The Guardians announced they’ve acquired reliever Scott Barlow from the Padres. Fellow reliever Enyel De Los Santos is back to San Diego in a one-for-one swap. Cleveland also announced they’ve signed outfielder Ramón Laureano to a one-year contract to avoid arbitration. Zack Meisel of the Athletic reports (on X) that Laureano will make $5.15MM next season.
Barlow has spent the majority of his career in the AL Central. The right-hander reached the big leagues with the Royals in 2018. He logged five and a half seasons in Kansas City, where he was one of the game’s more quietly effective bullpen arms. Barlow turned in a sub-3.00 ERA over 74 1/3 innings in consecutive seasons from 2021-22. That excellent run prevention took a step back this year, as he carried a 5.35 mark through 38 2/3 frames at the time of the trade deadline.
The Royals swapped Barlow to San Diego last summer. While he’d been working as Kansas City’s closer, he stepped into a setup role in deference to Josh Hader at Petco Park. Barlow made 25 appearances for the Friars down the stretch, pitching to a 3.07 ERA. While Barlow was effective, he became a trade candidate yet again as rumors of payroll constraints in San Diego arose.
MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Barlow for a $7.1MM salary in what’ll be his final year of arbitration control. While that’s decent value for an effective reliever, the Padres are reportedly aiming to cut spending (potentially by as much as $50MM). Moving a non-closing reliever is one of the less impactful ways for San Diego to clear spending room, although it’s another hit to a bullpen that also stands to lose Hader to free agency.
It’s rare for the low-payroll Guardians to find themselves on this side of a trade of that nature. Cleveland tends to deal away players as they’re nearing free agency. The Guards jumped on the opportunity to add a high-quality reliever to join Trevor Stephan and Sam Hentges as a leverage bridge to star closer Emmanuel Clase.
To offset the loss of Barlow, San Diego brings back a more affordable short-term bullpen piece. De Los Santos had a nice 2023 campaign, pitching 70 times and working to a 3.29 ERA through 65 2/3 innings. The righty, 28 next month, had an average 23.7% strikeout rate and walked 9.5% of opposing hitters.
It was his second straight year with an ERA in the low 3.00s. Since signing a minor league deal over the 2021-22 offseason, he has turned in a 3.18 ERA over 119 frames. De Los Santos worked in mostly low-leverage situations but had pitched his way into the middle innings during his second season in Terry Francona’s bullpen.
De los Santos, who spent some time in the Padres system early in his minor league career, has between three and four years of MLB service. He will be eligible for arbitration for the next three years. Swartz forecasts him for an affordable $1.2MM this winter, meaning the deal should save San Diego roughly $6MM in the short term.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Why would they do that? De Los Santos had a better season than Barlow plus he’s got more control
I would think Cleveland is trying to compete for the division this year, so I doubt they’d trade Barlow if they can fix him
Take a look at Barlow from 8/8 on. Barlow is the better pitcher.
I wish the season started in August. Unfortunately, you have to look at the entire season and can’t cherry-pick dates (unless he was pitching injured prior to 8/8?). For 2023, De Los Santos had the better year. For a $6m salary difference, even if the pitchers are pretty comparable, I’d take the salary savings (especially for a front office claiming salary reduction as a reason to trade away other players).
If Barlow pitches well this year, he will price himself out of the Guards’ range. If he pitches poorly, the Guards wouldn’t want him back anyway. This looks like it’s definitely a one-year thing with the Guards, as opposed to keeping De Los Santos for a few more years.
De los Santos did NOT have a better season and he’s a far inferior pitcher….. you’ve clearly never seen him pitch and don’t follow the Guardians cause he was basically only used on low leverage situations…. I cannot believe how many people like your comment, there are SO many casuals on this site….
Sounds like someone’s feelings are hurt
Lol very original
is he butt hurt?
@Brew …
Actually, he’s right about EDLS’ only being used in low-leverage situations. However, I’m still OK with the deal.
That a useful post breaking down his types of appearances. The times that I saw him pitch were mostly low leverage but this shows he had a smorgasbord of roles.
Of De Los Santos’ 70 appearances, 41 were in game situations that were late and close, in other words 7-9th inning with the game within 1 run. That means in 57% of his appearances, it was a high leverage situation. So he was NOT “only used in low leverage situations”.
Just to give you something to compare against that, of Barlow’s 63 appearances, 34 were in late and close situations. 54%.
Overall for the season De Los Santos had a 3.29 ERA and 127 ERA+, Barlow a 4.37 ERA and 99 ERA+
Obviously De Los Santos is NOT a far inferior pitcher.
I saw DeLo pitch a bunch last year, and at times he was a lot more reliable than Stephan or Clase. Barlow, I was underwhelmed by as a Royal last year. Strange move.
