Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen frequently found his name in the rumor mill all throughout the winter as the club reportedly fielded offers on the veteran in the run-up to Spring Training. No deal ultimately materialized, but that doesn’t mean the team has shifted gears. As relayed by Bob Nightengale of USA Today this morning, the Red Sox still “plan” to trade Jansen before the trade deadline with Nightengale adding that the club isn’t interested in bringing him back for the 2025 campaign.
It’s not necessarily a surprise that the Red Sox would still have interest in dealing Jansen given their efforts to shop him this winter. Boston is currently at .500 with a 26-26 record that places them ten games out in the AL East, making the club passing the Yankees and Orioles for a division title appear unlikely at best. The club’s odds at a Wild Card spot are somewhat better, as they sit just 2.5 games back of the Twins for the third spot, but Boston has shown a willingness to deal rental pieces even while on the fringes of playoff contention in recent years such as when they traded away catcher Christian Vazquez at the 2022 trade deadline despite a 52-52 record.
As for Jansen, the 36-year-old has posted a solid season for the Red Sox to this point with a 3.24 ERA and a 2.59 FIP with eight saves in nine chances across 17 appearances. On the other hand, Jansen’s 13.9% walk rate is surely concerning to potential buyers even in spite of the righty offsetting it with a strong 29.2% strikeout rate. Those control issues combined with Jansen’s hefty $16MM salary this season could make the veteran righty a less attractive piece to clubs in need of relief help than other alternatives who would be unlikely to boast Jansen’s track record but could come with better peripherals and less of a financial burden.
Speculatively speaking, outfielder Tyler O’Neill could be another piece the Red Sox make available in the event they sell this summer given his status as a pending free agent. O’Neill got off to a scorching start in April with nine home runs in 21 games but has crashed back to Earth in the month of May, hitting just .151/.244/.301 over his last 82 trips to the plate. O’Neill added some context to his recent struggles following an incident during yesterday’s game where his knee collided with the Green Monster in left field, causing him to leave the game due to soreness.
O’Neill told reporters (including The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey) after the game that his knee had already been bothering him prior to last night’s incident and that it has “probably” affected his swing, although he remains day-to-day and it’s unclear if he’ll require a trip to the injured list. Rob Refsnyder and Garrett Cooper could be among the players to take over O’Neill’s spot in the lineup should he miss time due to the issue.
Also dealing with injury issues is right-hander Bryan Mata, who is out of options but has yet to make his big league debut due to a hamstring string that’s kept him from playing this season. The righty recently began a rehab assignment in the minor leagues, but that assignment hit a snag on Thursday when he began to experience some soreness in his lat. As noted by MassLive’s Christopher Smith, the Red Sox initially believed the soreness to be in his shoulder and his lat but Mata has since clarified that he’s only feeling an issue in his lat.
Smith notes that manager Alex Cora indicated to reporters on Friday that Mata is “likely” to be pulled from his rehab assignment, a move that kick the club’s decision on Mata’s future further down the road. Mata can only be on a rehab assignment for 30 days before the Red Sox must either recall the righty to the big league roster or designate him for assignment, but that clock will reset if he’s pulled from his rehab assignment and begins another one at a later date. Mata has made just twelve appearances across all levels of the minors since the end of the 2022 season but looked excellent across three levels of the minors that year, pitching to a 2.49 ERA in 83 innings of work.
Jansen to L.A.
That’s not exactly a hot take, as Phillips is hurt and he used to pitch for LA.
Don’t need him have Brasier.. enough said!!! Don’t need two closers as good as MR
Really shows how Henry is looking at the bottom line. Trading Jansen will not return anything interesting and they probably will also have to pay down the contract to. Most likely though the order to CB II is the payroll of all trades has to balance out so if they take on salary, trading Jansen will help absorb the difference. Otherwise, why look to trade him? If they’re ten under at the ASG, I can understand considering dealing him then. To even mention it is stupid as it could lower your little return even further if other teams believe as I’ve just stated.
Hell they are 10 out of first place now! By July they could be 20 out.
Al – Really doesn’t matter, the Sox never had a shot at the division. As long as they are within 5 of the WC, they will pretend to “still be in it”..
I think they will be on that fringe again at the deadline, around 5 out with a bunch of teams in front of them.
Phillips better than Jansen every day of the week. No chance.
