Duquette's offseason, in hindsight

[Frobby]

Extended QO to Matt Wieters -- This was roundly criticized by some, and many were surprised when he took the QO. The move has worked out very well, both because Wieters has had a season worthy of being named an all star reserve, and because Joseph has not been the league-average catcher that he was in 2014-15, and spent time on the DL.

Traded Clevenger for Trumbo -- Some people didn't like Trumbo's $9 mm price tag, but nobody's complaining now, as he leads the majors in homers and is among the RBI leaders, and is hitting for a nice average.

Extended Darren O'Day -- Only time will tell whether the four year package will be worth it. For 2016, O'Day pitched well before being hurt, though not as well as last season. We probably need to wait until the end of the year to judge the impact on 2016, but overall, I think it will still go down as a plus.

Selected Joey Rickard in the Rule 5 draft -- He's been a useful piece, though in hindsight Buck played him over Kim too often in the early part of the season. Still, he was a good selection IMO.

Extended Chris Davis -- Again, it's way too early to know the long-term impact. Right now I'd say Davis is doing about as expected, maybe slightly below what we'd hoped with the bat, but having an excellent year with the glove so that the overall package is still worth well more than his 2016 salary.

Signed Hyung Soo Kim -- This move is looking fantastic, with Kim providing a high OBP bat and complementing the sluggers well.

Signed Yovanni Gallardo -- So far this looks like the worst move of the offseason, though Gallardo still has time to turn it around.

Signing of Dexter Fowler fell through -- Wow, what a shame. Fowler's having a career year, and if he were here, our offense would probably be the best in the AL and our defense also would be much better.

Signed Pedro Alvarez -- This move has been slightly disappointing, as Alvarez hasn't really thrived at OPACY as much as hoped, and his presence forces Trumbo to the OF more than we'd like. But, he's near his career-high OPS and has been hot of late, so we'll see how the second half unfolds.

Let Chen walk -- The decision not to re-sign Chen looks pretty good so far, as he has been mediocre in Miami (4.83 ERA). He'd still be better than 3 of our 5 starters, but probably not worth the contract he got. It's still a bit early to judge.

Released Miguel Gonzalez -- This move looks absolutely awful right now, as Gonzo wasn't very expensive ($5.1 mm, of which we paid $1.3 mm or so) and has pitched very credibly for the White Sox (4.39 ERA). He's not a world-beater, but he beats several guys in our rotation.

Tendered a contract to Brian Matusz, then traded him and a comp pick for two minor leaguers. -- Obviously, we'd have been better off not signing Matusz, with hindsight.

Didn't sign another starting pitcher -- Arguably the biggest mistake of the offseason. We had a bad rotation last year, and we were losing Chen. Gallardo clearly had risks attached.

Standing back and looking at the full package, I think you'd still have to say it was a pretty good offseason. The mistakes on the pitching side are glaring, but when you factor in the improvements to the lineup, the bottom line is that the team is significantly better in 2016 than 2015. Hopefully, I'll still feel that way at the end of the season.

[pastorfan]

Good points on all, but not getting starting pitching when everyone knows that that is the most important part of the game is inexcusable. No matter what else you do, you can't win a championship without starting pitching. Fortunately for Dan, Buck has masterfully--as usual--mixed and matched. BTW, I was blasted for suggesting we sign Desmond. It is working out quite well for Texas, however.

[BohKnowsBmore]

This is a pretty fair take. I am not really a fan of the amorphous "sign another pitcher" line. Who and for how much?

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[Frobby]

This is a pretty fair take. I am not really a fan of the amorphous "sign another pitcher" line. Who and for how much?

I didn't get specific since it would obviously be hindsight to choose one who has done well instead of one who hasn't. In general, Duquette took a big risk there and the consequences were pretty foreseeable. But as I said, you have to judge it in the overall context. If hasn't traded for Trumbo in a salary dump and instead had signed Doug Fister for a bit more than he's making in Texas ($7 mm, 3.66 ERA), would the team be better off? I don't know.

[BohKnowsBmore]

I didn't get specific since it would obviously be hindsight to choose one who has done well instead of one who hasn't. In general, Duquette took a big risk there and the consequences were pretty foreseeable. But as I said, you have to judge it in the overall context. If hasn't traded for Trumbo in a salary dump and instead had signed Doug Fister for a bit more than he's making in Texas ($7 mm, 3.66 ERA), would the team be better off? I don't know.

Good point and one I can agree with.

[weams]

I didn't get specific since it would obviously be hindsight to choose one who has done well instead of one who hasn't. In general, Duquette took a big risk there and the consequences were pretty foreseeable. But as I said, you have to judge it in the overall context. If hasn't traded for Trumbo in a salary dump and instead had signed Doug Fister for a bit more than he's making in Texas ($7 mm, 3.66 ERA), would the team be better off? I don't know.

Fister was never coming on a one year make good. Not even for more money.

[Aristotelian]

I would not say "absolutely awful" on Gonzo. His ERA is looking good after just pitching 7 shutout innings, but his peripherals are still pretty bad and his ERA was over 5 a couple starts ago. 6.6 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 1.39 WHIP. He seems to be alternating between looking good for a couple starts and then getting torched.

Meanwhile we got to try out some organization guys in the 5th spot making the MLB minimum. These are guys that we needed to see and still may pan out.

Gallardo is a bigger disaster thus far, although you are right that he has time to turn it around.

