Over/under on Boggs as closer by 6/1? Then Goldberg in 2015

[caulfield12]

The one bright spot to come out of today was the performance of Mr. Boggs.

 

He did give up a hit, but it was a play which probably would have been made by a better 3B a majority of the time.

 

Right now, the pecking order for closer is Nate Jones first, and a big pile-up behind him for 2nd.

 

 

Boggs, Webb, Lindstrom and Belisario all have been closers in the past or in their minor league days. Then you have another list of guys like Paulino, Rienzo and Petricka behind them at the back end.

 

This bullpen situation (with the exception of LH relief/set-up) is a lot more encouraging than 3-4 months ago...where it looked like it would probably be the biggest weakness of the team along with the catcher's spot.

 

 

As far as LH'ers go, does anyone have a guess for the 2nd lefty after Scott Downs? Sure, there's Veal and Leesman and Surkamp, etc. But nobody really sticks out right now as a clear favorite or sure thing.

 

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/white-...p;vkey=news_mlb

 

As far as Goldberg goes, he's one of the pitchers in camp getting a ton of attention in the early going and appears to be one of the sleeper draft picks from last year...and advanced very quickly (and quietly) at the end of the 2013 campaign. Another positive about him is his lack of recent workload other than his one year pitching for Ohio State and his four pitch repertoire.

 

 

At any rate, along with Nate Jones, it's nice to have the depth to pick and choose from those 7 guys for trade chips (Boggs/Lindstrom/Belisario/Downs/Paulino/Rienzo/Petricka) and know that we still have Webb, Tyler Danish and Goldberg behind them, not to mention Chris Beck.

 

Great job by Rick Hahn of slowly and quietly improving the depth of the system. Sometimes there's so much focus placed on the struggles of Mitchell, Thompson, Walker and Hawkins that it overwhelms the rest of the storyline/bigger picture.

Edited March 1, 2014 by caulfield12

[Feeky Magee]

I think Lindstrom gets it. Jones is the outstanding candidate, but with the arbitration system over-valuing players who close before their first year, the Sox could save $5-10m on his arb years by delaying having him close for one year. Lindstrom is the most stable option behind him, and I think Hahn would like if he racked up some saves to be enticing to a contender looking for someone with closing experience at the deadline.

[Reddy]

I love Boggs. So happy about that pickup, and no I would not be at all surprised if he's closing for us by June.

 

I didn't know that about arb and closers, so that may be the case. I would've said Jones was a lock before reading that... now I'm not sure.

[caulfield12]

I think Lindstrom gets it. Jones is the outstanding candidate, but with the arbitration system over-valuing players who close before their first year, the Sox could save $5-10m on his arb years by delaying having him close for one year. Lindstrom is the most stable option behind him, and I think Hahn would like if he racked up some saves to be enticing to a contender looking for someone with closing experience at the deadline.

 

If he's an 80-85% closer like Santos and/or Reed, they'll have no problem turning around trading Jones too.

 

He would still have a lot more value on the open market (assuming that aforementioned success rate) than Lindstrom...although it's an interesting debate...as Jones gets closer to the point in time (like Beckham/DeAza) where his contract numbers will start to increase and the rate of return on trading him will start to diminish (Crede/Jenks also come to mind).

 

 

from matt swartz http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/arbitration-projection-model/

 

I did a lot of work on improving pitcher projections for this year’s model. I originally included all pitchers into the same model, which gave them credit for wins, saves, and holds as they received them in each role. This was supposed to better incorporate swingmen and other pitchers with evolving roles, but now I have separate models for starters and relievers, which allows for more accuracy for everyone. In last year’s model, I ignored the importance of strikeouts for starters and had to introduce other measures to juice the salaries of elite starters. This year’s model incorporates elite starters much more smoothly. The starter/reliever distinction also gave me an opportunity to notice an important feature about arbitration -- declining marginal returns to individual statistics. It turns out that the gap in earnings is much larger between pitchers with 170 innings and 200 innings than between pitchers with 200 innings and 230 innings, and that a guy with 30 saves out-earns a guy with 20 saves far more than a guy with 40 saves out-earns a guy with 30 saves.

 

....

Last year, MLBTR owner Tim Dierkes asked me if I thought I could put together a model that predicted arbitration salaries. I had studied free agent salaries, but I decided that I could probably do almost as well with arbitration salaries. It went better than expected: the model was within 10% of the actual salary for 55% of players who signed one-year deals, and was within $1MM for all but 4 of the 156 arbitration-eligible players.

