chasfh

OK, well, looks like we have who we’re going to war with for the next two to three months. The big takeaway looks like, the guys we already had in house have to keep stepping up and lead us, with some help on the fringes from some of the new guys.

Errrrr …

That's fair. I had hoped to get a solid back-of-the-pen guy as well as #3 or better rotation piece to go into the playoffs with, and I too am about fourteen minutes from being disappointed about not getting either of those.

I think we have seen enough evidence over the years that buying over-priced and usually over-the-hill FAs is sometimes not an avenue to winning seasons at all.

I agree with you that you or I dont know what happend

Scott Harris does not make trades like Brian Cashman because he has a different pool of talent to trade from, as well as a different set of objectives serving the goals of winning this year and competing for the next several years. But as someone who's not stupid and understands how trades work, you already know that.

Cashman hasn't won a World Series in sixteen years, and in fact won his first pennant in fifteen years only last year. So, looks to me like he's lost his touch somewhat. But I will grant you, he knows how to make news with trades. I also agree that you and I don't know what happened, so blaming Scott Harris alone for not making trades like Brian Cashman doesn't seem right to me.

do you think it's just our fault's side?

You understand it's not just our side's fault.

aka HP House Painters

Then you understand it's not just our side's fault when the trade you imagine doesn't happen.

Carlos Correa back to the Astros! As long as the Twins are tearing it all down, come on, Scott, Joe Ryan to the Tigers!

A few guys here said it was a good pickup for the price.

I'm not the first guy here who mentioned Kyle Finnegan in the context of Tigers' closer, but I am the first guy you decided you wanted to call on the carpet for it, even though I mentioned it only in reply to those who did mention it first.

You apparently stopped reading my post after the first paragraph. You don't have to go back and read the whole thing—just skip to the final paragraph.

Nope, you can be president of the I Hate Poopyhead Scott Harris Club for life if you want.

I’m a little surprised people here are more sanguine about Kyle Finnegan than I thought they might be, or than I am for that matter. His card is decidedly meh for a reliever, and downright underwater for a closer on a contender. He’s 33, so no wonder his fastball is down a tick from the last couple years, but even if you accept an understanding of that, the fact is it’s still down that tick. His K rate is well below average and down from previous years. His walk rate is slightly above league average. His HR rate is way down, but that’s because his HR/FB rate, considered to be mostly luck-based, is half his career average, which explains way his xFIP- is sharply up even as his FIP- dropped. Flip side, Fangraphs pitchingbot has his stuff and command as both slightly above average for both his main pitches, and his fWAR is 0.6 even though his RA9-WAR is a flat zero, mainly due to the bad luck of not stranding enough runners. And he is pretty tough on lefties for a starboard pitcher. I get that people are looking at this acquisition in terms of the cost of prospect capital, but that’s really not the true cost of picking him and anointing him closer, is it? Isn’t the true cost the absence of better pitchers we will not have acquired that would be a better fit for that spot? I’m not one of the guys here who wanted to liquidate the top of our system in exchange for the top fire-breather on the market, but I did think getting a no-doubt closer was going to be on the shopping list. Maybe the prices being quoted Scott were just too high for him to consider. As far as I can tell, Vest and Holton are still the two go-to guys at the back of the pen, with Finnegan probably now third on the chart.

Speaking of razzberries, looks like a whole bunch of guys here will be ready to give Scott Harris a whole bowlful of them after six o’clock rolls around.

Looks like the same sort after all.

Pirates say no.

WAR is not a good comparative to use for Miller since as a reliever he is deployed only opportunistically and strategically.

This might move the last-day market toward sellers and have the effect of increasing the price for Bednar.

Probably DFA’ed Manning because the Twins, Braves, and Guardians wouldn’t take him even as a throw in. I also have wondered for some time whether Manning is simply a drag to coach and/or to just be around.

You mean the same thing Reese Olson went on the 60-day list for?

It’s the end of an error.