@Ban Jacob …
Speaking of “uppity holier than thou types who don’t know wtf they’re talking about,” maybe you should review those “stats” you used to prove your expertise. At least, you should understand why the “leverage” numbers you quoted add up to more than 70, and what that means. How about this: in 70 games, 20 of his appearances counted as Save Situations. Of course, you know that doesn’t always mean the 9th Inning, right? Just so you know, he was 0-1 in those situations with a 4.40 ERA and 3 Blown Saves.
Stop insulting casual fans, ok?
@Ban Jacob …
“De Los Santos was used in multiple leverage situations (high medium and low) not just low.”
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True. And that’s all you needed to say to make your point. We don’t need anymore websoulsurfer/Pads Fans/OutInLeftField types on here.
My point is that he wasn’t very effective in high leverage situations, and (as your original post pointed out) he was mostly used in low to mid leverage situations. Trying to paint this guy as the next Hoffman or Rivera doesn’t do much for anybody.
Thank you!
@Ban Jaco…
I stand corrected on the “casual fans” insult; that was rols’, and you were just responding. My bad.
To say you weren’t commenting on “effectiveness” is splitting hairs. It was pretty clear you were implying EDLS was much better than some think. And that’s all just opinions; yours, mine, and theirs.
I’m not upset with you in the least. I really don’t care enough.
Let’s see …
33 Hi-Lev
37 Mid-Lev
44 Lo-Lev
44 > 37 > 33 … total of 114. So, only 29% were High Leverage situations. (See, I can split hairs, too!)
How a player is used is an indication of his effectiveness in certain situations.
Because Cleveland believes Barlow fits their bullpen mix better. It was Cleveland who unlocked De Los Santos a couple seasons back but they clearly believe more in Barlow in 2024.
Odd move for CLE.
Career WAR Barlow 6.9
De Los Santos 1.1
Great Trade for the Guards!!!!!!
It’s odd to trade for a significantly better pitcher?
It’s odd to trade a younger, inexpensive pitcher with 2 more years of control for an older, more expensive guy with comparable stats in his final year of control.
Very.
Yeah, I was gonna say the same thing. De Los Santos is cheaper, younger and BETTER than Barlow. I’m confused by this move.
Yeah, Barlow was not doing well when KC dealt him to SD, and nothing changed. I thought they’d shop Clase this winter and make de los Santos the closer afterward. They must be really confident they can fix Barlow.
Not true, look at Barlow from 8/8 on, he was actually stellar.
Enyel is really good too though, younger, controllable and a LOT cheaper.
Good move by the padres, and if they gave up SOME talent, it wasn’t much at all
Enyel isn’t good, he’s mediocre at best
De Los Santos was 27% better than mediocre last season. Do you know who was almost exactly mediocre? Scott Barlow.
Barlow was not doing well when KC dealt him to SD, and nothing changed.
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LOL!
Barlow had a 1.09 ERA in his final 21 appearances.
You don’t have to go too far into the details, like I do, but you kind of should’ve known that he did fairly well with SD.
Not even close to better lol you have no idea what you’re talking about
Barlow has and can close. No one else other than classe has or can. Barlow offers closer insurance when clase cannot go.
Closers experience means absolutely nothing. These are professionals. Pitching the 9th isn’t harder than the 8th if you’re facing the bottom of the order…. Try using your brain
It is not the inning, it is the closeness of the game. If you come in down 10-1 or up 10 to 1, in the 8th inning, there is less pressure and less skill required. Save situations are close scores and higher pressure.
Thanks for the good laugh. Have a good day.
I don’t know man.. the 9th isn’t just an inning. Guys are destroyed there and some can cut it
I’ve always hated the argument that it takes a “special” sort to get the last three outs. What nonsense. Why don’t we ever talk about the extra pressure on hitters in the 9th inning? The so-called pressure cancels out. It’s just another inning. I mean, really, a save situation, most of which are at least two run leads? What kind of pitcher can’t get three outs before two runs score the vast majority of time? Leads in the 9th have been converted into victories at roughly the same rate they’ve always been, going back to the 1880’s. Yet the myth of the “lockdown closer” persists.
@Avory …
Geez. Could it be because the actual numbers prove that a “Lockdown Closer” is a different breed of pitcher, and really exists?
(I think we found Brian Kenny’s burner account!!)
I think it means that Clase is literally going to go. To another team in trade that is.
Clase isn’t going anywhere. But if he does, the Jerry Dyzbinski trade tree from 1983 lives on!
@Pads Fans
Oh yeah, that makes a ton of sense. Acquire a 31 year old coming off a bad year with one more year of control and kick to the curb the much younger guy you have under contract for years who throws 100 mph.
Where do people even dream up comments like this?
He’s back.
Head scratcher.
So we gave up Henry Williams and Jesus Rios for one year of Freddy Galvis?
I totally forgot De Los Santos used to be a pretty hyped prospect for San Diego. I do remember hating that trade at the time for them however.
A lot of people hated that trade. IMO, hating that trade was stupid, because EDLS was just a prospect. We needed a real SS far more.