 

Unlike free agents, whose salaries are determined by the highest bid among 30 teams with 30 different ways of predicting and valuing future performance, arbitration eligible players receive salaries based on the similarity between their past performance and the performances of other comparable players. A well-designed model can do a good job of sifting out which statistics are most important and predict salaries accordingly.

 

....

 

However, within these aggregate numbers are a mixture of many very accurate projections, and quite a few that were way off. Pitchers were either very easy to project or very hard to project. When pitchers matched up very well with historical comparables, they fit squarely into categories. However, some pitchers proved to be a new breed with weak sets of comparables. As a result, of the closest ten projections, nine were pitchers, but of the worst ten projections, eight were pitchers.

 

When there was more precedence for a player’s performance, projecting his salary was much easier. The reason that so many relief pitchers were among the best projections was that they have very defined roles, and they are paid according to their role. Closers, set-up men, middle relievers, and long relievers all tend to get similar salaries as other such relievers in their service class and role have received in the past. Our projections were within $25K of actual salaries for relievers such as Craig Breslow, Brad Ziegler, Daniel Bard, Bill Bray, Edward Mujica, and Burke Badenhop. Each of these guys had defined roles and matched up nicely with historical comparables in similar roles.

Edited March 1, 2014 by caulfield12

[winninguglyin83]

Where is the word coming from that Goldberg is getting a lot of attention in camp?

 

Just curious.

 

Also like the Boggs' pickup.

[GreenSox]

Let Lindstrom do it.

Jones is the better pitcher, so we need him to get us out of jams in the 7th and 8th. No need to waste him on clean innings.

And didn't Boggs spit the bit when he tried to close in the past?

Edited March 1, 2014 by GreenSox

[caulfield12]

Let Lindstrom do it.

Jones is the better pitcher, so we need him to get us out of jams in the 7th and 8th. No need to waste him on clean innings.

And didn't Boggs spit the bit when he tried to close in the past?

 

 

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals traded struggling reliever Mitchell Boggs to Colorado on Tuesday for the Rockies' international signing bonus slot No. 4.

 

Boggs was 0-3 with an 11.05 ERA and two saves in 18 games for the Cardinals earlier this season. He was demoted to Memphis, where he went 0-2 with a 5.70 ERA in 18 games.

 

"He was disappointed," general manager John Mozeliak said. "He had high expectations coming into the season."

 

Boggs went 13-15 with a 4.15 ERA in 232 games for St. Louis from 2008-13. The 29-year-old right-hander was a valuable member of the Cardinals' 2011 World Series championship team and went 4-1 with a 2.21 ERA in 78 relief appearances in 2012.

 

 

stltoday.com/sports

 

Bruce Sutter, who observed the Cardinals for a week in the spring and was here for the home opener, said that pitching the ninth inning is really no different than pitching the eighth or even the seventh. Sutter, who used to pitch all three innings in one night, said, “It might be a little bit mental for some guys but for most guys it’s not a problem. Pitching the ninth is the same as pitching the eighth. You’re trying to get three guys out.”

 

Sanctioning Boggs’ ability to be the closer, Sutter said, “How many holds did Boggs have? Can he do the job? Absolutely he can do the job.

 

“I know he had a tough inning the other day but not many of those balls were hit hard. You could put them all together and they wouldn’t have reached the fence.”

 

Good stuff is inherent, Sutter said, but “being the closer mostly is confidence. Having the confidence of the team and having the confidence of the manager. Mike showed that when he ran Boggs right back out there the next night.”

 

On replacing a closer this early, Sutter said, “I don’t think is the right way. It doesn’t do much for your confidence, I can tell you that.

 

“You get embarrassed when the press asks you what’s going on. You’re going to get mad because you’re not happy the way you’re pitching. Neither is conducive to the pitcher.

 

“You’re not going to take (San Francisco’s) Buster Posey out of the No. 4 spot if he goes 0 for 22. The track records on the back of those baseball cards ... they don’t lie. You don’t panic after one week.”

 

 

Boggs, 28, who on Thursday was named to the provisional roster for Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, appeared in a career-high 78 games in 2012 (Tied for 4th in the National League) and set a Cardinals record with 34 Holds. Boggs’ 2.21 ERA ranked 6th amongst N.L. relievers and he allowed just 17.1 percent of inherited runners to score (7th in N.L.).

