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Braves To Sign Craig Kimbrel To Minor League Deal

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The Braves and right-hander Craig Kimbrel have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The SportsMeter client will earn a $2MM salary if brought up to the big leagues, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. He’ll spend some time building up before reporting to Triple-A Gwinnett, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com.

Kimbrel, 37 in May, has been on a rollercoaster in recent years. He had a long run as one of the most effective closers in the league, starting that tenure with Atlanta. From 2010 to 2014, he tossed 289 innings for them, allowing only 1.43 earned runs per nine. His 9.6% walk rate was a bit high but he had a massive 42.2% strikeout rate in that time. He quickly became the club’s closer and earned 185 saves in a four-year stretch from 2011 to 2014. He would continue to produce similar results for a few years, going to the Padres and Red Sox.

But as alluded to, things have been far rockier lately. A free agent after 2018, Boston gave him a $17.9MM qualifying offer. Kimbrel rejected that offer, meaning that any signing club would have to forfeit at least one draft pick. That seemed to have a significant impact on his market, as he remained unsigned until after the summer draft, which was held in June at that time. No longer tied to draft pick forfeiture, he signed a three-year, $43MM with the Cubs in early June of 2019.

Perhaps it was due to missing the first half of the season, but Kimbrel’s results were awful once he became a Cub. He eventually made 23 appearances for them that year, posting an ugly 6.53 ERA. That carried over into the shortened 2020 season, as he had a 5.28 ERA that year. Over those two seasons, he still struck out 35.2% of opponents but his 14.5% walk rate was far higher than average.

In 2021, he seemed to rebound in a big way. He made 39 appearances for the Cubs that year with a tiny 0.49 ERA. His 9.5% walk rate was still above average but a massive improvement over the previous two years. He also punched out 46.7% of batters faced. He was shipped across Chicago at that year’s deadline, with the White Sox sending Nick Madrigal and Codi Heuer to the Cubs. Unfortunately, his results immediately backed up, as he posted a 5.09 ERA over the remainder of the season.

Despite that rough finish, the Sox picked up his $16MM club option, though they traded him to the Dodgers for AJ Pollock just prior to Opening Day 2022. Heading to Los Angeles seemed to work out for a while, though he again had a rough finish. He had a 33.8% strikeout rate in the first half but punched out just 20.7% of opponents in the second half. He lost the closer’s job in September and then was left off the Dodgers’ postseason roster.

Going into 2023, the Phils gave him a one-year, $10MM deal, which led to a good bounceback season. Kimbrel posted a 3.26 ERA over 71 appearances that year, with a 33.8% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate. But a one-year, $13MM deal with the Orioles last year led to another downturn. He had a 5.33 ERA for Baltimore, striking out 31.5% of batters but also giving out walks 13.4% of the time. He was designated for assignment and released in September.

The overall track record is obviously impressive. Kimbrel has a career ERA of 2.59 and is fifth on the all-time saves list. He’s just seven behind Kenley Jansen, who will close for the Angels this year, and 38 away from third-place Lee Smith. But he’s been incredibly shaky in recent years, so it’s anyone’s guess what he can provide this year.

There’s little harm on a minor league deal. Atlanta can get a close-up look at him over the next few weeks and see how it goes. If he doesn’t look like he can engineer another bounceback, they can simply move on. Some veterans have guaranteed opt-outs in their minor league deals, but that wouldn’t apply to Kimbrel since he was released before the end of the 2024 season. It’s possible he negotiated some opt-outs into his deal, though no details of that nature have been reported yet.

Atlanta’s bullpen took a hit when it was reported that Joe Jiménez will likely miss the entire season due to knee surgery. They should have Raisel Iglesias, Dylan Lee, Pierce Johnson and Aaron Bummer locked into four spots. One of Ian Anderson or Grant Holmes could have a long relief role. That leaves three spots available early on. Daysbel Hernández is on the roster and could secure one.

