Yes, I remember that too... Roger Clemens pitched that game in the very late innings, and Chris Burke hit a walkoff to send the Astros to the NLCS vs. the Cardinals (the Astros eventually lost in the World Series to the White Sox, in one of their very few World Series appearances.)
What JFaS meant was that Kelly isn't that great, and may end up a bullpen arm, which is what the Cards thought of him (he was a long-man for a while). Kelly continues to have control issues in Boston, like he did in St. Louis.
The problem is that Allen Craig suffered a Lisfranc injury and foot injuries late last season, and has not been the same player. There's no guarantee of a rebound.
Smyly maybe, Craig and Kelly no. That Craig part of the Lackey deal is going to be a drag on Boston.. he has shown no signs of returning to previous form. And Kelly's still a wild card.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/10/blue-jays-outright-munenori-kawasaki-dan-johnson.html
No surprise.. we need a REAL 2B. Munenori Kawasaki is minor league depth and nothing more. And Dan Johnson is AAAA.
Yes. If you look at advanced metrics, the O's rotation has serious regression coming when their defense regresses because of the losses of Markakis and Hardy.
Pretty much. But how's Showalter going to manage when the O's roster is partially torn down next year due to financial constraints? Unless the O's want to raise their payroll to $140-150M or so, they're not going to be able to keep this core together.