Anthony Varvaro DFA;Dalier Hinojosa up
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Alex Speier @alexspeier 8s8 seconds ago
Hinojosa has held opponents to sub-.200 average in Pawtucket both last year and this. Layne had 6 straight scoreless innings in Pawtucket
Hinojosa has held opponents to sub-.200 average in Pawtucket both last year and this. Layne had 6 straight scoreless innings in Pawtucket
YouDownWithOBP? said:
Agreed. Betting it came down to money. Varvaro makes significantly less than Mujica, thus easier to eat his money if they release him and probably easier to move his contract through waivers or a trade.
Red(s)HawksFan said:
Mujica is a sunk cost already. Cut your losses and move on. It was a terrible signing to begin with.
If this is the consequence of sending Wright back down without using him, then what a chain of decisions.
You sort of wonder if there is some kind of clubhouse problem with Varvaro. It was surprising that the Braves were willing to let him go for nothing after two years of excellent performance. And it's even more surprising that the Sox are jettisoning him instead of Mujica despite the fact that Varvaro has a ERA+ of 103 (and FIP in line with the last couple years).
johnnywayback said:
I was wondering that too. Although if he's a clubhouse problem, he sure had Chip Caray fooled:
yes, I agree...this doesn't make sense...was varvaro really that bad? even if he was bad, shouldn't he have a longer leash given recent performance?YouDownWithOBP? said:
Can't wait to play the Yankees and their slew of L bats. Varvaro before Mujica & Breslow makes NO sense. (I don't want to hear about Breslow's ERA this year, he's garbage and we will all learn it soon enough).soxhop411 said:
There's no way Hinojosa is better than Varvaro. Mujica looks worse than Varvaro too. Breslow might be worse as well. Yet they are all on the active roster and Varvaro is done.
There needs to be a better solution than making our pitching staff even worse. If they had just left Wright up here we'd have had a fresh arm available last night and tonight. Now Wright can't be called back up for 9 more days and Varvaro is gone, while worse pitchers stay.
The point isn't that Varvaro is great, he's not. It's that they dumped him to keep worse pitchers.
There needs to be a better solution than making our pitching staff even worse. If they had just left Wright up here we'd have had a fresh arm available last night and tonight. Now Wright can't be called back up for 9 more days and Varvaro is gone, while worse pitchers stay.
The point isn't that Varvaro is great, he's not. It's that they dumped him to keep worse pitchers.
Just saw this. My first reaction was like the ones above - firstly must have been a clubhouse issue, but if not (and evidence offered above suggests it isn't) then I thought "panic move".
But the truth is Varvaro is replacement-level, and Hinojosa is his replacement. I'm carrying a pitchfork and torch with the posse that's stalking Mujica too. But sunk cost is sunk cost, and the chance that Mujica can rebound to above replacement level is higher in my mind than the chance that Varvaro turns into something he's never been. That said it's really a coin toss at this point.
AND there are much larger issues to address. Like having starters reliably pitch beyond the 5th.
But the truth is Varvaro is replacement-level, and Hinojosa is his replacement. I'm carrying a pitchfork and torch with the posse that's stalking Mujica too. But sunk cost is sunk cost, and the chance that Mujica can rebound to above replacement level is higher in my mind than the chance that Varvaro turns into something he's never been. That said it's really a coin toss at this point.
AND there are much larger issues to address. Like having starters reliably pitch beyond the 5th.
Huh? Varvaro has a career 3.23 ERA and .672 OPS allowed. He's allowed a .602 OPS against lefties. In 13 and 14 he pitched in 123 games and had a 135 ERA+. That's above average and far above replacement level.ToeKneeArmAss said:
Mujica was pretty good from 2011-13, which came to a 133 ERA+. During those three years he allowed a .651 OPS. But he was meh last year and the early returns this year are poor.
I actually would have liked to keep both around but they didn't give Varvaro nearly enough rope, and his upside is just about the same as Mujica's. Perplexing. Varvaro is going to help out somewhere else.
Edit: OK, "far above" replacement is hyperbole, but Fangraphs has him with 0.6 WAR those two years, 77th among qualified relievers. bWAR likes him more, with 1.8 WAR. He seems like a solid 5th or 6th guy in the pen and him being tough on lefties is a definite plus. You can replace those guys if you have someone definitely better, but...
Hinojosa was awful in spring training 0-2/7.56, .314 BA/1.80 WHIP. As a reliever in the minors, he has a 3.78 ERA with 3 Sv in 8 SvO.. I was surprised they kept him out of spring training.
This does not compute. Varvaro is by far not close to their worst reliever. I'm assuming off the field issue unless proven otherwise (Farrell-speak on its own isn't proof)
I'll just add to the chorus of "inexplicable." However, my guess is that it is Barnes' 10-day clock, and not Wright's, that will signal the end of the Hinojosa era. So, perhaps we should be asking whether Barnes is better than Varvaro; though that would still leave the question of whether Mujica and Breslow are better than Varvaro.
Vavaro has a .913 OPS against versus righties (.346 /.452 / .462) in 26 ABs. According to something I read, Farrell didn't believe that Vavaro had any way of pitching to righties and because there were at least two other left-handed relievers, he didn't fit the roster.
I guess if you can't rely on your starters going more than 5 innings, having a right-handed pitcher who can only get righties out is a luxury this team can't afford.
