jacksonianmarch

One of our catchers is definitely on the block. I think Murphy is going to get some bites from teams looking for a starter. He has the goods to start in this league and he has proven his bat can play at this level too. He has been up for 2 years now and the kid in AAA (Sanchez) has a LOT more potential. Sanchez is obviously a hot topic right now because he finished so hot in AAA and he is so young. I wouldn't mind seeing his right handed stick as an option off the bench or against lefties to spell McCann. That being said, Murphy is a lot better defensively. I definitely hold onto Judge, Bird and Severino. Judge will be in the majors at some point in 2016. Bird should be in a time share between 1b, DH, and PH. Severino might enter the season as our #2.

The problem with Ben was the message. He knew he had a good team after 2012. He brought in a manager who would hold the players accountable yet wouldn't be a nightly comment on sports radio. He brought in aging vets who had one more year to give. 2013 was a phenomenal year for him. The problem with his message was the fact that the Boston ownership (him included) went out and got cocky instead of being realistic. They should have taken 2013 and lived it up while either reinforcing the team for 2014 or rebuilding in 2014. They didn't do anything in the offseason after the WS title and that limbo extended to Lester. Lackey hated how the Lester negotiations went down and just like that, you've lost your 1 and your 2 from the title winning team and basically got crap for them. Peavy was ho hum and went out the door as well. I know there are some firesale teams out there, but has a world series winning team ever dealt off 60% of its rotation from its title winning season during the following season by the ASB? There were a lot of fans willing to look at 2015 as a bridge year. But when you go out and deal for Porcello and sign him like an ace and sign Panda and Hanley to big money deals, you basically send the message that you're back and you're ready to contend. Except, they weren't ready. The message was that the team will hit enough and the pitching will be surprisingly good. Well, the pitching was expectedly bad and the offense didn't turn it on until July. This was the issue. Had Ben or the FO basically come out and said, like Theo did in Chicago, that 2014 was a wake up call and we need to re-load, then he'd still have a job. Instead, they shot their load on garbage, sold the fans a bill of goods and ended up with a pissed off fan base. The message, the roster construction/destruction, and the win loss record are the reason for his firing. Had he not tried to win the headlines last off season and just stayed the course, he'd still have a job

Ben should take a year off. He was in Boston, a notoriously unforgiving town and basically was ridden out 2 years after being the architect of a title run. Most GM's would get a 5 yr pass. He is getting paid, he is still a big name and he will end up in someone's FO when and if he is ready. He may not receive a GM spot, but most GM's who go down in flames usually go into an org as an assistant GM and then find their way back to the top again. Ben, I think, would be a very good GM for a small market team.

Everything has an acquisition cost. Just so happens that the cost of what you need most is at a premium

In order to be worth that amount, he would need to show a combination of tools or just one special tool. He just doesn't have one special tool. He plays good defense according to UZR/150, but he also makes some boneheaded plays. He has good speed, but it hasn't translated into stolen bases. He has some power, but he wont be a 20+HR guy most likely. He has shown flashes that he can hit for average, but hasn't maintained it. A lot would have to go right for him to be worth $12 mil a season. This is why he isn't tradeable. It is certainly possible that he could do those things, but not sure he ends up doing them

sk, depends on which part of the second half you are looking at. His July was solid, but his entire second half was sub .700OPS.

I agree sk. I think the Nats are going to let Zim and Fister walk and probably be in the market for another starter.

Take the large contracts and cut them in half. That is what you pay for. You are paying for the first half of the contract and hoping to break even the last half. You don't dip into the FA market unless you think you are one guy away. Rebuilding in FA is a good way to require rebuilding again in short order. The Yankees have rebuilt via FA since 2003 and have only won one title in that time. But, if you truly think your team is one ace away, then the money spent on that contract in comparison with the revenue generated for a WS run would be far lesser and a wise investment.

Castillo is unmoveable right now. That being said, you don't want to move on from a guy who flashed potential but didn't get a lot of PT. His production is not akin to a guy with a 5 yr $60 mil contract. So dealing him would basically be paying for him to go away. Dombrowski isn't an idiot. I know people say he dealt Fielder away, but that was because Ilitch made him get Fielder and basically forced Cabrera to be out of position. He was able to take a fat and possibly career alteringly injured DH and deal him for a franchise 2b still in his prime. If the sox have to eat money to get a deal like that, then so be it, but he wont eat money and give a guy away unless he feels the player has no future in the game. I think Castillo gets one more season in Boston to show if he belongs

Sk, his growth curve offensively was striking. Defensively, he looked a little slower on the uptake and slower in getting behind blocked balls, etc. He just didn't look like a future good defensive catcher.

I watched a fair amount of sox games and I think the metrics and my eyes can see that Swihart was well behind both Vasquez and Hanigan defensively. Well behind. He appeared to be a below average defender.

Dojji, I think Seihart is absolutely available. The trend around baseball is for the C position to be defense first and maybe only. Swihart may have been touted as a good defender in the minors, but he did not show that in the bigs. He looks to be more of a hit first average to below average D guy who might see himself off position whereas Vasquez has shown that his D is above average and has the potential to be elite. Also, if a lineup is built well, you can survive with an offensive black hole at C whereas it is very hard to live with a defensive black hole at C nowadays. I don't think either gets dealt this offseason, but should the right deal come about, it makes sense. Plus, you still have a year of Hanigan who looked really good this last season as well.

