Post by asm19 on Jan 10, 2024 14:41:21 GMT -5
The same names in free agency/trade talks for starting pitchers keep popping up over and over as wait earnestly for the MLB offseason to kick in gear. Not only is it unclear if the Red Sox are willing to pay the cost (financial or prospects) for say, Snell/Montgomery/Burnes/Kirby/Luzardo/Tungsten Arm O'Doyle, a lot of moves so far this season from Breslow have come out of left field - literally in the case of Tyler O'Neill. (It's also kinda boring to talk about the same names over and over!) I figured this would be as good a place as any to go crazy with some random starter trades.
I'll start with a few here. To be clear I am not necessarily advocating for these.
Paul Blackburn
Oakland's GM said previously they're not looking to trade Blackburn (103.2 IP, 4.43 ERA, 3.96 FIP) - who has two years of arbitration left. But they're also the A's. If you're going to get a pitcher of any competency back for prospects, it's likely to be a bad team that agrees to it. Blackburn missed time last year with a weird fingernail injury while cleaning his cleats.
Nick Lodolo
Reds 1st round 7th overall pick in 2019, the dude was incredibly filthy in 2022 (where he was 6th in RoY voting) - and then his leg basically exploded in 2023. He had multiple stress reactions in his tibia.
Lodolo has 4 years of team control for a habitually pitchy needy Reds team, but the Reds have also managed to get themselves a full array of options in their rotation. Fangraphs Roster Resource projects him to start in AAA. Sports Illustrated's "Inside the Reds" noted: "Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott, and Graham Ashcraft are the obvious top three. After that, things get interesting. The Reds signed Montas and Nick Martinez in free agency and they are expected to compete for those other two spots, along with Nick Lodolo, Brandon Williamson and Connor Phillips."
If the Reds are worried about his medicals or feel they could move him for talent elsewhere in the roster, perhaps there's a fit?
Michael Kopech
Old friend Michael Kopech (two years left of arbitration) was INCREDIBLY BAD last year in Chicago. 5.43 ERA, 6.43 FIP - absolutely horrendous in terms of giving up walks and home runs.
That said, in terms of pitching grading metrics, he still had excellent stuff. The previous year (2022) he started 25 games to 119 innings (slightly less than 5 innings a start...) with a 3.54 ERA, 3.94 xERA, 4.50 FIP. Not stellar, but fine. He finished 2023 needing a knee clean-up, so it's unclear if that affected him. Additionally, I wonder to what degree there was an issue with the Chicago White Sox in general last year - managing/coaching - as pitchers who had been largely good previously in Cease, Giolito, & Lance Lynn all had subpar or terrible years. Can a competent pitching coach make him a feasible 5th starter again, or barring that, a lockdown reliever?
Throw your own off-the-wall outside-the-box ideas out there!
I'll start with a few here. To be clear I am not necessarily advocating for these.
Paul Blackburn
Oakland's GM said previously they're not looking to trade Blackburn (103.2 IP, 4.43 ERA, 3.96 FIP) - who has two years of arbitration left. But they're also the A's. If you're going to get a pitcher of any competency back for prospects, it's likely to be a bad team that agrees to it. Blackburn missed time last year with a weird fingernail injury while cleaning his cleats.
Nick Lodolo
Reds 1st round 7th overall pick in 2019, the dude was incredibly filthy in 2022 (where he was 6th in RoY voting) - and then his leg basically exploded in 2023. He had multiple stress reactions in his tibia.
Lodolo has 4 years of team control for a habitually pitchy needy Reds team, but the Reds have also managed to get themselves a full array of options in their rotation. Fangraphs Roster Resource projects him to start in AAA. Sports Illustrated's "Inside the Reds" noted: "Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott, and Graham Ashcraft are the obvious top three. After that, things get interesting. The Reds signed Montas and Nick Martinez in free agency and they are expected to compete for those other two spots, along with Nick Lodolo, Brandon Williamson and Connor Phillips."
If the Reds are worried about his medicals or feel they could move him for talent elsewhere in the roster, perhaps there's a fit?
Michael Kopech
Old friend Michael Kopech (two years left of arbitration) was INCREDIBLY BAD last year in Chicago. 5.43 ERA, 6.43 FIP - absolutely horrendous in terms of giving up walks and home runs.
That said, in terms of pitching grading metrics, he still had excellent stuff. The previous year (2022) he started 25 games to 119 innings (slightly less than 5 innings a start...) with a 3.54 ERA, 3.94 xERA, 4.50 FIP. Not stellar, but fine. He finished 2023 needing a knee clean-up, so it's unclear if that affected him. Additionally, I wonder to what degree there was an issue with the Chicago White Sox in general last year - managing/coaching - as pitchers who had been largely good previously in Cease, Giolito, & Lance Lynn all had subpar or terrible years. Can a competent pitching coach make him a feasible 5th starter again, or barring that, a lockdown reliever?
Throw your own off-the-wall outside-the-box ideas out there!