Cora to try a new lineup tonight:
1 Duran
2 Devers
3 Bregman
5 Abreu
6 Campbell
7 Story
8 Sogard
9 Narvaez
10 Rafaela
Should get them out of their 4 hole slump.
I'm not sure if it's "slipping" or if it's guys like Romero, Valera, Early and Clarke really improving their game and exceeding expectations. Also, starting pitchers are just going to have inherently more value than a low A 2b/3b like Cespedes.
Not sure it was hindsight. Hendriks looked like toast last season. A lot of us thought Chapman and Hendriks would be given the closer role and lose it because of lack of success. Clearly there was a perceived need at the back end of the bullpen.
Last year, the pen was 14th in fWAR. The moves they made were lateral at best. Imagine if Chapman was the 8th inning guy and they signed a closer like Tanner Scott or Carlos Estevez. Or keep Chapman as a closer but add Minter or Yates? 3-4 more wins maybe?
I thought Crawford would be back by June, but really haven't been following where he's at.
Sandoval most likely is out until next season. He could pitch this year, but the results would most likely be a little on the rougher side.
Anthony and Mayer will have to do the same at some point. I think pushing Campbell to 4th was dumb, especially when his numbers were slipping at that point.