 

 

 

 

As for the Cardinals, well, the late innings continue to be a major problem and for Boggs things aren’t getting any better lately. They’re getting worse. His command has completely fallen apart. Last night every ball that the Phillies hit was a belt high fastball. When you’re a guy like Boggs who has a nasty mid 90′s sinker and an even nastier 90 MPH slider – both pitches with sharp downward movement – the only way hitters can make quality contact with you is if you leave the ball up in the zone. Everything flattens out.

 

And that, along with walking far too many hitters, is what is doing Boggs in. There is no way a guy with his stuff should be allowing hard contact like he has, no way should he have 20 base runners allowed in 8 2/3 innings.

 

But why is this happening to him?

 

Certainly there is a mental aspect to Boggs’ struggles. We’ve seen it in the past and so did Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan. They gave him a brief shot at closing a couple of years ago but pulled the plug on it pretty quickly. Boggs says all of the right things but his reactions on the mound tell us more than well thought out answers to post-game questions.

 

But is there more to it than just tightening up when the game is on the line? I mean, this guy pitched in some pretty big situations last year, including in the playoffs. Are we to believe there is something about the 9th inning of games in April that is more difficult than pitching in the 7th or 8th inning of tight playoff games?

 

Boggs appeared in 9 playoff games last year, all of them coming in the 7th or 8th inning. He didn’t allow an earned run in any game that was decided by less than 5 runs. To be more specific, the only games he allowed an earned run in during that stretch were Games 5 and 7 of the NLCS and they lost those games to the Giants 5-0 and 9-0. So it’s not like he blew those games.

 

So if he can perform reasonably well under the pressure of tight games in October then why wouldn’t he have the mental ability to handle regular season games in April?

 

That tells me that Boggs’ problems aren’t entirely in his head, though certainly these kinds of struggles can have a compounding effect when they place doubt in the mind of the pitcher. But there was no compounding effect in Boggs’ first couple of rough appearances.

 

Unfortunately, there are no simple answers here. I believe there are multiple layers underlying Boggs’ problems and that’s why it’s been so difficult for him to get things going in the right direction.

 

He is most definitely pressing right now. The struggles are getting to him – as they would just about anyone – and he has to find a way to break that cycle. Perhaps by focusing on the physical aspect of what’s going wrong he can take his focus off the frustrating mental side and press the “reset” button a bit.

 

Sometimes focusing on mechanics and the timing of the delivery can keep a pitcher from dwelling on the mental side. Whether his mechanics are out of whack or not, there is often a benefit in shifting a struggling player’s focus on to something they can control. And they can control the work they do on mechanical issues.

 

Boggs is leaving the ball up in the middle of the zone far too often and that’s not because he’s mentally unable to locate the ball down in the zone. There is something in his delivery that is leading to that. Now, Boggs has never had a “text book” delivery so we should only compare his mechanics to what they were when he was having success.

 

His release point is off right now. Maybe that’s because of how closed off he’s getting when he comes set before delivering a pitch, maybe it’s just a timing issue. Pitchers experience timing problems just like hitters do. Sometimes they speed up or slow down at different points during their deliveries and that leads to pitches not hitting the target.

 

If their arm lags behind the rest of their body – even if it is just a little bit – that can cause pitches to stay up in the zone. When a pitcher’s timing is off, often described as being out of rhythm, all kinds of things can go wrong. Focusing on the simplest of things, like getting the arm started a little sooner or placing an extra emphasis on (sometimes to the point of exaggeration) extending toward home plate before releasing the pitch, can often reinforce good habits and put the pitcher in a better state of mind.

 

Boggs’ problems are both mental and physical right now and neither is more important than the other. We’ve all seen him pitch in much tougher situations than the ones he’s faced so far this season so there is no doubt he is capable of handling pressure. Finding a way to get him back to that point, both mentally and physically, is the challenge facing the Cardinals.

 

I think Boggs will return to being the guy he was last year at some point in the not-too-distant future but for that to happen he’s probably going to need a break from tight, late-inning situations for a little bit.

 

And this is where the job gets tough for a big league manager. Trying to fix players that are off their game while also doing what needs to be done to win games in the short term is one of the great challenges a skipper can face. Mike Matheny always keeps a level head about these kinds of things but they’re not easy to handle and that’s why managers get paid the big bucks.

 

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2013/04/22/whe...oggs-and-blues/

Edited March 1, 2014 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

Where is the word coming from that Goldberg is getting a lot of attention in camp?