Just out of curiosity what is it that you think would have happened if the Padres didn’t have a “real shortstop” in 2018?
@legendary …
We would have sucked even more. Remember, that was also Hos’ first year too. But, I guess we could have just left Alexi Amarista at SS …
Defense Matters. Freddy Galvis brought that along with a better bat.
@SDHotDawg Doesn’t really matter if the Padres suck even more in 2018. Surely they had someone in house or that they could have poached from another team in the Rule 5 draft to play shortstop in 2018 that wouldn’t have cost 6.8m and a prospect. They might have batted around .100, but oh well.
@legendary …
Nope. Not even in hindsight. Were you around in 2018?
Yes and the Padres sucked that year even with Fred Galvis and were always going to. He wasn’t the “missing piece.”
I never claimed he was. But it was damn nice to have a real SS. So, what’s De los Santos been doing for the last six years?
Enough that Preller traded for him.
Mostly just trying to stick with a club.
Preller’s an idiot.
Haven’t heard that name in 20 something years.
I do like that they’re keeping Laureano, but Barlow has been about as shaky as they come over the past year. If he’d stop trying to be a clone of Clevinger he might have a chance.
I don’t get the appeal of Laureano either. This whole thing doesn’t make sense for Cleveland.
I think Cleveland really liked what they saw out of Laureano after they grabbed him. He looked very strong defensively and he held his own with the bat. He also hits lefties well, which is a soft spot in the lineup.
Right, but they have defenders and RH bats will good platoon splits come cheaper than 5.5 mil.
I’m not smart enough on defensive metrics but by some measures I believe that Laureano was rated one of the best RF’ers in the league last year. Plus an OPS+ of 100 since coming over.
If Kevin Kiermaier is worth the 2 year/$26 million MLBTR projects.. $5.5 million for Laureano doesn’t seem all that bad. He is a bit of a gamble though,for sure.
You go into the season with Brennan as your main Right Fielder (assuming you usually see right-handed starting pitching). Even if you move Laureano to center, Straw was actually much better against righties last year (Laureano barely made it above the Mendoza line while Straw hit .235). I see Laureano strictly as a platoon guy who should be very limited against right-handed pitching. Right now, Brennan is the same for the other side of the plate, so they may make a good, if not overly exciting, Right Field platoon.
I don’t actually see Laureano moving to center because, when he’s the better option over Straw, he will be needed in right field.
Maybe I’ve just set my expectations really low for their outfield offense, but a platoon of Laureano and Brennan wouldn’t be horrible. It wouldn’t be great but you could do worse, and they definitely have before lol
Ideally it comes in center and they add a right fielder. I like Straw and in the right situation he’d be a valuable player, but it’s tough to play him every day in a lineup that doesn’t have much in the way of sure things. In a better lineup where you can afford a weak spot or two, he’d be really valuable.
@Keith K
You got the platoon right, but the position wrong. Brennan and Laureano would excel as a combo in CF,and would give the team league average offense AND defense at the position, a rare commodity in the major leagues.
Maybe they have straw going in package deal with middle infielder and young pitching prospect. Looking for a corner outfeider with some pop that control for 3years or more.
Barlow is good
Barlow is mediocre. 99 ERA+. 100 ERA-
Can’t get any more mediocre than that.
Maybe look at better stats lol
websoulsurfer8 hours ago
Barlow is mediocre. 99 ERA+. 100 ERA-
Can’t get any more mediocre than that.
======================
You’re looking at data to support whatever you want to support. His career ERA+ is 133, and it was 135 with SD.
@Joe…
Websouldude will cherry-pick any number he can to support his opinion. Even if it isn’t relevant.
What stats would that be? You never seem to use any. Why is that?
It feels like a good move by both teams, depending on their l/t plans. I just see no sense in trying to make EDLS as anything more than what the RS picked up.
Both moves were a modest downgrade in talent for some salary savings.
I don’t get it
this is the guardians getting an experienced closer so they have flexibility in case an offer comes for Clase
Closers experience means nothing lol
a first time manager in Vogt may disagree with you
@MoneyBallJustWorks
That’s ridiculous. Barlow has one year of control left coming off a bad year. Clase is signed forever. What kind of analysis is that?
I don’t understand the moves. The Pads got the better RP. And I certainly don’t understand Laureano for $5M+. Way overrated OF. For a team which traditionally makes smart moves financially and on pitching talent I’m confused.
Pads got the better reliever? Ummm not even remotely close?
Barlow is better. I like De los Santos but he was used almost exclusively in low leverage situations, doesn’t strike out as many guys, and doesn’t have the ceiling of Barlow. I think you know you’re getting a decent middle reliever in EDLS, but you have a chance to get an impactful setup man with Barlow and that’s worth a lot more — even with the difference in club control.
Laureano makes sense because he can hit lefties and most other players in their lineup can’t. You could also make a half decent argument that he’s their second best outfielder, but that says more about the quality of their outfielders than it does about Laureano lmao
Of De Los Santos’ 70 appearances, 41 were in game situations that were late and close, in other words 7-9th inning with the game within 1 run. That means in 57% of his appearances, it was a high leverage situation. So he was NOT “only used in low leverage situations”.
