Update: Multiple sources, including AtlantaBraves.com, are reporting that it’s done and he will earn $13M on a one-year deal.
Furcal Rule is in effect, but:
Keuchel is coming off a year that would hardly be a disappointment for most pitchers, but the 2015 Cy Young Award winner was not able to match his sub-3 ERA from 3 out of the last 4 years before it. However, he still pitched over 200 innings, something an Atlanta pitcher has not done since both Shelby Miller and Julio Teheran completed the Herculean feat in 2015. In fact, only RA Dickey in 2017 has cleared 190 IP since then. So if the Braves can complete this deal, they’ll be signing pitcher who has been a mostly durable starter the past 5 years, something only Julio Teheran from our current crop of pitchers can boast.
Keuchel also fits in well with our solid infield defense. Keuchel’s 53.7% groundball rate was tops amongst qualified pitchers last year, so you’d have to think that Dallas will look forward to pitching in front of an infield of Donaldson, Dansby, Ozzie, and Freddie. His 3.74 ERA, 3.69 FIP, and 3.3 fWAR would have bested every starter other than Folty from last year. And with our unproven youngsters in the rotation along with Folty and Gausman crapping the bed, who do you really think is a solid bet right now to exceed that production across a full season? Keuchel offers some risk mitigation for a very risky set of arms.
There’s something to be said about a guy that’s willing to go year-to-year at his age. Keuchel and Kimbrel both had the unenviable distinction of having a “3” at the beginning of their age (both of them are 31 years old). They also, of course, had the QO attached to them. But with Keuchel seemingly willing to take a deal less than 3 years (everything as of this writing is reporting that that is the case), you’d have to think that Keuchel has a different view on how much he can help a contender this year and potentially next year. This paragraph has the potential to age very poorly should the deal come out to be longer.
And of course, I could be jumping the shark here, but there seems to be a lot of smoke here, so I’m just going to go ahead and give us our own thread for this fella. If Keuchel signs elsewhere, I will delete this post, and drink myself stupid. In the meantime, I’ll be refreshing Twitter every 2.4 seconds to see something to make my night better.
Before it seems like this post is premature, for me, it’s Rosenthal reporting it that has some weight. I trust Rosey.
Surprising but positive developments on the Keuchel front. A few weeks ago I would have said we had no need for another starting pitcher. Unfortunately with recent failures of Gausman, Folty and Fried, I think the likelihood of our current 5 man starting staff finishing out the year strong and in tact is pretty low.
Please.
Well, and you really can’t have too much pitching. If they really feel like Keuchel is your guy over MadBum or Greinke or Minor or whomever, then 1) I’d be happier getting him in June and 2) he would really stabilize the rotation at a vital time.
DOB says it’s done.
Indeed done. Nightengale is saying he’ll be ready by early July. Dang.
Pending the Furcal rule, I’m very glad I was wrong about the team’s willingness to spend at least some money. Hopefully he can be in the rotation sooner rather than later.
https://www.mlb.com/braves/news/dallas-keuchel-braves-deal
This is pretty much satisfying the Furcal Rule.
MLBTR points out that we are one of the worst defenses in the league on ground balls…..
If he’s been pitching so damn many simulated games, you’d think he’d be ready sooner.
None of our defenders other than Acuña are playing as well as last year for some reason.
Word is that it is 1 year 13 million.
Thank you, AA.
Now about that pen, … .
And would you please have Camargo start twice a week both in the infield and outfield?
Thanks again.
@11 Ah yes, they were uncomfortable with $11M so they added a couple more.
Can you believe we actually “outbid” somebody????
They were uncomfortable with 3 years of 11, for a reliever who was pretty hittable down the stretch last year. This is a better deal for the team than Kimbrel. But by all means, boys. Find another reason to complain about ownership. I’m sure it’s there.
Finally we are seeing some more money being spent. Hope there will be more reinforcements at the trading deadline!
Good deal for the Braves. We do need one more dependable starter. At this point we do seems to need a starter more than a closer.
In AA I trust.
I want to say I remember hearing that the Braves had about $40M to spend this “offseason”. That word ultimately became a very loose term. So as it sits, they have paid Donaldson, McCann, Markakis, and Keuchel $44M. And right now the team is pretty flush with last year’s payroll, maybe a million or two shy, and ahead of where payroll was this time last year (sort of). At minimum, I think the Braves will bridge that gap by picking some guys off waivers or something like we did with Duda and Rivera last year.