 

Just curious.

 

Also like the Boggs' pickup.

 

 

Merkin, beat writers and some of the MLB.com writers.

 

As far as Boggs goes, he's the perfect Don Cooper reclamation project, which will hopefully end up not unlike JJ Putz...

 

Another encouraging note from DJ and Farmer was that he was really confident in coming inside on hitters in his first outing.

Edited March 1, 2014 by caulfield12

[Dick Allen]

The Boggs signing was fine, but I wouldn't put much stock in a performance the first game of spring training, either good or bad. As for Goldberg, there is one spring training fluff piece written by Merkin . I wouldn't call him a potential closer next year just yet.

Edited March 1, 2014 by Dick Allen

[caulfield12]

The Boggs signing was fine, but I wouldn't put much stock in a performance the first game of spring training, either good or bad. As for Goldberg, there is one spring training fluff piece written by Merkin . I wouldn't call him a potential closer next year just yet.

 

 

Let me ask you this.

 

Other than the back end of the rotation (adding a Jimenez/Santana) and the catcher's spot, what could or should have been differently and logically?

 

Sure, the odds are just as high that Webb will be the closer next year. We've leveraged Peavy, Santiago and Reed for three Top 100 talent guys in Garcia, Eaton and Davidson. We signed perhaps the top impact bat of the entire off-season in Abreu.

 

We've added Paulino and Surkamp for rotation depth, as well as Downs, Belisario, Boggs and retaining Lindstrom. Maikel Cleto has a big arm, too.

 

We've also brought in Nieto at the catcher's spot to put some pressure on Flowers and Phegley.

 

We have legit depth now at practically every position....Gillaspie, Keppinger, Micah Johnson, Semien, Carlos Sanchez and Leury Garcia for the infield, Konerko to please some of the fans, DeAza in the outfield.

 

We're clearly building around a core of Sale, Quintana, Erik Johnson, Davidson, Abreu, Semien, Viciedo, Eaton and Avisail...along with Webb and Nate Jones in the bullpen.

 

Sure, that depth could be like the Iowa basketball team...just bodies...but I can only take being depressed by one sport at a time, lol. It could be our bullpen turns into another version of the 2007 team. Who knows?

 

And that still leaves the likes of Beck, Hawkins, Danish, etc., to have a break-out season in the minors.

 

 

[Whitey]

In the event Boggs rebounds, do the Sox have an option on him for next year?

 

According to the baseball reference website, Boggs is arbitration eligible in 2015 and would not be a FA to 2016. But Spotrac says he is a FA in 2015.

[caulfield12]

In the event Boggs rebounds, do the Sox have an option on him for next year?

 

According to the baseball reference website, Boggs is arbitration eligible in 2015 and would not be a FA to 2016. But Spotrac says he is a FA in 2015.

 

 

By Steve Adams [February 7, 2014 at 1:16pm CST]

 

The White Sox have added some low-cost, controllable upside to their bullpen, as they officially announced on Friday the signing of right-hander Mitchell Boggs to a one-year, $1.1MM contract. The former Cardinals setup man is represented by CSE. Because he only has four years, 34 days of Major League service time, Boggs will remain arbitration eligible following the 2014 season and is now controlled by the White Sox through 2015.

 

Boggs, who turns 30 next week, found himself in the closer's role in St. Louis last season after Jason Motte underwent Tommy John surgery. However, despite a strong track record as a setup man, Boggs struggled in his small sample as the Cardinals' closer. The former fifth-round pick allowed 18 earned runs on 21 hits and 15 walks in just 14 2/3 innings for the Redbirds before being designated for assignment and picked up by the Rockies.

 

He struggled greatly through the summer months in Colorado's minor league system, posting an 8.27 ERA in 16 1/3 Triple-A innings, but Boggs righted the ship (to an extent) upon a promotion to the Majors in September. In 8 2/3 big league innings to close the season, he allowed three runs on seven hits and five walks.

 

None of those struggles are characteristic of Boggs, who prior to 2013 had posted a combined 3.08 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 201 innings from 2010-12. Boggs had two large problems last season -- a career-worst 7.7 BB/9 and an unnaturally high 26.3 percent homer-to-flyball ratio. The latter of those two marks seems to be particularly fluky, especially considering the fact that Boggs entered the season with a career mark of just 8.5 percent in that regard.

