2016-2017 Offseason Trade Speculation Thread

[moonslav59]

It's Tito vs Madden.

 

We had Tito, and we almost got Madden, instead of Tito way back when.

 

Should be a great series.

[Dojji]

Honestly think it's Tito vs Theo. The Cubs are here because of the careful preparation of the general manager, and the Guardians are here because Tito did a good job holding the team together, maintaining motivation and putting players in the right position to succeed after the preseason planning broke down

[mvp 78]

Yup, Cleveland's GM had no say in building the starting rotation or pitching staff!!!!

[sk7326]

Really it is the Cubs starting rotation against the Guardians starters + Andrew Miller - plus whether the Guardians can score enough runs.

 

Personally I am rooting for Cleveland - their drought is even the scrappy underdog drought story between the teams.

[moonslav59]

It seems to strange to think of the Cubs as favorites.

 

I'd love to see them break the curse.

 

I'd love to see Theo thumb his nose at Larry L.

 

I'd like to see Lester, Lackey and other ex-Sox players do well.

 

However, I almost always pull for the underdog, and that is Tito's Guardians. Plus, I always liked Napoli.

 

Go Guardians!

[Slasher9]

ticket prices are EFFING crazy high.

im still not sure who im rooting for. i feel bad for cubbies fans and especially steve bartman so would like them to win. but i also really like this Guardians team and tito.

it's gonna be a gametime decision for slash...

[Spudboy]

Go Tito!!!1!11!

[cp176]

Really - Tito vs Madden ??? unbelievable - Much more credit than any managers not to mention these two old farts should ever get. Believe it or not it is the Guardians vs the Cubs and I hope like the dickens that it is all Cleveland.

[Kimmi]

You give absolutely no credit for increase in attendance during his tenure in Detroit.....look up the correlation between winning and attendance.

 

By your definition, Red Sox was a major failure for all of 20th century. Apparently we spent 100 years building for the future, 2004.

 

Fair point about the increase in attendance. Winning does typically put fans in the seats.

[Kimmi]

I said in the game thread that I'm pulling for the Cubs, just because it's been a longer drought for them.

 

Outside of that, I will be happy with whichever team wins. I'd love to see Theo or Tito, as well as the former Sox players, win another ring. There is no bad outcome to this championship, IMO.

[Kimmi]

Honestly think it's Tito vs Theo. The Cubs are here because of the careful preparation of the general manager, and the Guardians are here because Tito did a good job holding the team together, maintaining motivation and putting players in the right position to succeed after the preseason planning broke down

 

It's saber organization versus saber organization, which makes me very happy.

[mvp 78]

@alexspeier Indeed, multiple major league sources expect that the Sox aren't going to hire a GM.

[jacksonianmarch]

There's no point in hiring a GM. Dombrowski is the GM. He's also seemingly pushing out all remnants of the Theo regime.

 

Btw, if Theo's Cubs win the WS, he goes down as possibly the best team builder of all time. And he can shake the stigma that he really won with Dan's team in Boston. He truly built the Cubs from the ground up. And they're a juggernaut set to dominate for awhile

[moonslav59]

There's no point in hiring a GM. Dombrowski is the GM. He's also seemingly pushing out all remnants of the Theo regime.

 

Btw, if Theo's Cubs win the WS, he goes down as possibly the best team builder of all time. And he can shake the stigma that he really won with Dan's team in Boston. He truly built the Cubs from the ground up. And they're a juggernaut set to dominate for awhile

 

While they certainly look well set up for years to come, nobody "dominates" anymore.

[Nick]

While they certainly look well set up for years to come, nobody "dominates" anymore.

 

Sox are also in great shape.

 

Betts 2017 2018 2019 2020

Bradley Jr 2017 2018 2019 2020

Benitendi 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Bogaerts 2017 2018 2019

Pedey 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Ramirez 2017 2018 2019

Swihart 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Shaw 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Vazquez 2017 2018 2019 2020

Moncada 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Pablo 2017 2018 2019

Price 2017 2018 2019-2022 if not opt out

Rodriguez 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Wright 2017 2018 2019 2020

Porcello 2017 2018 2019

Pomeranz 2017 2018

Kelly 2017 2018

Kimbrel 2017 2018

Ross Jr 2017 2018

Hembree 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

R Scott 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Holt 2017 2018

Sandy 2017 2018 2019

Carson S 2017 2018 2019 2020

Clay B 2017?

 

That's pretty good nucleus to move forward with.....

Edited October 25, 2016 by Nick

[oldtimer]

While they certainly look well set up for years to come, nobody "dominates" anymore.

 

Very True

[Slasher9]

sorry. i tried. but i just cannot root for Maddon. tea sippin lil biznitch.

 

go TRIBE!!!!

[Jack Flap]

My residual goodwill for Theo (and Lester and Lackey), and the Cubs' young core just being exciting as hell, more than outweighs any Maddon distaste for me. Would like to see the Cubs finally break the curse, though I'll be pretty happy either way with this outcome.

[sk7326]

It's saber organization versus saber organization, which makes me very happy.

 

At this point they are almost all saber orgs - just a matter of how (except for Arizona and they are fixing that)

[mvp 78]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/10/red-sox-promote-eddie-romero-to-agm-wont-hire-general-manager.html

 

Eddie Romero has been promoted to AGM.

