moonslav59

You mean 2026? Your "mistakes" are piling up. I think KMarte can play 2B for his full 5 years left.

It's like those houses built into cliffsides. Mine has a nice ocean view.

I've answered this. I said JH spent enough for 2025, but Buehler was a bust and devers was dumped. If just one of those did not happen, we'd have been a top 3-4 team. I've explained what the feeling was back in 2018. I'm fine with anyone disagreeing, but why keep asking the same questions? We had a lot of high salaries for several years to come. We had some great young talent nearing big pay days. We had an owner who had a history of spending in cycles. (Even 2013 was a down spending year.) Our farm was wrongly perceived as being bad. (I never felt DD "emptied the farm," but I did not think we'd et as many decent players as we ended up getting from it.) That is why I and some others expected a steep drop off at some point. I did not think it would be so soon, but one Betts and price were traded, it became clear it would be sooner not later. We were still a top 3 spending team in 2021, but the roster was already much weaker than 2018-2019's. 2020's roster was hurt by injuries, so I'm okay saying that was not really a cliff, but rather an unfortunate season. 2021 was a high spending budget, but not much new spending. The Schwarber trade was the last major effort to go for it. IN hindsight, the "cliff" was 2022-2024. Call it something else, if you want, but there waqas a clear delineation between 2021> 2022 and even more to 2023 & 2024. We refused to add anyone in those years, exceptMasa and Story, and they were far from filling the shoes of players who left. We saw a ton of talent leave and little come in. I fault the lack of spending and making farm building the top priority for this rebuild period. I call it the cliff I projected happening. You don't. I've got nothing more to add. I think I explained my position enough to not need any more elaboration. If you disagree, fine. This has been hashed and rehashed far too much, already.

My second favorite team is the Sea Dogs.

I do not think Brez will be allowed to go far over the fist tax line and maybe not close to line 2. I may be wrong. I hope I'm wrong. I'm not expecting us to spend big. I'm not sure Brez is willing to trade as much as I am, and I'm not for trading a big chunk of our top prospects, either, but I'm probably okay with more than Brez is. They have neglected 1B for many years, and in many, we did not have someone as good as Romy to back up Casas. That is why I think they focus spending and trades on 2B/3B and then maybe SP2 before we look at 1B. I've been saying 3 major fills needed, but I never expected 3. I thought 2 was probably wishful thinking. They probably think Gray filled the #2 SP'er slot and Oviedo offers some hope for an upgrade at another rotation slot that makes up for not getting a true #2. I think they have one major move left. (Yes, we can afford 2, but I'm done getting my hopes up too high.) That one is 2B or 3B with Mayer filling the other- perhaps in a platoon with Romy, if Romy is not our primary 1Bman. I wish we got Alonso, Ryan & Marte, but that's all it was.

I 100% agree that as long as Crochet is here, we should try to add what is needed. We may disagree on how much of the future we should give up for the here and now. I am not for trading away top prospects or controlled players for one and done options, unless we know we can and will extend them. I'm against trading Crochet for another rebuild, but I see your point. If we refuse to build a top 3-4 team, then I'd rather do as you point out.

I am not disagreeing that we could have been better. I'm saying I expected JH to lay off spending for a period and that we'd suck when he did lay off spending. How was I wrong? I've been wrong on a ton of things and will admit it when I am and admitted it when I was. I don't think I was wrong on projecting JH would stop spending when the farm stopped infusing enough help where too much spending would be needed. I thought it would be too hard for a winning team, with low darft pick, to rebuild the farm quickly. It took a long time for the farm to get us to that point. I saw 2024 as a chance to spend big to get us close. I saw 2025 a certain window open point, and I do think JH spent accordingly, but Buehler fizzled and we dumped Devers. I do think the cliff was undeniable from 2022-2024, precisely because we did not invest in getting ut to high competitiveness and that was reflected in nonaction at those deadlines, too. You ae correct in the reasons we did not compete. My point is I predicted there would be a point where JH would not spend what was needed. Was I wrong on that?

Of course I wanted and said many times they should and could spend. How does that change anything? I knew JH would continue his cycle approach. I never expected this long of a cycle.

Okay: call it Romy plan A and Casas/Campbell plan B I think Brez will start the season without any 1B additions. It's not my wish.

You were saying we were good enough to not call it a cliff. We finished in last place 3 of 4 years. Maybe I was hyperbolic.

I'd add a decent prospect but not Tolle/Early or Fajardo/Valera to that package, but maybe Sandlin/Mullins/Dobbins/Drohan/Uberstine types. I'd also give Duran and Harrison or Mayer & Sandlin for KMarte.

Yes, the second bat is the one that would put us too far over the tax line for JH to approve, unless it's a trade for Y Diaz or someone like him. Hicks and Casas for Contreras? Masa, cash and Casas for Contreras?

If we traded Duran and Crawford for KMarte, the balance added would not put us over the first tax line.

We were not competitive, and that's why we needed deadline moves. Why are you trying to say we were? I'm not arguing we could not have been. I'm saying I knew JH would not allow spending to get us there, and that is why DD was let go and the TBR approach was brought in. It is undeniable- or at least I see it that way.

We are both stuck to our positions. I was a cliffdweller. MVP and others were not, and now are trying to rewrite history to say we did well from 2020-2024. All the bitching and complaining was misplaced, as we were really highly competitive on paper but just had bad luck. Look, we all know we could have been competitive all along, but some knew JH would not spend as highly as needed from the Betts trade until the farm provided enough filler pieces to make moderate spending enough to get us to "over the cliff."

I think he said differed money.

I did not think it would be 6 years. I also said 2020-2024, as I thought the 2019 should have been competitive, despite not replacing K & K. I could have said 2022-2024 and been more on target, as that was when we dropped from the the top 3 spending teams. The Betts trade can be viewed as the start of the cliff, and we should not have done that well in 2021, but 2022-2024 might be a better call as we were also a top 3 spending team in '21. Some of us saw a day of reckoning coming. We did not think the prospects DD kept would do as good as they ended up doing, but they still did not do enough to make us competitive from 2022-2024. We saw huge contracts and young stars reaching the point where they'd need to be paid. We saw some guys aging. We knew we'd need to replace them at a high cost and we likely would not. What am i clinging to that is wrong? We never replaced K & K from 2019, Betts & Price , Porcello, JD, then later Bogey and others. The excuses why we did not don't matter. We expected it to happen and it did.

They have done 1B like this for years. They probably view Romy as a better plan B than they had last year, and the year before and the year.... The need at 2B or 3B is not easily filled, so I think that is where they add. Not 1B.

They dump salary, add two players for one and hope for 12 years of control outweighing 5.

Exactly. We coulda, shoulda but did not.

Yes, you keep digging in and denying it happened.

Of course it was "self made" and much of it was due to the confluence of a lot of big contracts and younger players reaching their big paydays in a short period of time. Again, JH could have paid them and become the LAD East, but he did not. Some of us knew he would not and predicted a cliff. The cliff happened. I agree on the reason, but it still happened.

Well done.

Again, I'm all for JH spending to fill the needs. That's my overwhelming choice. As much as I think it's a waste having Duran DH, I'd refer t keep him and waste Masa's contract sitting on the bench. In reality, I think it's not happening, so I propose what I think we can do within JH's stingy parameters. I'm not supporting JH's stinginess by giving suggestions that keep us near the first tax line and below line 2.

In theory, yes. I agree, but JH's MO has been spending in cycles. I'm not going to deny the reality over hopes JH changes his MO.