innings across 5 appearances in the majors this season with a 6.86 ERA and a strikeout rate of just 14.6%.
Meanwhile, the White Sox have already placed today’s expected starter, right-hander Mike Clevinger, on the injured list with wrist inflammation. No corresponding move was announced, leaving the Sox with a roster spot to fill ahead of tonight’s game. Notably, most depth starter options who could fill in for Clevinger are not yet on the 40-man roster, with the exception of Jesse Scholtens, who has a 3.99 ERA in seven starts at the Triple-A level this season.
I feel bad for Twins fans. Buxton is such an immense talent and it sucks that he can’t stay on the field on a regular basis.
It’s sad to see arguably MLB’s best defender relegated to DH.
I feel bad for those poor fantasy players who trade for him every, single year, only to see the IL tag on him two weeks later.
Seriously, I’d love to see one full year from him. He has Mike Trout type of talent.
And I know it will never happen, but I’d love to see the RS trade for him. It would probably be a stupid move, but the dude is awesome when he is on.
To your point, if fantasy players draft him or trade for him, and they *don’t* build in IL considerations to their calculations of having him, they should.
My experience is that they do build IL considerations into his price but not enough. That is why I have never owned him in any league despite playing in 8 to 10 leagues each year.
He’s the reason you have IL tags in fantasy that don’t take up a roster spot. I’d rather have that then him slogging along to pedestrian numbers.
Same for Eloy Jimenez – one in the same.
@displacedfan. Obviously you haven’t watched Eloy play on defense.
@Dogbone. He is referring to his immense talent but the guy can stay healthy,
And why would the RS trade for him? It would beyond a stupid move.
He has a career .300 OBP he’s no Mike Trout
U feel bad for fantasy players?
I have zero empathy for “fantasy players or degenerate gamblers whose inane obsessions are detrimental & distract from the game of baseball.
My empathy is for Byron Buxton who has made every effort to to properly rehab from too many injuries while maintaining a positive leadership attitude towards the game & his teammates while consistently giving 100% on the field.
So unfortunate as Buxton seems to be a quality young man & a Tier one athlete.
I mean, it’s not like Buxton’s injury prone nature isn’t well known, and while he’s a great player, it’s not like he’s on the level of guys like Trout. Buxton is a 5-6 WAR player in a full season (which he’ll never have) while playing center field.
Moving him to DH robs the team of quite a bit of value, but I guess it could have delayed the onset of knee pain. Not sure if the DH move is worth it if it just nets the Twins 120 games of Buxton at DH vs 90 games of Buxton at CF.
Bullpen day for the Sox. Unlike Jansen, who picks up saves nearly every time out, Kimbrel just limps along with a ridiculously high ERA for a closer. I can’t believe the Phillies couldn’t find anyone better.
The issue isn’t that Kimbrel can’t close. The issue is the usage. They have Alvarez & Dominguez, who are both real good, then signed Kimbrel and traded for Soto. Soto and Kimbrel would probably do a good job as closers, but Kimbrel is especially bad in non-save situations
This year, he has a 10.00 ERA is non-save situations, and a 2.25 in save opps. Philly probably needs Kimbrel to close, and more defined roles for everyone else.
Tough to not use anyone from the bullpen when the phillies have the 5th least amount innings pitched from their starters. Bullpen will be taxed by August.
But we already knew that from his stint as the worst setup man in MLB in CHW. He wasn’t much better in LAD, but occasionally got some save situations. He hasn’t been given the tag in PHI and he’s making them pay for it. Stop expecting one-trick ponies to do another trick.
Does he not focus enough?
“Oh, no save, ho hum…..”
Phillies bullpen has been bitten by the injury bug. Alvarado is the clear closer, but he’s out for a bit.
Alvarado is their closer. Kimbrel is getting saves while Alvarado is on the IL.
Kimbrel getting 10 million is the typical Dave Dombrowski classic.
