jacksonianmarch

I entirely understand what you are saying. What I am saying is that the Padres wouldn't just take Betts $27 mil as evidenced by their insistence on dumping Myers on Boston. Hence, they didn't want all $27 mil, even if the player is entirely worth it. If they weren't willing to eat the one year and $27 mil of Betts' deal, then why would they then be willing to add $31 more mil on top of that to dump the same contract? Do you see what I am saying here?

So the Yanks are now painted into a corner with Happ and that makes it all the more likely that they end up above the final threshold and will move their pick back 10 slots. It's not like they do s*** with their first rounders anyway! My bet is they keep Happ to midseason. If he is good, move him to a place that will want him for 2021. If he sucks, he may get cut once the cavalry arrives. If he is in the middle, he will hang in there likely as a long reliever.

No, what I am saying is that they were insisting on Myers going back to Boston in any deal for Betts, ie they don't have the funds to just willy nilly add $27 mil for Betts to the roster. How, then, are they going to add $58 mil to the roster and subtract the same salary?

So if Graterol goes to the Dodgers, who would you want from the Dodgers to come with Verdugo for Betts?

Wouldn't surprise me if the sox and Erod signed a 2 yr deal and got some cost certainty for next season

Mookie is beyond that point Kimmi. Benintendi got a nice signing bonus, but not he is set to make his first big contract. $10 mil sets him up for life when you add in his $3+ mil signing bonus. Betts is already set for life. With his 3 arb years, he will make $57 mil over the 3 seasons. If he shatters his leg on the field, then he has more money than he probably could have dreamed of. He is content to wait and he has the money to be patient for

The Padres are insistent on the Sox taking Myers in a Betts trade. How are they then going to take on Price's contract? That isn't happening.

Rumor has it the Twins are back in play with Graterol going to LA and the Dodgers sending a prospect to the sox

That's the rub. Oppenheimer always hits in the mid rounds with at least one pitcher, someone who either makes the bigs or gets enough pub to be shipped off for something useful. Seems to happen yearly. But his misses in the first and second round are just abhorrent. It seems he always tries to get the character guy rather than the guy with the best tools. I have heard "the sum is greater than his parts" line too many times to believe it anymore. Seigler was said to be this defensive whiz who's offensive potential is better than those scouting and his character "is off the charts!". I don't give a rat's ass about that. I don't need a bunch of first round pick busts who end up coaching. I can take the injured pitchers in the first round. Hensley, fine, his arm exploded when we got him. That happens. But the drafting of Culver, Seigler, Holder and now Volpe really makes me nauseated. Stop with these glue guys who's floor and ceiling is as the 26th man.

And getting Maeda plus Verdugo is EXACTLY the kind of deal that the Rays would make. They made far more using veterans and then dealing them, almost like a pyramid scheme. I think the Delmon Young tree is still going. The Rays have made a living dealing stars or core veterans for either aged out rookies or MLB ready prospects plus a veteran. The veteran they get, they utilize them well and deal them off after bumping their value in TB. Happens every time. Maybe Bloom can develop a Mookie Betts tree like Friedman did and Bloom continued with the Delmon Young tree. And that tree saw Young go for Garza. Garza go for Archer. Archer go for Meadows and Glasnow. They got a bunch of other minor contributors along the way, but they’re masters at continuing to get extra value

I thought Beni would get $4-$5 mil for 2020 alone. With second year jumps and a good season, I thought Beni was in line for a $7-$8 mil or better 2021. He definitely took the guarantee over the risk.

Fans get romantic about players and the names on the back of the jersey. Mookie being dealt, no matter the free agent outcome, will make the Sox better in the long run. It’s all about the name on the front. Listen, if Bloom went out and signed MadBum and Ryu to bolster the rotation and got Will Smith to close and bolster the pen, then you gotta ride with Mookie and see this one out. But they didn’t. You make your bed and you lie in it. Financial restraint is the reason why the Sox are better off getting something for Mookie now rather than getting nothing for him later. And heck, you can get a lot for a one year rental, especially when the team dealing for the rental is desperate (Cubs with Chapman and giving us Gleyber). The Dodgers have to win a title in this window. They know that. Hence why they’re willing to give up 5 yrs of Verdugo for 1 of Betts. Now, the Dodgers are in a bind and they look real bad here with the Angels being pissed at them too. So be it. Bloom has an opportunity now to make this deal AND make the team better for 2020. You know Maeda and Verdugo is the price the Dodgers would pay plus half the deal. Either push them to take a little more money or just take Verdugo and Maeda and go from there. Maeda is a solid, mid rotation pitcher. He jumps into the rotation after ERod and gives you a semblance of a rotation in the wake of this deal. Then you have Maeda under contract for a few years. You know he can be dealt for a top 100 prospect. If 2020 goes off the rails, put him up for auction at the deadline and you might find someone even more desperate, willing to give you something more

Because most teams don’t have a spare $27 mil lying around

That’s a great deal for the Sox.

