moonslav59

I don't think everyone felt "everything" had to break right to win significantly more than 86 games. We had a ton of big question marks, and the interesting thing is, some of the bigger ones did not actually come out all that well, and we still beat expectations by a lot. Some of the biggest questions before opening day were... 1. Can Sale come back in June or July and get near his former self? (He eased into the rotation mid-August, faced some lower teams, early, and did pretty well, but I would not say he fulfilled our hopes.) 2. Can Eovaldi stay healthy for a full season and pitch well? (He did both.) 3. Can Franchy, Verdugo & Renfroe fill the shoes of JBJ and Beni? Remember, Kike was widely viewed as our 2Bman. (I'd say our OF did very well.) 4. Can the rest of our rotation pitch well enough to get us close to 90 wins? (Perez started out very well, Richards did well as a RP'er for a stretch, and Houck missed some time and was used in the pen a lot. Pivetta really helped.) 5. Can the pen cobble together a fine season? (I'd say they did, despite some very rough patches at 2-3 points in the season.) 6. Can Devers, Bogey and Kike/Arroyo improve on our infield defense of 2019-2020? (I'd say they did not.) 7. Was Dalbec a fluke? (Most of the season, it looked like 2020 was a fluke, but then the last 2 months, he was one of MLB's best hitters. Do we know anymore, now?) 8. Can Vaz repeat his near .800 OPS from 2019-2020 to help make up for some short-comings on staff-handling? (He did not.) 9. Can our bench help? (Marwin, Franchy, Santana and Duran were near to total disasters. Plawecki, Iggy, Shaw, Schwarber and maybe a couple others helped a lot, near the end.) 10. Was 2020 a sign of JD's decline, and if yes, how steep? (I'd say JD showed he is not done being productive, but he did not approach his peak numbers.) 11. Could Cora bring back the "magic?" (I think he did.)

One could argue one window closes after 2022, as Bogey has an opt out and JD, Eovaldi, Kike and Vaz all can be free agents. I could see an approach where we try to go somewhat big, this winter, to maximize our "1 year window" but while also looking beyond 2022. That might mean no contracts the bring a player beyond age 35, which might greatly restrict which of the best players Bloom could add. Trading top prospects or young players for 1-2 year players goes against the long term view, but maybe Bloom feels he can part with one of two that may be bottle-necked at a position, or one that some other GM values more than he does. I'd sure like to know what the budget is for this winter and next year.

Rule 5 eligible players need to be placed on the 40 man roster by tomorrow. We will be seeing a lot of players DFA'd today and tomorrow. Bloom is famous for snagging waived players, but we need to make room for 4-7 Rule 5 players, ourselves. We may DFA a few players and claim one or two from other teams as we add our Rule 5 players to our roster. (Note" most teams are crunching their rosters, too, so trading borderline players, now, to make room on your roster is not as easy at it might seem.) He is my list of DFA candidates: 1. Plawecki (Maybe, we trade Wong or Cottam.) 2. Potts 3. Rosario 4. Arauz (Trade?) 5. Sawamura (Trade?) 6. Locastro 7. Valdez (Trade?) 8. Davis (Trade?) We could also trade a bigger name or two to clear roster space, but those trades are not common at this time of the year.

In large part, we don't know what Bloom would or will do with a big winter spending budget AND not many roster slots to fill. He's never had either one of those two key components to off season moves. It's not furious typing: it's been a reality. We don't know, if the budget restrictions will remain through this winter or even longer, but it's not like spending up to the tax line every year is a severe restriction. Over time, Bloom should be able to leave his mark on this team, even if he never gets just one open wallet off season. We can already see the improvements to to 40 man roster depth and the farm finally getting back to respectability and balance. We've seen the 26 man roster improve greatly over 2020, but Bloom had over $40M to spend, last winter. We are not sure he'll have near that, this winter. If he does, and he only has 3-4 slots to fill- not 8-10, like last winter, we should get an idea on how he handles larger contractual signings or trades. If he's only given $20-28M to spend, then we'll still not really know what Bloom would or could do with winter spending budgets given to every GM from Theo to DD. I'm thinking he'll do fine, but it's hard to know. Even GMs with good records at spending large, often had bad signing seasons.

While this thread is about 2022, plans are always made with the future in mind. Here's a quick look at 2023's budget/roster: -$16M Price Free Agents after 2022 (Lux Tax): $22M JD $20M Bogey (Opt Out) $17M Eovaldi $7M Kike $7M Vaz While that's a lot of money ($90M) coming off the books, it's also a lot of talent walking out the door.

Do we know what any other teams offered for Taillon?

Including over $30M on players not on his team.