Trout to Boston
It’s ironic that Boston fired Dave Dombrowski and “the Dom” has led the Phillies to the best record in baseball this year while making the World Series & NLCS in the previous 3 years. All while the Redsox have been mired in mediocrity, multiple last place finishes and a distinct lack of direction in the years since he left.
DD gutted Red Sox and walked into a great situation in Philly.
You dont trade away 31 prospects, get no youth in return, and not lock up Betts and others and think the team will be fine. No irony there what so ever.
I’ll give him credit in Philly though, he isnt using a wrecking ball while trying to compete like he did everywhere else.
The prospects he traded away were for the most part nothing special. Failing to lock up Betts was a historic mistake, though. Everybody makes a few blunders, but that one was a biggie.
“Most part nothing special”…That’s a “Dom” specialty, trading away LOTS of “nothing” players while receiving several good, useful players in return. I’ll agree on Betts, but realistically, locking up superstar players to $300M+ contracts is an OWNERSHIP decision, not a GM one. Even the Chris Sale extension decision was made by ownership.
The prospects Dombrowski traded away had trade value. He traded away a lot of the value from the farm system. Maybe he would have restocked if he stayed longer. I would do it again to win a World Series. However, the farm system did need restocking when he left.
The prospects that DD didn’t trade (ie Devers in the Sale deal) far outvalue the prospects he did.
I have started believing that DD was reluctant to trade Mookie, and that’s what led to him being let go.
Some issues with DD’s tenure was not locking up Betts earlier and some of the contracts, ie Sale. But imagine if he didn’t extend Sale. He might have went elsewhere and avoided some of the freak injuries and the contract looks like a steal.
Would have lived to sit through DD’s rebuild instead of whatever you want to call Bloom’s tenure.
Absolutely, it was ownership. Mookie never wanted to stay regardless of how he spins it now. DD left because ownership no longer was going to continue to spend to win. One thing he did wrong in my view is he over traded meaning he gave up too much in each trade. While none panned out, they could have been used in other trades.
Sale was already hurting when he was extended. Ownership signs off on contracts and they get the blame in my view. DD gets some but Devers is the current overpay. As much as most of us love Raffy, he’s overpaid by $5m to $8m per and when ownership pinches pennies, it’s money that could be used elsewhere.
Not locking up Betts was on ownership not DD.
I agree that not locking up betts was on ownership but taking Betts to arbitration was 100% on Dumbo and absolutely poisoned the well.
Fangraphs estimates that Devers has been “worth” $112M over the last 3 1/3 seasons, an average of $34M/year.. That’s about $5M/year *more* than the AAV of his contract.
Devers is solidly a top-20 bat. He plays 3B adequately for now, and is likely to continue at that level for at least a few more years. I know people love to focus on what he CAN’T do, but he is worth that contract even priced as a 1B/DH. You can’t get 27 year old middle-of-the-order hitters for less.
Extending Devers on that contract was a good deal. Not a bargain, of course, because they waited until a year before he hit free agency. But a solidly good deal that will make the team better in the long run than hunting for greener grass in other pastures.
For what it’s worth, I believe the Fangraphs valuations are consistently low. Teams are willing to spend $10M=$12M per WAR. You have to project over the lifetime of the deal, not just look at the baseline production — and due to his age that is solidly in Devers’ favor.
Can’t wait to see Troll Frees response to Devers defense is adequate this should be good.
He has his opinion, I have mine… I’m not going to engage in name-calling, if that is what you mean?
TFF – Especially considering they gave Devers only $15M less (in total) than Mookie.
I like Devers as a hitter, but if forced to choose between him and Mookie it’s obviously no contest …. Mookie all the way.
Fever: If forced? No Brainer Mookie if not forced no brainer mookie
Bruin – He may not respond, I think he’s very bummed out about the Red Sox this year and that’s why he’s not posting as often.
Totally understandable of course, this is a tough team to watch. Like last night with Rafaela wearing his three large new gold chains during the game, then having the chains injure him while making a throw. That right there is one reason why I’m disappointed in him thus far. He’s a very gifted athlete whose focus isn’t where it should be and doesn’t seem to be very intelligent. I know he’s still young and will hopefully mature with time, but it would be nice if he cared less about looking cool and more about improving his hitting.
TFF – We have a good group of guys here who can disagree without resorting to namecalling, I don’t think Bruin meant that. We know you’re a good guy who wouldn’t resort to that.
B dog – I can’t find my post where I said that, but going on memory I think I meant if they had to trade one of Mookie, Devers or Xander I would not have traded Mookie.
