moonslav59

Of course. All the talk of having about $40M to spend could vanish in a second.

Indeed, but they did add Cole, extend LeMahieu and add a bunch of moderate deals, including $11M on Kluber. My guess is, they spend big, this winter (Seger, Correa, Story and a pitcher).

MLBTR Previews the Starting Pitcher FA Class of 2022: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/10/mlb-free-agent-preview-starting-pitchers.html Paraphrasing... Tier 1 Scherzer 37 (Should eclipse Verlanders $66M/2 in money & Years) Tier 2 R Ray 30 (9 figure contract of 5-6 years) Gausman 31 (Similar to Ray's contract) Stroman 30 (Should command a 5 year deal, despite low Ks) Rodon 29 (Gets a QO, so draft pick lost, if we sign him) Tier 3 Geinke 38 (SHOULD EAT INNINGS) Verlander 39 (Gets a QO and is reportedly seeking multi years) Kluber 36 (just 80 IP in 2021) Kershaw 34 (QO? Has forearm discomfort... ughhh!) Tier 4 DeSclafini 32 (QO) Jon Gray 30 (QO) S Matz 31 ERod 29 Alex Wood 30 Tier 4 Older B Anderson 34 T Anderson 32 A Cobb 34 JA Happ 39 R Hill 42 K-H Kim 33 LeBlanc 37 Lester 38 Lyles 31 Peralta 33 Pineda 33 Smyly 33 Wacha 30 Depth C Anderson 34, C Archer 33, Arrieta 36. Bundy 29, Cahill 33, Z Davies 29, DDuffy 33 Fiers 37, Foltynewicz 30, ChiChi Gonzalez 30, Harvey 33, Heaney 31, Loerenzen 30 MMoore 33, Paxton 33, Aa Sanchez 29, Syndergaard 30. Urena 30, VVelasquez 30

Cora has found a consistent order that works. He flips Schwarber-Kike and Verdugo-JD vs righties, and he plays Plawecki with Eovaldi. This is it.

LOL! And all you can eat buffets.

I hear you. The guy never had more than 71 IP in MLB, before this year, and his minor league numbers are meh. They are basically saying he's worth about Eovaldi (13.9/1)x 4 years or 4 X the value of Taylor (11.5/4)

I don't disagree, but it's not like the yanks are all that stingy with their cash.

We did make a strong push for Abreu- just not strong enough.

I shook my head, too, but I also expected a significant upgrade at 3B over Middy. It's not like Pablo was old and bad. BTW, he's done okay after leaving Boston. .734 OPS 28 HRs in 659 ABs (63 XBHs) That would have been a big help.

Maybe they had visions of Big Papi.

Ahhh, I think Renfroe might be into "It's my time" mode. I wouldn't change anything. Keep flipping Kike and Schwarber at 1-2 and Verdugo & JD at 4-5 and roll the dice.

It's the 4 years of control that brings his value up. I've always liked Josh James (3 yrs- value 2.7), and I seriously doubt they'd part with a young pitcher plus Pressly (1 year - value 13.8). I doubt HOU gives up pitching for one year of Bogey, and they already have Alvarez & Gurriel at 1B. If they like Downs, he could be added, but maybe Duran is the guy they'd want with Bogey. 32.4 Bogey 23.1 Duran Vazquez value: ( 1 yr- 0.0) Choose a mix n match: 54.8 Garcia (5 yrs) 50.3 Valdez (4 yrs) 20.4 Urquidy (4 yrs) 13.8 Pressly (1 yr) 11.2 McCullers (5) 7.5 C Javier (4) 5.6 Maton (2) 2.7 James (3) Catching prospect: Lee at 22.5 Here's one they just accepted: Bogey & Duran for Urquidy (4) Javier (4) James (3) Lee (5- catching prospect)

I've done a few trades with Bogey going to HOU on BTV. Here are some Bogey trades I suggested that were accepted. (Note: I was just playing around on some and would not do those.) Bogey & Vaz to HOU Korey Lee, C Javier, J James Bogey & Duran to HOU Urquidy, K Lee, J James Bogey & Vaz to NYY L Gil, Higashioka & D Garcia Bogey, JD and Duran to LAD D Cartaya, B Graterol, T Gonsolin Bogey, Duran & Downs to NYY Loaisiga, O Peraza, L Gil & D Garcia Bogey & Duran to CIN Hunter Greene, Jose Barreo, V Guttierez Bogey, Duran & Vaz to OAK (too much $$$ for them) Bassitt, T Soderstrom, P Pineda, S Piscotty, E Andrus Bogey, Duran, Downs, Jimenez, Mata & $4M to NYM Francisco Alvarez, EDiaz, T Megill

Which one has the best chance? Duran>Ellsbury? (just because Ellsbury was not great)

So, basically nothing for pitching? No ERod. (Maybe 2 RP'ers for $6M combined?) 1. Eovaldi 2. Whitlock 3. Sale 4. Pivetta 5. Seabold 6. Crawford/Winckowski 1. Houck 2. Barnes 3. Taylor 4. Brasier 5. $3M RP'er (like maybe Andriese was this year) 6. $3M RP'er 7. DHern 8. Sawamura/Davis That's $42M: $20M Baez, $16M Schwarber, $3M RP, $3M RP

The thing about this statement is it is not really just hindsight "what ifism." These were all very reasonable deals in foresight, too. Not getting Abreu caused the Castillo deal,

Had we gotten Scherzer and Nelson Cruz, instead of Price, HRam and Pablo, who knows how many rings we might have.

I thought of that, too. We could trade Renfroe while his value was high or trade JD and use Renfroe as a DH and 4th OF'er. Dalbec-Casas at 1B could offer a very productive and very low cost solution.

I didn't say I liked the moves or that they worked. I just tried to explain their possible thinking. I think they felt we needed offense and pitching and decided to go for pitching the following year. At the time, I think many people would say Scherzer and Price were pretty similar, so maybe that part of their thinking was not all that flawed. Certainly signing Pablo was seriously flawed. In hindsight, we could have signed Scherzer and Cruz, and Ben might still be our GM.

Perhaps something like this might work: Sign Semien or Baez Sign Schwarber Sign Iggy Sign ERod or the like Trade Bogey and Dalbec for a young, cost-controlled pitcher like Montas and a solid RP'er. (A third team would have to get involved, if we are to get a pitcher from a low spending team like the A's. Bogey costs too much. 2022 Eovaldi, ERod, Montas, Sale, Pivetta, Seabold Houck, Whitlock, RP'er by trade, Barnes, Taylor, Brasier DHern, Sawamura 1. Kike CF 2. Schwarber 1B 3. Semien SS 4. Devers 3B 5. JD DH 6. Verdugo LF 7. Renfroe RF 8. Iggy 2B 9. Vaz C Bench: Arroyo, Casas, Plawecki or RHern, Duran

Agreed. I do think Price and Scherzer had very similar backgrounds at the time of their signings, and we did get Price.

Signing Semien/Baez and Schwarber would pretty much force a trade of Bogey, or we'd have no money for pitching. No ERod, Ottavino, Richards, Perez and Andriese.

True, but getting him to sign is most important.

I always wondered why so many pitchers wait. I thought you might be the one with an answer.

At the time, we needed offense and defense, and I think the thought was that more top pitchers were available the next winter (like Price), so they ordered their winters with offense going first.