Just to give you something to compare against that, of Barlow’s 63 appearances, 34 were in late and close situations. 54%.
Overall for the season De Los Santos had a 3.29 ERA and 127 ERA+, Barlow a 4.37 ERA and 99 ERA+
Enyel in those leverage situations
182/.308/.273/.580 – Low leverage against
226/.250/.307/.557 – Mid leverage against
267/.338/.467/.805 – High leverage against
Yes, an 805 OPS against. He basically turned every hitter he faced in high leverage situations into Francisco Lindor (.254/.336/.470)
So sure, he faced some high leverage spots. He shouldn’t have though, he was a pitching machine in them.
He is merely a lower leverage pitcher, thats the only spot he thrives
I’m a Guardians fan and watch the team so I’m aware. You can manipulate the stats to show whatever narrative you want, but in general he wasn’t trusted enough in more crucial situations. On the other hand, he faced 68 batters in high leverage situations compared to 64 in medium leverage and 130 in low leverage. His OPS against in high leverage situations was .805 while it was under .600 in any other situation. He was primarily a 7th inning guy (just over half of his innings pitched were in the 7th), so that’s kind of carrying the “high leverage” narrative.
I also think part of the reason he pitched more in the later innings last year was because guys like Stephan (who usually had that part of the game locked down) were struggling. When Stephan was much better in 2022, EDLS faced 138 batters in low leverage situations compared to just 43 in medium leverage and 34 in high leverage. Francona didn’t really trust him so that’s the point I was making. He’s a fine reliever but he’s more of a middle relief guy than someone who you can definitely count on in the late innings.
His 307 obp against in low leverage situations helped create many of the mid and high leverage situations he faced, as well
Yes, he was, and all indications are should only be used as, a low leverage pitcher. If you look over his pitching history, you can see all the teams he’s been on recognize that, and it’s a large part of why Cleveland was able to sign him to a minor league deal off the scrap heap less than 24 months ago
There are countless pitchers like him on the FA market every year looking for minor league deals. A few lucky ones catch on with a team that knows how to get the most value out of pitcher abilities and therefore they look good for short periods of time before going back into obscurity.
Barlow is a near AllStar level closer from 2021-22 (3.13 FIP) who merely saw some bad BABip luck (.341) for a few months to start 2023. Once it adjusted back out, he was right back to the pitcher he’d been (3.15 FIP in SD)
Late and close are high leverage situations by definition and most of his appearances were in those situations.
That is literally your first post. Who is your other account?
He pitched almost exclusively in the 7-9th innings and in close games more than half the time. He was trusted in crucial situations because late and close is a crucial situation. Its actually closer games than the closer comes in for much of the time.
.307 OBP is actually low. Well below the league average of .320. Since you get the easy stuff wrong like that, why should we listen to your opinion?
ALL late and close situations are high leverage. Within 1 run in the 7th 8th or 9th inning is the most important time to be pitching in the game. Most of De Los Santos appearances were in late and close situations.
Barlow was almost exactly mediocre last season. 99 ERA+ and 100 ERA-. In case you don’t know, 100 is average on both. That is not close to All Star level pitching.
Websoulsurfer,
You do not know what you’re talking about and therefore are repeating the same misleading stuff over and over while you blatantly ignore the most important aspects
Go look up Tyler Olson. He is a Cleveland created De Los Santos type before they did it with De Los Santos. In 2020, once cleveland let him go, he was a non roster invite of the Cubs. 31 minor league games later he was out of the game
If you can explain why late and close is not high leverage I might listen to you.
De Los Santos is not Olson.
Olson was a soft tossing LHP who relied on off speed pitches 60% of the time and never threw more than 30 innings in the majors in any season in his career and had a 4.66 ERA his last two partial seasons in Cleveland. He could not stick in the majors for a full season even once in his career. Even in that one good season he had in 2017 he spent the majority of the season in Columbus.
De Los Santos is a hard throwing horse who had 120 IP over the past 2 seasons. That is 25% more than Olson threw in his entire career.
If you actually watched De Los Santos you know there are many reasons for his improvement,
He started throwing that FB high in the zone instead of picking at the edges of the plate with it and he stopped throwing his curve entirely and only uses his changeup occasionally now. Its almost all FB and slider today.
He has raised his hands to in front of his face in the set position instead of closer to his waist, he no longer uses an inverted W in his delivery instead going to a more conventional and repeatable delivery with his hand pulled back behind his head and up, and he has also lengthened his stride by 4 inches so hitters have less time to react to his pitches.
But you are trying to say that I am ignoring the most important parts?
The vast majority of decent relievers pitch after the 6th inning. That’s kind of the point unless it’s a bullpen game or your rotation isn’t doing its job.
