The GM thread

[moonslav59]

He's not the guy I want to see included in our 25 man for 2021 and onward.

 

I'd rather have someone better, too, and this isn't about DHern vs Johnson. There will be room for both and 2-3 scrubs worse than them. Our pitching depth sucks.

 

It is going to be extremely difficult to fill out the 2020 roster with decent players from the 20-40 slots.

 

We used 26 pitchers this year. Johnson is a hell of a lot better than many of those 26.

 

Look, I don't think we reset next year. I think we should, but I'm pretty sure we won't. That being said, if you guys think Henry is going to okay a massive spending winter to replace guys like Johnson, Velazquez, Hembree, Brewer, and others, I think a rude awakening awaits you.

 

I'm no Johnson fan. I've suggested trading him dozens of time. I agree he has no serious upside, but he has shown he can do okay as a starter. He has a 4.04 ERA as a starter over the past 2 seasons. That's not someone you just DFA., especially when we have a rotation that looked so horrible this season.

 

I have more faith in DHern, but he is a huge question mark. He has way more upside than Johnson, but Johnson's floor is higher, and there's plenty of room for both on the 2020 roster.

 

Assuming Porcello does not return, and we use 20+ pitchers next year, can you name 20 guys who are more likely to do better than Johnson next year? (If you do, what about 25 pitchers- the amount we used this year, not counting Nunez.)

 

9 Clearly better than Johnson:

Sale, Price, ERod, Eovaldi

Workman, Barnes, Walden, Hembree, Taylor

 

5 Maybe better:

Brewer, Wright, Lakins, Brasier, DHern

 

6 Maybe worse:

Weber, Velazquez, Shawaryn, DReyes, THouck, Feltman

 

5 Clearly worse:

JSmith, Poyner, ERamirez, TKelley, KHart

 

Even if you think all the pitchers in the "maybe worse" list are better than Johnson, we would likely need 21 pitchers, and Johnson would be #21.

 

You don't DFA guys like Johnson, unless and until we know we have better choices. I doubt we sign 5 pitchers this winter that are better than Johnson.

[jacksonianmarch]

If a rebuild is what happens, then you deal Betts and ERod. No point in keeping a rental in Betts and no point in keeping a guy for 2 rebuild years in ERod. Those guys should bring back a lot

[moonslav59]

If a rebuild is what happens, then you deal Betts and ERod. No point in keeping a rental in Betts and no point in keeping a guy for 2 rebuild years in ERod. Those guys should bring back a lot

 

Most rebuilds take 2 or more years. My guess is the Sox might try to do it in 1 year.

 

Remember when we traded AGon, CC and Beckett. It wasn't about what we got in return: it was about clearing budget space for a quick rebuild and a ring in 2013.

 

Remember when we trade 4 our our SP'ers (Lester, Lackey, Peavy & Doubront) plus Andrew Miller? Did we trade them for far away prospects? No, we ended up getting Porcello via Cespedes, ERod, Kelly and Hembree... and a quick turn around to winning the division and a ring a few years later.

 

I could see us trading Betts and maybe re-signing him or not. If we ever decide to do that (doubtful), then we might as well trade everyone not under control for 3 or more years.

 

I doubt we go that route. I doubt we do as I suggest: reset next year and work hard to get competitive by 2021- perhaps with Betts signing with us after the budget tax is reset.

[Bellhorn04]

If Shaughnessy is right, Dombrowski is gone. Shaughnessy's pick to replace him is Eddie Romero.

 

Shaughnessy also figures LeVangie is gone.

[moonslav59]

I'm extremely thankful for the ring and 3 first place finishes in a row by DD's teams, but if we are really going to look to rebuild, I'm thinking maybe DD's time may be up.

[jung]

History does not repeat. But it does rhyme.

