moonslav59

Today, MLB.com projected the A's would pass the Royals and not have the worst record in 2023. They forgot the Royals play us.

Our last pick was Teel from college. 10 of our top 12 picks were from college. I hope you were just being sarcastic?

You need to get over this. If a HS shortstop is the best bet draft choice, I'd hope we draft 20 in a row. That's the way it should be. That's the way it is for every team for every draft.

For the same reasons you and I really like Casas, other GMs do, too. I am 100% convinced Devers would be better on D at 1B, in maybe 1 month. It's not like 1B defense is at the top of the priority list, but improving the D at 1B and 3B would be a significant plus. I'm not fine with Duvall in CF or RF. He's best in LF, which is position we are already overloaded. If we traded Duran or Dugo, then maybe...

I think having Houck, Pivetta and Crawford scheduled as your 3-4-5, is asking for trouble and a repeat of 2023. If it ends up being them due to injury, okay, but we cannot sign just one SP'er, have Bello as the #2 and go with what we got to fill in the rest. If we do, I'll be looking at 2025 on day one of 2024.

Kluber, once we struck out on Eflin.

I'm not against the idea. I do wonder about the Sox not wanting to move Casas to DH, so early in his journey. I know you are not arguing the Sox will do this but only that they should, and I'm liking the idea more and more, as I think about it.

Looking at the fWAR Leaders in 2023 Pitching, I can't help but notice all the ex-Sox pitchers and one that we apparently came close to signing (Eflin): 5.1 Wheeler 4.8 Strider 4.7 Gausman 4.6 Gray 4.0 Gallen 4.0 Eflin 12. Pablo Lopez 3.6 (no link to a trade with Sox, but listing anyway) 14. Luis Castillo 3.2 (see Lopez) 15. Nate 3.1 21. Senga 2.9 22. ERod 2.8 41. Seth Lugo 2.2 50. Wacha 2.0 Were available, recently: 31. Stroman 2.5 35. Civale 2.4 49. Walker 2.0

MVP Outlook: AL: It has to be a lock for Ohtani. He's the best hitter in the AL and a damn good pitcher, too. The race is really about who finishes second? fWAR 6.5 Ohtani + 2.3 pitching fWAR = 8.8 5.3 JRod 5.2 Robert 5.0 Whitt 4.7 Semien 4.4 Jose Ramirez 4.3 Tucker The NL race is still open, but two guys are clearly the front runners: 7.8 Betts .317 38 116 (Great D 6.7 Acuna .337 30 83 (1st timer with 30 and maybe 35 HRs and 60 and maybe 70 SBs) But... 6.9 Freeman .338 25 111 5.2 Lindor .251 24 85 4.9 Kim .277 17 76 4.6 Olsen .268 43 103 4.6 Riley .278 32 98

I wonder why GOOGLE missed it.

I can see why it's hard to imagine Bloom trading any highly regarded prospect or young player, and similar things were said about Ben, before DD took over. I'm not so sure we can assume it is a rock solid tenant of Bloom's philosophy on roster building or has just been a strategy put in place to get us to a point, where the priorities can change and so do the strategies to meet the new circumstances. I have no basis for this belief, but I think Bloom will eventually be open to making a big trade, or he may be steered into doing one from above, but the timing of such a trade would likely only happen when the organization believes at least two things are in place, and I'm not sure now is that time: 1. We have a major league roster foundation set where only 1-2 major additions are needed to open a highly competitive window of at least 2-3 years. 2. We have a farm system set up that can afford to part with a package big enough to land a top player but still remain strong enough to promise continued infusions of talent to the big club. I'm not sure we can ever get to this point, but personally, I think we are close, now. A third aspect to the 2 major points above might be that the budget is set up where there is very little deadwood, and going over the tax line is possible due to the previous season being under the tax line. (This looks okay, now.) To get a major young pitcher, I have to think it would take Casas or Mayer. Trading Bello defeats the purpose of improving the rotation. Anthony's stock is on the rise, so maybe he could be a centerpiece. I would not be for trading 2 of the 3, and that might be what a team would demand, but I'd say no to that. We aren't getting a top pitcher by trading 5 second tier prospects or young players from this list: Duran, Bleis, Houck, Yorke, Rafaela, Crawford, Perales or Wikelman. Here are the values given by BTV: 59 Mayer 47 Casas 41 Anthony 40 Devers 39 Bello 29 Bleis 27 Houck 25 Duran 19 Yorker (perhaps over-valued) 17 Crawford 13 Yoshida (likely over-valued) 10 Verdugo 7 Screiber 6 Rafaela (likely underrated) 6 Wink 5 Drohan 4 Perales, Wikelman, Wong & Romero 3 Meidroth, Walter, E R-C, Abreu, Urias & Alcantara 2 Pivetta, Cespedes, Bastardo, Monegro, Mata, Murphy, Castro, Hickey, Brannon & Bonaci