And you’re conveniently leaving out the fact that Barlow had an ERA+ of 135 with the Padres. That’s a huge piece of info to leave out, and it’s kind of obvious that you have no intention of seeing any info that doesn’t fit the narrative you want.
EDLS is fine. Barlow has a decent chance of being more valuable.
There is a huge difference between pitching most of your games in mop up situations and making most of your appearances late in games when the game is close. Most of De Los Santos appearances were the latter.
Barlow was with the Padres for 2 months. In his best two months last season, April and May, De Los Santos had a 249 ERA+ or 51 ERA-. It’s very convenient to leave off the majority of the season to try to fit your narrative.
De Los Santos was a horse, 70 appearances, that pitched late in games when the game was close most of the time, and he was better than league average while doing it. That is not a narrative. It is the facts.
You can try to spin it to fit your narrative with partial seasons, but it won’t change the facts.
De Los Santos had a 200 babip the first 2 months of 2023. That is the “reasons for his improvement”
Final 4 months of the season his babip was a more realistic 308 babip, and his ERA was over 4.0 accordingly
Meanwhile you keep repeating this nonsense acting like he’s a high leverage pitcher
Only 26% of his plate appearances were in high leverage situations last season …and he pitched absolutely horrible in them (.267/.338/.467/.805 line against)
For his career it is just 17% high leverage situations, and he’s pitched just as as pathetic in them (.248/.320/.487/.807)
That is the similarly to Olsen, and why I brought him up. Both were used in low level situations to get the most out of them but were garbage in high leverage spots. It’s what Cleveland does; use pitchers very selectively to get the most from them then cut them loose when they will no longer hold value
Now we get it, you’ve clearly developed a crush on him that has resulted in you being here repeating the same manipulated talking points youve created over and over again. But your crush doesn’t change reality. I’m sorry
You keep repeating nonsense like PA when its game situations that matter. Late and close is high leverage. Period.
Its OLSON and its not similar in any way.
Now we get it, you are clearly a racist and don’t like brown skinned players. That makes as much sense as trying to say that I have a crush on De Los Santos.
My job for most of the last decade was watching amateur and pro players. I spent 7 years covering that part of the world. Every November to January through 2016 I was in the Caribbean watching kids like De Los Santos play.
Cool, so statistical websites categorize everything wrong
And stats are wrong
And Cleveland knows nothing about pitching
And guys that faceplant the final few months after a lucky start are amazing while guys who become their typical old dominate self after a bad break start are garbage
And we know all of this because some random has decided he needs to copy/paste the same misleading, manipulated thing over and over to be every other comment in this article since he claims he used to watch South American baseball players 8 years ago…
We see a lot of pathetic people on these comment sections, but you may actually take the cake
Barlow has a decent chance of being more valuable.
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I’d gladly wager that Barlow is more valuable.
Agree with you on the trade but Laureano makes a lot of sense to me.
I like this
Love this from the Padres end. They shed some salary, get a few years of control, and the bullpen isn’t really any worse off
Definitely a good deal for the padres. They saved about 10-11m with this trade and letting Nola and hill go.
Looks like the padres will tender Grisham and morejon. Both could be traded as well at some point.
God I hope we don’t tender grisham, dude is ass
Grisham has been league average or above in WAR the past 3 seasons. The Padres will be looking to trade him. They won’t get much for him in trade, but a couple of relief prospects would actually be the perfect return. They need to depth in the pen.
What teams need a left hand hitting CF? Grisham has been better then Manny Margot, so who has been rumored to be looking at him in trade?
Yankees, Blue Jays, possibly the Giants.
“Grisham has been league average in WAR … “
Which says more about the problems with using WAR as a “stat” than it does about Grisham. His “high” WAR is due to the crappy defensive “metrics” that are used.
He sucks.
With his swing, a short porch like the one in Yankee Stadium would be good for Grisham.
It’s much worse off lol Barlow is way better
The $ Pads saved will be used to build a stronger BP than pricey declining Barlow could give them.
I like this…great move for the Friars.
The key here is that De Los Santos most often pitched in 6th-7th innings only. Barlow ends games. They had some problems occasionally getting to Clase. Good move for Cleveland. They even spent some money.
I like Barlow more in a set up role. I don’t think he was the closer in KC when he was traded over to SD at the deadline…
No he lost his closer role because he was ww terrible with the royals last year.
Still think he can bounce back and be a great set up guy for the Guards…
In 62 of De Los Santos 70 appearances he pitched in the 7-9th innings.
In 10 he pitched in the 4-6th innings.
baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=delos…
Love how the writer says it’s a hit to their pen in a cost savings move.
This was a good baseball trade. They got a guy who was better in the pen last year that has three years of control left. The fact that it saves 6m is a bonus.
People can’t even write an article at all about the padres without making it all about cost savings. Not a a single move they have done so far this year was a bad decision to save money.
Not at all. I am curious as to what their true budget is though with all the uncertainty surrounding.
