For a few seasons, the Phillies’ primary concern has been the bullpen. Even last year’s pennant-winning squad succeeded largely in spite of a relief corps that finished the regular season ranked 23rd in ERA.
Philadelphia followed up its NL championship with an active offseason headlined by free agent deals for Trea Turner and Taijuan Walker. Those pacts have had mixed results in the early going, but Philadelphia has found more defined success in another area — a complete restructure of the bullpen.
Seven pitchers have thrown 30+ innings out of the ’pen for Rob Thomson on the season. Six of them were acquired since the start of last offseason. One of the offseason pickups, left-hander Andrew Vasquez, has since been designated for assignment and lost on waivers to the Tigers — though even he provided the Phils with 39 2/3 frames of 2.27 ERA ball before being cut.
Of the relievers currently on Philadelphia’s active roster, only Seranthony Domínguez was on the roster at this time a season ago. Some of that is by chance; José Alvarado is currently on the injured list and will surely reassume a high-leverage role when healthy. Yet it also hints at how aggressively the front office has turned things over.
It’s hard to argue with the results. Philadelphia relievers entered play Thursday ranked ninth in the majors with a 3.76 ERA. Their 24.9% strikeout rate ranks eighth. They’re in the bottom half of the league in blown saves. Philadelphia’s bullpen isn’t the best in the league, but it’s strong enough the front office went through deadline season without supplementing the group.
A look at some of the Phils’ bullpen upgrades since last winter:
Philadelphia rolled the dice on Kimbrel at a time when his stock was at a low ebb. The veteran righty is one of the best relievers of his generation, but his recent track record has been up-and-down. Kimbrel was excellent for the Cubs in the first half of 2021, struggled after a deadline trade to the White Sox, then had an average ’22 season with the Dodgers. While his 3.75 ERA through 60 frames last year wasn’t bad, the Dodgers were concerned enough about his performance down the stretch to leave him as a healthy scratch in the postseason.
The Phils guaranteed Kimbrel $10MM on a one-year free agent deal. They could hardly have expected better than the performance he’s turned in. Through 52 innings, he has a 3.12 ERA while locking down 19 of 21 save opportunities. Kimbrel has fanned an excellent 34.6% of opposing hitters after that mark dipped to 27.7% a season ago. He earned his ninth All-Star nod, has solidified the ninth inning, and is trending towards a more lucrative free agent trip next winter.
Strahm inked a two-year, $15MM free agent pact. He has been an effective and versatile piece of the pitching staff. Pressed into rotation duty early on by injuries, Strahm was solid over nine starts. He’s been downright excellent in his traditional bullpen role. The emergence of Cristopher Sánchez and deadline pickup of Michael Lorenzen should position Philadelphia to keep Strahm in relief for the rest of the year.
Over 40 1/3 frames as a reliever, the southpaw carries a 2.68 ERA. He’s stifling opponents to a .207/.248/.407 batting line, striking out 31% of batters faced against a tidy 5.7% walk rate. Hitters are swinging through 14% of his offerings. Strahm handles hitters from both sides of the plate and has worked multiple innings out of the ’pen on 13 occasions.
The most surprising name among this group, Hoffman wasn’t technically an offseason pickup. Granted his release by the Twins at the conclusion of Spring Training, he signed a minor league pact with Philadelphia during the first week of the regular season. The veteran righty spent a month in Triple-A before triggering an opt-out clause that required the team to either add him to the MLB roster or release him.
Philadelphia chose the former option. They’re unquestionably pleased they did. Playing on a prorated $1.3MM salary, Hoffman has turned in a career-low 2.86 ERA over 34 2/3 innings. He’s striking out over 33% of opponents after never topping a 23.6% strikeout rate in any prior season. Hoffman has completely overhauled his pitch mix. His average fastball speed is up to 97.1 MPH after checking in at 94.3 MPH with the Reds last year. More importantly, he’s leaned dramatically more heavily on a slider that has become one of the best weapons in the sport.
Among relievers with 30+ innings, just 12 are inducing whiffs at a higher rate than Hoffman’s 16.6% clip. After spending the better part of two months in mop-up work, Hoffman has deservedly pitched his way into higher-leverage innings coming out of the All-Star Break. At age 30, the former ninth overall pick is showing all the traits of an impact reliever. Only adding to the appeal: Hoffman will be eligible for arbitration next winter, so the Phils can affordably keep him around for another season.
