dgalehouse

I'm not too sure which closers might be available in a trade. And even the free agent market is starting to thin out , although there are still a few left out there. I don't think we should wait too long.

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I asked Alexa if D.D. was going to sign a top reliever. She said , " Hmmm. I don't know ."

It's not as if some of these franchises are poverty cases. These are all extremely wealthy people. And it's not as if the " small markets " are some backwoods town. These are large metropolitan areas that should be capable of supporting the team. But if you keep giving them money , they will keep taking it .

If baseball teams only played once a week on Sundays or Monday night , the same pitchers would always pitch . With a sixteen game schedule, a top team might go undefeated , or close to it . Obviously, football could not play a 162 game schedule. I don't think the parity is that much different in the two sports. It's just a matter of the circumstances.

There are many systems around for betting on horse racing. Some of them quite complicated and analytical.Yet very few people are able to make any money on them. Something always gets in the way. With baseball, anyone can see who the contenders are , and who the bottom feeders are . But use Pythagorean, WAR or whatever you want; it is difficult to know how the baseball season will play out. So many things can happen. It may be hard to project what will happen , but the " experts " will always tell you why it did happen. After the fact , of course.

True. We could get a good one for less than one might expect. There is not a big market for guys like Britton and Kimbrel. Some teams that want , and can afford, a high end closer, already have one . I always have liked the adage , " Let the market decide."

Moreland is okay both on offense and defense. For some reason, Moon is always wanting to get rid of him. For the money, he is a pretty good value.

Although it's been said many times, many ways ; the big market, big money teams are better equipped to absorb the occasional mistake. It's good to be the big money team.

I think career ERA is a pretty good indicator for a reliever . A couple of bad innings can inflate the ERA for a season . But if a guy has been around for a while , he has probably built up a pretty good base of innings in his career .

Exactly . If that was the plan , it would be absolutely asinine . And I don't see Dombrowski or Henry as asinine. I am sure they do have a plan for the pen . But I am starting to get nervous about it .

1 - I think giving the closer position to Matt Barnes , with his 4.14 career ERA and a total of two saves would be an interesting experiment. And one fraught with danger. 2 - Sad as it is , there is no use crying over spilled Sandoval . We have to let it go. 3- I am sorry, but I just don't follow your logic in the Chavez examples.

Sure . That is one of the variables . Some teams are simply easier to beat , and to beat by a sizable differential.

That is difficult to answer , and it really never should come down to a choice like that. Nothing is more important than a top of the rotation pitcher . I was one of those who was happy we acquired Eovaldi. And I'm glad we re signed him. He made a ton of fans last October. However, let's not go crazy and anoint him the next Nolan Ryan just yet. His track record is not even remotely as impressive as Kimbrel's. I happen to value the closer position more than some others on here do. And it doesn't have to be Kimbrel. I think Zach Britton , for one , would be a good alternative. But I do not like the idea of rolling the dice and going with an unproven reliever in this important role. If you have the money for other areas , then find the money for this one too.

We shall see .

Run differential can be useful in gauging the overall strength of a team. However , each game is a separate contest and there are numerous variables and personnel changes over the course of a season . Anyway , the difference in run differential between the Sox and Astros was too small to determine who was better. Boston was the best team in the end. No one could dispute that.

I have duly noted that there are a number of fans who feel that closer is the area where it is okay to economize . Kind of like having a multi million dollar mansion without much in the way of smoke or carbon monoxide detectors, much less a sprinkler system. I just don't think that is very wise . We'll see what happens.

This is getting ridiculous. Carl Edwards Jr. is a young, not yet arbitration eligible pitcher with good results and very good potential. Jesse Chavez is a 35 year old , much traveled ham and egger who has a career ERA of 4.45 , and pitched a total of 39 innings for the Cubs . These are the kinds of examples one should use to prove a point ? I'm sure anyone who wants to take the time could find guys who are low paid , yet have very good fWars at any position on the field. What does it prove ? We all know that you can sometimes find a good bargain in the basement. However , you usually will get what you paid for . That pretty much goes for relief pitchers , closers , starting pitchers , position players , autos , washers , dryers , refrigerators and most anything else . The exceptions to this only serve to prove the rule. The Red Sox are not the World Series champs by acting like small market, small time Charlies. Let's not start now . We don't want to have a championship caliber team only to have some low cost jabroni coming in from the bullpen in the ninth inning.

Well , a game can be won or lost in any of the innings. And I absolutely understand that there is a school of thought that says bring your best reliever in as early as the sixth or seventh to get out of a jam. I happen to believe that there is a particular difficulty in getting the last three outs . Everything is amped up and there is a finality to it that creates extra pressure. I think most people in the game agree with this. That is why there has not been too much change in this area.

Ottavino has good stuff. But he is three years older than Kimbrel, and has never , ever been in his class as a closer. I don't see that changing. I don't know about being the favorites, but our chances of success would be less with Ottavino as the closer. If Kimbrel is too expensive, Britton would be the best alternative. I definitely want to defend our title with a proven closer. Not an area to pinch pennies. I am not in agreement with those who think the ninth inning is just another three outs. Closing ain't easy. Let's not jeopardize our chances for a repeat by trying to economize in this vital area.

Well , signing Kimbrel or Britton or any proven closer is a gamble that could backfire . But Ottavino , Brasier , Thornburg and Barnes had a combined total of six saves this past season. And a combined grand total of 32 saves for their careers . Depending on one of them to do the job this coming year is a bigger gamble that is quite likely to backfire . I would prefer to see them as set up men for a proven closer .

I am about as optimistic as anyone. However, it is not realistic to expect that Eovaldi , Price and Pearce will be able to maintain the level of play they showed in October. It is not realistic to think that everyone else will stay healthy and productive. It is not realistic to think that those who need to improve will actually do so. Winning as decisively as we did can breed a false sense of confidence. Now the first order of business is to fill out the bullpen with two quality arms , at least one of whom has the ability to close. Then we should be ready to defend our title. But expect a tough battle with the Yankees . That is reality.

The Cooler strikes again.

Of course we have to plan for future spending needs . However , you don't want to have a terrific team only to have some jabroni blowing games at the end . We need someone we can count on to close. In lieu of Kimbrel, my choice would be Britton . He would come at least a little cheaper . Trusting the job to an Ottavino would be risky. I am not enamored with Cody Allen at all.

Could be . Between missing spring training and the situation with his daughter he certainly had some difficulty and could realistically be expected to be better this year . Then there was the pitch tipping thing . I just watched World Series Game 1 again , and he looked as dominant as ever in that one . But his initial asking price is ridiculous. He will not get anything close to that.