After announcing the acquisition of Wade Davis from the Royals last week, the Cubs have struck again to further bolster their bullpen, announcing on Tuesday the signing of right-hander Koji Uehara to a one-year deal. Uehara, a client of ISE Baseball, will reportedly be guaranteed a total of $6MM with his new team. The Cubs had open space on their 40-man roster, which now stands at 37 players, so no corresponding 40-man move is necessary to finalize the latest addition.
Uehara will join the Cubs after a strong four-year run at the back of Boston’s bullpen. At last check, the Red Sox looked likely to move on from Uehara — Alex Speier of WEEI.com tweeted last week that the Red Sox had made an offer, but Uehara wasn’t ready to respond, so the team acquired Tyler Thornburg instead — and Uehara now indeed lands with his fourth big league organization. The Cubs have been known to be looking for bullpen help even after their trade for Davis, and Uehara will deepen their relief corps and bring a highly experienced arm to manager Joe Maddon’s staff.
With Davis in tow, Uehara almost certainly won’t close for the Cubs, as he did for Boston in 2012-2014. But his presence provides some added peace of mind for the defending World Series champs, particularly since Davis dealt with forearm issues in 2016. Chicago now features a rather robust assortment of experienced, high-leverage righties in the pen. Both Hector Rondon and Pedro Strop — who spent much of 2016 as the team’s closer and top set-up option, respectively — remain on hand.
[Related: Updated Chicago Cubs Depth Chart]
As for Uehara, there’s a reason a pitcher of his repute was available on a modest contract. Most importantly, he’ll turn 42 near the start of the season. His fastball velocity also continued to dip in 2016, falling to an average of 86.7 MPH, generally dangerous territory for a righty. He also became incredibly fly-ball-prone, with a minuscule 21.4 GB%, and coughed up 1.53 homers per nine innings. Also, Uehara missed time in 2016 due to a pectoral injury, interrupting what had been a strong run of durability.
Still, Uehara remained very effective last season, posting a 3.45 ERA, 12.1 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 over 47 innings. If the contract does turn out to be for $4.5MM, the Cubs’ risk is minimal, particularly for a pitcher who hasn’t yet had a bad season in eight years since arriving from Japan. For his U.S. career, Uehara has a terrific 2.53 ERA, 10.7 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 over 437 2/3 innings.
Notably, too, Uehara has long dominated opposing hitters on both sides of the plate. While lefty hitters have been ever so slightly better in terms of strikeouts and walks when facing Uehara, they have produced less offensive than have righties. Since the ace reliever landed in the majors, 863 southpaw swingers have combined to hit an anemic .181/.220/.335 against him.
Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald first tweeted the connection between Uehara and the Red Sox. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports tweeted that a deal was done. ESPNChicago.com’s Jesse Rogers reported the salary details (via Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Wow!!
Interesting choice
Koji is a great teammate (by all accounts), and when he is on he is virtually unhittable. Such a pleasure to watch him make professionals swing and miss by feet and just look silly. Will miss him in Boston but hope he enjoys success in Chicago.
He is old and STINKS Cubs are STUPID
Adyo, so did you play with koji?
He did say “by all accounts”.
I wanted him when we where Boston West a couple years ago but we are the Cubs now as of last spring.
Pay attention to baseball more
Yeah it is an interesting choice. They should’ve gone a little more under the radar and signed Casey Fien while they had the chance. Koji Is declining, while Fien has only been improving. You can make the argument that he’s been not only the most effective reliever, but perhaps the most consistent pitcher in the majors the past 3 seasons.
Wow, great job Theo!
Wow.. Theo isnt the GM. Lol
Ha ha . Yeah he has no decision making at all:-)
Dave Dombrowski also isn’t the GM in Boston; that doesn’t mean he isn’t the one pulling the trigger on deals. Educate yourself.
Thank you redsoxu571.
John Henry has his finger in every $$$ that trader Dave executes. Just saying.
Love it as a 1 year.
