jacksonianmarch

Sox also got Raynel Espinal from the Yanks in the AAA portion of the Rule V. Throws absolute gas, 100+.

Exactly. That’s the rub here

You conveniently forgot Ellsbury, too. That is the reason why this spending spree can be supplemented with our farm. We will need to re-up Lemahieu or be willing to move on from him, which I bet we aren't willing to do. Paxton is gonna go to market, bet on that. He will have a QO attached, but whatever. Tanaka might be willing to sign on for less than what he is making now, probably considerably less unless he puts up an ace type season in 2020. But having Cole at the top of this rotation allows us to take some risks with the back end of the rotation. Let's say Paxton and Tanaka move on, the Yanks would have a hell of a top 2 in Cole and Severino. German would probably be the #3 as his admin suspension isn't going to be into 2021 (likely to be something like the first 15 games of 2020 since he missed so much at the back end of 2019). 2020 would give us the opportunity to see if Montgomery is healthy. If he is, he is a fine #4/5 starter. It would give us a year to groom a #4/5 starter at the back end. Will we be as dangerous, probably not, but still, a playoff rotation that goes Cole-Sevy-German-??(maybe JMont) is still better than what we had this past year. The contracts coming off would be Ellsbury, Tanaka, Gardner, Happ, Paxton, Lemahieu. That's $97.8 mil. By 2021, the only guy we would absolutely need is Lemahieu. Assume he signs on around the $20 mil mark in AAV, then that will allow for $77.8 mil of new money. Some of that will go to arb costs (Judge, Sanchez, Montgomery for year 2, German, Torres, Andujar, Voit for year 1 of arb) but as none of these are final year tallies, my bet is we only see about $30 mil in increases, which might actually see us fall below the lux tax limit. If that doesn't really matter to Steiny and he wants to win, that's another $40 mil or so we could use to bolster the back end of the rotation

Romine to the Tigers, 1 yr $4.1 mil. This clearly puts Higashioka in as the backup. I liked Romine a lot, but I understand the reticence to put $4 mil towards a guy with a near mirror image skill set to Higashioka. Maybe Romine is a bit better at putting the ball in play and Higa a bit better with the power, but that is about it

Yeah, he got a pretty sweet deal. He also got a $2 mil buyout on an option for 2021. Gardy had a hell of a season last year, no doubt, and I know they love his leadership, but I wonder why they are bringing him back in the fold when the OF is already crowded and we supposedly have a top prospect out there who is running out of options in Frazier. Gardy coming in almost confirms that Frazier is gonna move on

He is a SS from the Astros organization. He OPS'd .707 between A+ and AA as a 20 yr old with 11HR. Good contact, reasonable eye. Doesn't sound like someone who is gonna stick in the majors, though. He's really young (turned 21 in August) and only had 28 games in AA. But, he has talent, clearly. He is a switch hitter, which helps. My guess is the sox will try to work out a deal with Houston and stash the kid in AA

Yanks are in on Hader as are the Dodgers and Mets. Brewers had been in on Happ. I wonder if it’s Happ, plus plus plus that’s being discussed

You're only gonna raise ticket prices in 2020, nothing more. The sox are over the cliff. DD has left you decimated. It will take YEARS to recover while we have the shot to raise some flags, hopefully more than 1

The Mets are preparing to move someone. I wonder if Thor is available. Now they have 6 starters under contract

The $208 mil line is NOT aggregate payments. I am strictly speaking of luxury tax. It’s importance is for resetting the penalty. If the Sox are over for 2020, that’s a 50% overage for the first $20 mil. If the Sox plan on going over with Mookie’s next contract, then a 50% surcharge would be a killer. Think about it this way. If the Sox trade Mookie and get right up to the line for 2020 but don’t cross it, then the penalty resets. If they signed him to a $39.9 mil AAV contract (theoretically of course), then the Sox would be taxed 20% of the first $20 mil and 32.5% of the $19.9 mil (call it $20 mil for arguments sake). That comes out to $10.5 mil penalty. Pretty annoying clearly. But if the Sox don’t sneak under the line and sign Mookie to the same deal, the penalty for 2021 would be 50% of the first $20 mil and 62.5% of the second $20 mil. That’s a whopping $23.5 mil on a $40 mil AAV contract. That would mean that the Sox would essentially pay a surcharge to the MLB of 58.75% on a Mookie deal. That’s insane.

I know you're trolling me and it is kinda funny, but the point remains. I only went into the 6 guys who were consensus top 10'ers between the three lists.

No titles, true. 2001 we were in game 7 of the WS. Went to the WS in 2003 as well. Won the ALE 01-06. Not like we bottomed out. Only missed the playoffs in one season, and that was due to injuries to Matsui and Posada.

