jacksonianmarch

You’re an idiot, wow

I want Georgia to win, but their offense has gone backwards and now they have no Cager and their #2 is suspended for the first half vs the Tigers. I don't have much faith that they could beat the Tigers, but your desired top 4 is what I want too

His worth is likely along the $10 mil range, especially since he started to rebound at the end of the year. The intriguing thing for most teams, I would assume, is the vesting option. The Yanks would clearly not want the option to vest if we held onto him as we are likely to be adding to the top of our rotation, but a team could hope that his September is what he can replicate in season and they can control him for $17 mil for 2021 as well. My bet is the Yanks can add $7 mil to him and send him somewhere for a nothing prospect, freeing up $10 mil and the worry about the option

We have 3 years of control left. That’s fine by me. The return rate is incredibly high. This is why I told you guys a Sale TJS wouldn’t have been the worst thing.

Teams that use FA to build their team frequently have short windows and limited success. Teams that use Fa for the final piece of the puzzle on a squad that was built via trade and development are usually the most successful

That’s a good one, lol

What are you talking about? TJS is a frequent surgery, one where the pitcher frequently returns with the same or better velocity

The Orioles got 3 guys drafted in 2019 and one guy who likely will be in Baltimore at some point in 2020. They essentially got a Bundy replacement and 3 lottery tix

Yes, his K rate went up and his peripherals looked good, but I’ve seen this narrative before. I’ve seen a lefty ace lose their power and transform into a soft tossing back of the rotation guy. I’m not saying Sale isn’t going to be useful. I’m saying he’s got to stay healthy #1 which he’s been unable to do. Then he has to try to limit the hard contact. But, losing that dominant fastball is going to lend him to being homer prone. It happened with CC once he lost his fastball and it’s happening with Sale as well. Having a big homer rate is a great way to underperform your peripherals.

Montgomery was a very effective pitcher in 2018. Near 3 WAR. He’s a Pettitte style pitcher who I’d give every shot at taking the 5 spot in our rotation

Yeah, but people expecting vintage Sale are going to be sorely mistaken. Remember, the elbow issue didn’t creep in until the summer. By that point, he’d already become incredibly homer prone and had a massive drop in velocity. The last two seasons haven’t really given confidence to the idea that he can stay healthy through a whole season either since he essentially finished both seasons diminished and hurt. If Andrews handed out a guarantee that Sale was gonna pitch like 2015, then heck yeah you go for it. But he didn’t and he cannot. He had his elbow “repaired” with PrP. The only people who know the exact injury are either not allowed to talk or have steered the narrative to an unbelievable point. You don’t treat standard inflammation with PRP and essentially have a 3-4 month re evaluation. You treat a partial tear that way. And the PRP repair does lead people to return faster but also leaves guys further diminished than they were going into the procedure if it doesn’t outright fail when throwing is ramped up again. If you get 150IP and near 4ERA from Sale this year, you take it. The days of 200IP and sub 3ERA are gone. With the holes in place and the financial restrictions, a reset and tear down is needed. Bloom wasn’t just brought in to make magic happen, he was brought in to negotiate team friendly deals or make shrewd trades that work best for the Sox in the long run. I think you’ll be surprised at the direction they will go

One way to view these guys is as expiring assets. They all eventually expire in terms of productivity but you also need to manage your expiration of years of control. Getting a Nimmo for Betts is better than getting a 4th round pick after he leaves

Here’s the deal. Yes, the Yanks have serious pitching talent in their minor leagues. Yes, we have serious young talent in the big league rotation with Sevy, German and JMont. But what we need is someone to take the mantle of ace. Sevy was an ace for a couple years, but Faded when the lights got bright. Tanaka has been lights out in the POs, but unreliable in the regular season Paxton has a hell of a run late in the year, but he doesn’t stay healthy enough to be relied upon. German had a good year and great stuff but his disciplinary s*** is a wrench here. JMont isn’t the type of guy to lead a rotation We can roll with this rotation and win the East. We can, especially with our pen and our offense. Heck, maybe Paxton and Sevy put a year for the ages together and Tanaka continues to dominate in the POs. No clue. But Sevy needs some guidance, especially when the lights get bright. Paxton is oft injured and needs some babying, which isn’t ace-like. Tanaka will undoubtedly have two one month stretches during the year where he’s an auto loss. German needs to be kept away from women and small children. Montgomery is a steady Eddy kind of guy who isn’t going to dominate for long stretches. Getting a guy like Cole takes all the pressure off the guys at the top. Sevy can flourish when he isn’t looked at as the stopper. Paxton can take his twice yearly sabbatical to the IL. Tanaka can just do his thing and if he sucks for two months, so be it. It’ll allow us to retrain German to not be a piece of s*** wife beater. It’ll allow Montgomery some time to cover for Domingo while he’s undoubtedly suspended and if JMont isn’t good, then German replaces him. I do believe that if we get Cole (or Stras) we can firmly place them in the 1 spot and you will see a completely dominant Severino. Heck, Sevy might outperform Cole or Stras. But having the big contract guy from day 1 will unlock Sevy’s potential. I also think having THE GUY will also significantly help Paxton. No load on his shoulders and he’ll be entering a walk year. As a 3, he’d be dangerous. Heck, that 1-3 would be as good or better than any others in the game. But it starts at the top. Cashman has already said today that money won’t be the reason Cole gets away from NY. I expect it. It’s time. #28 is due

The Sox have no money to spend and a crappy farm system. Rule V likely brings in a player who would land in the Sox top 5 in prospects and places them on their big league roster. I do wonder if Chaim looks at the task ahead and decides to grab the best 2b, 1b, CFer, starter or reliever available and rolls with it unless something more appealing comes to pass later in the offseason.

The Sox might be in a position to get someone pretty good, though, as they’re not in the high 20-30 range. There’s usually 1-2 players who stick per year

Bloom isn’t the guy to find that 5 tool bust. He’s more the kind of guy who finds velocity that hasn’t been honed (Glasgow) it power that hasn’t been harnessed yet (Meadows).

The Rule V is a free way to try and find players who are close to major league ready. It is also a way to penalize deep systems. It is literally free

With Johnson and Hernandez now off the 40 man and Leon in Cleveland, I think the sox might be in the market for Rule V players this year

And he was re-signed

So the Sox deal a year of Betts and Dalbec for two years of Lindor and 5 years of Verdugo? That’s comedy

Big pitcher contracts aren’t always horrendous, especially the ones for top notch aces. Where you get purged are the second tier pitchers getting paid a little less than the aces. We need an ace. No question. Cole is a horse who has been pretty healthy

It could also be $6 mil more if they underestimated

The sox right now, per spotrac, are $6 mil over the lux tax limit. Dealing off Bradley for a minor leaguer will get the sox under. But what do they do for 1b, 2b, CF, SP and pen?

That is an interesting possibility. If the sox don't like the offers for Betts, do they package him with Price and say take them?

It also makes no sense from a service time perspective to start his clock in March. The sox should put him in AAA, see how he does in April and bring him up in May. If the kid becomes a rock star, it will buy you an extra year of control