Kinda funny that of the four, the guy they signed to more than a one-year deal was the oldest guy (Markakis).
I don’t think he’ll be remotely ready in early July. He didn’t have spring training. He hasn’t faced major league hitters in eight months. Feel free to march at the front of the Liberty Media celebration parade, Sam, but I’m willing to bet he’ll need a little more time to round back into form. If he’s very good in July, August, and September, we’ll have paid him the equivalent of $26 million a year for 0.5 years. So, Donaldson money.
(Technically the base salary is $20 million prorated to $13. But that’s because it’s currently early June.)
That’d be fine, if he could actually pitch. But I think it’ll be a while yet before we know that. Here’s hoping he blows everyone away down on the farm. We’ll see.
Hell, Foltynewicz had an abbreviated spring training, too. It’s taken him a little while to shake the rust off, wouldn’t you say?
To be clear, the reason I am annoyed about this deal is twofold:
1) Starting pitching isn’t the biggest current weakness of this team, in my estimation. It’s the bullpen.
2) Keuchel hasn’t pitched in a really long time. He’s being rented for a few months and at least 1-2 of those months are basically going to be rehab. So we’ll give him an extended audition for free agency, but we’ll be lucky to get 10 good starts out of him. Will that be decisive down the stretch? I guess we’ll see.
I’m pleased as punch to see them spending money, but these one-year deals are the miserliest way of spending. I get not wanting to be locked into a potentially sour deal, but there has to be a happy medium between that, and refusing to sign any free agent for more than one year.
The team is saying Keuchel will start for AAA this weekend. If he starts Sunday, July 4th would mark his 6th start since that first start. This year in Spring Training, Newcomb got 6 starts (a lot of good that did him); Wright got 5; Fried, Teheran, Touki, and Wilson all got 4.
It’s also been reported that Keuchel has thrown something like 6-7 90-pitch starts on his own time. I’m having a hard time believing there’s been even that many, but if he’s even thrown one, then that means he’s probably going to be making full starts for Gwinnett. If he wasn’t ready by July, then you’re realistically talking about 60+ IP between his own time and AAA. How much does the man need? I think it would be smart for the Braves to under-promise and over-deliver in this case, and it’s not impossible for him to make a few starts at Gwinnett and get going. We’re gonna wear the guy out!
I hate days when the Braves are the only losing team in the division (not counting the Marlins.)
Oh, I’m sure they’ll promote him on time if he’s healthy. But I’m not expecting that he’ll have full touch on all his pitches by then. I’m betting on a decent number of postgame quotes about “not having my best stuff but just grinding it out and glad the guys could pick me up.”
10 starts would be less than the starts a pitcher would make in August and September. Do you really think he won’t be effective until early August? A pitcher starting every 5 days from July through September should get about 16 starts. That’s about 1.8 WAR based on his 5-year average. We paid $13M, so we got a slight discount off the $8M/WAR equation. So in the video game world, you would jettison Folty’s -0.7 bWAR track in 7 GS or Gausman’s -0.9 bWAR in 12 GS, and replace him with Keuchel. That’s a pretty big swing in the other direction.
I think it’s possible he makes 2 starts in June, and he ends up getting 16-18 starts this year including the postseason.
Plus, the guy took a one-year deal. There’s something to be said about that. I know the data about contract years is a little inconclusive, so I’m going to go with my gut that the professional guy pitching for a job next year is going to approach the situation differently than the professional guy pitching for a job in 5 years. I’m hoping this is like Roger Clemens’ 2006 season where he signed mid-season and put in one of the better years of the latter half of his career.
If it were that easy, I think Yasiel Puig would try to have a better walk year than the one he’s having, too.
I said “10 good starts.” I don’t think every start he has for us will be brilliant. Folty just had a Quality Start today. How many good starts do you think Keuchel will actually give us?
Keuchel at 1/$13MM is sooooooo much better than the Kimbrel deal. I remain an unabashed Anthopoulos fan.
Sorry, I misread what you said. I think he’ll probably make about 10 good starts. But I don’t think that’s significantly less than what a good starter will make for us in an entire season. Last year, 22 of Keuchel’s 34 starts were either a quality start or better or 2 runs or less in 5 IP (they might want to start calling that a quality start nowadays).
