moonslav59

Well, they were international free agents, and they ended up making way more money than many on that list, so it just made me wonder why the need for a separate list.

That was certainly part of the advantage to trading Betts. So far, we've not seen it.

I'm thinking we may stay under the tax line, again, this year- just barely. We'll look to add a couple players for the longer term and maybe a couple one and done guys like Martin Perez not Kluber. Maybe we spend very large, next winter.

I'm never onboard with building a rotation from the 4 or 5 slot, but since this can be just a 1 year deal, it's just a punt. As long as we sign someone like Odorizzi (and I'm not sure of who else is "like" him), I'm fine with Perez as depth.

I meant to specify just the questionable pitchers on bot teams- basically every starter, except Cole.

Something in between could help us in 2021 and beyond- like Odorizzi to a 3 year deal.

I'm not sure that is a reason to create two separate lists, but that looks like the reason.

Maybe 2-4 players? He may be only planning on signing 1-3 and trading for 1-3. I'm sure he has a few plan B's he's content with. If we miss out on Odorizzi, Yates and Hand, I'll be more worried, but maybe a couple big trades are in the works. Maybe, I'm totally wrong and all we do is something like what we did, last winter.

I'm at 3.49

What are the odds of either team having a SP'er get even 25 GS'd & 160+ IP?

But still an international FA signing. Why are Dice K and Okajima left off these lists?

I'm not going to pretend I wish the Sox did not sign him for slightly more, but $11-12M is still a lot of money. For a team looking to rebuild- mostly for 2022 and beyond, deals like this are just bridges and fan appeasement type choices and may take away from the ability to build for a stronger long term outlook. Yes, one year deals don't hurt as much when the player flops, but on the flip side, when they do very well, they leave a big hole the next winter. Also, our rotation is full of pitchers with serious health issues. Kluber saw his velocity drop after 2016 from around 94 mph to about 92 mph. It's hard to be critical of his 2017 and 2018 seasons, where he put up some great numbers, including 2 of his best 3 ERA- seasons and, by far, his best two WHIP seasons (0.87 & 0.99), but if his velocity is now around 90 mph, there remains the big question on how effective he can be. If he needs to re-invent himself from a K pitcher or "thrower" to more of a finesse type pitcher, it may take more than a year, if ever. Again, I'm not projecting doom for Kluber. I wish we had signed him to a 1 year deal, but if he struggles, it will be a big step down from Tanaka for the Yanks.

Yates is apparently close to signing with one of five unnamed teams. He wanted $5M+ and incentives that could reach "millions" more, according to MLBTR. FA options are starting to dry up, although plenty useful players still remain. In terms of making a major addition, I'm wondering if Bloom is focusing on trades more than a signing(s).

Must mean Tanaka is going back to Japan. Our next target: Odorizzi. We're running out of top options. I'm at DEFCOM 3.

$11M/1 Not bad. Not sure the Sox could have gotten him for $12M, but I'd have paid as much.

That would all but insure robo umps being approved.

That, too. Had we not traded CC, we might be looking at that signing as the worst ever.

MLB reports: Yankees, DJ LeMahieu Nearing Agreement

Yes, it would mean Springer vs Beni _____, + _____.

I hated the signing from day one. CC had bad splits and 7 years was 3-4 years too long. (I remember calling him a "glorified platoon player" on that other blog.) Now, I never expected him to be THAT bad.

I don't know. Maybe a team is looking to sign Springer, and if they lose out, they have an agreement to trade for Beni, which then triggers Bloom making 2-3 other moves that he needs to wait on, until he knows he gets a certain player back for Beni.

I'm not very knowledgeable about IFAs: are you happy with the players we are signings, comparatively speaking?

I guess so. soxprospects.com has them listed the same way they list Tazawa. I'm not sure how they were different from Moncada.

I agree. There might be a wait for one shoe to drop. He might have a deal in place but are waiting for the other team to commit, and we have a contingency deal on the burner in case the first deal does not get done. The other team may be trying for something else first.

In many of our recent cases, they don't like the big FA busts in year one.