Philadelphia’s highest-profile trade pickup of the offseason, Soto has had more mixed results than any of Kimbrel, Strahm or Hoffman. His 4.73 ERA through 45 2/3 frames isn’t eye-catching. The southpaw’s underlying marks are better than the ERA would suggest, albeit not quite what the Phils likely envisioned when sending Matt Vierling, Donny Sands and Nick Maton to Detroit.
Soto has struck out a decent but unexceptional 23.4% of batters faced. He’s gotten his walk rate to a career-low 9.4% clip and is picking up grounders on a solid 48.4% of balls in play. His production has been exceedingly platoon dependent, however. Left-handed hitters have a pitiful .100/.179/.183 line through 67 plate appearances, while righties have tagged Soto for a .279/.360/.396 clip in 125 trips. He’s a useful reliever, but it’s hard not to feel there’s still some untapped upside with a lefty whose sinker averages 98 MPH. Soto is making just under $4MM this season and eligible for arbitration twice more.
——————————-
The Phils have had other more modest additions as well. Yunior Marté, picked up in a January trade with the Giants, has contributed 35 mostly low-leverage innings. Despite average peripherals, he owns a 5.14 ERA. May waiver claim Dylan Covey was tattooed in his lone start of the year but has chipped in a 2.96 ERA through 24 1/3 innings of long relief.
While those are relatively minor contributions, the Phillies turned the bullpen from a potentially serious weakness to a decent strength in a matter of months. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has faced criticism in prior seasons regarding the bullpens his front offices have put together. While it remains to be seen how this group will perform in October should the Phils hang onto a Wild Card spot, the regular season results have been quite strong — headlined by a pair of adept free agent pickups and hitting on one of the best minor league pacts of the season.
How many features can MLBTR dump out in a 24 hour period? This is five now.
Haha, chalk that up to a day where the biggest 40-man transaction was a Daniel Norris DFA.
Tony – I for one appreciate these types of articles.
One of the reasons why Dombrowski’s teams have been so successful is he doesn’t underuse his best players the way some other teams like the Red Sox do.
Strahm has tossed 73 innings already while Kimbrel has pitched 52 innings. Both are having excellent years.
Meanwhile you look at highpriced Bloom acquisitions such as Martin and Jansen who both have thrown just 40 innings each, thereby decreasing their value.
Many pitchers simply perform better, not worse, when they pitch more often.
I’d say “produce” is a better description than “dump out.” I appreciate these insightful articles.
Dump is definitely the right word. I can’t stand these articles. Comes off as desperate.
Dump is definitely the right word. I can’t stand these articles. They look desperate.
Desperation is trying the same punchline twice!
I enjoy the updates but you have a choice to not read the article!
Why are you even here? You look stupid saying things like this. It’s as simple as not clicking on a link, THEN not clicking on the dialogue box and THEN not typing. I swear to God, we should have shock collars developed for people like you.
You look stupid capitalizing the word “god.” Is that where you get all your knowledge? Some sky spirit? Don’t you have a bible to be rubbing all over your soft, pasty body, peckerwood?
As for the collar, I’ll take it as long as I can use it on your mom first. I hear she’s into that kind of thing.
Who says I read the articles? In this country, I can comment without reading them.
BID is another example of the usefulness of the Mute button. Buh-bye.
Lmao and you DIDN”T EVEN MUTE ME after saying this. If I can still reply to you, you didn’t mute me, dingus.
I capitalized the letter G, not GOD. Maybe you need a little help with that so there you go.
You think I’m a conservative who feels insulted by the knuckle rubbings you call thoughts? You’re barely bipedal. I’m not surprised you accused me of capitalizing the word “GOD”. You’re so traumatized by your own mother who made you her pedi project you’ve been devastated all your emotional life right up to the adult diapers you’re filling right now. What you just filled your adult diapers with has more intelligence than you’ve ever managed to express your entire life.
You represent your country well.
There is always someone to complain about something.
Lmao salary cap, you don’t understand that capitalizing a word means you’re capitalizing the first letter and think it means you’re capitalizing the whole thing? You’re either outing yourself as an uneducated neanderthal (likely) or are even more pedantic than me?
Also, nice attempt at an insult but I’m pretty sure that saying that I’m my mother’s “pedi project” isn’t what you meant, lest you think she does my toenails. Your brain is too small to understand the difference between the words “pet” and “pedi” anyway.
