There was a time when there was no such thing as bullpens and closers. In fact saves! weren’t even an official statistic until 1969. Starting pitchers were expected to pitch the whole game, and relief pitchers were used for spot starts and multi-inning relief appearances when a starter would struggle or get injured. Things changed however… starters went from pitching
Read moreHow do they do compare to the rest of the Majors? I started the list in 2094. YEAR: 2004 TEAM: Boston Red Sox fWAR: 2.4 RANK: 16 ERA: 3.92 RANK: 20 YEAR: 2005 TEAM: Chicago White Sox fWAR: 4.6 RANK: 2 ERA: 3.23 RANK: 3 YEAR: 2006 TEAM: St. Louis Cardinals fWAR: 1.2 RANK: 22 ERA: 4.06 RANK: 14 YEAR:
Read moreIt may be surprising to know how many good players were available on the waiver wire and for $1 at auctions in standard 12 team Roto leagues over the last two seasons. SP 1. Domingo German 2. Mike Soroka 3. Max Fried 4. Mike Foltynewicz 5. Caleb Smith 6. Charlie Morton 7. Shane Bieber 8. Mike Clevinger 9. Lucas Giolito
Read moreThe Boston Red Sox didn’t expect to be in this position in August and neither did the New York Mets. Boston won the World Series last season, so the expectations were that they would at least be in contention for it again this season. The Mets weren’t necessarily expected to contend, but after their offseason moves were supposed to be
Read moreLet’s look at the closer situations around the Majors. I’m going to be using a color system, “red” means that there is a likely closer change or a very unstable situation; “orange” means that there are warning signs; “green” means that there isn’t likely to be any change at closer. AL AL EAST TEAM: New York Yankees CLOSER: Aroldis Chapman
Read moreAtlanta improved their bullpen. Good move for both sides. A good change-of-scenery that could be a bargain for Tampa Bay. Good move for Washington until you look at his peripherals. Good depth move for Oakland and a solid one for Cincinnati. Surprise trade that might help both sides. Atlanta acquired an overachieving relieved who will likely not be worth the
Read moreCincinnati, Cleveland and San Diego just pulled off a blockbuster trade. Cleveland can actually afford to take the hit to their rotation and now suddenly have a loaded lineup. Trevor Bauer wasn’t pitching particularly great this season and would be traded in the offseason anyway. Yasiel Puig is a rental, but they get a nice long-term piece in Franmil Reyes.
Read moreThe New York Mets acquired a replacement for likely soon to be traded SP Noah Syndergaard in SP Marcus Stroman from the Toronto Blue Jays. My initial reaction is that the Mets are making another pointless trade. They’re not going to be contenders before Stroman hits free agency, so why bother? Toronto are the winners here, selling off a shaky
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