 

 

Boston will not hire a single general manager to work under president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, at least at this time, the club also added. Instead, Romero and fellow AGM Brian O’Halloran will combine to take the top two roles beneath Dombrowski in the organization’s baseball ops hierarchy.

[cp176]

Who was that guy who said that Kluber should be the one we go after? i think that I remember him.

[Kimmi]

There's no point in hiring a GM. Dombrowski is the GM. He's also seemingly pushing out all remnants of the Theo regime.

 

Btw, if Theo's Cubs win the WS, he goes down as possibly the best team builder of all time. And he can shake the stigma that he really won with Dan's team in Boston. He truly built the Cubs from the ground up. And they're a juggernaut set to dominate for awhile

 

Whether the Cubs win the WS or not, Theo is THE man.

 

Also, I am not happy that all of our guys from the Theo regime are leaving. Not good.

[Kimmi]

My residual goodwill for Theo (and Lester and Lackey), and the Cubs' young core just being exciting as hell, more than outweighs any Maddon distaste for me. Would like to see the Cubs finally break the curse, though I'll be pretty happy either way with this outcome.

 

Maddon does make it difficult to pull for the Cubs, but I agree with you.

[Kimmi]

At this point they are almost all saber orgs - just a matter of how (except for Arizona and they are fixing that)

 

Of course. They really have no choice but to be. However, there is still a fair gap in the extent of their analytics use.

[SoxnCycles]

Who was that guy who said that Kluber should be the one we go after? i think that I remember him.

 

I'm sure the Guardians have been itching to unload him.

[Fan_since_Boggs]

I like Z.Wheeler, reminds me of a young AJ Burnett. The Mets might be willing to move him, but it is hard to advocate trading for him without seeing the medicals.

 

If the medicals check out: Swihart to the Mets for Wheeler? The Mets might have interest in a young catcher like Swihart.

 

It is so hard to trade for an established ace. Your best bet is to trade for a younger pitcher who might be ready to blossom into one.

[moonslav59]

I like Z.Wheeler, reminds me of a young AJ Burnett. The Mets might be willing to move him, but it is hard to advocate trading for him without seeing the medicals.

 

If the medicals check out: Swihart to the Mets for Wheeler? The Mets might have interest in a young catcher like Swihart.

 

It is so hard to trade for an established ace. Your best bet is to trade for a younger pitcher who might be ready to blossom into one.

 

Good point. Reminds me of when I wanted us to get B McCarthy or B Anderson- both came up short of expectations. I also remember suggesting we trade Middy (at his peak value) for T Bauer.

[oldtimer]

Consideration of what we do in FA and trade moves should take into account what has and is being successful for teams that have surpassed us. One note is that two very effective starting pitchers do not throw over 90 mph. The cubs Hendricks and the Guardians Tomlin. Keep an open mind and look for pitchers with good movement and that are around the plate.

 

What is it about Cleveland that allows them to sweep the Sox, go 4 of 5 against the Blue Jays and are now up by 3 to 1 on the powerful Cubs team? Clearly Kluber is special and backed up by Miller and Shaw they will keep you in any game. Tomlin has been very effective and they have Allen and Merritt for a solid pitching staff. They are missing some of their starting pitching which should be back next year. So they have excellent pitching and a manager who knows how to motivate and utilize that pitching.

 

They also have a very good defensive team with very good speed at most positions. They certainly have one premier player in Lindor and are very solid with Santana, Davis, Rameriz and Fowler. Perez is a good catcher. If you went position by position, we compare favorably. Betts and LIndor are similar premier players. We had an edge or comparable in every position except 3rd and catcher. The Guardians speed seems to be utilized a little better than ours in my opinion and they do have more switch hitters, which may cause opposing pitchers some grief.

 

The Sox need to close the pitching gap to beat the Guardians team but Chicago, with Lester, Arrieta, Hendricks and Lackey with Chapman in the BP have not been able to stop them so pitching is not the whole story. Good luck to DD to put together an improved team for 2017 with obvious holes improved and also with an eye on leadership.

[jacksonianmarch]

You really cannot make major team adjustments based on 3 games where your pitching s*** the bed. You have to look at each position and ask if you can get more out of the position with the players you have and if you can upgrade without harming your squad. Like I've said before, I expect the sox to be VERY active this offseason, and not just because the Tribe got hot. But because you have a window where the core of your team is cheap and really good. Once all those players reach late arb or FA, retaining them all will preclude major updates. So you do them now. Also, I'm pretty sure the team that usually tries to win the winter (NYY) will still be in prospect acquisition mode.

[Dojji]

Considering how well "winning the winter" usually works fir NYY I hope the team mostly keeps its powder dry this winter. The kinds of issues we have right now are the sorts of things a team with championship ambitions can afford to wait and fix at the deadline. We need playing time to see how catcher, 3B and the bullpen are going to shake out. We already have peaces in all these areas that COULD work, we need live ball to see what will and what won't.

 

If any of those issues become deal breakers at the deadline there will probably be trade options available to shore them up, but our biggest problem areas have that weird problem where we have a ton of options to fill them, but none we're 100% confident with. That's a problem that requires live ball to properly analyze, much less fix.

 

I expect some bullpen maintenance but on the whole, making major moves in the wintertime in any of those areas is going to be a poor idea, and I don't see a pressing need to overhaul the rotation at all. I fully expect DD to recognize this and have a quiet offseason.