But regarding all this nonsense about adult diapers, you can ask YOUR mother about where that actually goes. Because not only do I not wear them, but whatever would fill them goes directly onto or into your mother. She loves it. Especially when I pair it with the shock collar.
Now go back into the basement. She’ll be with you to suckle you once I’m done with her. Sad that you’ve never gotten more action than that.
I can ask my mother? You already went down this way and I responded and now you’re repeating yourself. What’s your next witty thought. In rubber your glue? Good thing you were able to discern the difference between what I meant by pedi. Kind of demonstrates your oedipus syndrome. Want to check spelling on that or should we just get you a dictionary?
You really need to see the difference in capitalizing a letter and a whole word? You know letters and words are different, right?
Oh and this is kind of awkward but eh..you have some milk crust at the corners of your mouth from your last meal, so..
I’m surprised you got enough of the drool off your keyboard to type this. It’s still full of errors and no one knows what you’re talking about. “In rubber your glue?” How much syphilis do you have to be this incoherent with your ramblings?
But ok, come back and take more Ls from me, little guy. By the way, the milk crust is also from your mother. She squirts.
You don’t know what Im rubber your glue refers too? I guess clueless and unaware is part of your resume. I suppose you realize you’re as stupid as Forest Gump and blind and depth as Helen Keller? Oh wait..let me guess..you don’t know who they are, right?
I can tell you are blind because you went down on your own mother and got her crusties. But is this it for you, kid? You can’t get beyond mom jokes? I mean I keep responding to the same jokes. Maybe we should branch out and talk about how your father practiced on you? ANOTHER source of crusties in the corner of your mouth? Oh and I thought I would point out what a WORD looks like capitalized rather than a letter.
Hope you don’t have to barrow many more of my insults, nut cake.
“Depth as Helen Keller?” LMAO how stupid are you? Do you have people chew food for you? Also it’s “borrow,” not barrow.
You’re so thirsty and desperate that now you’re going for incest jokes AND alluding to pedophilia. So offended that I’m joking about your mom that you’re going that low. You’re the scum of the earth.
But please, keep coming back and letting me destroy you. Everything you’re doing is a giant L because you’re a massive loser. Can’t spell, makes jokes about pedophilia and incest… you must be the product of that. Or you’re just a pedo. Likely both.
Let me guess: Felipe Vazquez is your favorite player?
So sad that after I started going in on your mom, you did too and then said that I was the one stealing your insults. But you said that I “barrowed” them. And you still don’t get what capitalizing a word means.
How much brain damage have you sustained from the syphilis? Or did you just get run out of school in third grade because you were being bullied by all the kindergartners? You’re a pitiful sack of human garbage. Just kill yourself and make the world better for everyone else.
Or keep coming here so I can hand you Ls. I guess it’s better than you looking at kiddie pron, which is what you’ve just finished doing after reading this comment. Facts.
Want people to know what you’re talking about? Spell correctly. It’s “I’m rubber, you’re glue” not “in rubber your glue.” You’re telling me that my glue is in rubber. Your minuscule brain can’t comprehend how proper spelling will get your point across. Amazing that you’re coherent enough to know what a salary cap is when you have the intelligence of a Cro-Magnon.
I’m sure they’ll re-enroll you in the third grade. Maybe then you’ll reach the bare minimum of what qualifies as a homosapien. I told your mom she shouldn’t have done all that meth while she had you in utero. If only he’d gotten that abortion; the world would be better off not having to deal with your specific brand of idiocy.
Take some more Ls, child. Dunking on you is so fun.
I responded to your mom jokes and you keep going. I guess you got nothing left in that empty skull case except an IOU note, right? You still don’t get the difference between capitalizing a word and a letter. I demonstrated that for you, Hellen Keller. She was a genius, though and the best thoughts you ever had just dripped in your mouth from your dad. See that? I just repeated a truth about you. Oh wait I should have said joke.
Syphilis joke again? Come one cup cake, keep up. That down syndrome you’re struggling with must be tough. You probably use your mother’s patch to dry the drool from your mouth, right? I don’t have to tell you to kill yourself. You’ll either die when your father drills a whole through your mouth and out the other side or from drowning in your cereal milk.
You repeat your insults more often than episodes of Friends are aired. Oh there you go again, ANOTHER opportunity to see the difference between a capitalized letter and word. I won’t give up on you, slugger. Even low IQ people can learn things at times.
