• Changing RCF's index page, please click on "Forums" to access the forums.

2020 Off-Season Rumors/News

Do Not Sell My Personal Information
2019 Hand vs. playoff teams

19 appearances
17 IP
20 K
15 H
7 BB
5 ER

2.65 ERA
10.6 K/9
1.29 WHIP


The problem is that the Indians leaned on Hand so much that he was running out of gas down the stretch. Having a complimentary piece would be a welcome addition. Hopefully Karinchak can develop into that role

*Edit- corrected numbers
 
Last edited:
I don't believe they can go deep in the playoffs with Hand as the closer. They have plenty of offense, and enough starter quality to work through a normal injury year, but our closer was not good enough against good teams.

I agree with @Urban on Hand since we didn’t have a good setup man so it put a lot more pressure on Hand having to come through ever single outing and in the part of the year Hand was one of the better closers in the league. Once the workload got him though he started to struggle. Why I feel we need to find him a Bryan Shaw or a true setup man so we can get some of the pressure off of him. I know not everyone liked Shaw, but at the end of the day he pitched in 80 games a season in late innings, thus took some of the pressure off of Allen and Miller in the end.
 
Think the White Sox were smart to offer the QO and bite maybe an inflated 1 year salary rather than giving Abreu a multi-year deal. He's still a good player, but I'm not sure how much longer that will last.

Thought Odorizzi would be able to capitalize on a multi-year deal after his career season
 
I agree with @Urban on Hand since we didn’t have a good setup man so it put a lot more pressure on Hand having to come through ever single outing and in the part of the year Hand was one of the better closers in the league. Once the workload got him though he started to struggle. Why I feel we need to find him a Bryan Shaw or a true setup man so we can get some of the pressure off of him. I know not everyone liked Shaw, but at the end of the day he pitched in 80 games a season in late innings, thus took some of the pressure off of Allen and Miller in the end.

They definitely need to add a RP. I wonder if they'd ever consider Dellin Betances on a 1 year deal.

Joe Smith, Collin McHugh, Jeremy Jeffress, and Pat Neshek are a few guys who could potentially help.
 
They definitely need to add a RP. I wonder if they'd ever consider Dellin Betances on a 1 year deal.

Joe Smith, Collin McHugh, Jeremy Jeffress, and Pat Neshek are a few guys who could potentially help.
I understand your viewpoint but I would not favor a Jeremy Jeffress signing. He has some personal demons that (to his credit) he is battling and working to overcome. I wish him only the best in that battle & I hope he eventually succeeds.

I would encourage a full read of the attached USA Today article from 2015 understanding the backstory.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...e-jeremy-jeffress-brewers-marijuana/25892997/

As some additional back story: For his treatments it has always worked best when part of the Milwaukee Brewers. The docs involved are part of the Brewer medical team. When Jeffress was dealt away in the past, MLB put up a barrier to work with those docs as Jeffress was on another club. It lead to increased struggles & issues for him. Once he got back to Milwaukee, Jeffress had a career resurgence (happy for him).
 
They definitely need to add a RP. I wonder if they'd ever consider Dellin Betances on a 1 year deal.

Joe Smith, Collin McHugh, Jeremy Jeffress, and Pat Neshek are a few guys who could potentially help.

Personally if you can get a very good veteran for a one/two year deal you almost have to take it. We have a ton of good looking arms in the minors and guys like Plesac, Civale etc could end up bullpen arms in the future if they ever struggle as starters so a one year deal for a legit setup man I think would be a good idea if it’s available to the FO.

now what I would prefer is a setup man with a couple years of team control but that’s not always reality.
 
Ken Giles, Jose LeClerc, and Mychal Givens are possible trade options. Blake Treinen might be out there as well.
 
Ken Giles, Jose LeClerc, and Mychal Givens are possible trade options. Blake Treinen might be out there as well.

I would imagine Giles and Treinen would only be deadline targets, should Toronto or Oakland be out of the hunt. Just because they're both UFAs and should have somewhat high salaries, for relievers at least.
 
I agree with @Urban on Hand since we didn’t have a good setup man so it put a lot more pressure on Hand having to come through ever single outing and in the part of the year Hand was one of the better closers in the league. Once the workload got him though he started to struggle. Why I feel we need to find him a Bryan Shaw or a true setup man so we can get some of the pressure off of him. I know not everyone liked Shaw, but at the end of the day he pitched in 80 games a season in late innings, thus took some of the pressure off of Allen and Miller in the end.

This is probably going to sound like a copout, but bullpen guys can be pretty damn unpredictable from year to year. So sure, we have to make plans based on the most reasonable projections of how guys will perform next year, and can make some predictions based on most likely scenarios.

But some guys on whom we rely might flop, and some other dudes may come out of essentially nowhere. The variance between what we predict for different guys today and who they will actually perform next year is so large that claims that "we can't compete next year unless we do "x" with the bullpen" should be taken with a massive grain of salt. And vice-versa.

Bullpen pitching is freaking voodoo on a year to year basis.
 
This is probably going to sound like a copout, but bullpen guys can be pretty damn unpredictable from year to year. So sure, we have to make plans based on the most reasonable projections of how guys will perform next year, and can make some predictions based on most likely scenarios.

But some guys on whom we rely might flop, and some other dudes may come out of essentially nowhere. The variance between what we predict for different guys today and who they will actually perform next year is so large that claims that "we can't compete next year unless we do "x" with the bullpen" should be taken with a massive grain of salt. And vice-versa.

Bullpen pitching is freaking voodoo on a year to year basis.

Just to add to this, here are a few examples from this past season:

Edwin Diaz 2018: 1.96 ERA, 1.61 FIP, 0.79 WHIP, 57 SV, 3.2 WAR
Edwin Diaz 2019: 5.59 ERA, 4.51 FIP, 1.37 WHIP, 26 SV, -0.6 WAR

Craig Kimbrel 2018: 2.74 ERA, 3.13 FIP, 0.99 WHIP, 2.3 WAR
Craig Kimbrel 2019: 6.53 ERA, 8.00 FIP, 1.59 WHIP, -0.5 WAR

Sean Doolittle 2018: 1.60 ERA, 1.89 FIP, 0.60 WHIP, 2.5 WAR
Sean Doolittle 2019: 4.05 ERA, 4.25 FIP, 1.30 WHIP, 1.0 WAR

Even the truly elite guys are extremely hard to project year to year. Who thought that Diaz was going to go from the best closer in baseball, bar none, in 2018 to arguably the worst in 2019? It's just a weird business.

Dan Otero was one of the best relievers in baseball in 2016. A lot of it is getting lucky.
 
Wouldn’t mind kicking the tires on Betances. If healthy, could be an electric back-end arm.

He makes a ton of sense, but I don’t see him falling in the Tribe’s price range. Fangraphs projects him receiving a one year $12 million deal, which the front office won’t offer him.
 
He makes a ton of sense, but I don’t see him falling in the Tribe’s price range. Fangraphs projects him receiving a one year $12 million deal, which the front office won’t offer him.
He might command more than we should spend on a reliever, but I'd be shocked if it was that much. I doubt Fangraphs is accounting for him tearing his achilles last year.
 

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Spotify

Episode 3:11: "Clipping Bucks."
Top