My god I miss Koji in Boston already
I do too. LOVED him. 2013 was awesome … every win was basically 8 innings. I’ve never seen more of a sure thing, he did it often with 7-10 pitches. Never any butterflies or a worry in the world with him on the mound. Best of luck Koji … keep up the high fives and keep rocking the huge orange glove. You will be missed.
However it’s more exciting to pay big money for the current closer and have the adrenaline pump as the drama increases. This deal demonstrates how dumb the Red Sox were in messing with the team of Theo and Tito.
Theo is a man of his word. Keep addin’ depth.
another potential 10+ k/9 arm in our pen.
Yes has been sand sore arms. What a joke!
Jeez. The Mets are sitting on their hands. Best of the relievers left on the market…smh.
That crazy slow split finger he has that no one can hit … hats off to Koji, we will miss him in Boston
RIP Cardinals chances to win the division…
You are correct …the cards thought the winter meetings were next week
They didn’t have one to begin with lol
Yeah like picking up an old guy that can’t break a pane of glass is going to somehow insure the Cardinals can’t compete. Cubs already not near as good as last year and Cardinals getting ready to make some major moves will be a closer than the cub fans will be expecting. Cardinals class of the NL central for many more years.
Lol someone’s got the bias glasses on and they are painted Cardinal red
Cardinal Red > Cubs Blue
No. cubs>cards
Cubs certainly have gotten worse, now that they’ve acquired one of the top closers for an entire season, for a guy who wasn’t going to get more than 250 ABs.
Just a very vague response. “closer than cub fans will be expecting?” What’s the general consensus? Getting ready to make some major moves? Define major. Looks like Fowler for one wants nothing to do with them. Seems to be a trend where a certain demographic feels unwelcome in St Louis.
How have they gotten worse. ? They only made 3 moves this off season. Jon Jay. Wade Davis and now koji uerhera. Replacing dexter with Jon jay hurts. Cubs fans knew Chapman wasn’t returning. They may still get Greg hollland. They’ve had a quite winter but an effective one. Jon Jay signing makes no sense the outfield is still crowded with him even after the Soler trade.
Cubs much weaker without Fowler and Chapman. Cards about to sign Fowler.
subtract fowler and chapman add full season of schwarber contreras and a possibly not futile heyward and wade davis for how ever long he can stay healthy. I’m gonna say it’s pretty much a push as long as they don’t see major regression or injury to the starting staff. That said, they will probably be worse because it’s hard to win 103 games, but the cards finished 17.5 back and projections don’t have them all that close this year.
Lmao…wow…..
You must know nothing of Koji’s work, themed. He is one of the best relievers in baseball, despite throwing the second slowest in MLB.
How do you figure a sub-90 mph fly ball pitcher in Wrigley is going o continue to be a top reliever? I will believe it when I see it. They better hope the wind is blowing in.
The same way he was effective through his they’re in Boston. He threw 15 straight scoreless innings coming off the DL throwing 87 mph. Dude can pitch.
Supposed to say tenure. Not sure why it won’t let me edit.
Fenway is a tiny park and he has had great success there…. Despite a slower fastball, he can still mix his pitches and get guys out….
Ummmmm wow. What a comment. What a time to be alive… I think the Cubs will be just fine lol. Still the best team in the show.
I would have to go with Boston on that one buddy
As a Red Sox fan, I would argue that with Ortiz gone, they could still use another bat, and probably another bullpen arm, even after they added Thornburg
cubs projected slightly better than boston right now
They should be… sale is great, but price is on the wrong side of 30 and not coming off his best season (he’ll still be good, but not an ace), and porcello is one year removed from being one of the worst qualified starters in baseball. Porcello was great this last year, but I’m just saying there is uncertainty, which Chicago has less of.
I can’t stand Sandoval but watch. He’s going to be really good this year. At least until he’s really good, gets complacent and stacks the weight back on. But even then he’ll still be good. Won’t be the HR guy that Ortiz was but he’s gonna play pretty well. I hope I’m wrong though.