The club also has a big collection of notable guys on minor league deals, including Héctor Neris, Enyel De Los Santos, Jake Diekman, Chasen Shreve, Buck Farmer and others. That is perhaps a reflection of the club hoping to avoid the competitive balance tax this year. Per RosterResource, they project to have a $230MM CBT number, about $11MM shy of the $241 base threshold. They have opted to sign many minor league deals and hope that a handful of them turn out to be hidden gems.

Kimbrel will jump into that cluster of non-roster veterans trying to earn major league jobs. He has the most impressive track record of anyone in that group but is a few weeks behind them and will have to overcome the memories of a poor 2024 season.

Photo courtesy of Tommy Gilligan and Kareem Elgazzar, Imagn Images.

Yu Darvish Questionable For Opening Day Due To Elbow Inflammation

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Padres right-hander Yu Darvish has recently been slowed in camp. While it was initially conveyed that he had some general fatigue, manager Mike Shildt today provided a more specific and more ominous diagnosis. The skipper told members of the media, including Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, that the veteran righty experienced elbow inflammation after his last start.

Shildt stopped short of saying Darvish would start the season on the injured list, describing him as day-to-day. Opening Day is just over a week away, so it’s a tight window. Any time a pitcher’s throwing elbow is involved, it’s a cause for some concern. In the case of Darvish, there may be even more concern than with some other hurlers.

Darvish has dealt with some elbow problems in the past. Tommy John surgery wiped out his entire 2015 season. He was largely health for years after that, though he hasn’t logged a huge workload in the past two seasons. He was capped at 24 starts and 136 1/3 innings in 2023. He landed on the IL in late August due to right elbow inflammation and stayed there to finish the year. In 2024, he only made 16 starts and tossed 81 2/3 innings. He missed time due to neck tightness, a groin strain, some more inflammation in that throwing elbow and an undisclosed personal issue.

That makes this the third straight season that Darvish has battled some elbow inflammation. For a pitcher who is now 38 years old, that’s less than ideal. It’s especially worrisome since rotation depth is one of the key issues on the San Diego roster. The Friars already lost Joe Musgrove for the entire season, as he required Tommy John surgery in October.

Losing Musgrove left the Padres with a rotation core of Darvish, Michael King and Dylan Cease. They signed Nick Pivetta to fill one of the back-end spots. Coming into camp, candidates for the final spot including Matt Waldron, Kyle Hart, Randy Vásquez and Stephen Kolek. However, Waldron is out of commission due to an oblique strain. Hart has also been delayed by the flu and is behind the rest of the group in terms of building up. If Darvish needs to miss some time at the start of the season, that would seemingly leave two spots open behind the King/Cease/Pivetta trio.

If it’s just a short-term absence, the overall group could look stronger in a few weeks, with both Waldron and Darvish perhaps back in the mix. A more serious issue would naturally have bigger impacts. Both Cease and King are impending free agents. That means Pivetta and Darvish are the on-paper rotation nucleus for 2026. Musgrove could be back in the mix by then but may have some workload issues after missing all of 2025. Darvish is still under contract through 2028, as part of the extension he signed with the club in 2023.

It’s also possible this could impact the trade market. San Diego has notable budgetary concerns and various parts of the roster they would like to upgrade. That has led to rumors about Cease or King being available, though Cease’s name has come up far more often. It would be a tricky balance for San Diego to strike, as they would have to feel that reducing their rotation depth is worth it for multiple upgrades at left field, first base or designated hitter.

Presumably, Darvish being hurt would reduce the chances of a Cease deal in the short term, as it would be even harder to justify a rotation subtraction. Closer to the deadline, that calculus could change if the Padres don’t manage to compete. As mentioned, both Cease and King are impending free agents and would be natural trade candidates this summer if San Diego slips behind the other National League contenders.

Photo courtesy Mark J. Rebilas of Imagn Images

Angels Sign Travis Blankenhorn To Minor League Deal

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The Angels have signed infielder/outfielder Travis Blankenhorn to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The log says the deal was signed on March 6 but the deal only became apparent today when he appeared on the Angels’ lineup card, as relayed by Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.