[clapdiddy]

This is a pretty fair take. I am not really a fan of the amorphous "sign another pitcher" line. Who and for how much?

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Don't know if this guy would have come here, but he'd look pretty good out on the bump for us.

[Phantom]

Released Miguel Gonzalez -- This move looks absolutely awful right now, as Gonzo wasn't very expensive ($5.1 mm, of which we paid $1.3 mm or so) and has pitched very credibly for the White Sox (4.39 ERA). He's not a world-beater, but he beats several guys in our rotation.

Color me extremely skeptical. Miguel Gonzalez is striking out less guys than last season and walking more guys than last season. He is actually underperforming his projections which put his ERA at 4.50-4.90.

[TouchemAll]

Extended QO to Matt Wieters -- This was roundly criticized by some, and many were surprised when he took the QO. The move has worked out very well, both because Wieters has had a season worthy of being named an all star reserve, and because Joseph has not been the league-average catcher that he was in 2014-15, and spent time on the DL.

Traded Clevenger for Trumbo -- Some people didn't like Trumbo's $9 mm price tag, but nobody's complaining now, as he leads the majors in homers and is among the RBI leaders, and is hitting for a nice average.

Extended Darren O'Day -- Only time will tell whether the four year package will be worth it. For 2016, O'Day pitched well before being hurt, though not as well as last season. We probably need to wait until the end of the year to judge the impact on 2016, but overall, I think it will still go down as a plus.

Selected Joey Rickard in the Rule 5 draft -- He's been a useful piece, though in hindsight Buck played him over Kim too often in the early part of the season. Still, he was a good selection IMO.

Extended Chris Davis -- Again, it's way too early to know the long-term impact. Right now I'd say Davis is doing about as expected, maybe slightly below what we'd hoped with the bat, but having an excellent year with the glove so that the overall package is still worth well more than his 2016 salary.

Signed Hyung Soo Kim -- This move is looking fantastic, with Kim providing a high OBP bat and complementing the sluggers well.

Signed Yovanni Gallardo -- So far this looks like the worst move of the offseason, though Gallardo still has time to turn it around.

Signing of Dexter Fowler fell through -- Wow, what a shame. Fowler's having a career year, and if he were here, our offense would probably be the best in the AL and our defense also would be much better.

Signed Pedro Alvarez -- This move has been slightly disappointing, as Alvarez hasn't really thrived at OPACY as much as hoped, and his presence forces Trumbo to the OF more than we'd like. But, he's near his career-high OPS and has been hot of late, so we'll see how the second half unfolds.

Let Chen walk -- The decision not to re-sign Chen looks pretty good so far, as he has been mediocre in Miami (4.83 ERA). He'd still be better than 3 of our 5 starters, but probably not worth the contract he got. It's still a bit early to judge.

Released Miguel Gonzalez -- This move looks absolutely awful right now, as Gonzo wasn't very expensive ($5.1 mm, of which we paid $1.3 mm or so) and has pitched very credibly for the White Sox (4.39 ERA). He's not a world-beater, but he beats several guys in our rotation.

Tendered a contract to Brian Matusz, then traded him and a comp pick for two minor leaguers. -- Obviously, we'd have been better off not signing Matusz, with hindsight.

Didn't sign another starting pitcher -- Arguably the biggest mistake of the offseason. We had a bad rotation last year, and we were losing Chen. Gallardo clearly had risks attached.

Standing back and looking at the full package, I think you'd still have to say it was a pretty good offseason. The mistakes on the pitching side are glaring, but when you factor in the improvements to the lineup, the bottom line is that the team is significantly better in 2016 than 2015. Hopefully, I'll still feel that way at the end of the season.

Yep other then the Pitching mistakes I am a happy camper. Judging pitching talent seems to be DD's biggest struggle.

[Redskins Rick]

Yep other then the Pitching mistakes I am a happy camper. Judging pitching talent seems to be DD's biggest struggle.

Price is struggling with Boston, and look at Verlander this year with the Tigers.

Pitching talent changes every year, and its not as easy as some poster believe it is.

Look at the Dodgers going into the season with 6 SP, and due to injuries, they just traded for Bud Norris.

[Bahama O's Fan]

Most of those are about right, but the question is, which pitcher should he have gotten?

[LookitsPuck]

Good offensively, awful from a pitching perspective. Sums up the offseason nicely.

Which is a huge problem considering Dan said he was going to focus on starting pitching.

The rotation is the worst it's been his entire tenure. And it's actually as bad as pre 2012 levels. And a good portion of that is because of Ubaldo and Gallardo, both Duquette signings, both multiyear deals, both risky signings and both cost 1st round draft picks.

At some point Duquette's "wait and see" approach was going to bite us in the ass. And it did w/ Gallardo and it did w/ Fowler.

[Frobby]

Color me extremely skeptical. Miguel Gonzalez is striking out less guys than last season and walking more guys than last season. He is actually underperforming his projections which put his ERA at 4.50-4.90.

While I do not know what the second half holds for Gonzo, I think the difference between his first-half performance and that of the guys who have pitched in his stead would have justified the entire additional $3.8 mm we would have had to pay him. Fangraphs says he's been worth twice that.

[El Gordo]

Fister was never coming on a one year make good. Not even for more money.

Yes, and neither was anyone else, for less than 25-30 M AAV. Where's Latos now? If we cant offer opt outs, our hands were tied. As disappointing as Gallardo has been so far, It would be worse if we had just stayed in house.