 

Part of the reason why I suggest this "formula" we have now would likely yield a championship caliber team every 5-7 years, about what you get if you are the KC Royals is because at least in DD's vision it requires signing big name, established star caliber starting pitchers and they want 5-7 year contracts. If you can get star caliber at times without the big name, somewhere between ages 23-28...fine. If you have to sign them to 5-7 year deals ages 28+ you are going to suck on those contracts to the bitter end and trade them paying out half their cost on the way out the door just to free yourself of them.

 

Oddly, just as much younger head Cherries left us with Fat Panda and Hanley to pay out for, DD has left us with final daggers in the heart, Sale and Nate plus Price to wrangle with and wiggle out from under. Could have managed it if he had not signed WS binkie, Nate for $17 per (too much) and then the final coup de grace, Sale at 5 and $145 (did not need to be done when it was done). It remains to be seen whether Porcello has any real future as a front line starter in MLB at this point. In his current state of upheaval with no four seam FB, his value on the market is quite limited. We won't be trying to extend him but might resign him at a bargain price. We likely keep ERod if only because he is worth more to us than he would return in trade.

 

In all likelihood, we have no choice now but to trade Mookie in the off season, possibly JBJ, possibly Chavis just to salvage a bridge to 2021. We build around X and Rafi, the only two untouchables in the entire litter.

 

So much for the superstar rotation and the killer B's plus Rafi. That window closes more because of the demise of the superstar rotation than because of any failing of the killer B's.

 

The choice for Pres of Baseball Ops of future significance will be built around the question of:

Do we bring in somebody to build back our farm and then rehire a DD type a few years later to build us to a championship run or do we find somebody that is some of each. "Come back Theo, come back. Won't you come home".

 

Whatever we do, pink hat world will struggle with it. But they don't really care as for them a visit to Fenway is a trip to the carnival and a chance to sing Sweet Caroline and do the wave, GOD HELP US! The diehard Sox fan will likely be OK with it because we now have four championships, all in this century to hold up. Good luck to the rest of you stains not the SF Giants catching up to that one in MLB as it is currently configured before we get to number 5.

[moonslav59]

History does not repeat. But it does rhyme.

 

Part of the reason why I suggest this "formula" we have now would likely yield a championship caliber team every 5-7 years, about what you get if you are the KC Royals is because at least in DD's vision it requires signing big name, established star caliber starting pitchers and they want 5-7 year contracts. If you can get star caliber at times without the big name, somewhere between ages 23-28...fine. If you have to sign them to 5-7 year deals ages 28+ you are going to suck on those contracts to the bitter end and trade them paying out half their cost on the way out the door just to free yourself of them.

 

Oddly, just as much younger head Cherries left us with Fat Panda and Hanley to pay out for, DD has left us with final daggers in the heart, Sale and Nate plus Price to wrangle with and wiggle out from under. Could have managed it if he had not signed WS binkie, Nate for $17 per (too much) and then the final coup de grace, Sale at 5 and $145 (did not need to be done when it was done). It remains to be seen whether Porcello has any real future as a front line starter in MLB at this point. In his current state of upheaval with no four seam FB, his value on the market is quite limited. We won't be trying to extend him but might resign him at a bargain price. We likely keep ERod if only because he is worth more to us than he would return in trade.

 

In all likelihood, we have no choice now but to trade Mookie in the off season, possibly JBJ, possibly Chavis just to salvage a bridge to 2021. We build around X and Rafi, the only two untouchables in the entire litter.

 

So much for the superstar rotation and the killer B's plus Rafi. That window closes more because of the demise of the superstar rotation than because of any failing of the killer B's.

 

The choice for Pres of Baseball Ops of future significance will be built around the question of:

Do we bring in somebody to build back our farm and then rehire a DD type a few years later to build us to a championship run or do we find somebody that is some of each. "Come back Theo, come back. Won't you come home".

 

Whatever we do, pink hat world will struggle with it. But they don't really care as for them a visit to Fenway is a trip to the carnival and a chance to sing Sweet Caroline and do the wave, GOD HELP US! The diehard Sox fan will likely be OK with it because we now have four championships, all in this century to hold up. Good luck to the rest of you stains not the SF Giants catching up to that one in MLB as it is currently configured before we get to number 5.