I guess if you can't rely on your starters going more than 5 innings, having a right-handed pitcher who can only get righties out is a luxury this team can't afford.
Well, he should be tradeable. Maybe we can shore up the minor league RP depth.
Ben basically stole him from Atlanta: easy come, easy go.
Ben basically stole him from Atlanta: easy come, easy go.
We've lost nothing of value here. Varvaro's inducing whiffs at a Badenhopian rate; for the past three seasons that figure's dipped below 8%. League average for relievers is 10.4%. His walk rates have traditionally been bad, and he's not inducing many chases outside the zone either. FanGraphs' line drive percentage has this to say. Here are his velos.
We were a few outings away from calling for his head anyhow. Small sample size caveats apply, obviously, but I wasn't chuffed with this acquisition to start with. Certainly now it appears better pitchers grow on trees.
Varvaro's purported reverse splits are also a mirage. His K%–BB% is incrementally better versus lefties, but they generate more loft. His xFIP is 4.08 against them, 3.75 against righthanders.
At least Hinojosa misses bats. His walk rates are homely, but Minor League Central's subjective "Zone%" (which probably counts for something) has him 0.1% below the IL average. In 2014 it was 52.2%, league averages being unavailable. If these walk rates were somehow inflated, Hinojosa might stick. Walk percentages in the low minors are not predictive, but this guy is fresh off the boat. It's worth noting in any case that his BB/9 in Cuba tapered off dramatically with age.
Edit: He can't be trusted
We were a few outings away from calling for his head anyhow. Small sample size caveats apply, obviously, but I wasn't chuffed with this acquisition to start with. Certainly now it appears better pitchers grow on trees.
Varvaro's purported reverse splits are also a mirage. His K%–BB% is incrementally better versus lefties, but they generate more loft. His xFIP is 4.08 against them, 3.75 against righthanders.
At least Hinojosa misses bats. His walk rates are homely, but Minor League Central's subjective "Zone%" (which probably counts for something) has him 0.1% below the IL average. In 2014 it was 52.2%, league averages being unavailable. If these walk rates were somehow inflated, Hinojosa might stick. Walk percentages in the low minors are not predictive, but this guy is fresh off the boat. It's worth noting in any case that his BB/9 in Cuba tapered off dramatically with age.
Edit: He can't be trusted
Question: Can a team re-instate a DFA player to the roster? Maybe this is just a ploy to gain a few days.
Steven Wright is that guy but he was just sent down for JBJ (who stays up 1 day). Now Wright is down for the required 10 days.............I don't like this, unless Varvaro is packaged for a starting pitcher who can get passed the 3rd inning.theapportioner said:
While DL isn't an option, couldn't they assign him to the minors if he passes through waivers?
Lose Remerswaal said:
Todd Benzinger said:
Being DFAd and being put on waivers are different things though they often happen at the same time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designated_for_assignment
Thanks, Ras. But as your link explains, the team actually 4 options after a "DFA"... Only one of which involves the waivers I was talking about.
There is also the option of simply returning the player to the 40 man (and the 25 man too), as the Sox once did with Darnell MacDonald...
So, do we know what steps the what the Sox are taking with AV after the initial DFA? Or I guess we just wait for 10 days and then find out?
Rotoworld is assuming he is on some kind of waivers... I guess those could be AOW (ie, they want to send him to the minors) or release waivers...
I don't think that release and trade are the only remaining options, but I don't really know that.
There is also the option of simply returning the player to the 40 man (and the 25 man too), as the Sox once did with Darnell MacDonald...
So, do we know what steps the what the Sox are taking with AV after the initial DFA? Or I guess we just wait for 10 days and then find out?
Rotoworld is assuming he is on some kind of waivers... I guess those could be AOW (ie, they want to send him to the minors) or release waivers...
I don't think that release and trade are the only remaining options, but I don't really know that.
Todd Benzinger said:
He probably was placed on waivers and we won't know what happens until it happens. My guess is that someone will put in a waiver claim and the two teams will work out a fairly trivial trade.
Todd Benzinger said:
There's no room on the 40 man roster, which is why they DFA'd Varvaro, in order to make room on the 40 man for Hinjosa. Brian Johnson and Owens, btw, are not on the 40 man roster, as well, so there could be some more DFA's in the future if either of that pair seem viable options in the next two months. Hinjosa and eventually, Sprull, may not get many mulligans to show that they can help the big club.
(Off topic, but for the record, outside of Coyle, I don't see any AAA middlle infielder on the 40 man roster as well, so there would have to be a "drop" to make room for Marrero, if a shortstop was needed.)
Rudy Pemberton said:
The Cubs obviously see the same thing in various players that the Sox do, leading them to pick up guys that the Sox waive, but thus far the Cubs always wind up coming to the same conclusion about the player as the Sox did. I don't think anyone the Cubs have claimed off of waivers from the Sox has amounted to anything. We'll see if Varvaro is the exception.
Its the claim game. At some point he will get through waivers and that team can outright him to the minors and keep him in their organization. The Cubs hope they get to keep him but don't want him on the 40 man.soxhop411 said:
Alex Hassan has been claimed by the A's three times in the past few months, so there is no rule that prevents the Sox from claiming Varvaro.Rasputin said:
This is strange. He's been solid for several years. Nothing he did for the Sox suggests that anything fundamental has changed. How did he turn into a AAAA guy who can't stick on a 40 man?