moonslav59

Angels-O's finalizing trade for Alex Cobb. -MLBTR

Never really trusted Pete.

Words like "working on the framework" of his retirement. Does this mean they are restructuring his money owed? Deciding when and how he retires? I'm glad we don't really have any pressing roster crunch issues, this winter.

I could see the Sox making no more significant moves. They may just sign a 5th OF'er for defense, like Marisnick or Hamilton. Keep some cash to add a player or two mid-season, when contracts are pro-rated, assuming we are not sellers at the deadline. Give Arroyo, Chavis and maybe later, if they both fail, Arauz or Munoz a chance to win the 2B job, at least if and until Downs shows he deserves a shot. I really like EHern in CF. He is much better, defensively, there than at 2B. So, we start the year with this line-up: 1. Beni/Renfroe LF 2. Verdugo RF 3. Bogaerts SS 4. Devers 3B 5. JD DH 6. Dalbec/Chavis 1B 7. Chavis/Arroyo 2B 8. Vazquez C 9. Hernandez CF Bench: Plawecki, Beni or Renfroe, Arroyo or Chavis, Marisnick

Hasn't the retirement plan already been hinted at as happening? Are there any quotes from Pedey or his agent on this?

I'd prefer Schoop or Colome, if we can only add one more player, but Colome would not fill the 13th nonpitcher slot. If we don't get a 2Bman, I'd like to see a CF'er not a RF'er. Pillar?

The weird thing is, he publically stated he wanted top tier prospects for both, but he settled for quantity over quality. I can understand why the Sox did not trade 3-4 prospects for 2 years or an injury-prone SP'er. One could argue we should be trading one of our injury-prone SP'ers for 4 prospects. I hope Ben does well in PIT. I've always liked the Pirates and the city of Pittsburgh, but I think Taillon is going to do great things, the next 2 years.

A possible everyone healthy 26 man roster, as of now... 13 pitchers SP: Sale, ERod, Eovaldi, Richards, Perez, Pivetta (long relief) RP: Ottavino, Barnes, Brasier, DHern, Taylor, Houck/Andriese, Whitlock/Brice 13 non pitchers C: Vazquez, Plawecki 1B: Dalbec 2B: Arroyo, Chavis (EHern) 3B: Devers SS: Bogaerts LF: Beni, Renfroe CF: EHern (Verdugo) RF: Verdugo (Renfroe) DH: Martinez 26th man: Wilson (AA), Puello or Munoz (not on 40 man) or add 2B (Schoop?) or CF (Pillar?).

How long do the Sox have before they need to add EHern & Richards? Pedey retiring would make one roster move easier, although I'm not sure anyone is fretting over DFA'ing anyone on the bottom of our 40 man roster. Chances are, the player we DFA might end up on our minor league roster, anyway, or we can sign a minor league FA just as good as the guy we cut. Possible DFA or trade candidates (options remaining according to soxprospects.com): Pedey retires Springs 3 Payamps 1 Wilson 2 (maybe only if we add an OF'er) Brice 0 Walden 1 Brewer 1 Arauz 2 Valdez 2 Mazza 1 Andriese 0 Whitlock 3 (rule 5) Bazardo 3 Groome 3

I think this is one of the most under-rated aspects of the game. I'm not sure how much MLB GMs value this aspect of a catcher's skillset, or if they view Vaz as lacking in this area, as I do. My guess is some GMs value this more than others, and since it is a very hard skill to objectively quantify, there are probably some varying opinions on which catchers are big pluses or minuses in this area. That being said, this is one reason I have identified Vazquez as a possible trade candidate, despite the fact that his salary is not all that high. He has two years of team control. I get how we are trying to look good, this year and next, but to me, out biggest priority is 2022 and beyond. I'm not going to get into the data, once again, but I will say that almost every single pitcher we've had here in recent year that have had significant sample sizes with Vaz and another catcher on our team, did better with the other catcher. On top of that, if you look at the unbalanced sample sizes and smaller sample sizes, just about all of them showed pitchers performing better with any of our catchers not names Vaz. (Swihart is the only exception.) I'm not for handing Vaz away. I'm not for trading him away just for the sake of doing something. I'm not sure how much other GMs value him, but I do know several competitive teams would love to upgrade their catching position. I doubt Vaz would be a fit for a rebuilding team looking 3+ years down the road.