Fun fact: Folty was our best pitcher last year, and he pitched in 183 IP. In 31 starts, he pitched 7 innings 6 times. Keuchel did that 11 times. Folty pitched 6 innings 15 times. Keuchel pitched 6 innings 23 times. Anibal, our other really effective pitcher, pitched 6 innings 13 times in 24 starts, and 7 innings twice in those 24 starts.
I’ve been banging this drum since 2016: there is a tremendous value to the guy who can get you 6 innings instead of 5, 7 instead of 6, etc. What made Scherzer a 8.7 bWAR pitcher last year was not just being dominant when he was on the mound, but also being on the mound. He pitched 6 IP in 30 of his 33 starts, 7 in 19 (!!!) of 33.
Final note: Soroka has pitched 6 IP in 7 of 9 starts. Fried 7 of 11.
@22 @23 If he only has a few starts but is fairly rested and in top form during the playoffs, how much bonus is that? That’s what we’ve all been really wanting all along – some guy that’ll give us a chance against the Dodgers in the playoffs.
Maybe he only needs to give us a few starts to get to the playoffs but then might be able to carry us once there.
So. AAR you would prefer the Braves to give Kimbrel the Cubs’ contract?
@25 I saw someone comment to DOB that Gaus might go to the bullpen. I think that’s unlikely. I am hoping that this is not a cue to send Fried to the bullpen. That’s one of the points I was trying to make earlier (without much coherence).
I do wonder if Folty might benefit with a spell in the pen. His KO capability might be more valuable in the pen than any of the other starters.
I think it’s pretty clear that Folty and Gausman are competing for the last rotation spot assuming no injuries until Keuchel is ready.
In a vacuum, Stu @24 is right as he always is.
But I think fans are severely undercounting the degree to which 2019 is already a write-off for both of these guys. Their feel for pitching is shot all to hell. Going from 0 to 60 is not easy.
I think Kimbrel is not as bad as his late 2018, and I like him for 2019-2020, though Andrew Miller is certainly a cautionary tale.
I wish Anthopoulos had spent the bread on the bullpen. But I really wish he’d made a multi-year deal happen. I just don’t believe there’s a lot of value to be found out of either of these guys in 2019.
I’d love to be wrong about Dallas. I probably will be; I often am. But Donaldson’s 2019 performance, prorated to just half a year, is probably the 50th percentile outcome.
Anybody think McCann might have had some input into this decision. After all, he caught both of them.
I’d have rather the Braves given Kimbrel the Cubs contract. I’d have been happy if they had gone 4 years on him.
I’m not saying I’m unhappy with the Keuchel signing, because they at least did something. The bullpen is such a bigger need than the rotation was, though.
AAR, I do understand your point and there are definitely risk to it as you said. I am just hoping having BMac is will help smoothing out the process as we have a catcher who knows him very well already.
I am quite sure this must be a key consideration for Dallas because he and Scott Boras must know the precise risk you mentioned very well. The Braves give Dallas the best chance to succeed in 2019 (outside of the Astros) because of BMac.
Gausman could be very good coming out of the pen.
On the baseball front, the weekend series with the Marlins could be pretty interesting and fairly important. As horrible as the Marlins seem, they’ve been playing decent ball lately. Otoh, it’s been a bad stretch for the Braves against some less than stellar teams. The rest of the division seems to be trending up.
I am also betting that the next Braves move is a salary dump that matches Keuchel’s. That way the Keuchel move could be pitched to Liberty as “salary neutral”. They could trade O’Day and Inciarte or Gausman or Teheran for a useful reliever or one in need of a change in scenery (e.g. Swarzak) or one on an expiring contract like Will Smith. Maybe they have to add a prospect as good as Biddle or better to offset the difference between a Swarzak and a Smith.
If I were the Giants, I’d think being able to control a pitcher (Gausman or Teheran) would be appealing along with a solid regular like Inciarte.
Dumping O’Day’s contract and Inciarte’s would net close to $11M to offset Keuchel.
Someone has to be DFA’d or moved to the 60 day DL. Looks like O’Day is still on the 10 day IL so maybe that’s not a problem.
Keuchel may take some time to round into shape, certainly. That’s baked into the price point. But a short year contract on him is better than three years for a 30+ year old reliever who faded badly down the stretch. If the problem is “the bullpen” then taking one of your starters and putting them in that mix, once Keuchel is ready to start in Atlanta, is a fix.