So I guess you have no ability to understand context or you are running out of thoughts and so you resort to spelling. Between that and your repeat jokes. How about another one? First you said Neanderthal and now Cro-Magnon? I mean sure it’s different than the other insult but kind of pressing right up against it. I guess this is just good work for someone like you. Well, except that Cro-Magnon is now an antiquated term and are called European Anatomically Modern Humans. The difference between you and them. About 1600 cc’s.
I really want you to see one of your sentences you kind of sharted all over the place before you lick it up:
“I told your mom she shouldn’t have done all that meth while she had you in utero. If only he’d gotten that abortion”. You do understand that men don’t give birth, right? I mean I can see how with your parents taking turns with you how you would be confused.
So you don’t know who gives birth, you don’t know what Cro-Magnon actually is, and you can’t grasp anything from context like most humans do and your go to for more writing material is spelling errors. Does the pain of your life hurt? I guess I’ll take a page out of your book at copy you. I’ve changed my mind about you ending your life. Just commit seppuku already. Yes, it’s an agonizing way for suicide but you deserve all that torture to make up for the pain you caused by people having to tolerate your existence.
You and your ending joke L’s. Are you going to keep saying that every time you post? Hell, just ad it to every paragraph at this point. Pretty sure you’ve exhausted even Jim Carrey with that one.
Are “you’ve exhausted even Jim Carrey” and the bit about Friends supposed to be insulting? Like who on earth would be offended by those? They’re not even PG and they’re certainly not funny. It’s like how people insult each other on the Hallmark Channel. Their sense of humor is better than yours. Then saying I’ll drown in my cereal milk? Did that one come from PBS Kids? Seriously, I’ve heard more insulting things on Bluey. Absolutely hilarious how you’re flailing at air, attempting to diss me.
Since your brain is smaller than a mouse’s, let me explain to you very clearly what capitalizing a word looks like. This is an example of capitalizing a word, since it comes at the start of the sentence. THIS is not an example of capitalizing. That is typing in all caps. Any first grader knows what capitalizing a word is, and anyone on the internet can distinguish what all caps is. Except for you, apparently. Since what’s left of your brain is mush from all the times you smack yourself since you can’t grasp basic elements of language and logic.
Come one? Which one?
Ah, incel keyboard warrior boy is also classy by going after people with Down syndrome. A nice subhuman level you’ve descended to, dissing people with mental disabilities. But unlike them, you have no excuse for all the inanities you continue to post here.
For someone who is trying to insult someone else for not knowing how the human body works, the fact that you said “the best thoughts you ever had just dripped in your mouth from your dad” really disqualifies you from doing so. My best thoughts were somehow given to my dad, who then passed them onto me in some gross manner? This makes zero sense. An example of something that in your tiny brain seems like an insult, but everyone else scratches their head at and wonders if you’re trying to diss someone, or you’re just too stupid to create an insult that actually works. Because this one is a complete failure. It doesn’t offend me, instead it makes me wonder if you actually understand how English works.
Also, you really have no room to try to insult my intelligence when you can’t spell HOLE (that’s all caps, btw) correctly. A “whole” in my mouth? Is that supposed to be an insult too? Because it’s only something that makes sense in your head and doesn’t actually land. No one would be offended by this because you’re grasping at the flimsiest of straws, which are somehow more sturdy than your johnson.
Also, how do you not know the difference between whole and hole? Especially when your two biggest holes have gotten so much use over the years from your dad/uncle. I’d think you’d know it well.
You also have no room to comment on someone repeating insults when you have done the EXACT SAME THING (all caps again) in every post. Helen Keller, allusions to incest, especially by talking about an Oedipus “syndrome” (it’s a complex, not a syndrome since you don’t actually know what it is), perverted stuff like torture and a shock collar (you’re almost as much of a freak as your mom), talking about homoerotic father/son interactions in every post… repeating insults a lot, aren’t you little guy?
The fact that you keep bringing up incest really drives it home to me that you’re the product of one. It really explains how utterly inept you are, to the point where you are entirely dependent on others for basic things like chewing food or personal hygiene. Your dad and mother were probably brother and sister, and I don’t doubt that one of them also technically qualifies as a grandparent too, in addition to being your aunt or uncle. Your family just can’t seem to branch out.
