moonslav59

The Cards won 5 GG Awards- first time.

We may go... $14M x 5 ERod $9M x 3 Graveman $9M x 2 Knebel $3M x 2 Iggy That's $35M and I think that would keep us under $210M.

That seems more realistic, and Escobar turns 33, soon. I think Bloom likes Arroyo, and maybe they are now seeing Downs join the late 2022 2B mix. ERod, R Iglesias, Graveman and Iggy might come to about $40M total.

I don't think we trade him, either, but if we do, it might be about his RF defense not his bad week in the post season. His GG nomination was a joke. I get that he has a strong arm for RF, but I had expected Verdugo to be in RF, last winter. Also, his trade value is not all that high, when you figure he will make $6-8M in arb.

That totals $47M a year, which might be close to what the Sox could spend, this winter. Escobar would solve the 2B issue, force Kike FT in CF and help replace losing Schwarber's bat. (Arroyo becomes the infield utility player.) 2 RP'ers would allow Houck or Whitlock to start: Eovaldi, Sale, ERod, Whitlock, Pivetta (Seabold). Our pen would go from suspect to a big plus: Houck, Iglesias, Graveman, Barnes, Brasier, Taylor, Sawamura/DHern/Davis/Bazardo/Valdez/Feltman

Good call on Escobar. .793 OPS since 2018 (.780 since 2019) 29 HRs & 71 XBHs per 162 games Last 3 years: 30 HRs and 103 RBI per 162 games (690 PAs) I'm re-thinking my take on Story. He's only 28...okay he turns 29 in a week, and he's been over .800 for 4 straight years (.880 average), but these splits- home (.972) and Away (.752)- look very scary

If we can spend $40-45M, we could do something like this: $18M ERod $14M R Iglesias $9M Graveman $3M Iggy If it's $35-40M? $14M R Iglesias $9M S Matz $9M Graveman $3M Iggy

What are the best deals from the MLBTR list of projected contracts? (Not necessarily the best deals for the Sox) I like Story & Baez ERod Graveman

Kluber is available, too.

It's not something that jumps out as an issue, though.

MLBTR Predictions $$/yrs Player (Team going to projections by 2 people) 320/10 Correa (DET, PHI, DET) 305/10 Seager (NYY x 3) 180/3 Freeman (ATL, ATL, BOS) 160/6 Bryant (MIA, MIA, NYM) 138/6 Gausman (SFG x 3) 138/6 Semien (BOS, LAD, LAA) 130/5 R Ray (TOR x 3) 126/6 Story (PHI, TEX, HOU) 120/3 Scherzer (LAD x 3) 115/3 Castellanos (TEX, SDP, SDP) 110/5 Stroman (LAA, MN, LAD) 100/5 J Baez (TEX, DET, TEX) 80/4 S Marte (NYM, SFG, PHI) 70/5 ERod (DET, DET, MN) 70/4 Schwarber (COL, TOR, WSH) 64/4 C Taylor (SEA, BOS, SEA) Is this a joke? 56/4 R Iglesias (LAD, HOU, TOR) 25/1 Rodon (HOU, BOS, LAA) 56/4 Jon Gray (DET, LAA, SFG) 55/5 Seiya Suzuki (PHI, TEX, TEX) 45/3 Rizzo (MIA, BOS, ATL) 42/3 DeSclafani (NYM, MIA, STL) 40/2 Verlander (SFG, SFG, ATL) 36/3 Av Garcia (KCR, KIA, COL) 36/3 Soler (MIL, COL, MIA) 30/3 Alex Wood (MIA, WSH, MN) 27/3 S Matz (BOS, LAA, WSH) 27/3 Graveman (HOU, KCR, LAD) 26/2 K Jansen (TOR, TOR, KCR) 24/2 M Canha (CLE x 3) 24/2 Kyle Seager (TOR, TOR, NYM) 20/1 Conforto (ATL, CWS, MIL) 20/1 Kershaw (TEX, TEX, PHI) 20/2 Kikuchi (Cubs x 3) 20/2 E Escobar (WSH, CWS, TOR) 18.4/1 QO B Belt (SFG) 18.4/1 QO Syndergaar (NYM) 18/2 Corey Knebel (BOS, PHI, MN) 16/2 Alex Cobb (KCR, BOS, OAK) 15/1 Greinke (WSH. STL, BOS) 15/2 Rosario (WSH, ATL, ATL) 15/2 Neris (PHI, LAA, TBR) 14/2 Villar (NYM, COL, CWS) 14/2 Melancon (PHI, STL, STL) 12/2 Tepera (LAA, KCR, PHI) 12/1 Kluber (ATL, MN, SFG) 12/1 N Cruz (SDP, SDP, MIL) 10/1 Duffy (LAA, LAD, KCR) 10/1 Gomes (NYY, NYY, COL) 6/1 Heaney (STL, WSH, PIT) Others: Tyler Anderson Andrew Chafin Johnny Cueto Josh Harrison Rich Hill Daniel Hudson Joe Kelly Aaron Loup Andrew McCutchen Collin McHugh Brad Miller James Paxton Joc Pederson Tommy Pham Michael Pineda Brooks Raley Tomoyuki Sugano

