Now, a look at the 2022 Pitching Staff. Personally, I'd like to see us acquire and ace or solid #2 and a solid closer as well as another solid pitcher, but this post is about who are under team control, next season.
Starters:
Chris Sale: Chris Freakin' Sale is all I have to say.
Nathan Eovaldi: Has been a rock since 2020, and not many thought he could ever be this durable.
Nick Pivetta: Another nice find by Bloom. Ideally, he’d be a number 5, but he may end up being our 4. If he’s our 3, we are shooting for 2023.
Connor Seabold: I like this guy's chances as a decent 4 or 5, and maybe over time, even better.
Josh Winckowski, Kutter Crawford, Brayan Bello, Chris Murphy, Jay Groome, Frank German & Raynel Espinal all offer decent farm depth, and some may be ML ready during 2022. We could probably use a few depth signings to minor league deals.
Starter/Relief Pitchers
Garrett Whitlock: I like him as a starter more than Houck, but both could be greats in the role. Blooms best find, for sure.
Tanner Houck: Maybe he could fill the obvious hole we have at closer, and some speak of him needing a 3rd pitch to be a good long term starter, but I'd be fine with him in either role, or even as our top set-up or swing man (like Whitlock is now.)
Relief Pitchers
Matt Barnes: I'm actually confident he can come back as a very good set-up man for us in 2022, but certainly questions are plentiful.
Josh Taylor: He's moved up on the chart, and I'm not sure we can count on him as a solid set-up man, but he will make the opening day roster.
Darwinzon Hernandez: His injury came at the wrong time. He still needs to watch the walks, but look what Ottavino can do after walking the first guy he faces nearly every game.
Hirokazu Sawamura: I'm not counting on him for much high leverage opportunities, but he should make the 26 man roster.
Phillips Valdez, Yacksel Rios, Eduardo Bazardo and maybe Austin Davis and Durbin Feltman may show they belong, and there can be some comfort in numbers of marginal pen help, but let's not slot any of these guys in the 26 man roster, right now.
Who are going to leave or are likely to leave?
$8.5M Richards ($10M or $1.5M buy out likely) Bye-bye
$8.9M Ottavino Not easy to replace
$8.3M ERod Not easy to replace
$4.5M Perez Bye-bye
$2M H Robles Bye-bye
Add these guys up and we have about $34M and just 2 need to be replaced in kind or better: ERod & Ottavino.