Hitch

This seems to be the Sox's strategy. If we believe they do actually want him.

He's not in a bidding war. There seem to be some teams tentatively interested. I'm saying I find it hard to believe that there are teams wiling to beat that figure (which he would know by now), and therefor find it hard to believe that exact deal is still on the table. Especially as the Astros have made other moves.

Possibly, but as pointed out by Moon, not a full salary dump. I'm having a hard time believing that the Bregman offer from Houston is really still on the table. Despite Dana Brown's comments, and reports that the six-year, $156 million offer is still there, I find it hard to believe Bregman wouldn't sign that today if it was. He doesn't seem to have a huge market and I'd be very surprised if he can top that.

Fair points. I understand that there is a level of secrecy with these things al the time, and not tipping your hat, but being a but more straight up about things would quash a lot of the frenzy people get themselves into, ready clickbait articles that make it appear like the club are in on, and missing out on, everyone. But then, maybe they just don't care about things. There's possibly a difficulty in being open about things, if as suggested, Cora and Breslow come down on different sides of the Bregman debate.

Seen a few mentions of trading Casas for Vientos of the Mets. Vientos is a right handed 3rd baseman who's just come off a breakout season. Has decent defence with room to grow. Seen as possibly a 1st basement long term. One more year of control than Casas.. Intriguing, but I think it would somehow annoy both fan bases. Would also take out the Mets from the Vlad bidding you'd imagine

A little off topic - If we don't sign Bregman I'm fine with that. We have the best prospects in the game almost ready - I want to see them play over Bregman, especially over the idiotic idea of playing him at 2nd. I don't want us to spend money just to say we've spent it. But one of the biggest reasons there's anger about the organisation comes from Kennedy and his tendency to speak out of both sides of his mouth, simultaneously saying nothing and overpromising. It's a hell of a talent. How much better would the atmosphere be if management were more honest in the way Cohen has just been. This followed chants from the crowd to sign Alonso, and ended with a round of applause. “We made a significant offer to Pete,” Cohen said. “He’s entitled to explore his market. That’s what he is doing. Personally, this has been an exhausting conversation and negotiation. I mean, Soto was tough — this is worse. “A lot of it is, we made a significant offer … I don’t like the structures that are being presented back to us. It’s highly asymmetric against us. And I feel strongly about it. I will never say no. There’s always the possibility. But the reality is we’re moving forward. And as we continue to bring in players, the reality is it becomes harder to fit Pete into what is a very expensive group of players that we already have. That’s where we are. And I am being brutally honest. “I don’t like the negotiations. I don’t like what’s been presented to us. Listen, maybe that changes. Certainly, I’ll always stay flexible. If it stays this way, I think we are going to have to get used to the fact that we may have to go forward with the existing players that we have.”

Drop in the ocean when you get an $8bn TV deal.

Amazing. You have to hand it to them. I'm both disgusted and jealous.

I'd like to firmly endorse this post.

I don't think any player can assume to get an auction similar to Soto's. But the fact it could get big is why trading prospects (which is all they are right now) for real value is sometimes the route taken. Put it this way, I doubt he says no to 430/450 now. But it could easily spiral next year if teams get desperate. There's no way he knows that right now.

Nice. 👍

Which could be fun in its own way after a couple of bottles of wine.

Because we don't know what The Mets will pay, or if they will definitely bid at this point. Nobody guessed that either Shoei or Soto would get anywhere near as high as it went until the process got under way. Plus there's the possibility of serious injury occurring this year. A huge offer now is plenty enticing.

The problem with doing it this way is that you open it up to the floor and the bidding war happens again, until finally, the Mets blow everyone out of the water. If you trade and extend, you control the process. It'll still be pricey but you avoid another Sotoschism where the owners lose their mind. Again, it's not happening, but fun to think about.

The difference in potential is fairly big however. Which are often what these trades are built on. Hoping you trade up on the player ready to hit his ceiling. That said, I wouldn't have thought Jays would do it for Casas even before seeing your post above.

You're not getting Vlad for Abreu. Not even close.

This is pretty much how I feel on it as well. I'm less worried for now about the Yoshi contract as it will be off the books before either decline, but having that much money tied up in two players who are likely to decline into DH's, or at best below average 1st basemen/DH's doesn't feel particularly smart. But the thought of seeing them hit together in the middle of the order over the next 6/7 years is tantalising. That said, not to get too grim, in 6/8 years time there's no guarantee Henry will still be alive (or in charge). Who knows what the spending handcuffs will be like then.

I'm not suggesting this is even remotely possible, but if the opportunity came up to trade Casas for Vlad (and then extend hm) would you do it?

What's the parameters?

The conversation is around whether his bat is good enough to make up for how bad he is in every other facet while playing left field. It's not a discussion around whether he is good enough at DH.

And you're overplaying it. His bat does not make up for the rest of his game in which every facet is well below average. Especially on that contract.

You're doing yourself no favours by including Alvarez and Teoscar on that list. There's a reason you can forgive poor defense when players hit 30+ home runs a season and deliver 4 and 5 WAR seasons. Even Buxton with his limitation is a superior player to Yoshida. His fielding cost the Sox 12 runs - the 5th most in all of baseball. Yoshi can hit a bit. That's it. Can't field, can't throw, can't run. And as much as you'd like to divorce the conversation from the contract, unfortunately, all that needs taking into account and we are hugely overpaying for a one dimensional (and decent at best) player. All this is moot anyway, Cora is not putting him in the outfield bar an emergency, no matter the quotes coming out.

Which isn't enough of a reason to play him out there. His bat is nowhere near good enough.

From the other thread....

Yeah the Yoshida signing really was a bad one and has and is hampering us constantly. I live in hope we can move him.