Blankenhorn, 28, has an inconsistent track record. Broadly speaking, he has performed well in the minors. That has led to several brief chances in the majors, which he hasn’t been able to capitalize on. He appeared in each of the past five big league seasons, but didn’t get even 40 plate appearances in any of those. Overall, he has hit .154/.230/.264 in 100 trips to the plate, scattered across those five seasons.

But he’s had a massive tally of 3,445 minor league plate appearances. In those, he has a .256/.333/.456 batting line and 114 wRC+. That includes 1,506 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level from 2021 to 2024. In that time, Blankenhorn has 74 home runs, a 10.3% walk rate, a .254/.343/.489 batting line and 113 wRC+.

As mentioned, those strong minor league numbers have led to many call-ups. Most recently, he was with the Nats for a while in 2024 but hit .129 in 13 games. He was outrighted off the roster and elected free agency in September. Defensively, Blankenhorn is mostly an outfielder/first baseman at this stage. He has some previous experience at the other infield positions but none since 2022.

The Halos have Nolan Schanuel at first with Taylor Ward and Mike Trout projected to be in the outfield corners and Jorge Soler the regular in the designated hitter slot. They also have Ryan Noda, Niko Kavadas, Matthew Lugo and Gustavo Campero on the 40-man roster. It’s a tough path to playing time for Blankenhorn but he can at least get into some games and showcase himself, to Angels’ decision makers as well as those on other clubs.

Photo courtesy of Rafael Suanes, Imagn Images

Offseason In Review: Baltimore Orioles

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There was some hope that the Orioles would become big offseason players in the first winter under new owner David Rubenstein. That didn't exactly come to pass, though the O's still showed a bit more aggression than they have in a while.

Major League Signings

2025 spending: $67.975MM
Total spending: $100.975MM

Option Decisions

Trades and Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Notable Losses

The Orioles hired Mike Elias as general manager in November of 2018. The initial years of his tenure saw the club act very conservatively, but for understandable reasons. They lost 115 games in that 2018 season and were looking at a long rebuilding period. They finally emerged with a winning record in 2022 and then made the playoffs in 2023, but the ownership situation was uncertain. The Angelos family had been squabbling over control of the club and there were whispers that the O's were for sale.

In the 2023-24 offseason, reports emerged that a group led by David Rubenstein was going to purchase the club. That sale didn't get approved by Major League Baseball until around Opening Day of the 2024 season. At that time, Elias had still never given a free agent a multi-year deal. Craig Kimbrel and his $13MM guarantee was the only signing to go beyond $10MM.

Many Oriole fans hoped that the regime change would lead to a huge shift in operating policy, similar to the way Steve Cohen turned the Mets into a powerhouse club. There were some positive signs during the 2024 season that such a path was possible. The O's acquired Zach Eflin at the deadline. His deal with the Rays was backloaded, with an $18MM salary in 2025 that the Orioles took on. They also acquired Seranthony Domínguez, whose deal contained an $8MM club option for 2025 that was eventually exercised.

Reading the tea leaves, it seemed like the club would be operating with some more spending capacity for 2025. In early October, just after the O's were eliminated from the playoffs, Elias fanned the flames a bit. He told members of the media that he was "pretty confident" the club's payroll would be going up. He later said that the O's were looking at "the whole spectrum" of available pitchers, adding: “If you’re running the team optimally….you’re certainly wanting to keep the whole menu of player acquisition open. That involves high-end free agent deals over many years. We’ve been engaged in those conversations already.”

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Red Sox Notes: Newcomb, Hamilton, Campbell

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The Red Sox have some open rotation opportunities and one surprising name is emerging as a candidate. Manager Álex Cora tells Christopher Smith of MassLive that left-hander Sean Newcomb is “in the hunt” for a starting gig to begin the season.

Since camp opened, the Sox have lost three rotation options to injuries. Each of Kutter Crawford, Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito are slated to start the season on the injured list. Crawford has right knee soreness, Bello right shoulder soreness and Giolito left hamstring tightness. That leaves the Sox with Garrett Crochet, Tanner Houck and Walker Buehler in three spots, but with two openings to start the season. They could go with guys already on the roster, such as Quinn Priester, Richard Fitts or Cooper Criswell, but it seems there’s also a chance they with Newcomb, who is in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Newcomb, 32 in June, was once a viable big league starter. He tossed 264 innings for Atlanta in 2017 and 2018, starting 49 of his 50 appearances. In that time, he had a 4.06 earned run average. His 12% walk rate was on the high side but he struck out 23.3% of opponents and got grounders at a 43.6% clip.