When you subtract Papi’s clubhouse presence do the math; and deduct 15-20% of the rest of their offense production and add the number of days of lackluster performances by Hanley to his extra days on the DL. Then add the adventure of Santoval at 3b fielding and throwing to Hanley and your defensive metrics implode.
@themed, I agreed with most of what you said about the Cardinals not being a pushover and probably going to get at least one impact player before spring training, but that last sentence…. NO ONE in baseball believes that except for maybe Hawk Harrelson.
I am surprised cards haven’t made any moves at all. Are they just waiting for scraps that are left over?
I sure would like to believe your right I’m afraid cardinal management doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence these days
The Cubs will dominate the NL central for years to come. The Cards have done nothing to improve as of yet while the Cubs retool their bullpen and look to field the best young lineup in all of baseball again in 2017.
The starting staff will be much worse. The bullpen still a question mark. Fowler the leader gone to St Louis. Cubs much worse.
no it wont, no it isn’t, no they wont. See, i can just make conclusory statements as well.
Fowler going to sign to be a Cardinal great for a few years. Twice as cheap but twice as good as Heyward.
Vegas oddsmakers disagree
Dude you need to stop…you make no sense.
Fowler was the cubs leader last year? You r cranky, go to bed
Themed please tell u r 12
Remember when the old guy who couldn’t break a pane of glass struck out Carpenter to win the World Series a few years back #memberberries
^themed owned. Lol
Not a Cubs fan, but lol.
How are they not near as good? They’ve lost Fowler, Ross, Soler, Hammel, Chapman, and Wood. They’ve gained Schwarber, Jay, Davis, and Uehera. I’m not seeing a massive drop anywhere. Missing Fowler at leadoff will hurt, but that’s really about the only severe impact to the team, and gaining Schwarber back is more than enough to compensate for most, if not all, of that.
How do you figure the Cubs are not as good as last year?
Schwarber back all year
Wade Davis Closer all year
Almora good replacement for Fowler
Contreras better offensively than Montero
Russell will get better at the plate with more experience
Baez see above
Cubs are not done yet this offseason
YOU ARE A GOAT The Pittsburgh Pirates just signed Ivan Nova baby so STFU
Keep dreaming cards fan
“Cards are getting ready to make major moves……”
In other words, they’re shopping at 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve, saying “Gosh, where did the time go, and where did all the merchandise go?”
Thanks for stating the obvious lol. I don’t know why you think they had a chance in the first place. They’re playing for the WC if anything
Chicago Cubsoxs
Very good pick up 4 the Cubs.
They are still beatable. While the Cubs won the WS, they were quite literally a game away in each series from being eliminated. If the Cubs face a tough pitching staff (Met’s) they will lose.
Quite literally, they were not. They won in 4 games in NLDS and 6 in NLCS. And you need a healthy pitching staff to be tough.
Ah, how quickly we forget, hey Impaler?
Of course the Cubs are beatable, all teams are. I definitely don’t see the ’17 team as weaker though. Seems to me they’re at the point of plugging playoff weaknesses. Maybe they win less regular season games, but I think the Cubs will be a stronger postseason team with an overall stronger lineup and a bullpen with a greater diversity of specialized strengths.
Keeping in mind, even an improved World Series winner doesn’t necessarily win the WS, or even the first round of the playoffs.
I’m confident the changes they’re making are improving the postseason odds.
agreed.
every team is “beatable” what kind of argument is that. The warriors have lost games this year and will trounce everyone on their way to a finals rematch trilogy.
Sure, the mets starters are good. But are they going to be healthy down the stretch? also the mets have a crap bullpen. Mets starters have to finish every game they start. Oh, and their offense is sti crap aside from cespedes. Sorry, mets fans.
It’s a fair point about the Mets’ pitching staff health…but they have even more depth. They are 7 deep (Syn, deGrom, Matz, Harvey, Gsellman, Lugo, Wheeler), though time will tell.