You can’t realistically make that comparison, as the deals were signed two and a half years apart, with a huge (30%?) jump in free agent valuations coming in 2022.
It was never a choice between Devers and Betts. There was no good reason why they couldn’t have given both lifetime deals. Bogaerts was the weak sister of the three, the long term extension that didn’t make sense.
That said, Betts was a huge bargain. At the time I was floating a $400M valuation. Really tough to put a price to a unique talent like that. Closest comparison you can get today is Soto, and (with the jump in free agent valuations) he will sign in the $550M range.
Agreed that Rafaela is athletically gifted, but (skills-wise) immature. He is arguably the worst defensive shortstop in the majors at this point, and isn’t making up for that with his bat either. I’ve been wondering if it makes sense to send him back to the minors? He gets paid either way (now that he has a guaranteed contract), but it might give him the space to work on his game a bit. A 40%++ chase rate, sloppy play at shortstop, doesn’t add up to a MLB asset.
I still believe in him long term.
Betts and Devers were obvious no-brainer extensions. You can’t replace talent like that, and they were young enough that they were/are a really good bet to sustain their production for 5+ years.
Bogaerts is as talented as Devers, in his own way, but three years older at the time of free agency. That’s three fewer years of prime production and three more years of buying into his decline. Thus Bogaerts *should* have gone at a 30% discount (or more) to Devers, simply based on the likely longevity.
Unsurprisingly Bogaerts is already moving down the defensive spectrum (will happen with Devers in a few years as well), and he hasn’t approached a ..200 ISO since 2021. Bogaerts would have been really nice to have around in 2023, and has done as much as Story in 2024, but the Padres unbelievably signed him for *11* years, not the 3-5 years that (in a stretch) might have made sense.
TFF – It’s hard to say how much Mookie could have gotten two years later. Keep in mind he had a down (for him) year in 2021 with just an .854 OPS and lots of time missed due to a hip injury. Regardless, all I was saying is that the Sox could have been paying Mookie almost as much as they gave Devers, if they had signed Mookie at the same time he signed with the Dodgers.
In order to get under the first threshold in 2020, which was their primary goal, the Sox could have traded Xander instead of Mookie …It also would have been more logical seeing as they obviously didn’t intend to extend Xander at fair market value. But yeah, they also *could* have signed Xander to a $160M extension and traded Devers for a boatload of talent..
They *SHOULD* have offered Mookie anything up to (or even a bit over) $400M back in 2018-2019. Just get his name on the contract — don’t quibble the price. You literally cannot replace guys like that, any more than you could have replaced Ted Williams.
Bogaerts (and his agent Boras) gamed the system perfectly. He accepted a “team friendly’ deal for three years, paying him well below market even at the time, and hit free agency at his peak earning potential, timed for the new CBA and the resulting jump in pay scale.
Sure, he could have probably swung a $200M or maybe even $250M contract if he had gone right into free agency, but instead he got $60M + $280M. And there was no way he could have possibly gotten a $340M contract back in 2019.
I don’t begrudge Bogaerts his success, but neither did I want to see the Red Sox end up paying this current deal. That one will slaughter the Padres for a decade! The Red Sox should have done almost exactly what they did — sign him to that initial deal ($120M/6 yrs with an opt out after three), enjoy two and a half tremendous years, and THEN TRADE HIM!!!! Because signing him to a new contract beginning in 2023 would have been a bad mistake.
Bogaerts was never staying here for less than $200M. I agree that $160M is closer to his fair value, but Boras knew he could get much more than that. And why would Bogaerts leave $100M+ on the table?!?
Trade Devers?!? Admittedly not as bad a mistake as trading Betts, as Devers is merely a “pretty good” player rather than one who is historically great, but your “boatload of talent” would probably have been something like Verdugo and Wong, plus the “opportunity” to eat most of Sale’s remaining contract. Ugh.
Gutted? They had one of the best major league rosters in baseball. It’s not his fault Henry didn’t want to pony up to keep it together.
Kyle – You’ve proven you don’t follow the Red Sox at all.
Their starting first baseman, two starting OF’ers, and Top 3 starting pitchers were ALL in the farm system when Dombrowski left. To say he “gutted” the farm is asinine.
Name one of those prospects on the Sale trade that did anything big? Moncado and Kopech are not great. You trade for an established player anytime. If you had not fired Dombroski and hired that imbecile Bloom the team would have remained intact. Bloom made the worst trade of an MLB future Hall of Famer in Betts for garbage to get rid of Price too. We are on year 5 of rebuilding and cheap high upside players. Breslow is a 5th rate GM even worse than Bloom.