Robbie Ray and Corbin Burnes win Cy Young Awards. Robbie Ray, Blue Jays (207 points, 29 first-place votes) Gerrit Cole, Yankees (123 points, 30 first-place votes) Lance Lynn, White Sox (48 points) Nathan Eovaldi, Red Sox (41 points) Carlos Rodon, White Sox (34 points) Frankie Montas, Athletics (21 points) Lance McCullers Jr., Astros (14 points) Liam Hendriks, White Sox (10 points) José Berríos, Twins/Blue Jays (8 points) Chris Bassitt, Athletics (2 points) Lucas Giolito, White Sox (1 point) Raisel Iglesias, Angels (1 point)

$25M for 2022. Opt Out Player Option (?) 2023 at $25M? (not sure). Basically, $25M x 2 with player opt out.

Maybe the trash can beating was involved.

MOY AWARD Cora placed fifth in the voting, earning 16 points and one first-place vote. Tampa Bay Rays skipper Kevin Cash won the award for the second straight year. Also finishing ahead of Cora were Scott Servais (Seattle Mariners), Dusty Baker (Houston Astros), and Charlie Montoyo (Toronto Blue Jays). Here are the full results: 1. Kevin Cash, Tampa Bay Rays (109 points, 19 first-place votes) 2. Scott Servais, Seattle Mariners (71 points, five first-place votes) 3. Dusty Baker, Houston Astros (33 points, two first-place votes) 4. Charlie Montoyo, Toronto Blue Jays (23 points, three first-place votes) 5. Alex Cora, Boston Red Sox (16 points, one first-place vote) 6. Tony La Russa, Chicago White Sox (15 points) 7. A.J. Hinch, Detroit Tigers (three points) Tomase opines... https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/red-sox/forget-manager-year-red-sox-have-arguably-best-alex-cora?int

Unsurprisingly, Brandon Belt accepted his QO. Still with the Giants.

The man can flat out hit. The SS position went years and years with very few great hitter, but that has changed a lot in the past few decades.

MLBTR reports... Raisel Iglesias To Reject Qualifying Offer A look at virtually any relief pitching leaderboard will show Iglesias among the leaders in most key numbers. The former Reds stopper finished eighth among 144 qualified relievers with a 37.7% strikeout rate and also posted the ninth-best walk rate at 4.4%. Only two qualified relievers, Josh Hader and Liam Hendriks, topped Iglesias’ huge 33.3 K-BB%. Beyond that, Iglesias’ 20.6% swinging-strike rate trailed only Hader, and his 2.06 SIERA was second only to Hendriks. No reliever in baseball posted a better swinging-plus-called-strike rate than Iglesias’ 36.8% mark. Statcast finds Igleisas similarly dominant, rating him in the 85th percentile or better in terms of hard-hit percentage, average exit velocity and expected opponents’ batting average, slugging percentage and wOBA. In terms of more traditional numbers, Iglesias tied for the fourth-most saves in Major League Baseball at 34 and finished 23rd among relievers with 70 innings pitched. That’s due largely to the Halos using him as a one-inning option, but Iglesias showed during his time with Cincinnati that he’s plenty capable of recording four-, five- and six-out saves when needed. His 2.57 ERA ranked “only” 29th among 144 qualified relievers, but as evidenced by the aforementioned SIERA, most fielding-independent marks feel he was better than that baseline ERA.

I suppose they may keep just one of these two, but there is also R Hernandez. One of these might get traded. (Vaz will not be traded, despite my wishes.)

That's what I said- Plawecki has "NO trade value." I listed him as my first DFA choice.

I see this order: 1. Plawecki 2. Potts 3. Rosario 4. Valdez 5. Arauz 6. Locastro 7T. Davis/Bazardo/Sawamura

The only catcher that might have no trade value is Plawecki. I think we keep Wong and Hernandez or trade anyone of our others. The only reason I see Cottam as a possible protectee, is that good catchers are so hard to find.

Maybe one, but probably not both.

I'd say Cottam might be unprotected- Crawford a little less likely. I don't know much about Santos, but he seems to be closer to a lock than the two I just mentioned. Bello, Downs and Winckowski are locks. Feltman is likely, IMO.

Exactly, unless Henry gives Bloom a second wallet. To me, getting Baez should mean we are trading Bogey. I suppose we could trade Vaz and Renfroe to add $14M for Matz, but we need more than that. (Then, we'd need a catcher and RF'er.)

I think some other GM needs a SS more than we need a 2B/SS, but with so many on the market, one never knows. I've also read we might be a surprise choice for Semien, but I highly doubt it. We'll probably wait out on Bogey, hope Downs and Mayer impress, next season, and see what happens. I really like Baez, and I think Cora does, too. Who knows?

That's probably what they would do, since Baez has a lot of experience at 2B, but he's so much better at SS D, I would not "waste" him at 2B. If we sign Baez, trading Bogey makes the most sense, to me. Of course, it depends what we get, but I happen to think we could get a nice return.

No, his biggest crime is being named "Jeter."

Maybe no GM thinks Boyd is worth $7M+. He seems like a good gamble at that cost.