 

Why trade Chavis? He's not even arb eligible until after the rebuild should be over.

 

If the rebuild is for 2022, then look to trade everybody who is not expected to be a plus in 2022 and/or beyond. Chavis would be a keeper.

 

We could try to trade Price, Sale, Eovaldi and JD by paying significant portions of their remaining salaries and get some prospects and future budget space for FA signings, but the most likely rebuild trades would involve players who will be free agents after 2020 and 2021.

 

After 2020:

Betts

JBJ

Wright

Workman

 

After 2021

ERod

Barnes

Hembree

 

We also lose Pedey's contract after 2021 ($13.75M on luxury tax budget).

 

Price and Eovaldi's contracts end after 2022 (Beni, & Marco too.)

 

 

 

[jacksonianmarch]

If the Sox rebuild, there’s zero chance it’s a one year thing. When you dealt Lester, Miller and Lackey, you had the #1 farm system in baseball. You drafted Chavis in 2014, the following winter you signed Moncada, and the following draft, with a really high draft pick, you got Beni. You had Devers, Kopech, Betts, Vasquez, etc all in the minors. You had just graduated Bogey. Timing is everything. You dealt Lester in 2014, then sucked again in 2015 while trying to decide if the rebuild had worked. That is what led to the Dombrowski era.

 

Dombrowski has leveled your farm. Like salted earth and flames. So bad that outside of a single prospect (Casas), nobody wanted your prospects for pen help. DD said he was “good with what we have” but that really isn’t true. Teams with pen upgrades weren’t interested in s*** prospects. He’s backed into a corner and will likely retire this offseason for someone else to clean up.

 

With the contracts the way they are, the Sox aren’t going to have the financial wiggle room to add money. With the farm the way it is, you’re going to have to hope for shrewd cheap signings or deals if you’re to stay relevant in 2020. You’ll also have to hope for some rebounds from aging or diminished veterans.

 

If you go the rebuild route, the assets you have to trade come with enormous price tags, questionable performance or both. Betts is on the price tag side. He’s likely to see a near $30 mil price for his final arb season and has said he has no interest in extending before FA. That price tag and the single year of control will limit his return, but you still should get a young big leaguer or a single top 100 prospect. ERod has pitched to his peripherals for two consecutive years. This is the first year he’s neared a 6IP per start season even though his production tailed off this year compared to last. A change of scenery from the ALE and two years of arb control would probably make ERod your most tradeable asset. Another player likely to bring a return but only if the Sox eat money is JD. The guy can swing it for sure, but now a back issue has crept in. He’s not cheap and is likely not going to opt out. You’ll get some useful prospects for him, but likely guys far enough away or with a lowered ceiling to not be top 100 worthy off the rip. I don’t think you get anything for a year of JBJ. He’s gonna be non tendered IMO. Then there’s Beni. If there’s a rebuild, Beni is likely gonna go too. He’s a corner OFer with what will likely be a second consecutive 3+ WAR season. His offense is good. His defense is league average. What will limit Beni’s return will be his rising K rate, falling BB rate and ridiculous .360 BABIP. That being said, he’s got 3 arb years ahead which will increase his value and his return would be good. Workman is another guy who could return some value. He’s outpitched his peripherals yet has the single deadliest pitch in baseball. His OPSa vs the curve is lower than Bradley’s OPS in April of this year. Crazy good. He could return someone

 

Outside of these guys, anyone else you deal would be salary dumps or smaller deals of limited consequence. You’ll still be left with an enormously expensive club full of underachieving former stars. It will take 3 years for a big chunk of these contracts to go away and 6 more years for them all to expire (Xander is the longest controllable Red Sox, although you’ll probably want to keep him). This thing ain’t gonna be a one year thing. It’s going to be 3 years at least. Welcome to the cliff, DD pushed you off it this year