Barlow is way better than enyel lol
Tell us one more time
No kidding, they look pretty comparable with neither being amazing or anything.
Here is what opponents have hit off each the past two years in similar PA’s:
2023
Barlow: .242/.337/.337
De Los Santos: .216/.302/.332
2022
Barlow: .199/.266/.324
De Los Santos: .208/.274/.328
I’m happy to have the guy costing around 16% this year with an extra 2 years of control.
Much better outcome then I was expecting with Barlow (non tender to save $ or trade for a minimal valued minor league likely to never make it to the show).
Thos was a serious win for the Padres considering the return and the savings
Could be argued that it’s more like a 9 million dollar saving move for the over-the-luxyry-tax padres.
This type of move is why the luxury tax exists. The lower market team gets quality and can try to give less in return because of the inherent savings.
That’s the theory, but in this case, padres got some pretty even quality. Nice job Preller.
Great move by the Padres. They get a younger and cheaper reliever who has been really effective the past two years.
That $6 million savings can be used in other areas and the pen doesn’t suffer much if at all.
He has not been really effective. He was only used in low leverage situations….
You repeated that over and over and were wrong each time. Since you keep repeating with no facts to back it up, I will post the facts again.
Of De Los Santos’ 70 appearances, 41 were in game situations that were late and close, in other words 7-9th inning with the game within 1 run. That means in 57% of his appearances it was a high leverage situation. So he was NOT “only used in low leverage situations”.
Just to give you something to compare against that, of Barlow’s 63 appearances, 34 were in late and close situations. 54%.
Overall for the season De Los Santos had a 3.29 ERA and 127 ERA+, Barlow a 4.37 ERA and 99 ERA+
Cleveland’s offense played mediocre. The bullpen had lots of high leverage situations – 58 games decided by 1 run (2nd most in MLB). Another 29 games decided by 2 runs. Thanks to pitching, they were in the majority of their games and were one hit away from turning losses into wins.
And yet you keep repeating this over and over despite multiple people telling you that he was TERRIBLE when he pitched in high leverage…. You’ve clearly never seen him pitch once. Totally clueless take
Anything late and close is a high leverage situation. 7-9th inning and within 1 run.
I think you are right about the rebuild coming. Going to miss Tito. He was truly one of the greats both at the technical part of the game and as a man. Hope he actually takes some downtime and relaxes He deserves it.
ONLY you trying to tell people that he was terrible when the facts are crystal clear that he wasn’t. There is a reason you don’t actually post stats. You must not understand them. What is clueless is repeating an assertion that has been proven wrong. Yet here you are trying to quadruple down on stupid.
I have watched him pitch since 2013 when he was a 15-year-old in the DR. At the time it was my job.
“I have watched him pitch since 2013 when he was a 15-year-old in the DR. At the time it was my job.”
Sure, Jan.
@the great bambi
What about this deal screams “rebuild”? Let’s me get this straight: you get a guy who costs in excess of $6m more that what you dealt away…how does that indicate a “rebuild is coming”? The team is already one of the youngest in the game, with some fine talent, a great young rotation, and has been in the race in its division with this young team in August of the last two years? Why the heck is a “rebuild coming”? What kind of absurd analysis is that?
Outstanding! De Los Santos is a former Padre that many said they were stupid to trade at the time. He is 3 years younger, under team control for several years, and has 2 straight low 3 ERA seasons. Plus he is earning $6 million less than Barlow who only had 1 year of team control.
Add in the savings from Nola and Hill’s salaries and the Padres have $11 million freed up to spend in areas of greater need.
Now trade Grisham for relief prospects and the Padres are set in the pen and will have $16 million to spend on other areas without increasing payroll.
This offseason is already looking good.
He stinks. He was only used in low leverage situations
He stinks? Exaggerate much?
He’s extremely mediocre. Could easily be out of the league within a few years. Who cares about the verbiage?
Rols
Why not just admit you misspoke?
He is an average middle reliever who was put in low leverage situations. That is not the same as “stinks”.
Considering that you have said the same thing half a dozen times in this thread, seems like you are living in a glass house to take a pot shot at his reasonable correction.
I do agree that if the salary was even and the deal was for the same number of years of control, most teams would choose Barlow.
Again. And wrong again. Again no facts. Wow!
Facts –
Of De Los Santos’ 70 appearances, 41 were in game situations that were late and close, in other words 7-9th inning with the game within 1 run. That means in 57% of his appearances, it was a high leverage situation. So he was NOT “only used in low leverage situations”.
Just to give you something to compare against that, of Barlow’s 63 appearances, 34 were in late and close situations. 54%.
Overall for the season De Los Santos had a 3.29 ERA and 127 ERA+, Barlow a 4.37 ERA and 99 ERA+
Websoulsurfer there likes to copy/paste that post and parrot it endlessly. Over and over and over he’s said literally the same exact thing here
What he won’t say about those leverage situations for de los Santos though?
