jacksonianmarch

It’s crazy that the franchise sets aside the money yet the players decide who gets it? It should be an automatic.

The Yanks claimed Parker Bridwell and designated Torreyes for assignment. Torreyes was a fan favorite who could at the very least make contact and fake it all over the infield. He’ll surface somewhere. Bridwell is a JAG who had a good 2017 and was injured for 2018.

Mariners reached out to the Yanks and Mets about taking on Cano. They’d have to take back Ellsbury plus kick in at least $20 mil total to get the deal down to $10 mil AAV

If we can upgrade the rotation further, add an arm to the pen and stabilize the infield and stay under, then fine. But it ain’t gonna happen. Also, on Stanton, I could absolutely see us move him to LA. We wouldn’t haven’t to eat much either. While he is due a lot, remember, on the books it’s $22 mil AAV, which is fine for the Dodgers

Not really true at all. Cashman is about value. He’s not afraid to deal his prospects. He’s also not afraid to hold onto them. He had an edict going into last season to get under the cap. This year, there is an expectation that we’ll jump that cap although we really don’t know what the plans are. I can definitely say he doesn’t have “Cherington disease”. Cherington did get a title out of sheer luck, but he never knew when to deal his prospects. Cash has a pretty good record of moving players who are overhyped and keeping players who end up being good. When was the last time he moved a player and they ended up being better than the return?

Mussina has a great case, as does Edgar. Halladay and Mo are shoe in's IMO. Clemens and Bonds will get closer. Schilling will get close too

The “cliff” is what DD makes of it. If he keep trying to prop this window open, it’ll be a hill with a huge bottom. If he re-sets and rebuilds, it’ll be a cliff with a shorter down phase. Here’s my prediction for what it’s worth. 2019 will be a playoff season with World Series type talent level. After 2019, the Sox will be weaker as they’ll have to pick and choose which big FAs they keep. 2020 will be a playoff year, but a clear downturn compared to 2019. 2021 will be tough to contend as all the teams that tanked are now peaking and the Sox are trying to bail water out of a leaky canoe. This is point I’d expect DD to simply retire. Dave isn’t a young buck. He’s 62 years old. By the end of 2020, he’ll be 64 with at least one title in hand. No point in sticking around for the rebuild. Henry didn’t bring him in to create a dynasty. He brought him in to win a title, and that mission has been accomplished

Nick, you’re delusional if you think Pedey leaves money on the table. Pedey signed a below market AAV deal and traded it for length. He’s earned his money. Here the deal on your monetary projections moon. Sale isn’t gonna be $28 mil plus. He’s either gonna be $34 mil plus (over Greinke’s deal) or he will be damaged goods post surgery. If he roars back in 2019, then he’s in line for a record breaking contract Bogey might not have lived up to his “potential”, but he’s been a touch below Machado in WAR since they came into the league. Bogey posted his best power and counting number season, has shaken off his defensive inefficiencies and will hit the market as a 27 yr old. He’s at least a $25+ mil AAV guy, and if he repeats 2018, he might get $30 mil +. Betts is gonna get Harper money plus two years’ worth of interest. He’s a lock for $33+ mil or so Bradley is the hardest to pin down. I’ve had him at $15 mil plus, only because he’ll be older than the above guys and his calling card is CF defense, which will wane as he crosses the 30 age mark JD, if he opts out, will get a $25+ mil AAV contract. If he repeats 2018, teams will be lining up for his bat. He just hit FA at the wrong time last year If the Sox keep all of the above, they’ll add $132 mil to the $44 mil owed Price and Pedroia. That’s $176 mil for 7 guys, 6 who can still play. By the time they’ll have to pay Betts, Beni and ERod will be well into arb and Devers will have just started. Porcello would be gone. You’d have 2 rotation holes, an entire pen, C, 1B, and 2B to account for as well as your bench spots. And that’s assuming none of the guys you’ve locked up don’t start to underachieve or get hurt. This is why cliff’s exist

November 30 will be a very interesting day for Yankee fans as that is the day one must tender arbitration offers to their arb eligible guys. The case in question is that of Didi Gregorius. Under usual circumstances, this would be a no-brainer. But with Didi recovering from TJS of his throwing elbow and very likely to miss at least a month and probably more like 2-3 of action, the projected arb cost of his final season may not be worth it. That being said, releasing Didi would give him a head start on free agency, where I think Didi's worth falls around the Elvis Andrus level plus inflation. With TJS being a major injury, I can understand the Yankees reticence. That being said, this is a very well recovered from type of injury and Didi isn't a pitcher. If he loses a touch off his fastball, it isn't that big of a deal. And if he does, the Yanks 2b can easily slide to SS and allow Didi to move to 2b. The question is, will a team be willing to have Didi be a big signing and then have him start his inaugural season on the bench due to injury? The other question is, how many teams will look at Didi as a Yankee Stadium made hitter and not be willing to live with a guy who had a near 200 point OPS drop when playing outside of Yankee Stadium?