Since then, his results have backed up. His control problems worsened, which has pushed him into spending more time in the bullpen, but without improved results. From 2019 to the present, he has 167 big league innings pitched with a 5.23 ERA and 13% walk rate. But in camp thus far, he has tossed 9 2/3 innings over four appearances with a 0.93 ERA, 27% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate. That led him to settle for a minor league deal with Boston this winter.

There’s no real urgency to select Newcomb’s contract, with Smith relaying that the lefty does not have an opt-out in his minor league deal. But each of Crawford, Bello and Giolito could return fairly early in the season, so the Sox might need him now more than they will as the season progresses.

Still, the Massachusetts native might end up going to Triple-A Worcester if the Sox go with guys like Priester or Fitts to start the year, but he’s okay with that. “If it means going there to stay ready type of thing, that’s fine,” he tells Smith. “It’s in Mass. So I’ll be able to be home either way. That’s kind of a plus. But obviously the goal is to be up there.”

The Sox also have to make a decision about second base, as they have no defined starter there. Per Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic, Cora said the spot is a competition between David Hamilton, Vaughn Grissom and Kristian Campbell, with Cora speaking fondly of Hamilton and his athleticism. Hamilton has hit just .235/.298/.373 in his career thus far but has 35 steals in 40 attempts.

Campbell is well known as one of the top prospects in the league. He is only 22 years old, turning 23 in June, and has only 19 Triple-A games under his belt. Cracking the big leagues is certainly feasible but sending him back to Worcester for more reps is also justifiable. He came into today with a line of .152/.263/.182 in spring, not exactly kicking the door down. He did go 1-3 with a walk today, but also struck out twice.

Smith wrote about today’s performance, noting that Campbell made several impressive defensive plays. That had previously been an issue, with few balls hit to him so far this spring, making it hard for decision makers to evaluate his glovework. “It feels like he’s getting comfortable. Put a good swing and then the walk,” Cora said of Campbell’s performance today. “That was good. But I think defensively, today was the first day I was able to see it. We talk about it, too. And (he) got a few chances. Even late in the game, it’s 12-3 or whatever it was. And he made two nice plays. That tells you who he is and the defender he is.”

The Sox open the season on Thursday next week against the Rangers in Arlington. That gives them about a week to make their final roster decisions. Neither Newcomb nor Campbell are on the 40-man roster, so corresponding moves would be required if they make the cut.

Blue Jays Select Richard Lovelady

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The Blue Jays announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Richard Lovelady. Right-hander Alek Manoah, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, has been transferred to the 60-day injured list as a corresponding move. Hazel Mae of Sportsnet announced the moves prior to the official announcement.

Lovelady, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Jays in January. He made his seventh appearance today, allowing one earned run, pushing his earned run average to 5.14. That’s obviously not an incredibly impressive number but the southpaw does have eight strikeouts in seven innings.

Prior to joining the Jays, Lovelady’s track record has been that of a groundballer. He has 99 1/3 innings in the big leagues, spending time with the Royals, Athletics, Cubs and Rays. In that time, his 21.1% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate were close to league average, but with a strong 50.9% ground ball rate. With the Jays this spring, he came into today with a grounder rate of just 35.7%. Today’s outing went walk, ground ball double play, homer, ground ball single, walk, ground out.

For the Jays, Opening Day is still over a week away. Adding Lovelady to the roster now seems to suggest that he had some sort of opt-out in his deal and the Jays didn’t want him to get away. Left-handed relief is one of the bigger question marks on the Toronto roster. The Jays also have Brendon Little, Josh Walker and Easton Lucas on the 40-man but they all have options and each has less than 50 innings of major league experience.

