Not losing any sleep over the Sox bullpen at this stage. DD has time to make a move , including all the way to late July. This is a 100 win team with no further additions, and the possibility that Pedroia will be somewhat productive. Kelly and Kimbrel, if not returning, definitely create large openings to fill, but after Game 1 last year Kelly could have been had for a bag of balls.
The reality is that winning the 108 games and the WS beating NYY, Astros, and Dodgers convincingly gave the FO/ownership some ability to slow walk into 2019 and attempt to deal with the major personnel/salary issues arising in 2020/2021. Again this team will win 100 just showing up. That will get them in the playoff mix. Before then the FO can buy what they need when the time is right.
Assuming a team waltzes into a season and wins 100 games is a really good way to be let down, even for a team poised to make the playoffs. Your team, as is, will lose a lot of games you should have won with your pen the way it is
Realistically the Red Sox could be better than last year and win fewer games. That's the nature of baseball. The Red Sox had a Pythag of a 103 win team last year. They were awesome, but they also had some close game fortune.
If you just use the WAR projections from Steamer, the Red Sox are proejcted to win about 93-95 games. (if you take the 50 WAR and assume that a 0 WAR team would win 42-45 games, basically the worst teams we have seen recordwise) That seems reasonable.
What exactly is the history on shortstops coming back from Tommy John surgery on their throwing arms? Which in Didi’s case is also his lead arm at the plate. (Torres was his non-throwing arm.)
But I guess Sox fans can play this game too.
Pedroia isn’t dead and if Brasier is closing by season’s end then he will be having a great year...
Didi's lead arm at the plate? The arm injured by Torres was his lead arm too as he is a righty. So no real point there. It isn't going to affect his hitting. It may affect his throwing. I am sure they wont be bringing him out until he can make all the throws. I had a teammate, a catcher, who blew out his elbow in the fall. He was back by June and this was college, so assuming better access to rehab, he may beat that timeline
Pedroia isn't dead, you are right, but his baseball career might as well be.
Hal sucks
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.
Dombrowski is sticking to his guns on the chances of a big relief addition...
The Red Sox have already lost Joe Kelly to the Dodgers via free agency and stand to lose Craig Kimbrel in free agency as well if they don’t make a push to re-sign him in the coming weeks. However, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski downplayed the possibility of retaining Kimbrel in an interview with Bob Nightengale of USA Today. “Craig did a great job for us,” said Dombrowski. “He’s a Hall of Fame reliever, but we have not anticipated having a large expenditure for a closer.”
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/...g-kimbrel.html
My choice was always to sign a couple of guys from the sub-Kimbrel class (you probably could have picked two of Britton, Miller, Robertson, Kelly, Familia, Soria, and Herrera for around $50 million at one point), and maybe they still will, just with Allen+Brach or something along those lines.
I don't know how low Kimbrel's price is going to drop, and re-signing him has never been my preference, but it's sounding like some team could end up getting him at a huge discount. At a certain point, it would be dumb not to jump back in.
I'd be lying if I said I knew what Dombrowski is doing or what the plan is, but he's more than earned the benefit of the doubt at this point and I'm still not concerned. This time a year ago, people were freaking out because we hadn't added a big bat yet.