The dismantling of the team is the result of two factors… First, the core of the 2018 team was aging. DD kept them together for 2019, and what did they do then? Keeping them together wouldn’t have won anything – they needed some fresh talent.
Second, of course, Henry decided to gut the payroll. That exacerbated the problems with my first point, essentially making it impossible for them to even retain their players let alone add fresh blood.
Bloom was the scapegoat more than anything else. I’m not saying he was great by any stretch, but he was dealt a losing hand.
Al – It’s just another Dombrowski hater trying to make excuses. Prospects are for either promotion or trading, there’s no prizes awarded for having the highest rated farm system.
Anybody who bashes Dombrowski for how he put together a 108-win World Championship team is ignorant.
TFF – Aging?
6 of their starting 9 hitters were in their 20’s including Xander, Devers, Benni and Mookie all between 21-25.
4 of their Top 5 starting pitchers, and 3 of their Top 5 relievers were also in their 20’s.
2019 was totally on Cora, that’s been well documented.
Of course Bloom wasn’t totally responsible for 2020-2023, Henry was responsible too. But obviously Bloom didn’t have good longterm plans, which is critical when it comes to roster construction. He likely planned to let Xander, Nate and JD all walk after 2022 so why didn’t he trade any of them to free up enough payroll to extend Mookie?
TFF17. Who where the aging players your speaking of? Betts , Bogey, Devers, Benny?
@FPG and Bdog, there are two distinct aspects to ‘aging’. The first is literal aging. Their top ten players from 2018 were Betts (+10.2 WAR), Sale (+6.2 WAR), Martinez (+5.9 WAR), Bogaerts (+4.6 WAR), Benintendi (+4.4 WAR), JBJ (+2.8 WAR), Porcello (+2.6 WAR), Price (+2.4 WAR), ERod (+2.1 WAR) and Eovaldi (+2.2 WAR).. A total of +43.4 WAR.
Three years later, in 2021, we saw: Betts (+3.9 WAR), Sale (+0.8 WAR), Martinez (+2.8 WAR), Bogaerts (+4.1 WAR), Benintendi (+1.4 WAR), JBJ (-1.7 WAR), Porcello (out of baseball), Price (+0.7 WAR), ERod (+3.9 WAR), and Eovaldi (+5.7 WAR). A total of +21.6 WAR.
Unsurprisingly, they lost half their value between 2018 and 2021. That’s not unusual. Performance (on average) typically declines by 0.5 WAR/year beginning in the mid/late 20s, and 1.0 WAR/year in the early/mid 30s. Given a list of ten players, it isn’t at all shocking that their aggregate performance might slide by ~5 wins per year. Look at what they are doing in 2024, just another three years later, and who is still producing? Betts, Sale (for now), Eovaldi? You can’t stand still! You have to be continually replenishing and refreshing the talent on the team.
That’s what the farm system is for. Now look at farm system graduations between 2019-2021? Devers was neglected in the above numbers, as he was still breaking in and didn’t hit his stride until 2019. But after that…
Position players: Dalbec and Chavis. Pitchers: Houck, Whitlock, It is absolutely laughable to suggest that you can replace +20 WAR of production with Dalbec, Chavis, Houck, and Whitlock. You can talk about how there was talent in the farm system when DD left, but that talent was mostly in A-ball, years away from contributing in the majors. So it doesn’t change the simple fact that there was a talent desert at the top, with no reinforcements in sight. We didn’t start seeing the talent break in until 2023, really, and guys like Duran and Houck haven’t really hit their stride until this year. So it was really more like a four year talent gap. Doesn’t really count as major league talent until it is in the majors and actively contributing.
But that’s only half the picture. We knew that the core talent had already peaked, and would be fading steadily from there, and that there was nothing in the upper minors to replace it. The OTHER half of the picture is that the core talent was starting to get very expensive. Eovaldi, Sale, and Bogaerts got their new contracts in 2019-2020, and while some of them might have been a “bargain”, they were a heck of a lot more expensive than the earlier deals. Betts got his. More recently, ERod and Benintendi got their paydays. The Red Sox payroll in 2018 was around $230M, top in the game, and keeping that crew together was only going to get more expensive.
