moonslav59

I do think GMs might have some pull, at times, even if slight, but it's hard to prove they make a substantial difference in setting budget limits.

I was like 3 years old and living out of New England. When I said "worst I've ever seen," I didn't need to include unseen players.

I wonder of "organizational philosophy" is JH or the whole group or just Brez.

The "I agree with you" part, silly!

Agreed.

I'd prefer 1 year, but options are low. We have budget space, apparently, so not losing player to trade for someone makes more sense.

Id trade Duran for Lodlo straight up. Finding a way to dump half of Yoshida has been my 2 year quest. I want Casas/Campbell/Romy to DH. Take the Masa choice away from Cora, and it might happen. (BTW, I think Cincy says no, even if we pay $24M.)

How the hell do I know? My guess is no, if we offered Breggie $165M/5 and Suarez might get $50M/2 or $70M/3. I think dumping a salary might help get JH to spend more, later. Emphasis on might. We do have some other needs, too, and might need to add salary at the deadline. One never knows with JH. I'm not pretending to know.

I didn't see Stuart, but you might have got me on Franchy. Good pull.

Just because Cora chose to not even ask Devers to play 1B does not mean my position has no merit or basis for being valid. Giving my suggestion was not meant as a prediction, and I fully understand Cora sees things differently than I do- and you too, at times, but so what? I'm not denying what Cora said and did. He did what he thought was best, and it wasn't what I would have done. That is not proof my opinion has no merit.

Exactly, and even if the Yanks have a slight edge in their #3 SP'er, it's not the end of the hypothetical series. I see Bello as better than 15 or maybe 20 other team's #3 SP. He's not a weak area on the team. Big RHB is. 3B is. Maybe another solid SP'er is (but not to replace Bello) The pen could use help.

Duran, Yoshida + $18M for Lodolo The AAV saves us about $12M (Lodolo has 1 arb left after '26) Maybe that's enough money saved to afford Suarez.

I'm fine with your opinion, and it has merit. My position as merit, too, and it does not matter if Cora agrees with it or not. I mean, it matters, because that's who counts, but in the realm of ideas, it matters not. It doesn't change the fact that thinking Devers would be better at 1B than the worst defensive 1Bman in my memory is not unreasonable. For all we know, Cora might agree Devers would likely be better on D, just as he might agree Story is better at SS than Bogey, but he has and had his own reasons for choosing not to. That does not invalidate my opinion or make it meritless. I wasn't predicting Cora would do it. I was suggesting it be done.

That must be painful for you to say... LOL! 🤣

Maybe we'd have had him with the no trade clause. I'm glad we didn't give it to him and he's with the Cubs. I pretty sure JH woulda just limited the budget for 5 years had we signed him.

Yes, probably or certainly so. Not maybe so. This all has nothing to do with my opinion having merit, just as yours does. I'm not sure why you obsess with trying to say I'm wrong on everything, even when I say word is Cora did not ask Devers to play 1B. I'm just giving my opinion on Devers probably being a better 1Bman than Casas. It's not some earth-shattering or absurd position.

We don't need to have a plus or minus opinion on something as small of a sample size as this.

But I told you I did.

I just mentioned SFG thought playing 1B made sense and he agreed to for them, not BOS.

At this point, if we added a bat like Suarez, I'd trade Duran straight up for Lodolo. Maybe force them to take Hicks at half price or Masa at 1/3rd price. CIN is not a big spender.

I said i saw the interview. I need to spell it out for you? Talk about overanalyzing.

Huh? Devers was our DH not 3Bman.

I'm not ever holding one bad game against anyone. I just remain indifferent on Bello in big games.

The weird thing about 2025 was that Bello & Gio were not our original 2 & 3. Houck and Buehler were.

I only mention Lodolo or the like, because I know CIN ha surplus SP'ers and a great need to improve their offense, plus an OF need. BTV agrees that Duran for Lodolo is an overpay. Maybe we can get a prospect or RP'er added in- maybe not. Maybe BTV overrates Duran. I'd do the trade straight up. We might need a third team, but I'd give Duran and Crawford for Ryan. BTV calls that a Sox overpay, too. There are other trade matches we may not even know about. Brez might like some pitcher I don't care for or don't even know about or think is available. I'm not high on Alcantara or Gore, and I would not give Duran for either one. Maybe we trade Campbell for Keller (3 yrs and not real cheap but not expensive either) or Singer (one year). I doubt he gets us even the one year Bubic. Pablo Lopez ahs health concerns. Luis Castillo is costly and aging. Would SEA take Campbell and Hicks for him? How about Duran and Masa? We could maybe afford Suarez by doing that one. I'm sure there are double these opportunities out there. That doesn't mean I'm confident we do one.