AMK – Yeah Bloom would never pay $10M for an old washed up pitcher with a 6.26 ERA who is likely to be released before July, right?
FPG – You seem to forget Kluber is a starting pitcher making $6 million vs Kimbrel making $10 million. If you take away his first start and another start where he gave up 7 earned runs, he would be sporting a 4.62 a lot better than his 6.29 ERA. And the RS would be happy with that as he was only brought in until Whitlock, Houck, Bello and Paxton were ready.
So if they were to release them the RS got value out of him even with is ugly ERA.
Lamas- $10M and I don’t think the intention was ever to get just a half season out of him.
FPG – Agree 100% he still has time to turn it around if he stays with the team.
Little known fact, 7 of the top 12 career saves leaders pitched for the Red Sox.
No other team comes even close to that many in the top dozen.
Sounds like they just have a lot of close games then.
Saves are a completely useless stat created by sports writers to change how baseball was played. The best option you have in the bullpen should be who you go to in the most important situation. If it’s a 2-2 game in the 8th bases loaded one out your best reliever should be counted to get those outs. Now in the bottom half the 8th you hit a 3 run bomb and it’s 5-2, your bring the closer in why? Shouldn’t everyone in a big league bullpen be able to get three outs with giving up three runs?
While I agree that your best reliever should be brought in for the highest-leverage situations, not every pitcher has the mental fortitude to handle the pressures of closing out games. Closers are closers bc they rebound very well from their occasional failures to perform the job.
Isn’t that odd though?
Their job is to get outs but,
oh no! Pressure!
I forget who it was… Oil Can Boyd? He threw up in a bucket when called upon to close out an important game.
While I agree that your best reliever should be brought in for the highest-leverage situations,
=========================
There is also another issue with that. Your best RP is not always your closer.
But more interesting is the number of fans that think the closer should be brought in early (sometimes) and that the team should have a closer by committee for the 9th. I only mention this because virtually every manager in BB uses a traditional closer, and virtually every GM plans accordingly.
There are always teams out there with a struggling closer, or injuries, but there doesn’t appear to any disagreement about the usage.
Jerome Holtzman created the save as a way to recognize good relief work closing out victories. It’s not his fault teams and managers have misused relievers for decades because of it. Fortunately, some teams have moved away from having a set closer the last few years.
Gbs – Most likely teams that don’t have a set closer are either non-contenders and therefore don’t need one, or they don’t have a pitcher good enough and suited for the role.
Lindy- I somewhat agree. Best reliever should indeed come in the game when shutdown pitching is needed the most, even in 7th or 8th. But there are many other factors to consider, including score and quality of hitters to be faced and potential for your opponent to give up more runs.
Larussa is the one who revolutionized the Save. Every stat has at least some value, the ability to preserve late game leads is critical. Think about it, if the closer comes in with the lead and does his job then it’s a guaranteed win. What other situation can you say that about? None.
FPG, not to mention Radatz and Stanley.
Monster averaged 135 innings over 4 years.
Bigfoot averaged 115 innings over 6 years.
Fever,
To me, La Russa is largely responsible for the bastardization of the save, reserving Eckersley for one-inning outings in the ninth. That decision helped push multi-inning firemen into the closer role.
Just as it relates to the RS, I’d feel very comfortable bring in Whitlock, Houck, Winc, Schreiber, or Martin in the 7th/8th inning. The only one I’d trust in the 9th is maybe Martin.
And as inconsistent as Kimbrel has been this year, I would trust him with a save opp before any of the 5 guys I mentioned. There is a lot more to this than just ERA.
Why – Yes indeed, and Goose as well. Back in the days when you finished what you started.
Gbs- I don’t think Tony is the reason almost every reliever today is used as a one-inning max effort guy. That’s because of analytics, matchups, infatuation with K’s, etc.
With Tony it was providing a defined role. Eck always knew when or if he was coming into a game without anyone telling him. Just like setup guys knew. There’s value to that.