Edited August 7, 2019 by jacksonianmarch

[jung]

If the Sox rebuild, there’s zero chance it’s a one year thing. When you dealt Lester, Miller and Lackey, you had the #1 farm system in baseball. You drafted Chavis in 2014, the following winter you signed Moncada, and the following draft, with a really high draft pick, you got Beni. You had Devers, Kopech, Betts, Vasquez, etc all in the minors. You had just graduated Bogey. Timing is everything. You dealt Lester in 2014, then sucked again in 2015 while trying to decide if the rebuild had worked. That is what led to the Dombrowski era.

 

Dombrowski has leveled your farm. Like salted earth and flames. So bad that outside of a single prospect (Casas), nobody wanted your prospects for pen help. DD said he was “good with what we have” but that really isn’t true. Teams with pen upgrades weren’t interested in s*** prospects. He’s backed into a corner and will likely retire this offseason for someone else to clean up.

 

With the contracts the way they are, the Sox aren’t going to have the financial wiggle room to add money. With the farm the way it is, you’re going to have to hope for shrewd cheap signings or deals if you’re to stay relevant in 2020. You’ll also have to hope for some rebounds from aging or diminished veterans.

 

If you go the rebuild route, the assets you have to trade come with enormous price tags, questionable performance or both. Betts is on the price tag side. He’s likely to see a near $30 mil price for his final arb season and has said he has no interest in extending before FA. That price tag and the single year of control will limit his return, but you still should get a young big leaguer or a single top 100 prospect. ERod has pitched to his peripherals for two consecutive years. This is the first year he’s neared a 6IP per start season even though his production tailed off this year compared to last. A change of scenery from the ALE and two years of arb control would probably make ERod your most tradeable asset. Another player likely to bring a return but only if the Sox eat money is JD. The guy can swing it for sure, but now a back issue has crept in. He’s not cheap and is likely not going to opt out. You’ll get some useful prospects for him, but likely guys far enough away or with a lowered ceiling to not be top 100 worthy off the rip. I don’t think you get anything for a year of JBJ. He’s gonna be non tendered IMO. Then there’s Beni. If there’s a rebuild, Beni is likely gonna go too. He’s a corner OFer with what will likely be a second consecutive 3+ WAR season. His offense is good. His defense is league average. What will limit Beni’s return will be his rising K rate, falling BB rate and ridiculous .360 BABIP. That being said, he’s got 3 arb years ahead which will increase his value and his return would be good. Workman is another guy who could return some value. He’s outpitched his peripherals yet has the single deadliest pitch in baseball. His OPSa vs the curve is lower than Bradley’s OPS in April of this year. Crazy good. He could return someone

 

Outside of these guys, anyone else you deal would be salary dumps or smaller deals of limited consequence. You’ll still be left with an enormously expensive club full of underachieving former stars. It will take 3 years for a big chunk of these contracts to go away and 6 more years for them all to expire (Xander is the longest controllable Red Sox, although you’ll probably want to keep him). This thing ain’t gonna be a one year thing. It’s going to be 3 years at least. Welcome to the cliff, DD pushed you off it this year

 

But we have 4, 21st century WS wins, the last in 2018. There will be no more dynasties in this version of MLB. So we are all in the same boat. Welcome to the railing. Just make sure to keep your head on the other side of it while you barf.

[Bellhorn04]

The choice for Pres of Baseball Ops of future significance will be built around the question of:

Do we bring in somebody to build back our farm and then rehire a DD type a few years later to build us to a championship run or do we find somebody that is some of each. "Come back Theo, come back. Won't you come home".

 

It remains to be seen if even Theo is capable of sustaining his success with the Cubs. He's got some roster & contract issues of his own to deal with.

[jacksonianmarch]

But we have 4, 21st century WS wins, the last in 2018. There will be no more dynasties in this version of MLB. So we are all in the same boat. Welcome to the railing. Just make sure to keep your head on the other side of it while you barf.