And they still have money to spend on the bullpen.
And if I’m being honest, I’m trusting a former Cy Young winner and consummate pro to get in game shape a whole lot faster than I ever trusted headcase Mike Foltynewicz to. I didn’t expect Folty to *still* be this rusty, but it’s not terribly surprising, either.
Keuchel ain’t Folty.
39 – Not to mention, with Folty there was an underlying injury that impacted his readiness. Hard to know for sure, but I imagine it was (maybe still is) hard for him to trust that he can throw the way he used to without pain or further injury.
This is a happy day people, AA appears to be doing this the right way. We joke about financial flexibility, but how would you feel about being on the hook for Bryce or Machado…let’s see… just 2 months into their massive contracts. They already look like albatrosses.
What you fail to account for, Dusty, is that for some folks, unless the team is sold by current ownership and a Mark Cuban/Arthur Blank type throws a 300 million dollar payroll at the problem, it will never be a “happy day.”
Further evidence that “doing nothing” is sometimes the best move:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/06/progress-report-last-winters-6-highest-paid-relievers.html
Ottavino’s been great, Britton okay (but not at that cost), the other 4 are disasters already and all still have 1-2 years left on the deals after this year.
Glory be.
We got the one we needed as opposed to the one we wanted.
And for a semester or so, not a 3 year dirge.
They don’t give hardware for most-efficient-use-of-limited-resources. We should not be a small market team.
@41 I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. If the team will go on and invest in adding and retaining talent, as opposed to potentially slashing payroll when it should actually be adding, then many of those “some people” will be happy.
The problem isn’t necessarily about not having The Top Payroll but, among many problems, about having a bottom third payroll when the team is a top third revenue generator. That’s just one of the problems.
We are a mid-market team. Thinking we should be anything other than that will lead to a lot of disappointment, and will do nothing to change the facts of what we are.
@38 and @39 have talked me off the ledge.
I’m cautiously excited.
Payroll after Keuchel is 14th in MLB. Revenue was reported to be 9th in MLB in 2018 (granted that was in a year with a playoff appearance and the second year of a new stadium). Braves showed $344 (just behind LAA at $348 and just ahead of PHI-341 NYM-340 and WAS-336).
You can argue we should be at the top of the middle 3rd tier and I think we are closing in on that, but really the spending is not far off from where it should be relative to other teams.
I would rather have had Kimbrel but am glad to see the team make a move. We got a guy with a good track record who should be well-rested and ready to provide quality innings.
We still need a better ninth inning option than Jackson though. Maybe Touki would be an option? Newk’s control scares me in that kind of role.
Maybe Dan Kolb or Bob Wickman are looking for work.
@40 It’s tough to judge a contract 2 months into it. I’d have been quite happy if they had gotten Machado, however. His downturn in stats is probably at least partially due to playing in that SD ballpark.
Harper I didn’t want, but that was more of a I didn’t like the guy type deal.
Anyway, sure a move is better than no move at all. Are we just going to acquire the guys who’ll take the shortest contracts versus what the team needs though? Half measures never lead to complete victory.
@48 Arguing over things we don’t understand or have ample data to adequately analyze doesn’t do much for me. I’ve seen Atlanta when it was a big market team (big but not huge like LA or NY), and I’ve read more than one interview with Liberty Media that leads me to believe they see potential market growth for the Braves. They’ve at least indicated a desire to get the Braves nationally televised again because there is a market for that. Beyond that, I can only anecdotally suggest there are a lot of fair weather Braves fans who have yet to return. Generate the real buzz that a deep playoff run would create and see what that looks like.
@41 If the team was sold, and the new owner(s) wanted to run a 300 million dollar payroll, I’d be elated!
I’d be happy though if the Braves would spend more like a mid-market team though, and less like the Fish. They had a need, a solution was available, but (gasp!) he wanted a multi-year deal! It’s irritating.
Arguing over things we don’t understand or have ample data to adequately analyze doesn’t do much for me.
Then how are you basing your opinion that ownership is cheap? Because we used to be a top-spending team 20 years ago and now we’re not? I’m not being facetious; is that the long and short of the viewpoint?
I agree with you that we don’t have enough data to be as educated as we’d like about whether certain teams are Trying Hard Enough(TM) or not. So that’s why I go with numbers regarding payroll as percentage of overall team revenue. That tells me that of the amount of revenue your franchise is producing, are you spending a proportionate amount on player payroll? “Are you putting it back in”, so to speak. That’s why I always want to punch a St. Pete resident in the throat when they talk about the Rays’ payroll. GO THE GAMES. Anyway, same for Atlanta.
