jacksonianmarch

They don't need to add a major leaguer. They are a full on rebuild with a lot of talent brought in via trade. They are gonna be in a protracted rebuild until they get their INTL situation figured out. Peter Angelos never believe in the INTL market, but his kids apparently do. If they invest in development, they should come back to relevancy by 2024-ish

I am finding this very, very funny. The pen was a concern at the outset. Then it was Eovaldi can close if need be. No, he is in the rotation. Oh, we are going after Robertson and Ottavino, maybe Britton. Nope. Then it was Shawn Kelley. Nope. Um, I'm ok how it is! No, you're not. There is definitely a high delta for bullpens, unless you bring in guys with swing and miss stuff AND a history of success. Redundancy is key in a pen. Nearly every season you lose a reliever to either the yips or injury. Last year for us it was Kahnle. Not sure who you guys really "lost" in the pen last year. In terms of pen guys, Barnes had some hip issue, but you had a lot of health in the pen. It helps to have the bridge and the closer role defined at the outset. It helps with the mindset of the pen and it helps add a chip to the shoulder of the guys who want to bully themselves into a role. When it is a free for all from the beginning with one good reliever (Barnes) and a bunch of guys with talent yet no track record, it becomes a mess. This is not a division that is easily won. You cannot turn wins into losses and win the division. A bad pen almost always leads to an underperforming Pythag.

Your bullpen is absolutely a weakness. You just lost nearly 3WAR of pen between Kimbrel and Kelly and have not replaced them with anything. Last year, your starters averaged 5-1/3 IP per start over 162 games (871.1IP in 162 games). You averaged needing 11 outs per 9 inning game, not counting the extra innings games. You just pulled 1 lockdown relief ace and a somewhat dependable middle relief option out of that rotation and added absolutely nothing. How on earth is that not a weakness? If Barnes goes full on Betances and cannot close (Dellin cannot close, he shits bricks), then who closes for you? The highly contact oriented recent Japanese minor leaguer Brasier? Dumpster dives are great in short stints, but find me a dumpster dive of his magnitude that stays highly effective. The answer is, not many. There are only so many Aaron Small's out there and their star burns out quick. The contingencies are nil and there is a strong chance that your pen becomes a revolving door of kids until you find the guys who can actually get the job done

He was an established closer

Find me a Dombrowski World Series or league championship team with a fresh closer at season’s start. IIRC, he has always had someone who’s closed successfully in years past

Or really, really dumb. It’s like having a tricked out Lamborghini but having your cousin Eddy fix the brakes. Cousin Eddy might know what he’s doing, or you could crash your car

Runzler has a 1.5 WHIP with the Sugar Land Skeeters. Ellington was awful in 17 and missed 18 with arm issues. They’re all low risk signings, and he’s clearly looking for the next Brasier. The question is, how many games need to be blown before he ponies up and gets someone decent?

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/02/a-closer-look-at-the-red-sox-and-the-luxury-tax.html Very well done and a good reason why the Sox have essentially stopped adding

Have had far less time this offseason than last, so I didn't put my own list together. The guy I am really interested in and one I think will be a top 100 prospect is Antonio Cabello. Played the whole year as a 17 year old and spent pretty much the whole year in America in the GCL. He showed power, speed, good defense, an eye and good contact especially for not being old enough to vote (he is a DR kid, so he couldn't anyway, but I digress).

Moon, that’s a homer post if I’ve ever seen one, wow. Yes, you subtracted Drew Pomeranz. You’re replacing Pomeranz (who ended up as the last guy in your pen) with more Brian Johnson time. Johnson is not good, so this might end up a wash You guys keep talking about Steven Wright. He had another knee surgery in November. He’s likely to start the year on the DL. He had the same surgery as pedroia. Counting him as death isn’t a great idea Pearce has never proven to be anything more than a platoon guy, and now he’s a 36 yr old platoon guy Eovaldi for a full year will help, assuming he plays the full year. He’s the man of glass with questionable yearly production. You’re expecting the guy from the playoffs. You’ll see him in spurts, but a lot of frustration will accompany him Sale and ERod are healthy? Sale wasn’t healthy to end the year with a shoulder problem. How do you know he’s going to be healthy? He missed 10 starts due to the injury and there was no post season resolution. And ERod is likely healthy, but he’s also made of glass. He’s never proven to stay healthy Nunez looked slow last year. The knee injury from 2017 clearly isn’t fixed. He didn’t have a procedure. You’ll see more of the same. Brock Holt is a very solid super sub. If he is your full year starting 2b, his effectiveness will wane Devers should be better. He’s better than his 2018 showed Your 1b platoon got way more than you could have hoped. Moreland played to his career norms. HanRam was good for a month. Pearce hit like JD for two months. Asking for more is greedy Lol, expecting improvement offensively from the C position when they’re not hitters is rosy glasses. Expecting improvement from JBJ is the same. He’s streaky. You guys got a good Price season, a great Sale 2/3 season, career type seasons from JD, Bogey, and Betts. You lost one of the best closers in baseball and a rather reliable setup man and aren’t replacing them. Actual big league depth isn’t there. Outside of Porcelli, every pitcher in your rotation has questions, three of the arm related. While I guess you could say the Sox May improve in fantasy land somewhere, chances are one of your pitchers is gonna miss the year. Your middle of the order won’t be AS devastating. You’re in the AL East. The Sox, Yanks and Rays won nearly 300 games. The yanks and rays got better. If you’re not getting better, you fall behind

