moonslav59

If you're good at SS, like Kike appears to be, who wouldn't want to play there? It would also greatly improve his payday, next winter, if he has a solid year at SS.

I don't think Dugo will be traded either, but not because teams don't want him. BTW, suggesting a trade for Mateo is not saying Dugo is great. BTV has Mateo as worth about half of Dugo, and I don't see team lining up for him, either. I just want an everyday SS who can field well. If it keeps Kike in CF, IMO, we'll be a better team. That's why I bring it up, even if the odds are very low it happens.

It's 100% certain. Even if it's a sure thing Kike will play SS or 2B, there is no way we start the season with a middle IF of: On 40 Man: Kike Arroyo EValdez Dalbec (LOL) Rafaela (likely not ML ready on opening day) Hamilton (likely not ML ready on opening day) Not on 40: Niko Goodrum Christian Koss Ryan Fitzgerald If we do, I'll leapfrog Red as leader of the Bloom Basher Club.

Yes, LOL. Corrected.

Trade Duran for Madrigal and Dugo for Mateo. CF: Kike RF: Duvall SS: Mateo 2B: Madrigal

No one move or issue usually makes or breaks a season, but when a choice is still to be made, it's fair to talk about which move would better position the team for a run at the playoffs or a miracle in some fans' eyes. To me, the team is much better with Kike in CF, Duval in RF and 2 added middle IF'er. After this Duvall signing, I seriously doubt it happens, but I do think the team would be better. That's the type of thing I like to discuss. You can keep talking about rising ticket prices, how little the 40th man matters and whatever floats your boat, but many times, the culmination of many of the small moves is what ends up making or breaking a team's chances. Take last year, for example, some posters were irate over Bloom not having added depth at 1B, RF and the pen. Well, those type of moves are, many times, the 38th, 39th and 40th men on the roster added late in the winter.

We have to add a middle IF'er. 100% certainty.

I just hope when it's all said and done, Kike is in CF. To me, that is most important when deciding who to add. Right now, that would mean Duvall would be in RF, and I think That's a big plus over Dugo, especially on D. I doubt this happens, though. Kike will likely play SS or 2B, depending on our next addition. In terms of who goes to make room for Duvall and then the middle IF'er we are sure to add, I'm still holding out hope we can make some sort of 2 for 1 deal, perhaps involving Dugo and or Dalbec. My current DFA list: 1. Ort 2. Brasier (not going to happen) 3. Taylor, but only if the docs say he will not return to previous form 4. It would be Duran, if we weren't so short in depth in the OF. 5. Mills? Wink? It wasn't that long ago the players listed 3rd, 4th and 5th were not considered "keepers" to any extent. Now, I kinda like Taylor, Wink and Mills.

Overdue! I don't want Torres, though.

There might be other teams with just 2.

But since Bloom is a buffoon, maybe he wants Duran to play.

Maybe easier said than done. How many GMs value Dugo highly? How many teams really need a LF'er more than 2B or SS?

I'd rather trade Dugo for a SS or 2Bman, keep Kike in CF and play Duvall in RF.

I would rather we find a SS and 2Bman than a CF'er. Just keep Kike in CF. Getting Duval for RF makes more sense, and then trade Dugo- perhaps for a middle IF'er.

Does the cash in return reduce the CB Tax line, even if miniscule?

He's averaged about 40 HRs and 110 RBI per 650 PAs since 2019, including 38 and 113 in 2021. He also won a GG in 2021 but not in CF. He also averages about 200 Ks per 650 and has just a .287 OBP since 2019. Defense? CF just 594 innings +4 DRS +4.7 UZR/150 RF +3 DRS in 812 innings -0.8 UZR/150 LF +51 DRS in 4500 innings +6.0 UZR/150

Last 3 years of Theo: 1/2 $142M/7 Crawford $82.5M/5 Lackey 3 Years of Ben: 1/1 or 1/2 or 0/1 or 0/2 of 0/3... (AGon Extension at $154M/7) ($110M/8 Extension for Pedey) $95M/5 Pablo (not really too large or too long) $88M/4 HRam (not really large or long) 4 Years of DD: 1/2 or 1/3 or TBD $217M/7 Price (Sale Extension at $145M/5) $110M/5 JD ($82.5M/4 Extension for Porcello) $68M/4 Nate (not really large or long) ($60M/3 Bogey Extension opt out) 3 Years of Bloom: 0-1 or 1/2 or TBD ($313M/10 Extension) $140M/6 Story It's hard to grade some of these, and where do you set the mark for "big deals?" 4+ Years? 5+ years? $80M+? $100M+? Do you adjust for inflation?