Then talking about “white crusties” or drool from going down on my mom—assuming that’s what you’re trying to say by my mother’s “patch,” which is either another typo or what you think people call a part of the female anatomy, which they don’t, proving you again know so little about a woman’s body. Another theme you keep repeating.
So again, no ground to stand on here for someone repeating insults since you do it more than I do, plus you co-opted my original insults about your mother. Then tried to create ones of your own about cereal milk and Jim Carrey but completely failed. Sad!
Oh cool, you Googled Cro-Magnon and then pasted it here. My four-year-old can do that but unlike you, can also wipe his own rear. But you didn’t even get it right! The term is Early European modern humans, but Cro-Magnon is still in use and colloquially understood. For someone who initially climbed onto this hill you keep dying on for me being pedantic, you being pedantic about this terminology sure is rich. You’re a hypocrite.
1600 ccs? Are you saying that Early European modern humans have fake chests? Or that I do? No one can understand the insults you’re attempting to make because they only make sense to you in your shrew-sized brain.
And no, I did not mess up with the statement about abortion. Your dad should have gotten it for your mom. Since he r@ped her and he’s her sister, that would be justice. Abortion should be legal always, especially in cases of incest or r@pe. You, as a product of such a birth, are a prime example. We need to prevent more people like you from being in this world from the start.
Seppuku at least is an honorable way to die, unlike the pathetic way you will die alone by slitting your wrists. You need honor to do seppuku, of which you have zero. Deserving of torture huh? Are you that guy on Long Island who killed all those ladies on the beach? You seem to have a thing for torture.
Finally, while you’re still reading and you’re licking your wounds from yet another lashing I’m giving you, here are more of your kindergarden-level grammatical and spelling errors to smash you further into the ground.
*Helen Keller
*come on, cupcake
“what a Cro-Magnon actually is
*and copy you
*just add it
But please, keep coming back for more. You’re teeing it up for me and I keep obliterating literally everything you say. It’s very satisfying destroying you since you think you’re actually somewhat smart, but lack basic English skills and can’t perform elementary reasoning. That’s what incest will do to you.
LOL! You’re such a bumpkin. You waited this long to finally reply?! It’s over. You got the culture of bacteria and the brain of a sea sponge. You’re such a bell end.
Now that you’ve spat your mothers period blood out all over this lengthy statement, I’m not even going to read it. You’ve wasted your time after you FINALLY responded. You’re such garbage.
A bumpkin! Another insult from the Hallmark Channel. Then you go with insults that would pass censors for PG-rated movies about male anatomy and then two trying to make it seem like you know something about science. But you still don’t look erudite because:
*you’ve got
So chalk up another win for me and another L for you. You’re the A’s and I’m the Braves. More Ls than a Welsh phone book. Come back for more, boy.
Unlike you, I can’t spend all my time arguing with strangers online as someone who has a life, again unlike you. Besides, your mom keeps me busy. But you went back to the incest well anyway, since you repeat insults while accusing others of doing it too like the hypocrite you are, and refer to incest because that’s how you were created.
Speaking of overhauls, what do people think of this as a possible revised ACC:
(Groupings are deliberate, numbering is not any sort of ranking)
ACC South
1 FSU
2 Miami
3 Duke
4 NC
5 NC St.
6 Clemson
ACC East
1 BC
2 Syracuse
3 Virginia
4 VPI
5 Wake
6 Pitt
ACC West
1 Notre
2 Louisville
3 GeorgiaIT
4 SMU
5 Stanford
6 Cal
The All Coast Conference
The All Coast Conference
I like it!
And each division has its own name?
ACC : Atlantic Coast Conference
GCC : Gulf Coast Conference
PCC : Pacific Coast Conference
And each one is massive. So massive, they can leave the NCAA. IE. the All Coast Conference moniker is their version of an NCAA.
GeorgiaIT? You mean Georgia Tech.
Haha, yes Georgia Institute of Technology
Who cares? Most of us didn’t attend football factory schools.
My unergraduate degree is from Stanford and we would love to be insulted by being called a “football factory school”
Compared to the two Ivies I attended it is!
Stanford beat us (Cornell) 56-6 in 1991. Ridiculous matchup scheduled for their centennial because Leland Stanford was a Cornellian.
And I need to correctly spell undergraduate
When I was there we have the best mens and womens tennis and swimming. In major sports, women’s basketball and men’s baseball were both very good. But football, nah, between 1-10 and 5-6.