And 3 of those starters have significant injury, production or both concerns

The negatives for the Yanks aren’t really there. We have depth. We have power. We have lefties, righties, kids, veterans, pretty much everything. In terms of the Sox, it’s hard to be positive about a rotation that is led by a guy who couldn’t pitch past July the last two seasons and is coming off PRP for an elbow issue and a sudden loss of velo for a shoulder issue. The two is ERod, who was great last year. Eovaldi is a below average starter who doesn’t stay healthy as your three. Your four just plain sucks and didn’t even finish last year in a rotation. Your five is Brian Johnson, a guy who literally nobody wanted when he was DFA’d. The depth includes Neck Tat and literally nobody else. The rotation pre Price trade looked rough. Post Price trade, it looks abysmal, especially if even the Sox view Brusdar as a reliever

Lol. Enjoy being a distant third or maybe fourth this year. Cole and Sevy is the best 1-2 punch in baseball outside of Washington. Paxton isn’t dead, he will be back. German will also be back. Tanaka is a postseason ace and a good mid rotation starter in the regular season. Happ is a healthy veteran, who knows what he gives. JMont is finally healthy and throwing well with a good rookie season behind him. We have depth behind these guys. Yanks rotation will be light years ahead of the Sox. Light years. And the standings will show it.

That sounds like a sig bet to me

No accusations my friend. My retort was more tongue in cheek anyway. Putting an * on a season is pretty dumb anyway.

Perez isn’t even a 5th starter, he’s your 4th. Eovaldi hasn’t had a full healthy season in 5 years and he’s your 3. Sale hasn’t been healthy since 2017, he’s your 1.

I’d take that under advisement if we weren’t a week from ST. With a down farm system and with money to spend but nobody to buy, it seems the die is cast for 2020. 2021 is a far different story, especially if Bloom can pump and dump some bad contracts or players with a year of control left. The 2021 FA market isn’t great, but having money allows for deals for big contracts that may be more appealing

With a rotation of Sale, ERod, Eovaldi, Perez and BJ?

Let's do the same with the Sox titles. Papi and Manny failed drug tests. 2018 may not have had any drug cheats, but you gotta * that one due to sign stealing

If your replacement of an underperforming but durable pitcher is a worse performing less durable pitcher, then you’ve downgraded. In terms of Happ, let’s look at his season. He was incredibly affected by the rocket ball. 1.9HR/9IP. That’s 0.71HR/9IP higher than his average. Also, his velo was down early and rebounded late. He battled biceps tendinitis as well, which makes me wonder if he was battling arm soreness all season. He was absolutely dominant in September and was flashing 93-94 mph heat, which was never his MO. Here is what we know about Happ 2.0 (15-19). Durable guy, reasonable K rate, good walk rate, average HR rate up to last year. If he replicates 2019, we will likely be fine as he won’t be in the rotation beyond June 1 but he would be just good enough for our offense and pen to bail him out. If he replicated 2018, then we are in a good type of pickle. He’s pitching like a borderline ace, but we should want to offload his contract. Anywhere in between and we take it through June and deal him. The big question is, does he get worse than 2019. Certainly possible as he is old, so you wait and see. The reason why the Paxton injury isn’t entirely destructive is that Paxton isn’t expected to be the ace. Out of ST last year, Paxton was expected to be the ace with Sevy down. Now, Sevy is healthy and we have Cole. Happ stays in the rotation. Montgomery, who has shown success in a season plus, has an inside track to a rotation spot. We can patch a fifth spot together with Cessa and Loaisiga if we must. We also have a healthy Michael King ready to help. Deivi Garcia got to AAA last year. Our most well rounded pitching prospect reached AA last year in Schmidt. We have the guys capable of making filling in. And one must remember that German and Paxton are expected back at the same time. German would have won 20 last year if he could be a decent human. Paxton was lights out second half last year.

She also made some pro-Nazi comments