Lovelady himself is out of options, but it seems he is not guaranteed a spot. Mae relays word from manager John Schneider that Lovelady is still trying to earn a spot on the active roster, even though he’s now on the 40-man. Although the Jays have added Lovelady now to prevent him from opting out, they may still decide to designate him for assignment when their season starts next week. If he ends up on waivers, perhaps some other club will be enticed and put in a claim.

If he were to clear waivers, what would happen next could depend on what salary figures are in his minor league deal. Lovelady has at least three years of service time, which gives him the right to reject an outright assignment. But since he has less than five years of service, electing free agency means walking away from whatever money he is still owed on his deal. The salary figures on his pact haven’t been publicly reported.

That means there’s a possible sequence of events where the Jays select his contract today and then pass him through waivers next week, with Lovelady then deciding to stick around in order to keep the money from this deal flowing. But it’s also possible that he cracks the Opening Day roster, or winds up bouncing to another club.

Josh Rojas Diagnosed With Hairline Fracture In Toe

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White Sox infielder Josh Rojas has a hairline fracture in his right big toe. Manager Will Venable passed the info on to reporters, including James Fegan of Sox Machine. Rojas is currently in a walking boot. He left Saturday’s game with soreness in that toe. Per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, Rojas was “shaking off some contact” with a baserunner on a tag play earlier in the game.

Venable didn’t specifically rule Rojas out for Opening Day, but that seems to be a fair inference. Per Fegan, the skipper said his return will mostly be about pain tolerance and he’s currently in a fair amount of pain. Opening Day is just over a week away and the Sox have little reason to rush him if he’s not 100%.

Rojas, 31 in June, was signed to a one-year, $3.5MM deal in January. When healthy, he will likely be bouncing around to various positions, depending on the performance of other players on the roster. He has primarily played third and second base in his career, though he has also had some appearances at shortstop, first base and the outfield corners.

The hot corner appears to be spoken for. Venable said last month that Miguel Vargas will be the primary third baseman. He’s having a huge spring, currently hitting .393/.455/.571. Andrew Vaughn isn’t performing that well in camp but should be the regular at first base.

There’s less certainty up the middle. There was a chance for Colson Montgomery to secure the shortstop job but he hit .111/.111/.444 in spring and got optioned last week. That left Rojas, Lenyn Sosa, Brooks Baldwin and Jacob Amaya as some of the middle infielders that were both on the roster and in camp. If Rojas needs to miss some time, that could create extra room for the guys in that group.

It could also open some paths to playing time for non-roster invitees. Veteran Brandon Drury has plenty of second base experience and is hitting .361/.395/.806 this spring. Nick Maton is another NRI crushing the ball right now, with a .346/.433/.731 line in camp. Tristan Gray currently has a .353/.333/.824 line going. Spring stats are always to be taken with a grain of salt but the Sox are coming off a 121-loss season and should be using the 2025 to ride any hot hand that comes along.

Braves Release Curt Casali, Reassign Sandy León To Minor League Camp

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The Braves announced yesterday that catcher Curt Casali was reassigned to minor league camp. They announced the same with Sandy León today. Casali has been released, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com.

It now seems highly likely that prospect Drake Baldwin will break camp with the club. Atlanta hasn’t made any firm announcements but Sean Murphy is going to start the season on the injured list due to a cracked rib. That leaves Chadwick Tromp as the only healthy catcher on the 40-man roster, meaning Atlanta needs to add someone. Casali and Leon were in camp as NRIs but that is no longer the case. Unless Atlanta brings in a catcher from outside the organization, then it seems like Baldwin will get an Opening Day job.

Baldwin, 24 this month, is one of the top catching prospects in the game. A third-round pick in the 2022 draft, he split last year between Double-A and Triple-A. He got into 124 games in total, including 72 at the top minor league level. Combined, he had a 13.1% walk rate and 17.2% strikeout rate on the year. He hit 16 home runs and slashed .276/.370/.423 for a 119 wRC+.

Coming into 2025, Baldwin is a consensus top 100 prospect. Baseball America currently has him in the #53 spot, noting that he profiles as a competent defender who is getting strong reviews for his work with pitchers.