As for their RP…they were 4th in the NL and 6th overall for 2016. The only significant loss this off-season was Blevins. They definitely need at least 1 more solid arm, but Reed + Familia is a solid 8/9. Reed was one of the top setup guys in the majors last year. Add in Wheeler (who will most likely split time between RP and SP) along with at least one more arm and they could be serviceable. Whomever they drop from the SP (Wheeler and probably Lugo) could slot in for some decent innings.
they need all 7 to get through the season. none of them can pitch a whole season without being hurt.
problem is that Familia will be out for AT LEAST 50 games if not more. The mets bullpen will be seriously taxed already as their starters will be closely monitored from an innings stand point. Reed will be a good fill in but who replaces his numbers in the 8th inning? Losing your best back ebd5 guys certainly has a trickle down effect and if they aren’t able to sign or trade for a stop gap, they’ll have to turn to someone in the starting rotation, and might not be very pretty either. never should’ve let Bartolo leave. He was their most durable arm.
The Nats pitching staff is rated higher than the Mets right now, and they have had a lot of injuries. Fangraphs has the Nats pitching at 22,5 and the Mets at 22.4 and if the Nats get Jansen they will be much better. Two things working agains’t the Mets is the other teams in their division are improving at a faster rate and pitchers lik’e Lugo and Gesellman can’t be expected to have the same numbers. The Mets will be fighting for the wild card only if Harvey and deGrom return to form.
You’re absolutely right. Predictions are a guess. Yes we can look at the starting players and rotation and get an idea of how good they are but you don’t win a WS with 25 guys. More like 35 guys. Plus what happens to any team if they lose a few key players? None of us can predict health of any team.
Cubs are a great looking team but anyone suggesting they will win the whole thing is still making a guess.
Every year SF won, nobody picked them, even as they made the playoffs nobody picked them. They just played okay all year and got hot during the playoffs.
What Joe said. The Cubs did not face a single elimination game in the playoffs until Game 5 of the World Series.
And they did face a tough pitching staff. They faced a pitching staff in the World Series that completely shut down the #1 offense in the MLB and then shut down the Blue Jays, who are a powerhouse in their own right.
If you are going to troll, at least be factual
Good gravy do they have to sweep everyone to be the best? Trophy doesn’t have a place on it that says almost lost game 4 of nlds just reads 2016 World Champions.
They never trialed in the series vs the giants. They were about to sweep until Connie Gillespie came out of the woodwork. Messed everything up. Hill pitched his ass off. Kershaw was Kershaw fantastic. Lester and Hendricks were better. Game 6 nlcs greatest game ever at wrigley
Win NLDS 3 games to 1…….. .Last I checked that’s da** near a sweep
Win NLCS 4 games to 2………. Did that after falling back 1 game to 2……. winning the last 3 in a row
Win WS 4 games to 3…….. Did that after falling back 1 game to 3………. winning the last 3 in a row.
Yeah…… what bums. Imagine if Chapman’s bum a** didn’t blow 3 games this postseason, one in each series. Would’ve been that much better.
This post is incorrect.
The “tough” Mets’ staff are all working their way back from the DL or trying to avoid it in 2017. Call it the “TC” factor which will continue to hang over the staff from their 2015 burnout.
Solid pick up. I wonder what the Dodgers are doing right now. They got Hill and now all I hear is rumors while the teams that are threats for the World Series are making moves. I love what the Cubs have built though. They don’t always have to have re-sign every free agent of theirs..all they need to do is plug a few players in here and there and they’ll contend year in and year out for a while. Good job Theo and congrats Cubs fans.
The Dodgers didn’t have the luxury of sucking for four years. That’s what happened.
Someone sounds upset lolol
Lol Addison
No instead they had the luxury of having the highest by far payroll in the majors
Darn I picked him to go to the Marlins in the contest
Good luck to Koji in Chicago. Wish the Sox had brought him back for the 8th instead of trading Shaw
Don’t worry about the 8th inning. By June the Sox faithful will have had it with David $$’s mediocrity and he will be a middle reliever for the next 7 or 8 years.
