Hamels FIP is inflated in large part to his HR rate, which is sky high. His other peripherals are pretty solid.
Hamels would be a solid get if we could make it work for little cost. Count me as skeptical on it. Someone like Happ or Liriano seem more likely if we are shopping for SP.
I’d rather stay pat than get any of those guys just because I don’t think they get us closer to the playoffs or a World Series. If somehow Bumgarner becomes available then I may get tempted but otherwise don’t do anything
it might turn out that closer and/or starting pitching is a higher priority than left side of the infield...will depend on health and form of various players...AA will probably wait as long as possible to make the call
situational lefty is different because it is easier and cheaper to fill...filling that need will not have much impact on our ability to fill other needs
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
Let's give buying Hamels for prospects a miss, shall we?
I’ve gently advocated for Hamels previously this season ... if the cost is essentially surplus flotsam (say, Sims +) for a salary dump, or slightly better (say, Wisler +) if Texas picks up cash and wants something back.
But a bidding battle, and real prospects, for a declining dude on a bloated bill? Heinous to even propose.
"For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal."
Tapate50 (06-30-2018)
Much rather have Adrian Beltre
Sometimes our job here is to promote discussion, and Hamel is only two years removed from have a 22-6 year-and-a-half with the Rangers with a 3.40 ERA. Considering the sorry team around him, a 4-6 record is no gauge, but his 3.61 is by far the best among their cruddy rotation.
As for what we deal for him, it should be something like Sims, Tyler Pike and Encarnacion. Maybe beg them to take Hursh.
***
Another factor, one which I should have mentioned up front, only twice in his last 13 starts has he gone less than six innings. In each of those, he went five. He's gone at least seven innings in four of his last seven starts, and has lost only twice since April 24 (10 starts).
Last edited by rico43; 06-29-2018 at 10:42 PM.
There is a debate if we could make both of them work.
But to be blunt, I think I'd rather just see if Camargo can be a 2 WAR 3B and roll with it.
To me the Braves if they want to upgrade there's 2 clear positions to do it. Starting Pitcher, and Relief Pitcher. Braves fWAR rankings by position goes as follows
C - 3rd
1B - 3rd
2B - 5th
3B - 17th (pretty much entirely Camargo FWIW)
SS - 10th
LF - 20th
CF - 15th
RF - 7th
The softest position of LF is occupied by the top prospect in baseball. 3B is soft, but if Camargo can be legit we should fall middle of the pack. And while Machado is a star, is it worth it for one season to trade for him? Maybe.
SP rank 13th
RP rank 13th
Neither are horrible, but we do have some solid albatrosses there. While Foltz and Newk have been awesome compiling a combined 3.8 fWAR, Julio and McCarthy are borderline worthless compiling a 0.3 fWAR. If we were to rank our pitchers by slot and have the balance be called the 5th pitcher, this is where we'd be
1st. Folty 2.0 - Great
2nd. Newk 1.8 - Great
3rd McCathy 0.2 - Bad
4th Julio 0.1 - Bad
5th The rest - 1.6 - Good
Now it's worth noting that I gave thema good but not great because of numbers, Soroka was great, ANibal was good, Wisler, Gohara and Fried were OK. Our rotation looks pretty easy to fix. Get rid of Julio in any shape way or form. get rid of McCarthy. Soroka and the crew will be there and acquire a solid major league SP. And getting someone like Fulmer, Hamels, Liriano, Archer, etc. would be better than McCarthy or Julio. The rub is what will it cost us. If it's too high then we deal with one
I'd not hate the rest of the season having a rotation of
FOlty
Newk
SP from trade
Soroka
Anibal/Wisler/Allard/etc.
If we can upgrade our 2 weakest spots in the rotation, we'll be in a great position.
Same with Bullpen, our top 4 in the bullpen are strong. It's Freeman, Biddle and Moylan who are potential to be upgraded. And really Freeman and Biddle aren't that bad, just not that great. I imagine if Baltimore is being reasonable and doesn't have to trade him with Machado, that Brach would be a solid upgrade to the pen. Not amazing by any stretch, just another uptick. Or we could go a little bigger, Stammen would be one name as a reliever for a losing team who could potentially step in as set up or closer right now. LeClerc or Jimenez if we want to try for a long term relieving prospect, though odds are we'd probably have to give up Fried or Wisler for one of them. That's a risky proposition.
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg
Freshmaker (06-30-2018)
Im all for trading for upgrades this year. Front office needs to make the most of it. We may not be this good in 2019.....
but Cole Hammels? Ehhh