Guys, the word on the beat-writer street has Kimbrel out of our practical, financial reach. Keuchel and Corbin have qualifying offers as SP, which will drive their value higher than a runaway kite in the sky. Nathan Eovaldi does not, although most teams are talking to his agent, including the big spending Yankees. Personally, I’d like to see us get more serious with him, since he threw consistently over 97 mph and knows how to get outs without baserunners. Only 4 runs given up in 22 postseason innings with Boston, this past season. If the price hasn’t gone up too much, would love to have Sanchez back for another year. Newcomb, Touki, both need to get their control down, and the Braves need a few inning eaters. I disagree with the experts on Gausman. I believe we can count on him as a back of the rotation starter. Folty should stay as a front end guy, but we need to find a real live closer next year. Minter, O’Day, Vizcaino can all set up. It will help define the lousy bullpen.
Hopefully, we get a #2 or 3 starter, and someone like Soroka is healthy enough to compete as a consistent starter. I would trade chips to get a solid, younger, ML ready catcher. Every confidence in plugging in an OF, particularly if Inciarte is traded, we must get one back in such a deal.
