That's not true at all. I think most people figured Barnes would be the closer or would get a good shot at it.
But he's never been this good before - nowhere near it, in fact.
They can't send him down, you know. The only way they can remove him is by way of the 'phantom IL'.
We don't have other good options. Give him a couple more chances to turn it around.
It did feel a bit strange, but these Rays guys see things differently. I suspect that the return being offered was a little more than Bloom expected, so he jumped on it. Beni's value was pretty depressed after a bad second half of 2019 and a nightmarish 2020.
Value-wise, Renfroe is a good comp for Beni. Renfroe has been the slightly better player, and he's only making 3.1 million. Beni has an actual AAV of 5 million, will get a boost next year in his final arb year.
No idea. I do think that sometimes good pitching can put hitters in a slump for games after that, because the hitters get messed up in the head, much the way a few bad shots in golf can mess you up for a while.