I love this move. My barber thinks we should make two more moves:
SF: Bumgarner, Tony Watson and Will Smith for Bryce Wilson, Kolby Allard, Justin Dean and Folty
Baltimore: Trey Mancini for Drew Waters and Gohara
That makes us close to the Dodgers
My question for the people unhappy: what ranking in player payroll would you like the team to be? Currently 14th.
Also, how important is what amount they’re paying to the 25-man roster? That ranking is now 9th with the Keuchel addition. Why ought other teams get credit for paying players to not play for them, thus moving up the rankings? Shouldn’t we care about who the team is paying to play for us?
As examples, Yanks have $75M on the IL. Angels have $57M and Rockies have $49M. Are we supposed to applaud them because they signed expensive veteran free agents that are more prone to injury? Am I supposed to revere the Angels because they’re paying The Ghost of Albert Pujols $28M? Or the Rockies who are paying 32-year old Charlie Blackmon $21M to poorly cover the biggest CF in baseball (and he’s on the IL), Ian Desmond $15M, and Wooden Legs Daniel Murphy $10M? I mean, slow golf clap? I haven’t gotten to their 2018 FREE AGENT HOT STOVE WINNING BULLPEN that is now making about $30M to be a dumpster fire. Umm, cool?
Good color from KLaw here on the Braves’ draft haul:
@56
I think people are mad because they constantly hear about how much money the team is making on top of the promises made by the front office leading up to this season.
Then the Atlanta media just buys their bullshit and pumps it back to the fan base like we are stupid. There is no excuse for this team to not have upgraded the bullpen over the winter.
From 2000-2008 they hung their hat on the “We won the division again! What more do you want?”
Then they started selling us this “Not a rebuild, but a reloading. Be patient”
If they had made a couple of moves for the pen, we are probably up 3-4 games on the Phillies now. Instead the trot out Markakis and McCann.
Then Braves State Media covers them so much its gross. DOB and Peanut just argue with detractors on Twitter.
If Keuchel had signed with the Yankees, the articles would have been, “The Braves weren’t willing to spend the extra money for a guy whose walk rate jumped incredibly last year. Folty has shown signs of bouncing back of late and the team feels he is a true number one…” They even wrote pieces down playing Kimbrel.
I love the Keuchel signing. It shows me someone is at least paying attention. I feel like if there wasn’t a segment of the fan base loudly complaining, this deal doesn’t get done.
The Marlins’ payroll barely tops $70 mil. We are not the Marlins. Jesus.
Brian McCann: .342/.427//.769
JT Realmuto:. 321/.446//.767
@60
I don’t think you have to spend $200 million to win, but not making the moves to go for it when you have the team is a slap in the face to the fans.
I don’t think Keuchel should need a month or more to be ready. It’s not like hitting where there’s no substitute for live action. If he’s been throwing, building up his arm strength, he should have his feel for his pitches back, regardless of whether there’s been a batter standing in the batter’s box. He doesn’t seem like a guy that would be screwing around instead of preparing. I’m interested to see how he looks Saturday night.
@55 I think the first trade would be a fabulous trade and the second one is is stinker. I’d rather have Drew Waters than Mancini at this point for two reasons: 1) He’s a much better defender and 2) He’ll be a prototypical leadoff hitter – what Ender should be. Further, where would you put Mancini now with Riley in the OF?
On the first trade, I’d try for Gausman before including Folty and, with that trade, I might insist that they take O’Day, too. I’d do that trade (with O’Day) just for MadBum and Smith. Watson would be a nice bonus.
Beau Philip
a flat footed short stop because of his hip
toes never in contact with the ground
no grace, no beauty, it’s all rather profound.
@64
I would put Markakis on the bench
@66 But they won’t. And it’s likely that Duvall would hit nearly as well as Mancini coming back up. For the fact that we already have him, Duvall is a perfect platoon with Markakis.
@61 Sam, that means 100% absolutely nothing. First, that performance is likely in half the ABs of Realmuto and, second, Realmuto is by far and away the best defensive catcher in the league. FG has him at 2.3 WAR which would make him the best player on the Braves’ team right now. Only Grandal ranks higher.