 

There are no dynasties? The Dodgers are favorites to go to their third straight WS. The Astros are favorites to win their second title in 3 years. The Giants won 3 titles in 5 years. It’s not that there are no dynasties. They are very rare. You need to keep a solid and deep farm while having a very strong big league club. Long standing great play only occurs when you start with great talent and are able to replace that talent with cheap talent from within.

[Bellhorn04]

The Yankees, meanwhile, are pulling miracle performers out of the air. Urshela, Tauchman, Maybin. What the hell...these guys are insanely outhitting what their histories would suggest.

[jacksonianmarch]

The Yankees, meanwhile, are pulling miracle performers out of the air. Urshela, Tauchman, Maybin. What the hell...these guys are insanely outhitting what their histories would suggest.

 

Urshela is hitting a little better than he did in the minors, but I doubt Cashman saw his big league performance and thought All star. It turns out the Yankees AAA hitting instructor helped his swing and reverted it back to what he did in the minors. Maybin is a total luck job there. No way Cashman saw his performance the last couple years and said, hey, he’s gonna hit .300 in a reserve role. Tauchman was different. He was a hitter first, then developed power and had very good exit velocities in the minors but was buried. Cashman loves exit velocities. He got Voit the same way. Tauchman and Voit were extracted for this very purpose. Cashman anticipated they could play well in the bigs and he was right. Urshela and Maybin are sheer luck

 

If only Cashman has a magic formula for pitchers

[kenmeister]

If we do trade Betts, is there a cheap free agent outfielder we can pick up to replace him?

[Bellhorn04]

There are no dynasties? The Dodgers are favorites to go to their third straight WS.

 

True. But you know what fans and media are like. The Atlanta Braves of the 90's have come to be known as a team that dominated the regular season but only came away with one title.

 

The Dodgers haven't won it all since 1988. If they don't start having some parades they'll be put in the same category as those Braves teams - or those Buffalo Bills teams perhaps.

[jung]

There are no dynasties? The Dodgers are favorites to go to their third straight WS. The Astros are favorites to win their second title in 3 years. The Giants won 3 titles in 5 years. It’s not that there are no dynasties. They are very rare. You need to keep a solid and deep farm while having a very strong big league club. Long standing great play only occurs when you start with great talent and are able to replace that talent with cheap talent from within.

 

Closest thing to a dynasty in this century to date is the Boston Red Sox and we are not a dynasty. If two WS wins in three years now counts as a dynasty that is a new definition of dynasty. Dodgers have not won it even once in their run. Houston has won it once. They have a very good shot at winning it twice in three years. Nice but not a dynasty. Closest thing to the Sox are the Giants and they were not a dynasty either. I don't even thing the Giants could repeat their run as the new financial restrictions have kicked in. You have to at least be able to repeat WS win during your run to make the grade as a dynasty. Nobody has even had a repeat WS win in decades.

 

Division wins don't count when considering dynasties either. They are just markers in the road to a possible WS win, nothing more. Nice to have, but not indicative of a dynasty.

 

We are all in the same boat. Just make sure to hang your head over the railing before you barf.

[jacksonianmarch]

We aren’t barfing this year. We’re just as good as any team. The depth of the Yanks is insane and outside of Andujar (for now) all of our injured players are expected back. We’re ready to give Houston a run for their money in the AL.

[kenmeister]

True. But you know what fans and media are like. The Atlanta Braves of the 90's have come to be known as a team that dominated the regular season but only came away with one title.

 

The Dodgers haven't won it all since 1988. If they don't start having some parades they'll be put in the same category as those Braves teams - or those Buffalo Bills teams perhaps.

 

I was just thinking that if the Sox had been trying to stay strong going forwards, they wouldn't have traded Beeks for Eovaldi. But I doubt they win it all without Eovaldi last year.

[Slasher9]

The cliff is real.

[cp176]

The cliff is real.