This is why a cliff exists and to some extent, exists with all big market clubs who strike out in their farm system. This offseason, you are likely to lose Eovaldi and Kimbrel and replace them with lesser players Next offseason, you are likely to lose JD Martinez and Chris Sale (I assume you re-up Porcello and Bogey) and replace them with lesser talents. The following offseason, you will need to assign a huge amount of capital to bring back Betts Eventually the cost controlled, cheap players get expensive. Those players either get re-signed or are replaced with guys less than their talent level. If you re-sign them all, then you are far exceeding the cap and will be unable to fill your squad out with good performers beyond the high priced guys. We have yet to see a George Steinbrenner type disregard for the rules to this point. Heck, the Dodgers, who own the highest single season payroll of all time, got under and reset this past year. The sox aren't gonna exceed the $300 mil it would take to keep the band together, nor do they want to as they'll be stuck with big cash outlays for decline years. The only way you can sustain is to continue to bring up top talents through the minors. Dave has proven incapable of drafting, signing or developing those talents.

Sucks to be a Yankee fan? No, it sucked to be a Yankee fan in 2013 when it was obvious the Yanks were staring a rebuild in the face and the Sox were winning the title. This has been the target since we blew it up in 2016.

A lot of the replacements can be had after the offseason planning is complete. Here’s the deal, with Sale finishing the year looking hurt, ERod’s health issues, and David Price another year older, the Sox cannot go into 2019 with Sale, Price, Porcello, ERod, and BJ as their top 5. Another RHP, proven in the bigs and preferably of the power variety is needed. I could see the Sox trying for Morton it Eovaldi, to be totally honest. Morton lives in DE and if he leaves Houston, would prefer the east coast. He’s also a big time power pitcher and someone with a track record of kicking our asses. Think about it this way. If you didn’t have Eovaldi, there’s likely a game 5 in Boston with our playoff ace on the hill and a clearly diminished Sale. You can’t expect to get through NYY without another RHP and with the way things are breaking these days, the road to the World Series will go through Boston or NYY. And the likelihood is Toronto and Baltimore will be such steaming piles of s*** that our two teams will likely be fighting for the 1 seed and a WC berth

Nobody gives a guarantee, but every FA asks how they’ll fit into the team’s plans. Lying to the player doesn’t help them with future FA’s. Most GM’s are honest with how they fit into team plans

Walker signed on last year to start. My guess is he will be looking to recoup his value and sign on with a team that’ll offer him a starting gig. If the Sox offer him 2b, then you’ve got something. If he’s offered to be a defensive backup or part time player, you’re not gonna get him.

Merrifield was a 5 WAR player in 2018 and stole 45 bases. He’s an elite player right now, but he turns 30 in two months and doesn’t have a lot of power, and factor in the .352 BABIP and he isn’t as good as 2018 showed. He’s probably more the 2017 near 3 WAR player than last year’s version. Either way, he’s an average defender who makes good contact and steals a ton of bases. You could do worse. That being said, he’s gonna fetch a hell of a return for the Royals when he’s moved and I don’t think the Sox have the parts unless they start with chavis and then gut the rest of the farm.

Owens also had a power fastball for a bit in the minors before his velocity shriveled up. I remember reading about him in the BA top 100 topping out at 97. When he made it to the majors, he was topping out at 90-91. Big difference. Owens velocity dropmade him afraid to throw his fastball for strikes and that did him in

I have said before and I will say again, DD has not drafted well because he is drafting ceiling guys with low chances of hitting and hadn't been making the Feltman type picks that have higher probs of making the team quickly. Every draft needs to have high floor guys. DD seems to love the guys with All Star potential but a 5% chance of reaching it. A good draft has a mix of ceiling and floor guys. Especially when drafting late, using the middle rounds to nab pitchers who profile well out of the pen could really save some serious money

I think Feltman may see a cup of coffee in 2019, but he also may play his way into being a trade chip for a need at the deadline. I know a few pundits who picked him to be the first player from the draft to make the bigs, and he is looking like that might be right.