 

Boggs will join a White Sox bullpen that has said goodbye to closer Addison Reed this offseason and also parted with mainstays Jesse Crain and Matt Thornton in July trades. He'll add to a group that figures to consist of some combination of Nate Jones, Daniel Webb, Matt Lindstrom, Ronald Belisario, Scott Downs and Donnie Veal.

 

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the agreement (on Twitter), and Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeted the $1.1MM guarantee

 

[GreenSox]

Let me ask you this.

 

Other than the back end of the rotation (adding a Jimenez/Santana) and the catcher's spot, what could or should have been differently and logically?

 

Sure, the odds are just as high that Webb will be the closer next year. We've leveraged Peavy, Santiago and Reed for three Top 100 talent guys in Garcia, Eaton and Davidson. We signed perhaps the top impact bat of the entire off-season in Abreu.

 

We've added Paulino and Surkamp for rotation depth, as well as Downs, Belisario, Boggs and retaining Lindstrom. Maikel Cleto has a big arm, too.

To me it's not a matter of what we could have done differently. Hahn did a lot of good things this offseason. But you can't fix a rotten ship in one off-season.

Our pitching still is a big question mark. We're depending on a lot of retreads and rehab projects. We'll likely score with a few of them. But it likely won't be enough.

We still have long term issues at catcher, left field and in pitching. Our farm system still needs a lot of growth so that we can become consistent. Look at Boston - they've peddled off a lot of good prospect talent and still are replete with it.

Hahn also hasn't had to trade prospects in these moves. On the other hand, he hasn't moved all of the veterans we'd like to move.

Still a work in process. A 10-15 game improvement is realistic.

I think the big issue for us actually contending is pitching. I don't see enough high end pitchers on the farm who can become starters in positions 2-4. Hahn can likely make moves to fill catcher and maybe LF if we need one after this season.

[caulfield12]

To me it's not a matter of what we could have done differently. Hahn did a lot of good things this offseason. But you can't fix a rotten ship in one off-season.

Our pitching still is a big question mark. We're depending on a lot of retreads and rehab projects. We'll likely score with a few of them. But it likely won't be enough.

We still have long term issues at catcher, left field and in pitching. Our farm system still needs a lot of growth so that we can become consistent. Look at Boston - they've peddled off a lot of good prospect talent and still are replete with it.

Hahn also hasn't had to trade prospects in these moves. On the other hand, he hasn't moved all of the veterans we'd like to move.

Still a work in process. A 10-15 game improvement is realistic.

I think the big issue for us actually contending is pitching. I don't see enough high end pitchers on the farm who can become starters in positions 2-4. Hahn can likely make moves to fill catcher and maybe LF if we need one after this season.

 

Johnson has to be a #3 at least and Danks has to be closer to a 2 than a 4/5 guy...or be good enough to be traded without having to eat too much salary.

 

Paulino's obviously a huge question mark, but Danks and Johnson are the keys at this point.

 

Left field all depends on Viciedo taking the next step. 2012 proved he could be a decent/adequate fielder if you took arm strength into consideration, but last year the entire outfield was a mess. Of course, he could also end up at DH in 2015 or not even on the roster, which probably would leave two big holes (depending on DeAza and then a DH to replace Dunn, theoretically LH), not including the catcher's spot.

 

If we had Boston's payroll, we'd be able to sign a McCann type for catcher and address the starting rotation...but we're not in their payroll territory and we can't justify spending that extra $25-35 million per season to "win now" with this roster as it's currently constructed.

 

And of course, it also requires Davidson, Eaton, Garcia and Abreu to be as good as advertised, and perhaps Semien as well.

 

Then we have Chris Beck, Danish, Goldberg and the Top 5 draft pick to hopefully fill in the rest of the rotation.

Edited March 1, 2014 by caulfield12

[southsider2k5]

I see Boggs as 3rd or 4th in line. I'd say less than 5%

[caulfield12]

I see Boggs as 3rd or 4th in line. I'd say less than 5%

 

 

And that's happened many times before with Howry, Foulke, Marte, Flash Gordon, Takatsu, Hermanson, Jenks, Santos, etc. Someone emerged from out of nowhere.

 

 

Reed was one of the very few players that was expected and annointed future Sox closer from Day 1 of the draft. Koch was the only other name that comes to mind who was brought in at least with a pedigree established, and we all know how well that turned out.

 

I will state here for the record that Lindstrom will not last for long in that role. I'm not sure about Jones, but I'm skeptical about him holding it down as well. Hope I'm wrong.