Atlanta turned down a club option on Travis d’Arnaud at the start of the offseason, leaving Murphy and Tromp as the two catchers on the roster. Murphy’s injury opened a path for Baldwin to earn a job to start the season. He has certainly done everything he can to take advantage of that opportunity. He enters today with a spring batting line of .370/.485/.444.

That will seemingly be enough to get him a crack at the big leagues, at least to start the season. When Murphy suffered his cracked rib in early March, it was announced that he would be out of action for four to six weeks. He could therefore be back on the field in April but will likely need a bit of a rehab assignment to effectively redo his spring training.

While he does that, the team will see how Baldwin does against major league pitching. If he does well, perhaps he and Murphy could share the catching duties going forward, though Tromp is out of options. That means he would need to be removed from the 40-man roster, unless the club wants to carry three catchers when Murphy is healthy. But even the best prospects sometimes struggle when first promoted to the majors. If that happens with Baldwin, he can be optioned back to Triple-A while Murphy and Tromp handle things. For now, Baldwin will need a 40-man roster spot, though that could be easily accomplished by putting Joe Jiménez on the 60-day injured list.

Casali, 36, was in camp on a minor league deal. He’s been in the big leagues for over a decade now, generally providing solid defense with flashes of offense, though he hasn’t hit much in the past two years. He had a career batting line of .223/.316/.392 and 92 wRC+ at the end of the 2022 season, but he has slashed .186/.292/.229 over the past two campaigns for a 52 wRC+. His struggles have continued into this spring. He has 15 plate appearances in camp with Atlanta with no hits, no walks and seven strikeouts. The only time he reached base was on a hit-by-pitch.

That’s a small sample but obviously not a good showing, especially when compared to what Baldwin has been up to. Casali is an Article XX(B) free agent, meaning that he has at least six years of service time and finished last season on a major league roster or injured list. That means he has guaranteed opt-out dates on his minor league deal: five days before Opening Day, May 1 and June 1.

Since he wasn’t going to break camp with Atlanta, he was likely going to opt out and look for other opportunities. The club has seemingly let him go a bit early, allowing him to get a headstart on finding his next gig.

Despite his rough spring, he should get interest based on his track record. There are several clubs around the league with injury concerns. The Mets are going to be without Francisco Alvarez for a while. The Reds will start the season with Tyler Stephenson on the IL and Jose Trevino is banged up as well. The Giants have Patrick Bailey behind the plate but Tom Murphy will start the year on the IL and won’t be able to back him up. Casali could perhaps find a fresh minor league deal with one of those clubs or circle back to Atlanta after making a few calls.

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast

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On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.

The 2025 Major League Baseball season is about to begin. If you have a question about a positional battle, a look ahead to the summer or anything else baseball-related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.

Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Offseason In Review: Pittsburgh Pirates

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It was another modest offseason for the Pirates, who are banking on their young arms to carry them into contention.

Major League Signings

2025 spending: $19.95MM
Total spending: $19.95MM

Option Decisions

Trades and Claims

Extensions

  • None

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

It's been a rough few decades for the Pirates. They didn't make the playoffs between 1993 and 2012. They then got three straight Wild Card berths, but advanced to the NLDS just once. They started a new playoff drought in 2016 that continues to this day.

There have been some signs of potential lately. In 2023, they were 20-9 at the end of April, but they went 8-18 in May and finished at 76-86. They hovered near contention last year, sitting at 48-48 at the All-Star break, but again finished at 76-86.

Despite those losing seasons, there are exciting elements on the roster. Their collection of rotation talent is one of the best in the league, fronted by Paul Skenes but also including Jared Jones, Mitch Keller, Braxton Ashcraft, Bubba Chandler, Mike Burrows and Thomas Harrington. They also have position players Bryan Reynolds, Ke'Bryan Hayes and Oneil Cruz in place for years to come.

Ideally, the club would have invested around this young core, but that didn't come to pass this winter. The offseason included one notable trade, which is essentially a risky bet on a late bloomer, and several modest free agent signings. They gave out seven one-year deals, none of them worth more than $5.25MM, spending less than $20MM in total. Some of those moves are fine in isolation but the total package is underwhelming.

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