182/.308/.273/.580 – Low leverage against
226/.250/.307/.557 – Mid leverage against
267/.338/.467/.805 – High leverage against
Yes, Enyel had an 805 ops against when asked to pitch in a few high leverage situations
For context
.267/.338/.467/.805 – High leverage against
.254/.336/.470/.806 – Francisco Lindor
Lol talking smack yet you literally copy and paste the same low IQ reply every time…. Lol classic
so does he stink or mediocre? I’ll give you another shot at clarifying
Enyel likely stinks
He is fine in low leverage situations. He got lucky his most recent minor league deal was with a team known for getting seemingly good results out of otherwise mediocre to bad pitchers. You saw how he pitched in Pitts and Philly before Cleveland gave him a chance in front of their defense with their pitching coaches and metric analysts team
Can the Padres find some use for him? Maybe. But reality is, he’s more likely just another Tyler Olson type (look him up if you don’t remember)
I copied and pasted because Rols kept saying the same thing. I was right.
Late and close is high leverage. 7-9th inning and within 1 run. .246/.306/.400/.706
baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=delos…
Facts. I post facts. You keep posting the same thing with no facts. Just your opinion which those facts have proven is wrong. But you keep doubling down on wrong. On stupid.
web also claimed that you are not allowed to sign players to major league contracts for less than 80% of what they made last year lol.
Still trying to figure out where you explained that late and close isn’t high leverage.
Reports are that Padres are looking to get payroll down to 200M.
Shocked me as well but the Tribe needs a back up closer as we all know what happens when Clase has to pitch in back to back nights. But can Barlow hit?
Tell me if Robert Suarez is healthy and I will tell you if I like this move for the Padres.
This trade was a salary dump but that could mean that Padres expect to keep Soto. The Padres pick up a cheaper low leverage middle reliever who is coming off a nice year.
Personally, I think the Padres should trade Soto so they have enough money to sign two top notch starting pitchers. But I do not expect them to do it.
Padres get a setup man with multiple years of team control who was a better pitcher last season for $6 million less.
Obviously not just a salary dump. That was just a nice bonus. De Los Santos is a good reliever, as good or better than Barlow.
As I pointed out several times De Los Santos was not a low leverage middle reliever. He was used almost exclusively in the 7-9th innings and mostly in close games.
The Padres have enough money to sign anyone they want. Expect them to be in on Yamamoto, Montgomery, and Snell. Also Ohtani if for no other reason than to drive up his price. This and other moves today saved them $11 million.
It may also mean that what baseball experts have been saying is true,
Padres are cutting budget and will, likely, be trading Soto.
It would be great to see if the Padres can get 3-4 young pieces with big upside
that can help them compete this year.
A new CF who can hit would be a start.
More, young starting pitching and bullpen help would move the needle also.
Not one person on the Padres has said they are cutting payroll. Not even the interim control guy. It may also be that the Padres are going to keep payroll the same like the now deceased owner said a few months ago.
It wasn’t “baseball experts” it was Kevin Acee and everyone has referred to his article to try to say the Padres are cutting payroll. Even Acee said he was wrong just one day after that original article.
Soto is far more likely to be extended than traded. The Padres new interim control guy just said the goal is to win a WS in 2024 and the Padres won’t do that by trading Soto. Common sense is something you apparently don’t have much of.
The Padres are the favorites to sign Jung Hoo Lee CF that can hit. If they don’t, a trade for a corner OF and then moving Tatis to CF fills the need.
Trading Grisham would be a good way to fill the bullpen. No need for the late innings. Just a setup guy and a middle reliever/swing man.
They care more about Soto than top notch starting pitchers considering they traded one that was making league minimum for Soto.
Hey no, our boy MacKensie Gore isn’t quit top o the notch just yet. 4.42 ERA last year, 4.5 career
Meh
They’re not getting someone better if they trade Juan now. Forget about it.
Yep they have Soto now, that’s why they made the trade. Iriarte, Snelling, Lesko, Mazur next up
Gore better
Goes without saying that Gore has been a better MLer than those guys.
Relievers are a roll of the dice year2year but Cleveland needed someone to pitch 9th innings. Clase was overused in the past two years. I liked De Los Santos but he wasn’t used to close. And like the Laureano signing – not a super exciting one but useful. he can play solid defense in rf and cf (maybe push Straw to 4th OF) and he is a more dependable righty hitter (a big need) than Oscar Gonzalez – and they aren’t very many affordable, righty OF available.
Career numbers seem to suggest this was a fair trade overall for two bullpen pieces.
Barlow: GB% of 42.6% and kwERA of approximately 3.163, the calculated GBkwERA is approximately 4.31.
De Los Santos: GB% of 40.4% and kwERA of approximately 3.516, the calculated GBkwERA is approximately 4.72.
That should be their expected ERA next year.
Difference is one cost 7m and the other cost 1m. Also one has one year of control and the other 4 years of control. So all stats be near equal this is a big win for the padres. Obviously it will come down to how they pitch next year.