Edited March 1, 2014 by caulfield12

[Dunt]

Chris Sale wasn't a bright spot yesterday? Wasn't excited about Adam Eaton?

 

I think Boggs has a very real chance at closer, but I'd like to believe they are grooming Webb as closer

[southsider2k5]

And that's happened many times before with Howry, Foulke, Marte, Flash Gordon, Takatsu, Hermanson, Jenks, Santos, etc. Someone emerged from out of nowhere.

 

 

Reed was one of the very few players that was expected and annointed future Sox closer from Day 1 of the draft. Koch was the only other name that comes to mind who was brought in at least with a pedigree established, and we all know how well that turned out.

 

I will state here for the record that Lindstrom will not last for long in that role. I'm not sure about Jones, but I'm skeptical about him holding it down as well. Hope I'm wrong.

 

Webb might even be ahead of Boggs at this point.

[caulfield12]

Webb might even be ahead of Boggs at this point.

 

 

I don't think they would ever put a rookie in that position unless all the veteran options failed first...or the pitcher was named Addison Reed and he'd basically spent his entire baseball career closing.

[southsider2k5]

I don't think they would ever put a rookie in that position unless all the veteran options failed first...or the pitcher was named Addison Reed and he'd basically spent his entire baseball career closing.

 

 

If Boggs hadn't already had multiple miserable failures as a closer, I might buy it. I don't get the heart-on for Boggs, but crush on dude.

[LittleHurt05]

If Boggs hadn't already had multiple miserable failures as a closer, I might buy it. I don't get the heart-on for Boggs, but crush on dude.

 

You mean the 30 year old with 6 career saves, a career ERA of over 4 and a WHIP of nearly 1.47? The signing makes sense for a team like the Sox, but I don't see why he would become closer either.

[oldsox]

Lindstrom hasn't been a closer for a few years, so why try again with him? He closed with Houston one year, then lost the job. Strictly a set up guy now. I think he and Boggs should be fighting for the same roster spot, but they will both probably go North in April. I don't get the Boggs' signing.

[Y2Jimmy0]

Lindstrom hasn't been a closer for a few years, so why try again with him? He closed with Houston one year, then lost the job. Strictly a set up guy now. I think he and Boggs should be fighting for the same roster spot, but they will both probably go North in April. I don't get the Boggs' signing.

 

 

How do you not get the Boggs signing? He has great stuff and Don Cooper is the Sox pitching coach. Do you understand the Scott Downs signing? How about the Ronald Belisario one? There is no reason not to do what the Sox are doing with these relievers. Hopefully Lindstrom, Downs, and Boggs are all good and they can be traded by July. I'm pretty sure that's the plan.

[caulfield12]

Lindstrom hasn't been a closer for a few years, so why try again with him? He closed with Houston one year, then lost the job. Strictly a set up guy now. I think he and Boggs should be fighting for the same roster spot, but they will both probably go North in April. I don't get the Boggs' signing.

 

 

 

 

1. His issues are not physical health, but mechanical and psychological, a Cooper specialty (see Matt Thornton, Jose Contreras or Bobby Jenks).

 

2. Boggs, 28, who on Thursday was named to the provisional roster for Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, appeared in a career-high 78 games in 2012 (Tied for 4th in the National League) and set a Cardinals record with 34 Holds. Boggs' 2.21 ERA ranked 6th amongst N.L. relievers and he allowed just 17.1 percent of inherited runners to score (7th in N.L.).

 

He's only 1 1/2 seasons removed from being one of the top relievers in all of baseball, and performed quite well until 2013 for a World Series-caliber team in high leverage situations.

Edited March 2, 2014 by caulfield12

[southsider2k5]

1. His issues are not physical health, but mechanical and psychological, a Cooper specialty (see Matt Thornton, Jose Contreras or Bobby Jenks).

 

2. Boggs, 28, who on Thursday was named to the provisional roster for Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, appeared in a career-high 78 games in 2012 (Tied for 4th in the National League) and set a Cardinals record with 34 Holds. Boggs' 2.21 ERA ranked 6th amongst N.L. relievers and he allowed just 17.1 percent of inherited runners to score (7th in N.L.).

 

He's only 1 1/2 seasons removed from being one of the top relievers in all of baseball, and performed quite well until 2013 for a World Series-caliber team in high leverage situations.

 

He has no where near that level of stuff as the guys who you just referenced. A middle inning guy? Sure. Set up guy? Ok. Closer? No.