iortiz

Trying to use my common sense... I wouldn't waste my time with this diligence if I already knew that this offer wasn't going anywhere. I mean, did he really want to probe something to fans/FO with this joke? Sorry but we are not that stupid.

Yup, Oswalt can listen every offer. On the other hand and as I said I'm not sure what was Ben expecting from this joke offer, if true of course.

Now that Oswalt is completely discarded and Jackson as a complete mystery and unlikely to land, I'm starting to believe that Scu's money will be used to sign Ortiz (which would piss me off), otherwise I wouldn't understand this "strategic-move" (Scu).

If this 5 M + thing was true I really wouldn't have clue what Ben was expecting from this offer regardless STL had already offered 5 M by the time.

Do not discard that possibility Jung.

Great post Jung. I agree in almost all the passages of your post. Well, at this point if the name is not Floyd I really have no idea what BC is planning.

Our problem has been/could be our rotation. Thus far, we haven't addressed this issue. Last year, 3-5 didn't exist. Today 4-5 are huge question marks. Our BP is a mystery without our ace closer and with our setup up man likely moving up to the rotatation. We do not have an everyday SS. CC and Kalish are between cottons. How confident will they comeback after their surgeries? Mystery to me. They say that Youk and Buchy are 100% healthy, I want to belive that. Ross could be a great platoon/depth if Kalish come around in good shape. They say that Buchy-Bard-Aceves will be better than Lackey-Wakefield-Miller, I tend to agree, but still 4-5 are question marks/promises/huge risks (if you start with both) and how many innings will they give you combined? Those are our realities. Those question marks could play in our favor or against us. Yes, It's all about perspective. If we bring another SP, we will likely close the gap in both rotation/BP and we will likely impact our final W-L record, for how much? I do not know but probably good enough to make the POs.

We are a move away Jacko...

All teams have ?, but right now I see more question marks in our team than DET, Tex, NY, LAA and probably TB. As I said, Hopefully you are right E1.

Thanks for the advise Fred . You'll make 100 and more Fred, you'll see. This team is a move away to be a very competitive team next year, and being considered a solid/serious 1-4 in the AL. Right now, unfortunately I just do not see that, if we go like this of course. I really hope that E1 is right this time and I'm wrong.

The margin of error that we won't be able to handle is if we lose one of those three (injuries/underperform). That scenario will be the Armageddon for this team if we go like this, regardless 4-5 are already huge ?/BP is a mystery without Aceves and Bard. On the other hand, if you bring another SP, you will likely be able to balance that loss. Hell, why leave the door wide open for huge risks if you can fix it with a simple move.

This is what I'm fu#%^] talking about. Land the goddamn pitcher. :thumbsup:

Look what they have done thus far. (of course, everything can change) They Sign Ortiz 14+- Sign Ross 3 Sign Miller 1 (trying to sign a SP) 5+ BL 23+- My strategy Let Walk Miller Let walk Ortiz Keep Scu 7.5 Sign Buehrle 55/4 or plan B sign Kuroda/Oswalt 10 Plan C 20/2 Jackson (or something) Sign Ross 3 Sign Wheeler 3 Share the DH load with Lav/Aviles/Sweeney/Youk Worst case scenario 26 (Buehrle) Bets case scenario 22 (Kuroda/Jackson/Oswalt) Let's say that you go with the worst case scenario... Are you really going to risk a whole season for 3 MUSD? A 180 MUSD team is going to risk a whole season for 3 MUSD? Is JH going to put in risk a sold out/sponsors/etc for 3 MUSD? ***The only reason/justification could be stay under the cap, fine... but if we are/will end over the cap anyway, for God's Sake, 3 MUSD shouldn't be the show stopper. I'm not saying that it is easy, but we have thoughts as well and we all here have great ideas too..... in the end it is only my opinion...but this scenario is very affordable and could give u more chances to compete next season. IMO

You have to minimize the risk early. Now. Going like this, you leave the door wide open. Buchy has not pitched in a year or something. Lester and Beckett are prone to injuries. Bard and Aceves are a huge question marks... some say, another option is wait till LTD. Why wait untill LTD? Minimize the risk now!, win more games now!... Be proactive, no reactionary, regardless who knows what is going to be available by then...

That's exactly the problem, last 3 years we haven't shown that (healthy rotation), hence we need another SP. As I said, we have to learn from the past, otherwise we will walk in a very thin line.

Yup. Going like this, we will likely be an unbalanced team again. A solid offense and huge question marks in pitching. IMO.

I do not share this. With this perspective, you reduce your possibilities. You need to monitor other divisions as well, look.. 1. Current Division scenario. You need to beat NY and TB and who knows? TOR could be a surprise. Today, I see NY above us and TB maybe is at the same level. 2. Current WC scenario. The other oportunity would be the wild card. You will likely compete with LAA, TB and probably another unknown team. (on paper, of course) I would base my strategy in both, 1. try to win the division (unlikely today) and as plan B win the WC (likely). Once in the PO, you never know.

I've been saying that we are a 5-6 team in the AL right now. On the other hand if we bring the SP, I see our team ending (3-4). I've been saying that the AL next year will be very competitive and even 1-3 wins could make the difference between go/no-go to the POs, and this SP could give us that kind of improvement (1-3). Going like this, we almost do not have margin of error. If one of our 1-3 hurts/underperform we will be in serious trouble. But again, that is only how I see the things, hopefully I'm wrong.

Yup, one thing is on paper and another thing is what is going to happen in reality, nobody is disputing the opposite. I do not find out my argument weak.

So?