ND actually looks like a juggernaut with a defense loaded at the front lines and finally a QB who can throw an accurate pass short and a respectable deep ball. Wimbush has the speed and the arm, but his accuracy and decision making were not going to carry us to the promised land. I do not, under any circumstances, want to see Bama before the finals. If we both get there, then game on. But I would rather see if someone else can knock them off. Outside of a sleepwalk half vs the Citadel, the Tide look absolutely unbeatable, even against the best the nation has to offer. Part of me wants to see Georgia win vs Bama, but the ensuing bedlam could set up a 2 vs 3 matchup with us facing Bama in the first round which I wouldn't want to see. But it could also set up a Clemson vs Bama first round, which I would much prefer over seeing Bama first and not seeing the title game. I think we can take Georgia. Heck, we almost took them last year with Wimbush at the helm and a far inferior defensive line. But I also think Georgia is gonna get racked by Bama

If Brian Johnson is your 5th starter, we are gonna win the season series almost by default. We maul lefties and will likely get stronger if the predictions of Machado to the Bronx are true. You cannot run 4 lefties out there and expect to survive the AL East. The Yanks are coming this offseason and they are loaded for bear. Their one offensive weakness is power righties.

Getting a RHer to complement Porcello is absolutely, 100% imperative to beating the Yankees in 2019. That is especially true if we pick up Machado. Look at the following OPS's against lefties Stanton- 1.036 Voit- 1.195 Judge- .967 Andujar- .822 Torres- .912 Hicks- .801 Sanchez- .872 Heck, even Didi had a respectable L on L of .764. And if we get Machado, he OPS'd .921 against lefties. Sanchez didn't hit at all in 2018 and he still crushed lefties. The fact is, we are clearly susceptible vs righties, mostly power righties. This is why we succumbed to Eovaldi so readily last yr whether he was in TB or Boston. If the sox strike out in signing a good veteran and go to Johnson in the 5 slot, we will win the season series, and it likely wont be close

I hear you. I certainly wouldn't label Sevy a choker. He has just clearly shown wear come August. It has been a problem two years in a row and likely has to do with the fact that he was advanced a bit too quickly with his innings totals and his arm needs time to catch up. If he went through the natural progression, this upcoming year would be the 200IP season, so maybe he sheds the late season swoon?

The crazy thing is nobody gives Severino any credit. He did finish 3rd in the CY voting in 2017. He finished 10th this year. He’s one of the best pitchers in baseball. The problem is he, like Sale, fades as the season goes along. The idea that he somehow sucks is ridiculous. Paxton gives us an ace performer without an ace durability. If he’s healthy for 28-32 starts and most importantly, is entirely healthy come October, then watch out. Tanaka has performed like a #2-3 starter, but has been excellent in every game he’s pitched in the post season. The building blocks are pretty solid. CC is #5, which clearly we can do better, but I wonder if he’s just a place holder til one of the kids takes hold or JMont returns. If we add Happ or Corbin, we will have a revamped rotation and one that’s pretty LHP heavy, which fits well against Boston. Our offense should see some improvements as Sanchez is far better than it showed (turns out he was hurt and needed surgery) and big acquisitions typically show best offensively in year 2, so watch out for Stanton. Add in Machado or anyone else you want to sprinkle in and this lineup will be deadly. The pen still has the twin towers are the end with Holder and Green as the bridge, which is pretty sweet and may see internal upgrades or a FA signing. The team right now is incomplete, but come 2019, there’s a good chance we will be the favorites

Clearly we wish the prospects well. I just don’t wish them too well. Wanna win the trade and all. That being said, with the minor league pitching depth emerging and with the plans to fill our rotation and have JMont back around deadline time, we can afford to deal some big league ready pitching. The pitching in our short season up to AAA is stacked and many people use the term TINSTAAP. Sheffield is a TJS or shoulder surgery away from losing his worth, so we sold at what we thought was high. The depth in the minors is strong enough to handle some injury which is expected with pitchers. I’m intrigued to see how this unfurls

The Sox were, on the heels of a career season from Mookie and with Eovaldi and Kimbrel, who look likely to head elsewhere. We are closing the gap and if a few things break right, we might have already surpassed