How is this for a team that knows pitching? BTV Values: 161 Burnes 113 Peralta 110 Woodruff 41 Williams 27 Hader 19 Houser 17 Ashby (The Brewers)

Again, I find myself agreeing with you. Makes me think I need to re-examine my whole foundation of thought.

Valdez always seemed to do better than his profile and stuff indicated he should do, but he pitched pretty well for us, except for a very few games where he got totally shelled and left in longer than maybe he deserved to be. The 3.26 ERA in 2020 was not supported by his 1.615 WHIP, but this year seemed like the reverse. (5.85 ERA/1.350 WHIP and .700 OPS Against) I think he got hurt, and they just stopped pitching him for a while. He had a 3.45 ERA and 3.41 FIP after his first 22 games (29 IP), then the wheels fell off. 2 bad games really messed up his stats: 1 IP 5H 7 ER 2BB 1 K 1 IP 5H 5 ER 1BB 0 K His last 6 games: 11.91 ERA/ 7.85 FIP (11 IP) Take away those 2 games and he put up these numbers: 38 IP 25 Hits 16 BB 1.08 WHIP 12 ER 2.84 ERA I know every pitcher's numbers would look better minus their two worst games, but 12 ERs in 2 IP is about as bad as it can get.

I should have known better than to jack up your ego! LOL

I think Brasier, Valdez and DHern would be snatched up by just about every MLB team, if put on waivers. That should equate to plus value. I do not think Potts would be snagged.

Atlanta is smart how they spend their money. They may not view over-spending on 1B is smart. I just can't imagine Freeman anywhere else but Atlanta, though.

So, maybe you'd protect 3: Winckowski, Downs and Santos? (Jimenez is your maybe?)

He reminds me of Joey Votto, who is Mr. Cincinnati. Freeman is Mr. Atlanta.

I originally had Crawford in "possible," but MVP talked me into jacking hium up. I could agree to removing Ward from "possible." What are your thoughts on Santos and Feltman?

I think BTV does a pretty good job. They need to update more often, but I applaud their efforts. I do think Verdugo might be over-valued but not by a lot. Some interesting points I see from BTV, concerning the Sox: -We'd have to pay a team $9.6M for them to take JD off our hands for no positive value in return. -Barnes is now worth -$4.9M. Sawamura -$1.8M. -I'm not sure why the low-paid Brasier is worth zero. So are DHern and Valdez. -Player I think we might DFA have plus values, so can we trade them? (I doubt it.) +0.2 Arauz +0.5 Plawecki +2.4 Potts +3.0 Rosario (I like Arauz more than anyone else on this short list.) -They have Renfroe making $7.6M on arb and still worth +$1.6M. -Vaz makes $7M and is worth +$1.6M, too. Could either be traded to clear up more salary space? -Is Duran over-valued at $23.1M? -Dalbec at $13.5M? Downs at $11.8M? Jimenez at $10.8M? (He might not even be protected for Rule 5!) -Is Bello under-valued at $4.8M? -Groome at $4.3M? -Winckowski & Seabold at $3.3-3.5M? -The guys we got for Beni are valued at... 3.3M Winckowski 2.4M Valdez 0.7M Gambrel 0.0M Cordero 0.1 de la Rosa Beni is valued at +2.7M.

Last winter, we protected 7 player for Rule 5: LHP Jay Groome RHP Connor Seabold C Connor Wong RHP Eduard Bazardo 3B Hudson Potts RHP Bryan Mata OF Jeisson Rosario We selected Whitlock from the Yanks. How much drama will there be this year? We currently have 7 open slots on the 40, not counting ERod. Here are our possible Rule 5 players needing protection: Rule 5 Candidates Certain: Downs Bello Winckowski Probable: Santos Crawford Feltman Possible: Cottam Jimenez Ward

I can't believe there were no other RF'ers in the AL worthy of nominating for RF GG other than Renfroe.

Agreed, but because his pay is low, his value is higher.

Another option could be to trade Dalbec and have Schwarber work out at 1B all winter. Then, when JD leave, we move Schwarber to DH as Casas takes over 1B. (Again, I'm not for spending on Schwarber, though.)