 

Cliff Claven maybe

[Bellhorn04]

I was just thinking that if the Sox had been trying to stay strong going forwards, they wouldn't have traded Beeks for Eovaldi. But I doubt they win it all without Eovaldi last year.

 

For the most part, the guys DD has traded away are not what you would call losses that are haunting us. Beeks has a nice W-L and ERA with the Rays but his peripheral numbers are not impressive. Ty Buttrey looked like a possible significant loss but he's been struggling recently.

[Bellhorn04]

Cliff Claven maybe

 

You have a good attitude. I mean that as a sincere compliment.

[cp176]

You have a good attitude. I mean that as a sincere compliment.

 

ty - gotta keep on movin on my friend.

[jung]

The cliff is real.

 

And the cliff is reality as it relates to the laughable notion of a 21st century dynasty:

- the financial structure of the MLB

- including the MLBPA which is really the "team" the players play for now. Don't think we will see an MLBPA on a WS trophy but the reality is that is their TEAM now

- the travel schedule which is now brutal and getting worse. Thank you MLB.

- MLB's head in the sand attitude toward the travel schedule and the related unrealistic attitude toward the use of some PED's under the direction of a physician

- the team crushing or at least dynasty crushing attitude toward pitching approach which is making it impossible to keep pitchers healthy and pitching for very long while paying them millions of $$$$. God help the MLB if it tries a 2 team expansion as half the pitchers filling MLB unis don't belong there now. Where they get another 40-50 from, I have no idea.

 

If any franchise manages a real dynastic run including a back to back WS win somewhere along the way, I will be mightily surprised.

[moonslav59]

If the Sox rebuild, there’s zero chance it’s a one year thing. When you dealt Lester, Miller and Lackey, you had the #1 farm system in baseball. You drafted Chavis in 2014, the following winter you signed Moncada, and the following draft, with a really high draft pick, you got Beni. You had Devers, Kopech, Betts, Vasquez, etc all in the minors. You had just graduated Bogey. Timing is everything. You dealt Lester in 2014, then sucked again in 2015 while trying to decide if the rebuild had worked. That is what led to the Dombrowski era.

 

Dombrowski has leveled your farm. Like salted earth and flames. So bad that outside of a single prospect (Casas), nobody wanted your prospects for pen help. DD said he was “good with what we have” but that really isn’t true. Teams with pen upgrades weren’t interested in s*** prospects. He’s backed into a corner and will likely retire this offseason for someone else to clean up.

 

With the contracts the way they are, the Sox aren’t going to have the financial wiggle room to add money. With the farm the way it is, you’re going to have to hope for shrewd cheap signings or deals if you’re to stay relevant in 2020. You’ll also have to hope for some rebounds from aging or diminished veterans.

 

If you go the rebuild route, the assets you have to trade come with enormous price tags, questionable performance or both. Betts is on the price tag side. He’s likely to see a near $30 mil price for his final arb season and has said he has no interest in extending before FA. That price tag and the single year of control will limit his return, but you still should get a young big leaguer or a single top 100 prospect. ERod has pitched to his peripherals for two consecutive years. This is the first year he’s neared a 6IP per start season even though his production tailed off this year compared to last. A change of scenery from the ALE and two years of arb control would probably make ERod your most tradeable asset. Another player likely to bring a return but only if the Sox eat money is JD. The guy can swing it for sure, but now a back issue has crept in. He’s not cheap and is likely not going to opt out. You’ll get some useful prospects for him, but likely guys far enough away or with a lowered ceiling to not be top 100 worthy off the rip. I don’t think you get anything for a year of JBJ. He’s gonna be non tendered IMO. Then there’s Beni. If there’s a rebuild, Beni is likely gonna go too. He’s a corner OFer with what will likely be a second consecutive 3+ WAR season. His offense is good. His defense is league average. What will limit Beni’s return will be his rising K rate, falling BB rate and ridiculous .360 BABIP. That being said, he’s got 3 arb years ahead which will increase his value and his return would be good. Workman is another guy who could return some value. He’s outpitched his peripherals yet has the single deadliest pitch in baseball. His OPSa vs the curve is lower than Bradley’s OPS in April of this year. Crazy good. He could return someone

