How many games, and what was the score, when he entered? Did he face the top of line-up or bottom. What teams too? Like I said, no problem trying him out, but Eovaldi, can be used as a back-up, if he fails. And not only as a 1 inning Closer, either.Originally Posted by Bellhorn04
Last edited by OH FOY!; 01-16-2019 at 10:51 AM.
What teams? LOL
For starters he preserved the lead in games 1 and 4 of the ALDS against the Yanks.
Just check his postseason game log on Baseball-Reference.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...a01&t=p&post=1
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
To me it doesn't even need to be explained. Kimbrel nearly cost us in the playoffs more times than I care to count. Try Barnes in the closing role and if it doesn't work out adjust at that time. In my opinion it can't get much worse than Kimbrel (on paper he was good with closes) but if we didn't have a 2 or 3 or more run lead in 3 (maybe 4) of those games Kimbrel would have blown it for us and maybe a chance at the World Series. Kimbrel shook off whatever he had going on near the end there and pitched well in the Dodgers series but he is too inconsistent for my liking.
If the knuckleball is working, he could be a lights out closer. The scary part is that you never know whether it will be dancing or not. There could be a lot of 9th inning drama with him on the mound.
If moving Eovaldi to the closer role weakens our rotation, then I'm against the idea. IMO, he's more valuable as a starter than he would be as a reliever. Now if other guys like Wright or Johnson are pitching so well in the rotation that Eovaldi kind of becomes the odd man out, then that's a different story.
I never knew, if CK would be on or off, too.
Kimbrel nearly cost the Sox the playoffs even though they were never on the verge of being eliminated. Um, ok....
Here we are on January 17th and the three questions that were important before the winter meetings remain unresolved.
1. Who will DD get for a closer this year or will he just go with the pen as it is currently configured and bring up one or two minor leaguers to fill it out?
2. Will Pedey's knee be in good enough shape to allow him to play a significant amount of the season at 2nd base? If not, then will DD make a move?
3. How will the catching situation be resolved? Pretty much it is assumed we will only keep 2 on the roster, but how will that be decided?
Seems unlikely, but another question that might come up is whether any of our minor league position players will make the roster. Chavis, Dalbec, Lin?
1. I am hoping for a bullpen addition or two, but right now the Sox have Barnes, Brasier, Hembree, Workman, Thornburg, and Johnson and (if healthy) Wright.They also have Poyner, Brewer and Lakins on the 40-man roster and still have one open space.
2. Hopefully Pedroia can play. This surgery can go either way. It ended the career of Grady Sizemore prematurely, but it also didn't affect Justin Turner much at all.
3. It looks like Vazquez and Leon split catching duties, which is fine with me. Swihart falls into the category of supersub utility players, of which the Sox have 4 if you count Pearce. If Pedroia cannot go, one of Holt or Nunez probably handles 2b, leaving the team at 25 active players. If Pedroia can play, someone has to go. The only player with an option left is Holt, but I really doubt he gets demoted. So maybe Swihart is moved or released at some point?
Chavis and Lin will both play at some point this year as needed for injuries. But that's probably the only way they make the 25 man roster at all this season. Dalbec is not even on the 40 man roster yet, and isn't likely to be the next player added from within. Erasmo Ramirez probably is, as he has an opt out but if he pitches like he is capable, he might be in the pen. Durbin Feltman is another player likely added before Dalbec, but I do think they want Feltman to get some innings above A-ball first...
1. Who will DD get for a closer this year or will he just go with the pen as it is currently configured and bring up one or two minor leaguers to fill it out?
I think DD will acquire one decent to significant RP'er, who may or may not have much closer experience. It probably will be via trade (Chavis/Swihart?).
2. Will Pedey's knee be in good enough shape to allow him to play a significant amount of the season at 2nd base? If not, then will DD make a move?
We'll never know about Pedey. He could go down at any minute. I don't think we make a deal, until we see how Nunez looks and if Holt is still strong. At worst, we make a similar trade as the Kinsler one in July.
3. How will the catching situation be resolved? Pretty much it is assumed we will only keep 2 on the roster, but how will that be decided?
I don't see this as an issue. I think Vaz is the starter. Leon is Sale's caddy. He probably should be Price's caddy, too. That would make Vaz the 60% starter with Leon getting 40%. Maybe Vaz catches half Price's starts making him the 70% starter.
Swihart comes to ST'ing maybe needing to win a job as a utility player with the added bonus of being able to catch when needed, or if we PH for 2 catchers in a game. The 25th slot goes to Swihart, Lin or Chavis if a 1Bman is hurt).
I think Vaz will come closer to his 2017 numbers on offense than his 2018 ones, but I'm fine with our catchers' performance of 2018, despite the poor offense all around..
If you think Kimbrel was sharp in the playoffs give your head a shake man. Maybe that is too strong of a thing to say he almost cost us the playoffs, however everytime he got out there (other than the World Series he improved) it was a heart attack and if it wasn't for us having a 2 or 3 run lead he would have blown it. Not sad to see him leave.
The 5 games he played against the Yanks and Astros he gave up 5 runs. Also gave up 2 runs in game 4 in the World Series. Hardly classifies as a shut down closer. He got us a lot of closes this season I'll give you that, but he isn't some valuable God that we need to keep. He especially can't be relied upon to go anything more than 3 innings if need be. He does it, but it's a heart attack waiting to happen.
Last edited by TylerD; 01-17-2019 at 11:55 AM.
I'm not going to defend his 6.54 FIP in the postseason or his 1.59 WHIP.
Question : When are small sample sizes ( even ultra small sample sizes ) acceptable as evidence? Answer : When it suits our purposes.
He sucked in the playoffs for sure. Will he suck next year? Probably not.
I think most people want to move on from Kimbrel due to the size of his contract demands, not due to 10 innings from last fall.
This 100%
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