From 2015-2018 his WHIP was 1.68. Last year he reduced it to 1.3 facing a lot of bad teams in August. Someone you need in October along with Rich Hill.
In 2014 the Royals outscored the opposition by 27 runs and went to game 7 of the World Series. When they won the World Series the next year it was 83 runs. The only players worth keeping was Perez and Cain. They could have traded off Hosmer and Moose and Gordon they wouldn't have been worse off.
Homer Bailey had a 5.5 ERA sometime in August before facing the Royals twice, Angels, Giants and the Tigers. $7 million well you can pitch him against bad teams.
And this worked for the Royals a few years ago. You win 3 postseason rounds. In short series having some of the best starters and bullpens obviously gives you an advantage.
Well, you say you don't have a minor leaguer ready to start the season. That seems to be happening since Berrios. Last year the Cards have 2 young rookies or near rookies that took off in the last 2 months of the season or they don't make it to the playoffs. Any long relievers that can start? I can't believe that Rosario can't bring a Jon Gray like pitcher. 1 or 2 year deals if the minors are going to produce soon. 5 Inning pitchers if you have good mid-relief pitching. Perhaps tradeline deals.
Once Madbum went above 160 innings he was terrible last year. Oh he had extra days of rest too that last 5 weeks or so. It's hard to find starting pitching.
In his 80 losses his ERA is 6.2. He can get rocked. He's been on the IL list. Perhaps he bounces back and has a good season, then some team can sign him for a $100 million.
Cleveland is the main competion. Having little contributions from Kluber and Bauer they won 93 granted in a division that the bottom 3 teams averaged 100 losses. If you traded Rosario and his 32 Hrs and 109 RBIs in 137 games and 106 OPS+ what would you get in return?
When you are 60-80 lifetime that's indicative of who you are. Oh, you might win half his starts, but, spending millions for him? Depends upon what you give up for him.
Who in the division is really moving forward? The Twins being 7 games under .500 against winning teams is a concern. Ryu would be great except he broke down in August and had some terrible games until his last regular season game. In his only playoff game he lasted 5 innings. A young starter with 3 or so years in the league would cost what? I would trade a position player who did well against bad teams and poorly against teams above .500 for a pitcher.
If Hader who blew Game 161 of the season hadn't blown the save in the play-in game there is no Nats Championship. Luck. The Nats 3 starters are formidable.
The A's need to move to San Jose and the Ray's to Orlando. Anyways, the AL West should have been dominated by the Angels, but, they can't put together a team good enough to win since 2002.
As a Cards fan I agree. The Cards have 1 losing season since 2000 and in that season on Sept. 7, 2007 they were one game out before fading badly. What the secret of the Cardinals success? Managing starting pitching turnover. Overcoming pitching injuries. Depth. No other division team when on sustained run until the zvubs did recently. Luck is important as well. Cards could have been more lucky they would have won another title and championship. Look how bad luck has kept the Dodgers without a championship since 1988.