mvp 78

Frenulum?

Maybe there are concerns the money will dry up after the new CBA?

“Stop me before I do it again!!!”

Dodgers are nearing a cliff.

This has been speculated.

I really don’t like Matz. I’m not a Wacha Wocka Wocka fan either.

@Buster_ESPN It does seem more than a little weird that the owners and players are prepared to completely shut down a financial system that individual parties on both sides are exploiting in the last days and hours before the CBA deadline. Talk about mixed messages. @RobertStock6 A reminder to the layman that the owners are the ones locking the doors.

Probably safer to roll the dice with Semien than Seager since Semien can actually stay on the field.

Wacha is close to Matz level, but is a slight step down. That has more to do with how I see Matz.

Bargains rarely come early in the FA period.

I would say that Gray has a little bit of upside, but I think they are still paying a bit of a premium for that upside. It's an ok contract. I wouldn't absolutely hate it if Bloom gave him that. It's more preferable than some of the other deals handed out.

Maybe. He must have sprained a finger when he signed that extension. I hope normal Barnes comes back.

They can start by seeing if he can be an 8th inning guy first.

I think we kind of assumed they'd try to go that route anyway. None of the pitchers aside from Stroman really interest me and Stroman is a weird fit due to our piss poor IF defense.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/red-sox-fill-out-rotation-with-intriguing-michael-wacha-addition/ Wacha succeeds or fails with his changeup. It allowed a .270 wOBA last year, and he’s thrown it over a quarter of the time in the last two seasons. It’s his best swing-and-miss pitch, with a SwStr% of 19.6%, though honestly, it’s his only swing-and-miss pitch; his fastball, cutter and curveball get whiffs less than 10% of the time. He throws his change in the upper 80s, about 7 mph off of his fastball, and with its decent arm-side movement plus an average amount of drop, it can be lethal below the knees to lefties. He throws it more than 25% of the time to righties as well, and its effectiveness only slightly drops against them (a .262 wOBA to lefties and .275 to righties). But even Wacha’s nasty changeup isn’t immune to the long ball; its HR/FB rate last season was 24%, the worst of any of his pitches. Like most changeups, it leads to a lot of ground balls, but last year, it had a career-low GB% (49.5%), career-high FB% (24.8%), and career-high launch angle (8 degrees). A lot of this change in results, though, seems to have come from hitters being in better position to elevate balls in the lower third of the strike zone. Beyond his changeup, the real issue for Wacha the last couple years has been his cutter. He’s increased its usage over the last two years, all the way up to 27.2% in 2020 and 24.8% in ’21. But hitters tore it apart last year to the tune of a .415 wOBA allowed, and according to our pitch value metric, it’s been a negative his entire career, with the lone exception being the 2018 season. Wacha and the Rays seemed to have concluded that his cutter was a lost cause, because in mid-August, its usage dropped; from August 28 onward, he threw only a small handful. His performance during that cutter-less stretch, you ask? A 2.88 ERA and 3.29 FIP. That’s the stretch that earned him this contract, and it would seem obvious that his cutter will stay missing next season in Boston — or that might be premature, as Wacha stated recently that he plans on bringing it back. Wacha looked like a completely different pitcher late in the season without his cutter, with its usage distributed to a newly developed sinker and his curveball; both of those pitches went from basically unused to each being thrown more than 10% of the time. The sinker is a logical replacement, given its low spin rate, and the early returns seemed positive, as it allowed a .333 wOBA. It’s hard to draw a sweeping conclusion on it after this limited sample, though, and the same can be said for his curveball, which was hit quite hard (.425 wOBA) in its limited run, though none of that came in the form of extra-base hits, and it had an absurd 71.4% ground-ball rate. It will be interesting to see what kind of arsenal he brings to the table in 2022 after an offseason of tinkering with these pitches and working with a new staff.

There were lots of whispers that the Sox would be in on the SS market, but that hasn't happened. Wonder why that was floated out there at the start of the offseason.

I think most people didn't expect this many guys to sign before the CBA expired.

You don't need Gausman son, you have Gausman at home already.

I think Semien could make that contract look really ugly. He wasn't a sure thing for the vast majority of his career. I don't understand the Avisail deal at all. Twins are paying for Buxton's MVP upside, but the downside is he'll sit on the bench for 7 years. The Kluber signing is fine.

1/7 is fine for Wacha. Sox need to add a better arm than that though.

No lie found.

Passan: Right-hander Michael Wacha and the Boston Red Sox are finalizing a one-year contract, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN. Wacha, 30, was solid in a starting role for Tampa Bay last season and is expected to bring depth to the Red Sox’s rotation. Deal is pending a physical.

I’d only sign him to a MiLB deal.

Folty had one good year when his spin rates were out of control. Aside from that year, he’s been a 6th starter.

Hot stove is now cancelled. Better luck next offseason guys!