SAN DIEGO — The beautiful thing — among a bounty of beautiful things — about the concept of a Shohei Ohtani trade for the Rangers was that he could fill two...
Kelly, 35, may be the most playoff-tested reliever on the market. He has 58.1 postseason innings over 40 appearances in a 12-year career. Kelly has seen a jump in velocity this year, pushing back up to match his career best of 99 mph with his fastball. He’s also re-introduced a slider after shelving it for five years. He is striking out a career-best 32% of the batters he faces.
But he also missed nearly three weeks with an elbow issue. He returned a week ago and has pitched just twice. On Wednesday, he did not retire a batter in a 26-pitch outing, walking two and hitting another batter. Kelly’s contract also includes a club option for 2024 at $9.5 million.The Rangers have also expressed interest in other Chicago relievers. The White Sox have Kendall Graveman, Aaron Bummer and Keynan Middleton sitting around with no leverage situations in which to pitch.
In the bullpen, the Cardinals have yet to work out an extension with 100 mph-arm Jordan Hicks. Giovanny Gallegos has a 4.56 strikeout-to-walk rate. And Chris Stratton is very familiar to Rangers brass. Mike Maddux was his pitching coach last year; Bruce Bochy his manager from 2017-19 with San Francisco.: In starter Mitch Keller, reliever Colin Holderman and closer David Bednar, the Pirates have a trio of controllable pitchers.
Bellinger, who is having a renaissance year with the Cubs, has a .905 OPS this year and a mutual option for 2024, which also likely means he will leverage his situation into free agency. In Adbert Alzolay, the Cubs have an attractive reliever with gaudy command numbers: 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings, 1.4 walks, a 7.29 strikeout-to-walk rate. He also becomes eligible for salary arbitration for the first time this winter, which would likely make the asking price exorbitant for a reliever.
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