@Simm
True, I was not looking at the dollar amount. I guess I’d rather pay a guy $1M to achieve the same results of a $7M player. But ultimately, it comes down to who shows up to perform.
I hit 4, he has 3 years of control left.
Pen arms unless elite can be shaken from year to year. Guess if santos is shakey it didn’t cost much.
Especially when the team says it can’t afford to pay a starter (Quantrill) $6.6m. It makes the stated reasoning for shipping Quantrill invalid. At the end of the day, you could’ve had Quantrill and De Los Santos on your team for almost the same price.
The thing I don’t understand is the comment by the Guards that Quantrill (est $6.6m) is deemed too expensive, but they bring in a reliever in Barlow (est $7.1m) making more. In doing so, they give up De Los Santos (est. $1.2m), who was probably the Guard’s most consistent bullpen arm last year. For $7.8m, they could’ve had Quantrill and De Los Santos. Instead, for $7.1m, they just get Barlow. One less player, barely any cost savings, no upgrade in talent (at worst, they are a wash as of 2023, although De Los Santos looks like a player on the rise vs Barlow who looks like a player on the decline). I’m really hoping a return to the AL Central does something for Barlow or the Guards know something we don’t. Right now, I’m having difficulty understanding the moves.
Cleveland knows pitching
They can get a poor Starter being forced to the pen put into a trade and turn him into a useful piece until they realize he’s no longer going to be useful (Quantrill)
They can get a straight garbage reliever, turn him into a useful low leverage reliever and get something out of him for a couple years before moving on (de los Santos)
No one would likely even know those guys names if not for Cleveland picking them up and turning them into useful, but not spectacular, pieces for a short while
So why would anyone question that team deciding to move on from them now? The number of pitchers they’ve moved on from that have pitched well over any sustainable amount of time has been really close to nil
Padres had one of the best pitching staffs in baseball last season. fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&st…
I would be willing to go out on a limb and say they know pitching too.
Especially since Niebla came from CLE and knows both pitchers now.
Thankfully NO. Barlow isn’t a closer anymore. Clase is already locked into an affordable deal.
Looking more and more like most baseball experts are correct:
The Padres ARE CUTTING THEIR SPENDING BUDGET.
As of now the padres 2024 roster will cost about 177m next year. Most believe the will move Grisham and his 4-5m that he will get in arb this year.
They need 3 starting pitchers. Plus I’d guess another pen arm or two and a back up catcher. Though they could use the farm to cover the last two.
If the padres plan on getting one top of the rotation starters via free agency that will cost around 25m. They would still need 2 more back end of the rotation starters which prob will cost another 25m.
They are linked to Lee who would replace Grisham. He will prob cost around 10m.
That’s 60m they could spend already. Putting them around 235m. Which they could still add a pen arm or two and a backup catcher. If they do that for another 15m that puts them about the same payroll as last year.
Of course they could trade Soto to bring that price down and perhaps fill one more of the holes mentioned above.
So it’s too early still to say if the padres will cut payroll or not. They needed to shed some money to do the plan as I listed above.
We will know which direction they go if they trade Soto. Of course if they trade Soto they would need to replace him with someone.
It’s way to early to tell Sportsfanoooo. These initial moves are typical early offseason moves and may be key to being flexible to add players in upcoming moves. Quote in this morning in article in SD UT by Eric Kustenda suggest they will indeed be spending at consistent levels to honor Seidler’s intention to compete for WS every year for a long time.
I don’t think he’s broken. Man was pretty solid with the Padres. All of those saves make him expensive. My Padres can either use De Los Santos as middle relief or let him stretch out in El Paso for Spot starter duty. Good financial sense.
I’m surprised only one comment picked this up, but my guess is that the basis for the trade is that Clase is gone. While he is still an AS, several of his numbers took a step back. And there are a few contenders that need a closer. I’d be at least a little surprised if he wasn’t trade and Barlow made the closer.
Barlow seems like a very odd replacement for Clase.. but just about everything from Cleveland’s offseason has shocked me so far.
Cleveland’s entire MO is to trade players one year before it becomes obvious.
His K9 declined from 9.5 to 7.9.
K-W% from 24.7% to 15.9%
EV from 86.3 to 88.4
GB/FB from 3.19 to 2.18
CSW% from 30.1 to 28.1
To me, it is a bit like Pujols or Trout, where one side could point to great stats, but the could point to declining stats.
This is utter nonsense. Clase’s stuff is as good as ever, the results simply suffered. He’s far younger than Barlow, signed forever to an affordable contract while Barlow is 31, coming off a bad year, and is a free agent at the end of the season. Why on earth would any team trade Clase in this situation and turn to Barlow? I can’t believe this kind of ridiculous analysis.
I am actually shocked that the team formerly known as the Indians took on more money!!!!
Oh wait, they did just move Quantrill so I guess it’s a wash……see, excited for a split moment then reality kicked in.