It locked so I could not edit:
When I was there, we had the best men’s and women’s tennis and swimming. In major sports, men’s baseball was good. But football, nah, records falling between 1-10 and 5-6.
Of course these things change over the decades.
I’m not an Ivy Leaguer either (Johns Hopkins), but come on, now. Most outsiders would take either Stanford or JHU (top 10 in the US) over Cornell (maybe 21-50). I know way too many people who got into Cornell who would make it seem like a “degree factory school.”
I’m not sure why you aren’t aware of this, but college football is extremely popular.
@JoeBrady: Who’s not aware of it?
However, calling guys who play football at places like Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, and Georgia “college students” is ridiculous.
Personally, I find games played by schools I didn’t attend and to which I have no allegiance boring AF since I don’t care who wins.
I am obviously in the minority, but give me Cornell vs Dartmouth or Yale vs Brown on a crisp fall Saturday anytime.
Seems like a handout to Pitt but need to know more like how the conference champion is crowned usually why there’s only 2 divisions in a conference
@In Seager We Trust: Given the fierce competition in admissions today, most kids are happy to be admitted to Hopkins, Cornell, Stanford, or any elite school, and their choice of which one to attend is based on cost and financial aid rather than rankings.
Funny, word is that Franco may never play in MLB again, but this is the article at the top.
They’ve covered that story more than once so far. At this point, it’s a waiting game to have more information. If you have a link to support what the “word” is, please share it.
But his eyes are wandering
Guess you don’t do much googling eh? si.com/fannation/mlb/fastball/news/according-to-re…
Isn’t ogling what started this problem?
NY Post is not always the most reliable source. Likely waiting to see if anyone corroborates it.
I posted a Sports Illustrated link. The reporter, given by name, does not work for NYP. NYP is only citing him, and then SI is citing both.
I can think of a big story they nailed right before the 2020 election
So then they obviously don’t need to write about it again. Besides, when they update the article, it moves to the top. Nothing funny about that.
So the article should be updated. None too bright are you? Can’t even respond to a thread correctly… yikes
The thread IS updated. I mean hey, I didn’t post in the right place but that makes a pretty stupid come back. Kid, you are proof that if something is made idiot proof someone just makes a bigger idiot.
Kimbrel alternating between good and bootyjuice each year is fascinating
His career save rate is elite, along with his ERA. I would say aging and general reliever inconsistency show that you shouldn’t pay a reliever big $ ever. See Zach Britton, Liam Hendricks, Edwin Diaz, Chapman, etc. He is still a decent guy for a short-term deal, but I wouldn’t have wanted to pay him 10 MM for this inconsistency. At this point, his value is probably more as a seat-filler.
That was on the Phillies management. Kimbrel, as the WS found out, is not a setup guy. In non-save situations, Kimbrel is a weakish .669 OPSa. In save situations, he has a .483 OPSa. It is the same with Soto, but maybe not as pronounced.
I love Turner and thought his contract was better than Correa’s and Seager’s. At the moment, it is not, but who knows? He is heating up. The team has a lot of potential, with Nola and Walker also underperforming. I would love to see the Phillies secure that WC spot.
Way too early to tell on Turner. Except for K/W, most of his peripherals are in line with expectations. I’d expect better results next year.
Soto may not have been what the Phillies envisioned, but Clemens handled himself decently when he was needed. As to the Detroit side, they surely weren’t envisioning what Maton and Sands have provided (nothing). Getting a RH platoon OF for your closer doesn’t sound like a deal you put in the win column .
Which of these players’ agents gave MLBTR a big kick back to promote them so they get a better salary in arb or free agency?
There is no reason MLBTR should be wasting their time with garbage like this. A half-hearted attempt at statistical analysis that comes off as MLBTR desperately trying to be Fangraphs because all they do is regurgitate stats. No transaction bend to the article, which is where MLBTR actually makes novel original content.
There actually COULD be a reason to do all this statistical regurgitation IF the article was framed as what one or two of these guys could get on a new contract. THAT is what MLBTR is good at. Instead they write something about the Philly bullpen that belongs on a Philly-centric site or at a stats-based site, not at the premier place for transaction discussion. There is nothing about transactions in here.
The analysis isn’t even good. It and the article as a whole are milquetoast. STAY IN YOUR LANE. STICK TO TRANSACTIONS.