Meh, the only offensive piece that looks good from my perspective is Heyward, and he's getting $200mil and costing a pick. I'd try to cash in on the pitching side and avoid the other offensive free agents. I'd go with more of the status quo than anything else. I think our kids coming up are the next wave and we need to foster that. We should be good next yr, but we wont be WS caliber until 2017. I'd rather make all moves to get ready for 17

Kicking the tires in FA will cost a lot of coin and years. We will see if Henry goes back on his word

Every rotation needs a guy like Miley at the back end. It isn't realistic to expect to be the Mets and have 4 aces. The concerns on my end involve his chemistry and his HR tendencies. The guy ended up posting a career high ERA and a higher than average WHIP while also allowing his lowest HR total since his rookie season. That is boggling to me. I would have assumed his elevated ERA would have been due to an increased precedence of the HR ball. If his HR rate returns to the prior season or higher, that ERA would hit near 5 and he'd be more or less a mess

What scares me most about your team is Dombrowski. Your team has some shiny parts but really no consistency on either end, especially since you're gonna have to figure out how to get cancer Pablo and cancer Hanley back in to the lineup or out to another club. He has a history of taking shiny parts and getting real production for them. With all the negative press Harvey is getting, my guess is he moves and I absolutely guarantee Dombrowski will be involved. Now dealing to the Mets will involve real MLB talent. They wont be a club willing to accept a minor league package, you'll have to move a big league piece for him. I have said all along that I think Betts will be a Met this offseason. I think Betts moves to NY, Harvey comes to Boston, Hanley moves to 1b, JBJ goes to CF, Rusney to LF and you go out and sign a guy like Upton or Heyward to man RF. And while Betts is truly a rising star, Harvey is a perennial CY candidate in his mid 20s.

Building a pen is easier said than done. Most FA acquisitions in the relief corps are busts. You need to target the right guys in FA AND build the right farm for it. Like I said before, the Yankees had f***ing nothing after the starters and before Mariano after Mendoza, Stanton, and Nelson lost effectiveness. Cash decided to make it a priority in the draft and it is paying off. That being said, he had to forgo higher ceiling players. But look at the drafts since 2006. 2006- Now we had Chamberlain in this draft, but he wasn't earmarked as a reliever. We drafted Betances as a HSer and he ended up relieving. McCallister ended up being a solid reliever in Cleveland, but he was a HSer. Guys who were picked as pure relievers were David Robertson and Mark Melancon, 2 current closers They didn't hit again until 2010 on pure relievers: Tommy Kahnle came out as a reliever and is now doing a good job in Colorado. Danny Burawa was a primary reliever and he made his MLB debut this yr and was claimed by Atlanta and will likely be a back end piece this yr. Chase Whitley was drafted as a pure reliever and ended up converting to the rotation, saw starts in NY last yr and this yr and is on the shelf with TJS. Preston Claiborne was a reliever drafted late who threw some good innings for us before moving on to Miami 2011 we grabbed Wetherell in the 8th round and he will be in the bigs next yr as a high velo relief arm. Mark Montgomery was a closer when drafted and if it wasn't for an arm injury, he'd have been in NY 2 yrs ago. Branden Pinder had a good year for us out of the pen, he was a reliever grabbed in the 16th round. Nick Goody was a closer at LSU when we drafted him. He made his big league debut this yr after needing TJS last season. In 2012, we grabbed a reliever in Corey Black who was converted to starter and ended up being dealt for Soriano. Garrison was a reliever drafted who made it to AA this yr. In 2013, we drafted Rumbelow in the 7th round and he made his big league debut this yr. We also grabbed Walby and a few other guys who are in the lower levels. In 2014, we took Lindgren in the second round and he made his big league debut before bone chips in his elbow ended his yr. In 2015, we took Chance Adams in the 5th round and he dominated his way up to High A after being drafted. He's a fast riser as well. There are other high velo relief arms taken but its too early to point them out Basically NY is drafting guys with solid fastballs and maybe another pitch that look to have plus potential who are relievers in school and taking them higher than they normally would be taken. They then plop them into the pen in the minors and don't attempt to stretch them out. These guys come up and have filled important roles on this team. While most of the guys above aren't lights out relievers yet, they ate enough innings out of the pen to save the arms of the higher upside guys.

Look at us man. We had quite possibly the most inconsistent hitting in the league. Gangbusters for 4 months, incredibly anemic for two. Our only stalwarts were 3-4/5 of our rotation, even with injury, and the back end of our pen. We took what really wasn't a good team and got into the playoffs even after coasting for the final 2 weeks. Pitching fixes all evils in the regular season. It is awfully rare to see a team slug its way to the post season with no pitching to speak of, but there are plenty of teams that have made the post season with anemic offenses and lights out pitching.

We had the pitching set up. We allowed 3 runs to a solid offense. Our bats never showed up. What can you do?

And the corpse is still warm, but let the autopsies of 2015 commence. This was a team that had no business making the playoffs and for once wasn't bolstered in season by trades. We were bolstered by our own farm system. We are finally getting towards the end of some unbelievable contracts and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of player development. I think this is an optimistic time to be a Yankee fan, although this loss hurts. The Astros were the better team and deserved it more. I hope they win it all

The big thing that we saw this season was a return in power. The problem with the reliance on power was our absolutely horrible capability to move runners and hit in the clutch. I couldn't be more pleased with how our team performed, especially since we performed in that fashion with guys whom I thought would run this team basically falling on their sword. We have a shot at a long playoff run, although I have no idea who our #4 is, maybe Warren?

My guess is he partied a little too hard after clinching and something occurred that is under wraps.

Seriously, now? Really? Can they rehab his fastball too?

The sox are definitely intriguing for next season, that much is for sure. Without solid pitching, they will continue to mire, though

You could have done both, that's the thing. You could have had a protected first rounder and an ace. And yes, first rounders aren't guaranteed, but when you're near the top of the first round, your hit rate is much higher. Regardless, I am pleased by this development