The closer position is underrated if anything. There are things spreadsheets don’t account for and the mental fortitude of closing is one of them. Joe Nathan addressed that when he returned from TJ in 2011. It was very stressful being put right back into the closer role. The huge confidence and short memory needed when you know the team is expecting you to dominate and to know if you don’t dominate, your team loses because of you.
Saves are not overrated. If a starter gives up 2 or 3 runs in the first inning, it stinks, but there’s plenty of game left. Giving up 2 runs for a closer means the game can end on the spot.
I anticipate a Pharmorlover phantasmagoric encounter very soon.
With his hand
Buxton has been around since 2015, and has played over 100 games in a single season once. All world talent crushed by injuries.
I’m very disappointed to see CLE bring up Hunter Gaddis for tonight’s start. Gavin Williams has done nothing but slice and dice every lineup he’s faced so far this year in AA and AAA. Gaddis has had 6 or so starts for the Guards between this year and last, and arguably 3 of them weren’t just bad, they were literal abominations. I get that the FO is high on him, but I seriously doubt he’s gotten his act together in the 3 weeks he’s been in Columbus.
I don’t know when Williams last pitched, but this could be a timing issue.
He last pitched yesterday, so no not timing. Williams, Naylor and Rocchio should all be in the bigs and playing. Bringing hot bats up to sit on the bench is ridiculous. I’m so frustrated with them right now
When they called up Fry with the intent to deploy him as a super utility player (including C), my first reaction was, “Francona will use him in emergencies only.” Nobody knows if he can hit because he’s only had 10 ABs in the 2+ weeks he’s been up. Tito doesn’t use his bench much.
SP depth and an anemic offense. If you move Bieber for a league level or 2 proven hitter, could you over take the Twinkees? Baltimore needs a one. Excluding Mullins, Rutschman and Henderson do the Birds have anyone of value to trade that could land Bieber?
Tito has to keep batting Rosario in the 2 hole.
Maybe they figure WSox are also scrambling for its starter tonight + don’t generate much offense on the road. Sheets/Burger are examples of guys who are legit offensive threats at home, but look like minor leaguers away. Has to be mental esp’ly with Sheets since he had had a lot of opportunities.
Gavin Sheets. Home: .259/.317/.426 OPS-.753. Away: .250/.333/.458. OPS -.791. But keep going, you’re so close!
Ha, fair enough for 30% season mark in ’23. The home/road splits are dramatic for full body of work that includes last 2 regular seasons.
Things you can count on: taxes, death and the annual Buxton injury
Ol’ Balsa Wood Buxton
White Sox pitching problem is the way they draft. In the last 6 years they have drafted 6 HS pitchers in the first 3 rounds of the draft None have made it to the the White Sox. They should select more good college pitchers from the Power 5 conferences who have the money to get the best coaches in the country. two years ago we drafted a HS shortstop from Indiana with the next pick Cleveland, who knows pitching took a college pitcher name Williams who would be in our rotation by the end of 2023.Please let’s draft better pitchers.
The Buxton DH experiment has been a failure. 1 WAR through 42 games- his worst rate of production (by a lot) since 2018. If he’s not in CF, he’s just a fairly productive roster piece- a slightly above average player.
He has much greater value as a very fragile CF than he has as a DH. And being a DH doesn’t at all completely prevent injuries, anyway. Maybe next they will tell him that he is still a DH, but now he has to also jog on the bases instead of run.
Not to mention the attitude that he carries around with him which is displayed to those around him.
I mean, of course his WAR is lower, he’s not playing defense. The point was to keep him healthy.
I’ll root for Kimbrel to get his 400th Save. Even though his time in Boston didn’t necessarily end the best he did help win a championship. The question is if you’re the Phillies do you bring him into a 1 run game and pray, or do you wait for a game with a 3 run lead? Or do you do what Mike Scioscia did whem Francisco Rodriguez set the single season record and bring him into games to create save opportunities…