The articles are well written, the premier transaction was a non-contender making an inconsequential dfa of a minor league signing, and this is a storyline to follow as we approach the postseason. Stay in your lane. You can choose not to read an article but some of us enjoy keeping up with these types of posts.
Glad you enjoy it. My criticism is still valid. I’d argue the biggest news is about Franco but they’re not reporting it.
Curious, not intended as criticism. Every morning i get the NYT delivered, and I look at Washington Post on-line before nine. I read what interests me, might scan something if I think it’s on point, but otherwise move on. Same approach to MLBTR and Fangraphs, and other websites out there, sports and more general interests. Time is precious, staring at paper or a screen has a finite utility, If the MLBTR product has too high a mix of posts that don’t interest you or even bother you….why come at all.? Or, just go to “Recent” and see if there’s anything there.
You must be a very discriminating reader to focus in on the NYT and Washington Post!
Isn’t great how they sync up with all the articles and comments on your smartphone? Be the first to know what narrative rules each day, and the first on your block to get the groupthink down. And anyone that doesn’t go along is stupid, deserves to be called names and ostracized.
Well, maybe I deserved that, but I’m seeing folks talk about where they got their degrees, so I didn’t think referencing NYT and WaPO mattered that much. I also read Barrons’, WSJ. and @NRO. And a buch of conservative columnists. The point wasn’t about politics or what you characterize as “group think” it was just about time, and how easily it gets wasted when you let yourself get distracted, I like MLBTR. I can read what I want, on whatevr schedule I want, and if I start a post and I find I’m not interested, I more on.
Where did I call someone stupid or deserving of ostracism?
Or you could read ‘Media Matters’ (or whatever they’re called now) and get the news 2-3 days before the Times and Post publish it, then the TV News stations. It’s uncanny.
Which of these players’ agents gave MLBTR a big kick back
==========================
I mentioned that a couple of times in regard to the “Matt Chapman Massive Contract” article. MLBR went on and on about how great he was, and while they mentioned his OPS, they never mentioned his BABIP.
Choosing May 10th at random, he had a 1.004 OPS. But behind that, he had 5 HRs in roughly a quarter-season, with a 39/18. That’s good, and he has a fine glove, but given that he will be 31 when the contract starts, that doesn’t come close to deserving a massive contract. If they regressed his BABIP back to .300, his projected OPS would be in the low .700s.
MLB-R almost had to have known about his unsustainable BABIP.
Glad MLBTR got that payola before he slumped. Chapman won’t get as big of a deal now.
“STAY IN YOUR LANE. STICK TO TRANSACTIONS.” Are you new here “But Do It”? MLBTR has covered all things baseball for years and years now, not just transactions. Sometimes, it seems; some people just need to see their “name” in print. As for your “point (s)”….a brief scan of upvotes for your posts and opposing views makes it evident you stand mostly alone.
Have a nice day.
I’ve read for 10+ years and they go through periods where they try to be Fangraphs. Connor Byrne was the mule for those articles for a time.
Since when does someone’s opinion not being popular make it wrong or invalid?
Wrong? No, it’s your half-witted opinion and you are entitled to it. Invalid? Nope…. silly… injudicious…. ill-considered…. rash…. pointless…. nonsensical…. laughable….Yep.
Half-witted, silly, injudicious, pointless, nonsensical, and laughable are words I’d use to describe you white knighting for some baseball writer.
How does a guy with a 2.27 ERA in almost 40 innings get cut? I get that ERA isn’t the end all, but it’s part of the story. There must be more to this situation.
The Phillies have 3 better lefties jn the pen
Soto is horrible. Those 45 innings are mostly p up work. And even then his era borders 5.00. Bad trade but I understand why it was made.
Don’t worry. It was a bad trade on both sides. What Philly gave up hasn’t really helped the Tigers. Its basically become Clemens for Vierling.
I doubted Kimbrel. I was foolish.
It was a reasonable skepticism – Kimbrel has been off the last few years. Things have worked out very well for him in the Phils’ pen this year.
It’s been a remarkable turnaround from the dumpster fire 2-3 seasons ago.
The two Ivies Blue Baron attended were Poison and Creeping.
Looks like -But it Do- is single-handedly making a very good case to bring back the downvote.
Nailed it cpdpoet
Covey must have naked photos of DD, how else is he still on the team ?