The idea that bringing Realmuto was a bad idea is just stupid. I would not have traded Riley for him but we could have thrown a pitcher (not named Soroka or Fried) every bit as good as Sixto and included Contreras. We still could have drafted Langoliers who might have been ready by the time Realmuto was a FA.
We’d be running away with the division with a defensive catcher like Realmuto especially if he calls a better game than our catchers do.
Even if Keuchel fails the Braves have committed nothing to him past this year. It’s not a high risk deal.
@54 Then how are you basing your opinion that ownership is cheap?
I agree with you that we don’t have enough data to be as educated as we’d like about whether certain teams are Trying Hard Enough(TM) or not. So that’s why I go with numbers regarding payroll as percentage of overall team revenue.
Ookay… I wasn’t, earlier today, insinuating that I still think they’re cheaping out, but here it goes. I am basing my opinion that ownership is cheap on the increasing revenues that have been reported and the oft-quoted stagnant payroll numbers from the past couple of years. We’ve gone round in circles on this regarding their comments about increased spending after the new ballpark and then the new shopping center. Until yesterday, it was widely discussed that, short of signing Keuchel/Kimbrel or a trade, team payroll was going to be down from last year. I’m so happy I was wrong and you were right, Rob!
But let’s address the second thing you said. I actually really appreciate the % of revenue spent on payroll that you refer to. I think that’s a terrific way of gauging how invested ownership is in actually fielding a competent ballclub. Because I don’t know what your source is for this metric up-to-date, here’s what I found:
According to this chart, the Braves were 24th in spending % of revenue just last year. Granted that is the opening day payroll, even if we account for the deadline increase they likely finished out the year 21st or 22nd in % of revenue spent on payroll. The point is that doesn’t sound like a counter to any argument about them being cheap. If we take the 2018 revenue of $442 Million and calculate the this year expected % of revenue spent (so far), that’s 29.3%! I don’t know where that ranks without a 2019 chart to look at, but we can see that it would have been bottom 5 in all of baseball last season.
McGuirk – “The last thing you can do is follow our bouncing ball of economics, with debt. It costs a lot to build this edifice.”
A Braves roster coming soon:
A #Braves 25-man roster coming soon!
1.Acuña
2.Dans
3.FF5
4.JD
5.Kakes
6.Riley
7.Flow
8.Albies
9.Charlie
10.Camargo
11.Joyce
12.BMac
13.Pillar
14.Soroka
15.Keuchel
16.Fried
17.Bumgarner
18.Julio
19.Folty
20.Newk
21.Touki
22.Luke
23.Swarzak
24.Minter
25.W.Smith
Would this make you happy?
Which is another way of saying “I would not have completed a deal with the Marlins for Realmuto.” Because, to repeat myself, the Marlins were demanding Ozzie Albies PLUS Austin Riley.
But it’s clear that some folks have their talking points about management, ownership, and spending laid out, and will find whatever motivated reasoning they need to support those “facts” in all cases.
58 – To put the Klaw write up in perspective, he mentioned no more than 2 players for any team taken in the 10th round or higher. For the Braves he mentioned 7!! Whether that will amount to anything or not remains to be seen but at least it looks like they had some strategy and as much as a team can, the Braves clearly “won” day 3 assuming most of these guys get signed.
@72 Bull. There was talk of wanting Albies or Riley at the beginning but not at the end of the process. The Marlins came up far short of that in what they received. They received Sixto and Alfaro. We could have sent Wright, Contreras, Flowers, and another pitcher and the Marlins would have come out ahead. Mind you that Sixto is currently ranked #26 and Wright is ranked #29 (with Anderson at #30). And Sixto can’t strike anyone out in A+ ball.
We needed a RF and one or two starting pitchers last offseason (forget the bullpen for a minute, if you can…). We didn’t do any of that.
Now we’ve got a front-line starter for a half-season. So that’s something. Maybe the rest of the wish list can still happen.
@71 Nope. No need for Pillar – his bat is worse than Ender’s. I’d rather keep Winkler or Webb than Pillar. I’m not sure you could get Pillar, MadBum, and Smith without sending over someone else along with Ender and Gausman.
Pillar would be another guy to take ABs away from Camargo.
We have finally addressed one of the issues that we said we needed to address going into the offseason. It took until a third of the way through this season, but better late than never, I guess.
Poor Mitch Haniger. Ouch.