Their 2021 paydays:
Betts ($23M), Sale ($30M), Martinez ($19M), Bogaerts ($20M), Benintendi ($6.6M), JBJ ($6.5M), Porcello (out of baseball), Price ($32M), ERod ($8.3M), and Eovaldi ($17M). That’s a total of $162M, even before you start trying to replace +20 WAR at a free agent cost of $8M/WAR (even in the short term).
And of course that picture got worse with the ERod and Benintendi contracts,
You can’t stand still. If you do so, your on-field performance fades, some years faster and some more slowly, but inexorably over time it wears at the talent on the roster. And keeping a roster together costs more money every year.
The answer two both sides of that is to churn fresh (and cheap!) talent out of the farm system, filling the bench and depth positions on the 40 man roster cheaply, and replacing the second tier talent as it hits free agency so you don’t need to resign them at $15M+ valuations. You still need to be willing to spend money to keep the irreplaceable star talent around (especially Betts and Devers), but you can’t ignore the other half of the equation either.
The Mets thought they could beat this, ramping up payroll (which was already more than Henry is willing to spend) by $135M between 2021 and 2023. I guess they got one playoff run out of that, but now they are old (truly old — average age over 30) and expensive (truly expensive with a $330M payroll) and crappy (truly crappy — a .400 W%). It will take them 5+ years to unwind those mistakes, even if they begin today.
The Red Sox were never going to be competitive in the 2020-2023 time frame no matter what their path. They could have chosen to be competitive this year. I am still hopeful that they will commit to being good again in 2025.
P.S. I’m not going to address the Cora/2019 comments beyond noting that the pitchers throwing the ball are ultimately responsible for their performance.
TFF – Lots of info, love it! For a second there I thought it was written by TF not TFF! I’ll circle back to read and absorb it after work, just want to say I appreciate it.
And agreed on 2019, no need to rehash all that again …. I’ll just note that pitchers must do what their managers tell them to do, if the manager refuses to give the pitchers an opportunity to properly prepare for the season that’s on the manager not the pitchers. Same thing with pulling the SP sooner than necessary and sooner than the pitcher’s liking.
We should note that Philly has played only 6 games against teams above .500
Perhaps some of those teams have records under .500 because they have played the Phillies. A winning percentage of .712 is impressive in MLB whomever the opponents are.
Both of these things can be true, but look at their schedule. The only teams who are .500-ish and can say they’ve looked better outside of when they played the Phils have been the Giants, Padres, and Cardinals. The only genuine contender they’ve played so far has been the Braves, who they went 1-2 against on opening weekend.
Credit to Philly, they’re doing what you’re supposed to do against inferior teams which is more than half the battle in the marathon that is the MLB season and not as easy to do as some assume. But we can also pump the brakes on this being their world the rest of us are all just living in until we see them play some more games against other real contenders.
Troy – Incorrect, the Phillies are 8-2 against teams that have a winning record right now.
Look at the Phillies payroll since Dombrowski was hired. They have spent money like drunken sailors. Dombrowski shows up when the team wants to spend and vanishes when the team wants to pull back. It’s a charmed life.
SOX have been in rough shape due to DD’s moves
No, they haven’t. Henry ok’d have he Sale extension and decided to punt on Betts. Moncada and Kopech haven’t been anything special so the inital Sale trade is a huge success. Kimbrel was a valuable asset till the 2018 post season of all times, and his salary was mediocre at the time. We lost nothing in trades that would still be contributing to this team now if we hadnt traded them. Henry wanted to shift to a more cost focused roster and so he booted DD and let him take the heat. Thats the Red Sox way. Just ask Francona.
“We lost nothing in trades that would still be contributing to this team now if we hadnt traded them.”
========================
Maybe so, but there was much less in the farm system to trade to fill holes after Dombrowski made all the trades. That limits the ability to field a strong MLB team. That’s how I look at it. I agree Henry wanted to go in a different direction.
you look at it wrong
No, they’ve been in rough shape due to BLOOM’S moves.
no
McMill: How so? Give a few examples . They won a World Series with him
DD has some strengths, but almost all the value on Philly was there before DD arrived. He spent $105M on Turner Castellanos, Schwarber, Walker, Strahm, Merrifield and Soto, and their bWAR is 2.6.
He also extended a couple of pretty good pitchers on fair deals…
Eventually that spending catches up to you, but right now Philly is peaking.
“Story to Anaheim”…The only way those two head to Anaheim is if the Sox take Anthony Rendon & Mike Trout back in the trade.
Obvious troll comment. Just like everything else you post.
