Cardinals in talks with the Rays for Andrew Kittredge (Deal done)

[MrCrowesGarden]

Poking around fangraphs and going by the last 3 years, here's where Kittredge ranks vs last years bullpen over that same period:

(min 90 innings, since he's at 97 over that time)


ERA - 1st
WHIP - 1st
K/9 - 5th
BB/9 - 1st
K/BB- 1st
FIP - 2nd
xFIP - 1st
WAR - 3rd (tied with Hicks, but with 13 fewer innings)

Maybe there's some context I don't know about, and it'd be nice for the Ks to be higher, but if he's fully recovered that seems good for Palacios.

To me it's a good trade already. You took a player who's probably at the height of his value that didn't have a chance to be anything but a 5th outfielder at best on this roster and turned it into a possible late inning reliever. It's a no brainer imo. Only risk is he hasn't been healthy.

I agree with this. I think it’s the second best move of the offseason.

[Socnorb11]

Well, they would be correct, so it’s not that interesting in my opinion.

If they're correct (finances are their problem), then why did they barely finish .500 with the 2nd largest payroll?

Probably because they let themselves routinely get outbid for elite players and then end up paying 2nd tier players. If they would spend more money at the top, they’d have more wins.

So we agree that it's not about spending more money. It's about spending wisely, while you develop differnce-makers within your system.

Do the best players come cheaply in free agency?

Apparently the best players aren't necessarily the most expensive. If they were, the Yankees would be have won more than 82 games.

[haltz]

Mo talked about Kittredge's ability to throw strikes and for me there's nothing harder to watch than a high leverage situation where the winning or tying run is put on base so that should be a nice change of pace from a guy like Jordan Hicks, talented as he is.

[ThatGuy]

I’m going to be shocked if this team racks up more than 85 wins in 2024. I think DeWitt has determined that’s enough given the Bally uncertainty.

Don’t hate this deal but I think apathy isn’t going anywhere but up over the next 10 months. We’ve got a boring, kinda middle-of-the-road squad. We’re in the doldrums till further notice.

[phins]

If I had more money than God and nothing was going to change that, I would probably use it to improve my team and be revered by the locals for as long as I live because it’s that simple

thats what annoys me...why can't he take a hit for a couple seasons? i realize the TV rights is a concern and sure thats fair...so...why not move oh, i dont know, 200 million from your bank account that has 4 billion into the bank account that finances the cardinals (i know thats simple). he chose to buy this team (and his ROI has been quite successful), no one forced him...show that you care and are willing to do a little extra and not put the burden solely on the fans to sell out every home game, buy merch, buy products, buy mlb.tv. i mean, im sure the interest he makes on some of his accounts could add 50 million to the budget in an instance. i dont think anyone here truly expects multiple massive FA contracts every year..but...sign scherzer that one year....then a few years later you can sign harper...then a few years later, yada yada...you hire accountants bill, you can figure this [expletive] out. and if your pride in developing players is so high then you can trust your internal pieces to fill out the roster alongside proven talent. /end rant

That’s not how “net worth” works though. A large part of DeWitt’s net worth is the valuation of the Cardinals at $1.5B or whatever it is now. And his stake in the US Playing Card Company. And all those Arby’s franchises. None of these things are liquid - he doesn’t have $4B just sitting in a savings account somewhere. As a comparison, look at what the Padres had to do last season just to cover payroll while their (dying) owner was worth as much or more than DeWitt.

MLB clubs are their own businesses. A guy like DeWitt can’t just borrow from one of his other businesses to cover losses on his baseball team.

To be fair, they didn’t call in debt because they *couldnt* pay the payroll. They used debt because it made the most financial sense overall from the standpoint of acquiring the cash was cheapest to use debt.

Cost of debt, Tax, investment, and yes- liquidity- are parts of the equation.

But it certainly wasn’t because they were insolvent.

[Jocephus]

a few deals discussed in this but the kitt/richie part below...

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/mariners-an ... r-clarity/

With Raley shipped off to Seattle, the Rays quickly found a left-handed outfielder to take his spot on the roster in Palacios. He’s seen limited action the past two seasons thanks to the Cardinals glut of outfielders, though he did produce a 120 wRC+ in just 102 plate appearances last year. Much of that success was due to a huge jump in power output; he posted a .258 ISO, far higher than he had produced in any single season in his professional career.

Both Caballero and Palacios have a few offensive traits that are shared by one of the Rays’ biggest recent development successes: Isaac Paredes.

Code: Select all

Player 			Best Speed 	Pull% 	FB Pull% 	Barrel% 	Hard Hit% 	Sweet Spot%
Isaac Paredes (2021) 	96.4 		44.4% 	16.7% 		1.6% 		25.4% 		31.7%
José Caballero 		95.0 		45.6% 	34.9% 		3.6% 		23.7% 		33.1%
Richie Palacios 	97.0 		40.5% 	44.0% 		7.1% 		33.3% 		29.8%

When Paredes joined the organization ahead of the 2022 season, he was a well-regarded prospect who had good bat to ball skills and could take a walk, but he didn’t have the off-the-charts contact quality that could have made him really standout. The Rays had him start pulling a ton of his elevated contact and the results speak for themselves: a 128 wRC+ and 51 home runs over the last two seasons. The two newcomers both possess a mature approach at the plate with good contact rates, but except for Palacios’ breakout last year, their power has been lacking.

The reason Palacios enjoyed newfound success in 2023 was because he started pulling a ton of his elevated contact; 44% of his fly balls were hit to the right side and he produced a 1.286 wOBA on those batted balls, well outpacing his expected .636 wOBA. That’s the exact recipe Paredes used to break out two years ago. Caballero also pulls a ton of his elevated contact, though his actual results weren’t nearly as impressive. With a strong approach at the plate as a foundation, both Caballero and Palacios could thrive in a development environment suited to making the most of their swings.

The Rays’ penchant for conjuring high-leverage relievers seemingly at will, you can see why they were willing to trade Kittredge. He’ll turn 34 in a few months and is in his last year of salary arbitration. After an outstanding 2021 season, injuries derailed most of the past two years. He returned from Tommy John surgery last August and pitched decently well, though his strikeout rate never returned to its lofty heights from his All-Star season. He’ll give the Cardinals a veteran reliever with high-leverage experience to supplement the options at the back of their bullpen.

[phins]

Interesting take in that they’re saying “the Rays are great at this thing that the Cardinals already did with Palacios last year, so by moving to a new dev environment he might be able to do the thing he already did thanks to the Cardinals.”

It sounds to me like the Cardinals already squeezed the juice and got him to a level where he is worth a solid reliever after being with only some cash a few months earlier.

[Felix The Cat]

I don't know if the author realized we picked Palacios off the scrap heap midseason if they said

He’s seen limited action the past two seasons thanks to the Cardinals glut of outfielders

[BottenFieldofDreams]

The thing about Kettredge is SUBMIT A PLAYLIST TO THE OFF-SEASON TOURNEY.

This is being reported all over. Fangraphs had a big thing on it.

[CardsofSTL]

The thing about Kettredge is SUBMIT A PLAYLIST TO THE OFF-SEASON TOURNEY.

Endorsed