Pass on Greinke and Paxton.
Yes on Carrasco or Kluber. Both on good contracts, have good K/BB numbers, and are fairly durable.
Not sure what it would cost, but if the Braves went after a SP, those would be who i go after.
Sale is a bonafide ace and his team did okay. Kershaw is still a top end starter between April and parts of October. LA did slightly worse than Boston. Houston and Justin Verlander is a top end pitcher and they did decent last season and performed well this time around.
Washington is a dumpster fire. Chicago ran into a very hot Milwaukee team who coincidentally do not have have a top end starter. Cleveland has a top of the line starter or two. The Yankees relied on offense this season and probably could use an upgrade in the rotation.
Of the playoff teams the Braves, Rockies, Yankees, Brewers, and Athletics don’t have that guy in the rotation. Red Sox, Dodgers, Astros, Indians, and Cubs have a legit number 1 on their staff. So half the teams had a great pitcher and half didn’t.
Heyward (11-12-2018)
Dodgers had an elite rotation: Ryu, Kershaw, Hill, Buehler.
Astros had Verlander, Cole, Keuchel, Morton. Indians had Kluber, Carrasco, Clevinger, Bauer. Sox had Sale, Price, Porcello, Eovaldi. Yankees had Sevy, Happ, Tanaka, CC.
Brewers, Braves, A's, Rockies all had ? rotations, Cubs had a great rotation but were gassed. So as Niners said, half the field had good rotations, half did not. Or 6 to 4. Having a good rotation certainly matters.
What about the Mets? Did that elite rotation get them anywhere? Cubs rotation was mediocre all year. The Brewers went far with a crap rotation and excellent pitcher deployment strategy.
Seems to me a team needs good players, and those good players don’t have to be elite starting pitchers.
Again, the “we need a frontline starter” simply isn’t supported by facts. It’s just a tired old cliche from the 90s.
Last edited by Enscheff; 11-13-2018 at 02:05 AM.
Only 2 of the top 7 rotations (Dodgers and Rockies) in the NL in fWAR made the playoffs in 2018.
It takes having a good a team to make the playoffs and that can be had in multiple ways. Having a great rotation is certainly part of that but by no means a requirement.
That said pitching for the Braves needs to improve in 2019 whether that's done internally or externally. I expect a combo of both.
Mariners fan site had them reluctantly accepting Wright/Riley/Weigel for Paxton. I think that’s what some fans are scared of when discussing acquiring a pitcher. Obviously that would never happen.
Braves strategy of TOR pitchers worked well in the 90’s. We had three and mustered only one title. The depth of our arms is greater than any other team. We can deploy guys like no other team. Utilize platoon splits. All while developing young pitchers who might actually be really good. No need to trade three pitchers for another teams castoff. Even if he projects to be good.
Just use the guys we have. 12 man staff with AAA options really making it 14 to 15 man staff.
Coppy