moonslav59

This whole decade long hole at 2B is absurd. Add the poor defense at almost every infield position for that same decade and it's the biggest headscratcher of all- next to make the fixation with one and done SP'ers looking for rebounds and rehabs.

One great aspect of building up the pitching from top to bottom is that teams often get desperate for pitching and will overpay for one by more than they would for a bat. That means Brez has to be willing to trade pitching. Looking at his record with the Sox, that has NOT been an issue, and we can start with the Sale trade, mention Priester and end with this winter, where he's traded about a dozen MLB pitchers + top 12 pitching prospects- often for other pitchers, but still. If he wakes up and smells the coffee, even if it's just Vanilla latte, maybe he trades from our pitching depth and adds a real 2B/3Bman, soon. At this point, we can't afford to trade offense like Duran or Abreu. Ideally, we find a way to dump Masa and trade from pitching depth for Paredes, Shaw or even 1 year of Hoerner. Baty would not be horrible. With IK on board, maybe adding Vientos would give our offense a boost, but he's got DH or 1B written all over him. (No Masa might give him some time there, though.)

It is hard to see it as being the same or better as 2025. We lost 1150 PAs from 4 of our top 6 batters: .905 Devers 334 PAs .859 Anthony 303- returning .838 Refsnyder 209 .826 Romy 341- returning, perhaps as a straight platoon bat .821 Bregman .790 N Lowe 119 That's hard to ignore, despite adding a .790 Contreras. One of the top 6 returning might be platooning. #7 Abreu and #8 Duran might be worthy of platooning, too.

True nuff, but you thought getting rid of Hicks was a dream, too. Trading for Robbie Ray one-on-one might work. (We could add Mullins or maybe someone as high as Eyanson with Drohan thrown in. Of course, we can always add DHam... LOL)

Agreed. Our pitching got better. 3B defense got worse, but maybe 1B and 2B can improve. On offense, we could get worse than .670 at 2B, but forcing DHam off the 26 could make that less likely. I K has never hit over .699, but he's not DHam bad. How much 2B Romy plays could be the deciding factor in a plus or minu on offense at 2B. I'm thinking Wong is not 2025 bad, nor 2024 good on O, but he'll help with the Catcher OPS, even if Narvaez drops a little. Maybe call catcher a push with upside potential. We should top the .691 1B OPS- maybe by over 100. .736 at SS might be hard to match. .777 at 3B is not as great as we might have expected, since Breggie missed a lot of time. Maybe we lose 25-50 points there. .823 at DH will be hard to match, but if the LH'd bats (Masa & Casas) can hit .775-.800 and the RHBs (Romy & Campbell) can, too, maybe dropping 25-50 points here and at 3B can be made up for at 1B. Let's call the catcher and keystone positions a push. How about the OF? .792 overall in 2025, but we used Anthony at DH, and he missed half a year. Rafaela may regress, but I think we can beat .792, so maybe there is a sliver of hope. .859 Anthony- more PAs can be the boost we need. .786 Abreu- entering peak prime, so maybe .800+ .774 Duran- bring back some of that 2024 magic? .708 Rafaela- can he continue his growth? Maybe the offense can stay about the same. Maybe not.

That's how badly I want to rid this team of Masa. (Okay, not that badly. I would not do this trade.)

We have to forceably take the DHam option away from Cora. I K is a way better option than him. It's a lot to pay in infield utility guy, but with the China Dolls we have in our infield, it could pay off. Trade for I P and call it a winter.

So this signing puts us over the $250M mark and maybe $10M below the next tax line. Paredes just signed for under $10M, so I'm gonna keep hoping against hope...

I was thinking the same thing. I K might be as good as this guy... LOL.

This idea sickens me, if this is it.

Except with the Giants.

I fully expected our 2025 SP'er depth to pitch meaningful innings in the pen, last year, but they didn't. So many got hurt, but we still did not use them as much as we could have (should have?) Our pen carried us, last year, so it's hard to say mistakes were made on that front. 2025 IP by SP'ers: 19 Newcomb, then traded 12 Wink 11 Criswell 8 Dobbins, 5 Bello, 4 Fitts, 3 D May, 2 Buehler This year, I hope we have better health and see many moderate to high leverage IP from the pen by Crawford, Harrison, Oviedo or Sandoval. I'm not sure about messing with pen time for Tolle or Early, but one of them could start, while we slide one of the four I just mentioned to the pen.

Exactly. By itself, this is a decent couple moves: the Hicks/Sandlin trade and IK signing, but only if IK is the utility man. $6M is a lot to pay for that, but with Mayer and Story both know for long IL stints, it's worth it, we'll likely need him to fill-in. As a FT or near FT 3Bman/2Bman- YUCK_A_DOODLE_DOO_DOO!

I'd trade Hicks and Sandlin for IK and a promising pitching prospect, for sure. This doesn't solve our big need.

That "one part" was one of the top 3 needs: Big bat, #2 SP'er & 3B/2B. We filled the #2 SP slot maybe twice. (Ranger & Sonny) We filled the big bat maybe halfway (Contreras) We left the 3B/2B need fully unfilled.

I was actually thinking, if we paid $2-3M, then maybe he was just a UT signing, but $6M marks the end of our major moves, IMO. I hope I'm wrong on this, but...

We could also finish 1st, even with normal injuries. We were not one guy like Paredes from top competition and 4th place, and this is from an IP top supporter. That was my point. Yes, we pivoted from KMarte/Bregman to Bichette/Hoerner to Suarez/Paredes to Donovan/Shaw to IK, but it was also a pivot from Bregman to Ranger/IK. I'm not happy, if this is it. I'm not making excuses. Starting the season with Mayer, Romy, IK, DHam, Sogard, Eaton and KC as the 2B/3B pool sucks. There is not buts, here... just butts.

Agreed. I certainly hope Brez isn't thinking this is it. If they end up going from Bregman to IK, GEEESH!

So, if we got a good 3Bman who could hit we might win it all, and now it's 4th place. KMarte wouldnt make that up.

Andujar to SDP for $4M/1.

Framber to Tigers $115M/3.

He'd be fine as a utility guy, but I get the feeling this is it.

We shouldn't expect greatness vs LHP. I-K actually has reverse career splits: .643 v L .666 v R (same .311 OBP but 22 better on SLG) I hope Mayer can hit .643 V L. (I know DHam won't) His splits were way reverse in 2025 (.536 v L & .668 v R)

I knew what you meant.

I-K has never had an OPS above .700.