 

Outside of these guys, anyone else you deal would be salary dumps or smaller deals of limited consequence. You’ll still be left with an enormously expensive club full of underachieving former stars. It will take 3 years for a big chunk of these contracts to go away and 6 more years for them all to expire (Xander is the longest controllable Red Sox, although you’ll probably want to keep him). This thing ain’t gonna be a one year thing. It’s going to be 3 years at least. Welcome to the cliff, DD pushed you off it this year

 

We have a nice core of players to build around, especially if Sale, Price & Eovaldi give us something after the year off to rebuild. That is not impossible, given than none will be older than 34 or 35.

 

Betts (if re-signed)

Bogey

Devers

Beni

Vaz

ERod

Chavis

Maybe DHern, Chatham, Dalbec...

 

Add some serious FA signings, and I think 1 year is possible. Likely? Maybe not, but possible, yes.

[moonslav59]

Cliff Claven maybe

 

He was make believe.

 

[moonslav59]

And the cliff is reality as it relates to the laughable notion of a 21st century dynasty:

- the financial structure of the MLB

- including the MLBPA which is really the "team" the players play for now. Don't think we will see an MLBPA on a WS trophy but the reality is that is their TEAM now

- the travel schedule which is now brutal and getting worse. Thank you MLB.

- MLB's head in the sand attitude toward the travel schedule and the related unrealistic attitude toward the use of some PED's under the direction of a physician

- the team crushing or at least dynasty crushing attitude toward pitching approach which is making it impossible to keep pitchers healthy and pitching for very long while paying them millions of $$$$. God help the MLB if it tries a 2 team expansion as half the pitchers filling MLB unis don't belong there now. Where they get another 40-50 from, I have no idea.

 

If any franchise manages a real dynastic run including a back to back WS win somewhere along the way, I will be mightily surprised.

 

Good points, but the travel schedule is easier than ever. We have more days off than ever, plus an extended All Star break. Very few DH'ers and flight times are faster than ever.

[jung]

Good points, but the travel schedule is easier than ever. We have more days off than ever, plus an extended All Star break. Very few DH'ers and flight times are faster than ever.

 

As someone who logged massive miles during a career, I can say from experience that travel days are not off days and they certainly are not rest days no matter how comfy the seat. Plus MLB sucking up travel days with regular season nonsense like trips to Europe don't help.

 

Expansion is what has made travel such a grind now. The Eastern teams never really had to travel past the Central time zone in the past. The Western teams has to make a run to Texas and a run to Seattle and that was about it. Now they all have to go everywhere and that includes stops in all of the time zones. They certainly have not provided enough off days to take that into account especially since a number of them turn out to be travel days (see my earlier comment about what a travel day represents vs an actual off or rest day).

 

It should never happen that a team has to show up at 4:00 AM as best they can do no matter what and then play a game that night just as an example.

[notin]

For the most part, the guys DD has traded away are not what you would call losses that are haunting us. Beeks has a nice W-L and ERA with the Rays but his peripheral numbers are not impressive. Ty Buttrey looked like a possible significant loss but he's been struggling recently.

 

Also Yoan Moncada is nowhere near as good as Marco Hernandez or Brock Holt....

[kenmeister]

We have a nice core of players to build around, especially if Sale, Price & Eovaldi give us something after the year off to rebuild. That is not impossible, given than none will be older than 34 or 35.

 

Betts (if re-signed)

Bogey

Devers

Beni

Vaz

ERod

Chavis

Maybe DHern, Chatham, Dalbec...

 

Add some serious FA signings, and I think 1 year is possible. Likely? Maybe not, but possible, yes.

 

I'd add Workman to that group.