It's not Blooms fault, but the Sale extension was the worst possible thing that ever could have happened. And everybody knew it the second it was announced. Why can't certain teams/GMs just let go? They got the better of the Sale-trade as they won the WS with him and that could have been it and nobody would have complained.
I am also constantly annoyed by extending post-season heroes like they are sacred cows. Teams rarely cash in on players that had post-season success, they usually fall in love and extend these guys. I wish Bloom was different, but he isn't. 2021 was the perfect time to trade Kiké after he had his absurd playoff-run. As a still rebuilding team that somehow stumbled into the ALCS in 2021, it also wouldn't have caused a huge backlash by many fans.
This 60 day DL stint feels like another nail in the 2023 coffin. What now can be expected is a Paxton-injury within the next 3-4 weeks. They should SELL and don't even think twice, just like they were supposed to last year. But it should be someone else than Bloom to be responsible for that.
Yep. Over the last 4 years I think we've beaten the "why did Henry allow Dombrowski to do that?" horse to death. Not much else needs to be added there.
Agreed no the nail in the coffin. I was one of the few optimistic people here about this team the first couple months. But the last couple weeks has killed that for me. With Sale on the 60 day and no real sign of help beyond him, I think we can deem this another lost year, they're going to be a last place team after 162 again.
I do like the roster and felt like they could hang in the wild card race if things fell their way and everyone got healthy, but it's pretty clearly going the opposite direction now. I figured once the lineup got healthy and Duval and Story were back they'd have a great lineup, but now the entire pitching staff is in shambles. They needed two of Paxton, Kluber, and Sale to be healthy and effective to have any shot, and we got 1 of 3. At least Paxton's surpassed all expectations. Legitimately their ace right now.
Say what you want about the bullpen, but this team's problems and the reason they're in last place is the starting rotation. Maybe the pen has had poorly timed meltdowns when they've had them (part of me believes that Kenley's back-to-back BSes in the Cardinals series killed them and ended the season), but if you just see raw stats and advanced stats, Kenley-Winckowski-Schreiber-Martin-Bernardino-Kutter have overall been a good crew, they're just overleveraged and overused because of a shit rotation and that magnifies the times they do have a meltdown.
Paxton's been very good since debuting. No problem there. Bello has been quality as a #2. But beyond that, it's been a disaster. Houck, Whitlock, and Pivetta, three guys in their late 20s who you can now call veterans and should be starting to hit their peak and we expect more out of have all been major disappointments. Kluber has been a dumpster fire and as bad as 2009 John Smoltz. All of his strengths from previous years like control and walk rate completely regressed. You went into the year with 6 or 7 guys to lean on and out of that you have 2 acceptable starters, Paxton and Bello.
The rotation is averaging about exactly 5 innings per start. I know the league has changed but they really shouldn't be putting so much strain on the bullpen night in and night out. In the end, it's on Chaim Bloom putting all his eggs in the old injury prone pitchers basket.