Not at 30 mil a season
$4.5 million….I cant believe the Marlins are really going to spend, give out 5 years to a reliever, and give up the #13 pick on Jansen when we still need at least another SP and RH bat at 1b, which is all obtainable this offseason. Obviously, this is more of the same from me, but as time keeps going, its getting more frustrating that we’re really going to do this.
The Red Sox wouldn’t have really had any need for Koji, since apparently Joe Kelly or Robbie Ross will be the 7th inning guy. Still, fans have to be a little sad that his time in Boston comes to an end. His 2nd half of 2013 was amazing.
he was actually really, really good after his DL stint last year too
All good guys leave Boston. Read about Theo and Tito. John Henry and brains trust disposed of a GM who was responsible for all of the player development. They hung him for the Pablo and Hanley signings which were dictated from the top. So now they have trader Dave who predictably will deplete the farm and spend like a drunken sailor on overpriced, over-the-hill players. Just look at what condition he left the Tigers in…bloated, underperforming players on the books for the next 5-8 years.
Much of the Tigers problems are the result of the owner, not DD. Heavy contracts to Anibal Sanchez, Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera.. Free agents Prince Fielder, Victor Martinez and Justin Upton… That’s on Mike Illich. I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes another crazy signing this year too.
I still believe the Red Sox to make another deal to get another middle relief guy.
they say they arent, but I personally think they need another arm down there, especially if they’re relying on getting Carson Smith back off injury to help in that regard
Nice low risk move for the Cubbies
This isn’t a huge move by any stretch, but I like this move for 1 year at that price
Here I come 1st place!
Um Holy Crap on this move? What happens next for the Cubs? Now they have six competent Right handed relievers. So far, they have no idea who the lefties are going to be:
Davis
Rondon
Strop
Edwards
Grimm
Uehara
That’s one really fantastic pen. They just need to upgrade the lefties. I don’t think Brian Duensing and Rob Z are going to be enough from the left side with that stacked group from the right.
Still trying to resign Wood. Rob Z is still young you never know. But if they can’t get Wood maybe a move for a low cost starter and return Montgomery to the pen, unless they are deadest on him starting.
Deadset
I like Wood, but the only way I see him coming back is on a 1 year deal, and with teams offering him starting jobs I’m going to assume he’s probably being offered more than 1 year in those deals. That being said, he got extremely lucky last year in regards to stranding so many runners on base with such poor peripherals.
Depends how much faith you put in sabermetric assumptions…. I mean stats. Key stat for me with Wood was that he inherited 37 runners this year and only let 5 score. To ME that is the best stat to determine who is literally the best RELIEF pitcher. Pitcher gets in a jam and lets a few guys on base….. manager needs to get a RELIEF pitcher in to stop the bleeding. The definition of “relieve” is to cause to become less severe or serious. Inheriting 37 runners and letting only 5 score I would say is great RELIEF.
Sure there are WAY more things to evaluate a pitcher on, but inherited runners and inherited runners scored is a key stat I think for relievers. By comparison’s sake Chapman b/w the Yanks and Cubs only inherited 12 runners all year but let 6… SIX of them score. It’s won of the reasons I think he is overrated. He’s great in low leverage, unstressful situations. Put the slightest tension on him in the inning and he folds like tissue paper. We saw it regularly in the playoffs. How can one be the best closer when he seeming falls apart if 1) he has to pitch more than 1 inning, and 2) needs to have the bases empty to be lights out. Whatever. “I don’t know anything” though….. so I am told. Chapman’s the greatest I guess because he throws fast…….. that’s the “quality” universal analysis.
Rob Z will be in AAA getting stretched out…another lefty is still needed.
if thats the case MULTIPLE lefties are needed. Duensing needs to compete for a job, not just get handed one. He sucks. IMO they need to sign just one of Dunn, Blevins, Logan, or even JP Howell. Then have Zastryzny compete with Duensing for the other lefty spot……… or trade for Doolittle??????