The name of the game is run prevention. Over a season sample size, especially for relievers, luck plays a big factor. But when you start getting to the career inning totals that Kimbrel reached, ERA matters.

$26 mil in the final year of arbitration is a record. Betts will surpass it, but clearly the arb process is working better than the FA process for the players. They should push for earlier arbitration

Here is my take on this. Looking year to year, ERA will fluctuate. Looking over a full career, ERA is the ultimate determinant of effectiveness. The goal is not to allow runs. Those who allowed the least runs are the best guys to have pitching.

He did have Andujar 54th prior to 2018, so my apologies there, but he was touting his defense!

Law doesn't "move guys up". He's a very opinionated douche who will make all or nothing statements that sensationalize prospect following and make statements like "this guy isn't going to be a big leaguer". He is also obstinate and won't move off his initial points

You have a slight edge until the 7th inning every game

To this point your team has not improved, you've dropped. To this point the Yanks have improved a fair amount. We are coming for you

This is not recession based spending. This is colluding with the stat geeks to devalue players. I am a stat geek to some degree, so I get it, but the players have a right to be upset, albeit they can cry in their $10 mil mansions

Of course they can. If a guy goes from being a toolsy guy who you don't believe in with minimal production and then figures it out. Look at Miguel Andujar's minor league numbers. Law hated Andujar's offensive game. But other scouts, especially those that follow the Yankees had said he has the tools to be a great hitter. His 2017 was spectacular in the minors and he followed it up with an even better major league debut. But before 2017, he was middling at best.

Until they’ve proven him wrong in the big leagues

The players have already set aside a reserve fund. When an entire industry shifts their spending habits at the same time, they are either not making money or colluding. It isn't door #1...

Mayo had NY at #10 before the Paxton trade. Law has and always will be a puke. I don't pay any attention to his s*** because he sees a guy once and will take that assessment to be what the player will be forever. I remember his take on Judge wouldn't change until the ASB in 2017.

The giveaway should have been the fact that he gave that quote from the Mass General OR family waiting room. Where was he when he made today's comment? Craig Kimbrel's driveway?

You cannot graduate the guys we graduated and not drop. That being said, our pitching farm is top notch. I'd say in talent at least top 10, in volume, top 2 or 3. The prospect game is HEAVILY focuses on the position player side and for good reason. There is a reason why there's a weird acronym, TINSTAAPP. There is no such thing as a pitching prospect. Reason behind it is easy to see with Jason Groome. World of talent, cannot stay healthy. Or Rick Ankiel, worlds of talent, ten cent head. The list goes on and on, and to some degree we have seen that in the Yankee system. Adams gets hurt and loses velocity, Acevedo cannot stay healthy, Abreu misses half the season with a myriad of injuries, etc. But the fact remains that the Yankees up and down the system have more pitching talent than most everybody and I will stand by that comment. Where the Yankees have lost is clearly on the position player front. You graduate Sanchez, Judge, Torres, and Andujar and you just cannot replace those guys while being a playoff team. It just wont happen. Couple that with the deals of Solak and DTW, the injury of Florial and the lack of progress of the 2014 INTL signees and you see why the position player side has scuffled. We have a significant amount of recently added talent, but we may not see any of those guys even in long season leagues in 2019. That will ALWAYS drop you in the rankings. We can use the pitching side to get who we want. We should graduate a few of them.

Because he pretty please pinky swore he wouldn’t use steroids again