I think the only person I heard mention him was you.

I didn't provide the CERA-type data to prove Stallings was a wonder in that area- just to show he's not sucky like Vaz is in that area. The BTV site adds value for years of control, but they have Vaz ranked 9th and Stallings 12th among Major League level catchers.

Carlos Rodon back to CWS.

Plenty of time to sign all these FAs!

I agree 100%. I still think getting Taillon will be the best off season move any team makes.

MLB Proposes 154 Game Schedule, extended playoffs, starting the season a month later & a universal DH. I like all of these ideas, but I'm not sure the union will. MLB Proposals

Where did I ever say Stallings was better than Vaz, although he might be with staff-handling skills. I said he had 4 years of control to 2 of Vaz and we also get two verry useful, though not great players in areas we need dearly. My point was that Stallings + Frazier+ Brubaker > Vaz NOT Stallings > Vaz. Those "two years" Stallings caught more were the last two years. It's not all that uncommon for a catcher to begin playing a lot around age 28-29. Stallings caught the vast majority of games in 2020. In looking how he gets "the most" (or least) out of the staff, I found this: ERA/OPPS against with Musgrove: 4.03/.733 Diaz (112 IP) 4.31/.741 Stallings (117 IP) 4.82/.655 Murphy (9 IP) with Taillon 3.72/.761 Stallings (29) 4.41/.764 Diaz (123) with Trevor Williams 4.38/.793 Stallings (125) 6.50/.914 Diaz (126) 9.00/.970 Murphy (8) While these numbers don't look great for Stallings, when you look at Vaz vs other Sox catchers, he sucks with our staff. If you'd rather have Stassi, that could be arranged. I do think Stallings is better than Stassi, Plawecki & Wong.

Okay, here's how I see it. Vaz has two years of team control, but Stallings, who I think is better than "middling" has 4 years at a much lower cost. Brault has 3 years and Frazier 2 years. That's 9 years for 2. All are MLB players not hopes and prayers prospects. If we could get Brubaker and his 5 years, instead of Brault's 3, it would be even better. On top of this, I don't like how Vaz handles our pitching staff, but I might be the only one thinking this. I'd do this deal in a heartbeat.

Makes sense, too. Maybe try to get Brault, too. A three-way with the Angels might get us Stallings, Frazier and Brault (or Brubaker) with Vaz going to LA and prospects going from LA to PIT.

The Twins are making a little noise. A Simmons signs for $10.5M/1

I haven't heard Reddick's name anywhere, until here with you.

Yes, we could just add a defensive 2Bman, but then why not just call Arauz up? My idea was not all about defense, but I do think Schoop is better on defense at 2B than EHern. Signing Schoop improves the offense, but more importantly, it improves our defense at 3-4 positions at once. UZR/150 at 2B 2017-2020 6.8 Wong 2.5 Jed Lowrie -1.8 Schoop -4.8 M Gonzalez -6.4 J Villar -7.6 E Hern -14.5 G Torres (I just had to stick his name in here) JUST SIGN SCHOOP & COLOME and call it a winter!!

Schoop and Colome don't rhyme!

Any trade would have to include Stassi coming back or a 3rd team that gives us a catcher. Stassi might get better results from our staff than Vaz does, but the offense would likely take a hit. It's what else we get back that might make it worth doing, and if the player(s) we get back have more than 2 years of team control, the extended future outlook would be enhanced.

I'd guess almost every player on this list will be signed. (I didn't list every FA at these positions.)