With how the sox have positioned themselves financially and how they've acted thus far this offseason, I would be absolutely shocked if the sox weren't under the $208 mil threshold

He had a 4+ ERA after May. sub 2 ERA the rest of the way. I don't think there will be panic in the streets

Guys, here is the deal with Bloom. He has literally no money to spend. So therefore, he isn't gonna get into the whole FA sweeps that the winter meetings has become. And with the bevy of FAs still out there, he is likely not going to make a trade now when teams can get players for just cash and maybe a 2nd round forfeiture. Once all the big FAs sign, then teams will look to the trade market. Also, once Bumgarner signs, then teams may be interested in Price. Bumgarner's projected cost is about what is left on Price's deal, but for 2 extra years. The CF market is pretty light, so I think teams right now are figuring out who fits and whether they want to go after JBJ. With the lack of true CFers on the market, timing shouldn't be an issue for JBJ. My guess is he hasn't found the right deal yet In terms of Betts, Castellanos and Ozuna are still out there. As silly as that sounds (Betts is the far superior player), both can fill the corner OF spot and produce positive WAR yet cost money and not prospects. And for both of those players, one year of Betts would be nearly the entire contract for one year of Betts For Eovaldi, there are still quality pitchers out there coming off down seasons. Heck, Porcello is generating interest. Once the guys who can be signed for far less than Eovaldi dry up, then teams will be interested. In short, Bloom clearly has more of a mandate to cut spending. This means he cannot partake yet in the offseason. Once teams' options dry up, he will be a very popular man

6 guys shared between the multiple lists

Song's steps forward will be in defense of our country, not on the ball field

Yanks had a hit or miss type season in the minors. Lots of injuries on the farm, some pretty significant jumps in the system. Not terribly enthused by the draft, yet incredibly excited for our IFA signings/signing in Dominguez. Overall, this is a really young top prospects system. I have seen the BA list, the BP list and now the scout.com list. For the most part, these guys are in all top 10's Jasson Dominguez Deivi Garcia Luis Medina Luis Gil Estevan Florial Clarke Schmidt Scout is higher on Peraza, Contreras, Nelson and Breaux than others while BP is higher on Volpe, Abreu, Duran and Alcantara. Either way, of the above consensus 6, the oldest is Schmidt who turns 24 in February yet has only thrown 114 innings in his minor league career. The rest are 22 or younger with Dominguez being 16 until February yet likely to debut stateside in 2020. The Yanks have a very young system, but the headliners are no joke. Dominguez already has a nickname ("The Martian") and is a true 5 tool talent who can switch hit. Garcia is a small framed guy who can run it up into the mid 90s yet relies on incredible deception and movement. His K rate as a newly minted 20 yr old in the upper levels of the minors is insane. Medina has been a work in progress until something clicked and he found the strike zone. He has the best pure stuff in the minor leagues, IMO. Wipeout breaking ball, biting changeup and a fastball that can hit as high as 103mph. And he turned 20 last May, so clearly still a kid. If he proves his renaissance was not a fluke, he is going to jump up lists and run through the minors like a hot knife through butter. Gil is another big stuff guy with a fastball that can touch 100. He dominated his first taste of the long season leagues and found his way to Tampa before the season ended. His command needs a little work as do his secondary pitches, but the dominant fastball is something to behold. Florial is a true 5 tool talent who had another injury plagued year with a broken wrist. Known as a toolsy player from the day he was signed, he has yet to prove he can command the zone. This might be his last year as a top prospect if he cannot prove he can stay healthy and perform. Time for him to sink or swim in AA Schmidt is #2 at scout, which says something. He was drafted in 2017 right after having TJS. Came back at the end of 2018 for a cup of coffee to prove health. He then came back and started slow, but found his pre-injury velocity and got as high as AA. His late season work was phenomenal up until he hit his 90 inning cap. He should be on a 130IP or so cap for 2020 and will likely start back in AA. He is a name to watch, though. His 2 seamer was clocked up to 97 and his 4 pitch mix is pretty devastating. He and Deivi will be vying for any crumbs on the big league level There are plenty of talents deeper in the system that are highly thought of but need a track record. It is a deep system that needs another year or two for national recognition, assuming Cash doesn't deal them all away in pursuit of #28

The problem is the Sox are on the books for a lot of money. Bloom’s plan may be to be competitive on less, but this is quite an undertaking. He’s waiting for the post big Fa signings.

Our top 10 is mostly IFA signings and right now has one guy acquired in a trade, and it wasn’t a vet for prospect deal. It was Jake Cave, who was out of options, for Luis Gil. What a f***ing steal that one was

You’re just jealous. And we beat the s*** out of the Sox without Cole. Now it’ll just be a bloodbath

Baltimore, Toronto and the destructing Sox really strike fear in everyone’s hearts, lol.

That is where you get into trouble. Desperation to keep a window open and selling long term assets for short term is where you get bitten. Cashman has been VERY reticent to do that. To this point, the deals he has been apart of are squarely in his favor. You have to know your farm system and deal off assets before they turn into pumpkins and keep the assets that are gonna be great

http://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/sites/46/2015/07/TROLL-THUMB.jpg

Stanton is going to be a near full time DH going forward. I know the Yanks want him in the OF and outside of his quad strain from rushing back for the POs, his injuries were sustained in the batter's box or in the basepaths, but the point remains. He is there for his offense. Anything he gives us on D is a plus. I do think we are gonna see a monster season from him. Our offense performed without him. He isn't the shiny new object now. If the O keeps the line moving, then his production is going to be more behind the scenes and I think he can shine. He just has to stay healthy. The big question is the opt out. He just turned 30 in November, so everyone thinks he is old. He is not. He will be freshly 31 when the champagne dries from the WS. If he comes out this year and puts up a 1.000OPS, 50HR season I am sure he will consider the opt out. If he did, though, he would be leaving 7 years and $218 mil on the table.