I believe you. I was just wondering where you find this info, as I googled it and searched MLTRs, today.

I'd say the chances are less than a half a percent we sign Chapman and start a domino fall.

It also moves Casas to DH and keeps Yoshida in LF. Yoshida in LF might force Duran and Ref to play CF/RF more than we'd like to see happen.

I know a lot of people will hate this idea, and I am extremely hesitant to trade such a promising hitter, but if we sign Chapman and move Devers to 1B and Yoshida to DH, thereby improving 3 positions on defense, we could make Casas the centerpoint to a trade that brings us a top young pitcher with several years of team control. I got no names, but Casas has a lot of value. Again, I'm not for trading Casas, and don't say I want to dump him, but I realize we will have to give up a lot to get a top young pitcher in return. Duran or Dugo won't get us one. Rafaela plus Yorke won't get us one.

MVP says Walter. I think you get one pitcher and one everyday player to add.

I always felt Dugo was a fave of Cora. I remember when he was struggling v LHPs, Cora announced there would be no platoon. I'm not sure how they get along, now, of how much Bloom might want to "rid the team" of a bad apple or feels it's all good, now.

Welcome aboard.

It would improve our D at 3B and 1B, but I doubt we make 3 moves with one signing.

If Duvall can play CF or RF better than Teoscar, I'm fine with signing him, instead. Maybe we trade for a RH'd CF/RF'er who can hit well and play average or better D.

If we add 2 SP'er, we don't need a pen singing, except for maybe a couple depth signings of guys with options remaining. SP1_____ SP2 ____ SP3 Bello SP4 Houck SP5/RP1 Pivetta SP5/RP1 Crawford (Sale on IL) RP2 Whitlock RP3 Winckowski RP5 Schreiber RP6 Joely/Bernardino RP7 Martin RP8 Jansen

Losing his and JT's bat will be bad, but we don't need to replace them with a LF'er or DH. Ideally, we can try to find offense and defense at CF, maybe RF, if Dugo is traded or 2B. Or, we take a hit on O, maybe hoping Rafaela, Abreu and Story can add some O lost, but gain more by vastly improving the rotation, instead. I hear you, though. A quick look at FAs who play CF or RF: Bellinger L T Hernandez R Conforto L Blackman L Renfroe R Kiermaier L

Where do get this info?

You are right. I did not notice Volpe had climbed up to 15th on fWAR for SSs. He should project to better than AVG . next year. That still leaves a pretty small core of avg or avg+ foundational players for 2024. A lot of slots to fill. C Trivno/Higgy 1B Rizzo 2B Torres SS Volpe 3B LeMaheu LF I K-F/ Bauers CF ______ RF Judge DH Stanton SP1 Cole SP2 Rodon SP3 Cortez SP4 Schmidt SP5 German/Brito RP Holmes, Loasiga, King, Abreu, Kahnle

I really like Duvall, but I hate how we keep stacking our team with LF/DH players. Why choose to add another LF'er? (Duvall) Add a RH'd OF'er who can play CF and or RF. (2B might be nice, too!)