Kinda shows you the state of pitching, these days. Who knows, maybe the "cash considerations" is what a bag of used balls costs.

I'm not sure any GM could have gotten Bogey to sign for $160M/6, unless it was 3 years ago.

Good points. The best moves made by Bloom: FA $7 x 2 Kike (maybe the $10 x 1 Kike extension) $3.1M x 1 Renfroe $7M x 1 Wacha $5M x 1 Hill $3M x 1 Strahm Rule 5 Whitlock Trades: Pivetta & Seabold for Workman & Hembree Ottavino & German for cash McGuire for Diekman Springs for Sam Travis Waivers: Scheiber Arroyo Minor League FA Refsnyder Kelly No major signings have worked well, so far. His biggest signings before this winter: $140M/6 Story $10M/1 Richards $14M/2 Kike $10M/2 Paxton $8M/2 Diekman (Traded for McGuire) $7M/1 Wacha $6M/1 Perez These are all the deals over $5M. Extension: $18.75M/2 Barnes $18.75M/4 Whitlock

Thay have Hamilton and RHern for AAA. Scott in AA might be close to AAA, and Hickey might be promoted to AA, this season.

It does seem like an outlier year, but maybe we were right about him having the potential to be decent, but we just missed on the timing. Maybe the Rangers have better coaches or some other player helped him with an adjustment that made a big difference.

Indeed. They got Springs for a reason, then gave up a year too soon. Once could say the same about Martin Perez.

Yes, I think they know which catchers handle pitchers better, and which pitchers it doesn't seem to matter as much who catches them. My guess is, some pitchers do voice a preference, especially if they keep getting paired with a catcher they don't seem to be in sinc with as easily as they feel they do with the second catcher. It's obvious some pitchers are given just one catcher almost exclusively, and it's almost always the one known for defense or CERA-related intangibles. I'm guessing one reason we traded for McGuire, is that they think he's good with the staff. I'm not sure how they view Wong. There was a lot of talk, when we got him, that he may not stick at the catcher position. Soxprospects.com writes this about him, "Moves well behind the plate, and has improved his receiving and framing skills to the point where he is considered solid with both... Has been able to develop a good rapport with pitchers and become someone they like throwing to and have confidence in. Potential solid-average defender." If they view both catchers somewhat equally on defense, then maybe they can start the season with a platoon, and see if certain pitchers and catchers work better together. They did not have much time with the staff, last season, and most of our starters are gone or were on the IL to end last season, anyway. Here are some tiny sample sizes- hardly worth mentioning at all: CERA Bello 8.82 w Vaz (16.1 IP) 3.20 w Wong (25.1) 2.87 w McGuire (15.2) Whitlock '22 7.20 McGuire (5 IP) 3.42 Vaz (52.2) 2.89 Plawecki (18.2) 0.00 Wong (2.0) Pivetta OPS Against Bello .592 w McGuire (67) .775 w Wong (118) 1.027 w Vaz (83) n/a w Plawecki Whitlock 1.000 w McGuire (21) .670 w Vaz (215) .473 w Plawecki (68) .143 2 Wong (7) Pivetta .907 Plawecki (73) .840 w McQuire (186) .754 w Wong (58) .692 w Vaz (456)

Unless a pitcher has a strong preference for a certain catcher, and it seems hard to think they would, as of right now, since they hardly know either one of them, maybe starting the season on a L-R platoon could work for a while. If a certain pitchers voices a preference, then we start moving away from the L-R thing.