Another relief pitcher off the table. Decent signing by the Cubs. The Nationals best get in touch with Greg Holland quick before he signs with them too.
Just an observation from a Yankees fan–it’s interesting to watch Cubs/Red Sox/Cardinals fans go at each other.
The majority of cardinals fans on here are actually well informed and solid posters, but like every fan base (some more than others) there are those ugly ducklings
Yankees have nothing really cheer about this offseason.
Except having potentially 4 new lineup spots for guys with good potential.
Bosox4life–We will just have to live with the fact that we aren’t Red Sox fans….the only people on the face of the Earth who have cause for joy.
I understand MLB will assign special reporters to each Red Sox game so as not to miss even a moment of wonderfulness.
Bosox4life-I enjoy the perspective of a fan who wants to relish in a post season that produced zero winds after leading the MLB in last place finishes, what 3 out of 5 years?
I suggest that you read my post above and don’t put your celtics and patriots jerseys away in the spring, because they will be your “disappointed in life wardrobe choice” beginning in June.
Hmmmmm, To me this feels more like a flyer addition than anything. Koji is old as sh** for a major league baseball player. $4.5M seems a lot for that kind of additions……. maybe $4.5M is the new $1.5-2M from a few years ago? To put it in perspective on just how old he is, Addison Russell was born when Uehara was 19 yrs. old…… almost the same age Russell was when he made his ML debut.
Point is, if Koji pitches like his old self in 2016…… this bullpen is just unfair. If he pitches like he did last year though…… meh. still a decent add. I was hoping the BP depth would be in the form of someone a bit younger with a higher ceiling, but this will do….. I guess.
Cubs make great moves and this is another one. His numbers are consistent, can pitch anywhere after the starter leaves the game up to the end. Low cost high reward signing and will fit in great with roster.
Let everyone challenge each other stop this I’m signed to be the closer stuff we have 8-9 really good pen guys best in both leagues
Why do we have Duensing and Smith in our pen this coming season? That’s WORSE than Wood and Montgomery. Not to mention Woods versatility in extra inning games playing for JoeMadd…
cubs have improved the bullpen tremendously. they are primed for another title
DREAM ON LOSER NEVER CUBS AGAIN THEY SHOULD HAVE LOST IN 2016 WITCHES
Was that English?
try to read what you type before hitting send…
Randy stop drinking so early
Mmmmmm your salty tears are delicious
He will be missed in Boston, he should be good for at least one more year, and you won’t find a guy with a better disposition
speier is with the globe
Mike156, Trust me I want the Yankees to be great,I love the rivalry between them when they’re both on the top of there game. With the rSox getting Sale and others doesn’t mean they will be great you still have to play the games.But it will be a fun season to watch.
Welcome Koji!
Another great signing by the Cubs front office. This can either be a huge bargain for what we are paying him or if for some reason he doesn’t work out, we are only out a small donation to his family…
That is one dandy of a pic they chose for this article.
His 2013 playoff performance was great. 13.2IP 1ER 0BB 7H 16K’s 0.66ERA
As a lifelong die hard RedSox fan, any one that thinks Boston is going to be the best club in the majors either A) didnt watch ALL of last season or B) Only watched last season and knows nothing of the players on our rosters. Yes, our pitching is set to be much better especially IF 9and its a big if) Wright can duplicate. But our offense? no, its set to be much much worse. Lets forget for a second that Ortiz is retired and recall some of our other hitters shall we. Start from the bottom?
Sandy Leon…had a hell of a season..but is a career sub 200 hitter outside of 2016 and it showed down the stretch,
JBJ – had a hell of a june/july but “regressed” horribly afterwards and settled right back in to his career status quo after his streak ended,
Travis Shaw – Gone, Enter Sandoval (YAY!!! < Sarasm)
Benitnedi – stilla rookie, looks promising but so have many other rookies so in his first full season its still a question mark,
Hanley – had an amazing year but has a habit of having 1 bad year, 1 good year, 1 bad year….making this year …
(Peddy, Bogey, Mook < theyll be just fine)
….and we replaced Ortiz with Moreland…idc what DD says about him being a replacement for Shaw, he doesnt play 3rd, Sandoval does. moreland is a 1B/DH and IS our lackluster Ortiz raplacement. So, if your a Boston fan hoping for a repeat of our MLB leading offense…dont count on it.
