Morning Mound Visit: sabermetrics news - 1/31/19

FanGraphs | Jay Jaffe: Greg Holland was once one of the best closers in baseball, but 15 months and a Tommy John surgery later finds him taking a one-year, $3.5 million deal with the Diamondbacks. But with a more reliable slider in the second half, the DBacks could have a bargain on their hands as they look to replace Brad Boxberger.

Tangotiger Blog | Tom Tango: Of players born 1941-1970, 60 were inducted into the Hall of Fame. If you were to group them by position, you would get 3-5 apiece per position with no exceptions. That’s incredible balance by position, and shows that writers despite their flaws are actually inducting a snapshot of the era as one would see it on the diamond.

ESPN Insider | Buster Olney ($): Other than signing Jenrry Mejia, the Red Sox bullpen has a ton of question marks as Craig Kimbrel and Joe Kelly depart in free agency. They will have to rely on the likes of Colton Brewer and Tyler Thornburg sans those pitchers or other additions.