Profit is the watchword. Nothing else matters. Deal the veterans, and bring up less expensive alternatives until they’re ready to contend again. It would have been easier to swallow had they been up front about it.
Kinda the story of O’Neal creed so far. As a Cards fan, he always had stretches of hood to great production then injuries catch up to him. Hope he works thru it and has a good year
It’s unfortunate because he could have set himself up for a nice contract but instead will most likely have to settle for 1 year prove it deals because he can’t sustain health or his bat all season.
The issue before this year was hamstring and muscle stuff because he was training with his dad the bodybuilder. This year it’s really just been bad luck.
Worst thing that could happen to the athletic muscle head T O’Neill was to jack a bunch of HR’s early and turn into an all or nothing swinger.
He’s given up his athletic ability to get on base and use his speed for the steroids era HR or bust approach.
And bust he’s been since April ended.
Just this week before saying he hurt his knee he went 0-10 with 10k’s.
Deep down he’s just a dude who likes posing in the mirror and looking tough. He doesn’t have “it” to actually become a better baseball player. He’s all show, occasional go.
You mad bro?
Sox also have Liam Hendricks who should be back in the second half
Key word: should
Y that time this team will be 20 games out
Unless the Red Sox are openly telling everyone that no matter what happens, win or lose Jansen is gone in July then Nightingale is reaching for something to write about (i don’t doubt that Jansen will be dealt but it’s an odd thing to publicize this early, especially in Boston)
Rsox – Last offseason they talked about trading Jansen. Hendriks is the closer when he settles back in.
Jansen to the twins. Just need Boston to eat 90 percent of his salary lol…
The Cardinals want O’Neil back but only if he is banged up and on the IL.
“… making the club passing the Yankees and Orioles for a division title appear unlikely at best…”
Gee, do you think?
Unbelievable that anyone would blame the greatest guy ever Dave Dombrowski who orchestrated the 2018 World Series instead of ownership and their avatar Bloom (we’ll see about the new guy), who engineered what they intended: enduring mediocrity for years. Real stockholm syndrome. Baseball isn’t football. You can’t draft your way to a WS
This is year 5 of the rebuild. Unbelievable, by mid June they will be 15 games out of first place, maybe more. That should do wonders for ticket sales and attendance. Way to go Henry with the cheap management and 5th rate hire of Breslow! Next year Full Throttke 2?
This is year one of rebuild #2. Breslow appears to have a better idea how to execute than Bloom did, but he is still hampered by a lower payroll than much of their competition.
TFF – So it’s a rebuild of a rebuild? LOL!!
Honest question, why do you already think Breslow has a better idea? He’s been with the team just 6 months, never been head of baseball ops before, and is being groomed by Theo and others.
I think it’s a little too soon to judge Breslow either way.
Hard to have less of a clue than Bloom….
For starters, Breslow is a really bright guy. If you talk to people around the game, they are uniformly very impressed with him. He listens and he thinks, and that is a great recipe for growth in any job.
I like his willingness to make trades. They aren’t all going to work, but at least they don’t leave me scratching my head like the Franchy deal, or dumping Renfroe for a couple mediocre prospects without having a clear succession plan in place. Bloom’s inability to work deadline deals to offload veterans on expiring contracts was maddening, as that is a key aspect of a rebuild.
I’m seeing an influx of fresh arms that Bloom struggled to acquire, and a clear organizational philosophy. And he is basically being honest with fans, even if he can’t control the idiots above him in the organization.
Too early to write the book, but he is already better than Bloom and I think he should be good.
Imagine that. O’Neil is hurt AGAIN.
Gary – He’s using the knee as an excuse for his crappy performance. He’s sucked since mid-April and his knee discomfort can’t possibly be causing all the strikeouts.
The Cardinals knew what they were doing with him. Remember Allen Craig they trade to us for Lackey? Another guy they knew to get rid of
Al – Yeah that was a horrible trade by Ben, one of the big reasons why he lost his job.
The Reality on Jansen is simple he’s pitched quite well since the middle of April. He didn’t get much of a spring training so he started very slowly and uncharacteristically wild. Since the middle of April he’s walking 1.5 per 9 and striking out 10.5 per 9. His ERA is 3.75 since mid April but his advanced number such as FIP and XFIP are much better. If he continues to pitch like this not only are the Red Sox not going to have to pay down a dime of the contract but they are also going to get a better prospect then most people think. If he continues to pitch well like he has since mid April he is going to be much sought after.