I’m not a Red Sox fan but wouldn’t the increase in success by the pitching staff from Sale and a return to form from Price offset any drop in offense?
That sounds like a 100 run less offense than last year. Where would that put them? Oh, right. Still in first.
100 runs less for the Red Sox would leave them with a Pythagorean record of 89-73, which wouldn’t be a first place team once those subtracted wins are re-distributed among opposition – when considering 2016 records.
I don’t get why Brock Holt cannot start at 3B (his former natural position mind you) yea you won’t have that super utility guy, but he’s better than Sandoval.
Also you got Sale, so having Wright reproduce his stellar work will be kind of moot. What you should be worrying about is Pomeranz, not Wright. Most knuckleball pitchers are the upmost poster boys for consistency.
Moreland will be fine, he’s no Ortiz, but let’s be real here, no one is David Ortiz to Red Sox fans. You guys needed a lefty 1B who is a gold glove caliber at the cold corner.
If you’re a life long Red Sox fan then I know you’re not sold on Blake Swihart.
Swihart got the short end of a very long stick. He’s a bad framer, has a decent arm, but he just cannot catch to statistical measure that the Red Sox would want him too. This obviously means he got less and less playing time, shortening his PAs limiting his offensive output. And due to media outlets, Swihart is no longer looked at as the “catcher of the future” for some reason is Sandy Leon. Sandy is a decent guy, but his bat suffers but here’s what your missing. He can catch better than Swihart, making him immensely valuable if he can reproduce his defensive numbers.
I personally am not a fan of JBJ, the Red Sox (if they were worth their salt) would have traded him when he was hot, and they didn’t, so I’m predicting they will pay for it.
Overall though, your not the “best” but you are most likely going to make the Playoffs, don’t count yourself out.
You have what?
RF-Mookie
CF-JBJ
LF-Benitnedi
3B-Holt
SS-Boegarts
2B-Pedroia
1B-Moreland (v.RHP) Hanley (v.LHP)
C-Leon?
DH-Hanley mainly
Bench
Sandoval
Young
Swihart (maybe)
And who other guys who get UT out of ST
It’s a powerful line up with great defensive capabilities, J can’t see why a “life long” RedSox fan would think they suck just because Ortiz is gone.
I think you’re leaving a few key details out. The Red Sox had the second best run differential in the league last year. If you subtract even 100 runs they still have the best offense in the AL and that does not take into account potential improvements to the pitching staff.
Yeah the sky is not falling, although I would have liked to see them trade for Victor Martinez
He would have been as good as Moreland, and would’ve been a good veteran voice for the younger players like David was
Eh, the Moreland deal mostly was just to give the Sox better defense at first. Hanley will likely spend a majority of the year at DH.
I don’t really think we need another veteran voice. Despite the loss of Ortiz we still have Pedroia who has been a default Captain for a while now. Add to that a lot of people mentioned last year that Hanley did some social growing last year.
The Cubs are still the best team in the majors.
They’re even better. They upgraded their one weak point, closer.
Two has been closers to replace Chapman does not shore up their “weak point”
@cpritner If you’re calling them ‘has beens’ then your baseball ‘knowledge’ is factually very limited. ‘Has beens’, laughable indeed.
Charlie, you have the years wrong for Koji closing in Boston. He got there in 2013, not 2012. He closed 2013-2015.
Why hasn’t anyone signed Trevor Cahill yet? He did well last year when he wasn’t overused. My best guess would be that upper-tier bats perform well against him, making him less likely to succeed in the playoffs (hence why he was left off the roster). Or maybe he wanted an opportunity to make the rotation for another club?