moonslav59

Plus, it's not like Kiermaier is some ex-MVP player with a big fan following. Would we trade Eovaldi for a player like Arauz? In a heart beat!

We'd trade him for a bag of used balls, if the other team paid his contract. YES!

Of course they like Kiermaier as a player. He's not a negative WAR or replacement level player. He's good. My point is, the Rays would hand him away for nothing, same as we would Eovaldi or JD. They could do wonders with $26M. It's not about Arauz or Wilson or Bello.

I think they will do well from that trade, too, but way more long term than short. By trading Kiermaier, and freeing up 30-40% of their budget, they will have "won" a trade of him, too. They spend their money well. Give them $13M x 2 years, and they will find valuable players worth way more than what Kiermaier is worth. cots estimates the Ray's player budget at about $34M, for 2021.They will likely sign a few minor free agents, but don't be surprised if the total player budget isn't much higher than 4 times what Kiermaier makes. I know you can see this.

There are many useful players still on the market. I can't wait until we acquire a few of them and have something to talk about, but the question isn't if, it is who & when.

You think trading Snell works for them?

The Rays also have Margot, among others.

There is absolutely no way, the Rays would offer Kiermaier $26M/2, right now. ZERO chance.

Faibanks also has a 4.5 BB/9 rate,so there is that.

I'm nearly certain they'd give him away for nothing. They may even play a few million for nothing back. I disagree with BTV's -9.7 value, but he is certainly under water.

Okay, give em Marcus Wilson. Kiermaier has negative value. They'd take Wilson straight up with no cash involved in a heartbeat. Kiermaier is going to be almost 40% of the Rays' player budget. We could just sign JBJ for less than what Kiermaier makes and keep Arauz & Bello. The idea is that the Rays will have to give something good with Kiermaier just to make the package a net zero cost.

$26M/2 for a guy like Kiermaier is not something they want. $13M might be 40% of their 2021 player salary budget. It seems obvious to me, they want to give him away.

Waiting too long has its risks as well. I'm hoping some good players wait too long, and Bloom swoops in to snag some real good bargains.

Maybe Arauz & Bello for Kiermaier & Fairbanks might work.

We've really struck out on IFAs for quite some time, now. I'm not sure we lost out on anything. Quick! Who is the best IFA we've signed since Moncada (March 2015)? Juan Chacon (JUL '19)? Eduardo Lopez (JUL '18)? Daniel Flores (JUL '17 RIP)? Gilberto Jimenez (AUG '17)? Hector Velazquez (Feb '17)? Bryan Mata (Jan '16)?

Would you be happy with... Odorizzi (SP) Hernandez (2B/CF) Hand & Bradley (RP)? (I would, especially if we were able to then trade Arauz for Kiermaier & Fleming.) Sale, Eovaldi, Odorizzi, ERod, Pivetta/Fleming/Houck Hand, Bradley, Barnes, Brasier, D Hern, Taylor, Brice/Whitlock/Andriese/Valdez Vazquez, Plawecki Dalbec, Chavis Hernandez, Arroyo (Downs) Devers (Munoz) Bogaerts (Chatham) Beni/Renfroe Kiermaier (Duran) Verdugo (Puello/Gettys) Martinez

Hernandez can play CF, too.

It looks like they really want to deal Bryant, so I'm thinking he's the last on that list. 1Bman seem to be a dime a dozen, so I'm not sure they go large & long with him. I think they keep Baez, if any of the 3.

I'm pretty sure TB does not want to pay him the rest of his contract. He has an option for 2023, so he's owed this: $26M/2 or $36.5M/3 The tax hit is only about $8.9M, so there's a little break there. My guess is, they'd take someone like Marcus Wilson or Arauz, but according to BTV, TB would owe us about $11-12M or a player of that value to balance it out. The BTV site accepts Kiermaier & Fleming for Arauz. I'd prefer something like Arauz & Bello for Kiermaier & Yarbrough (also accepted). (Nick Anderson and Pete Fairbanks are pre-arb,so they are not likely available.)

I always pronounced it Bone-Ah- FEE- dess- not that I've verbalized the word all that often.

Yes, that was a big stain on his Sox tenure, along with the Castillo IFA signing.

Exactly, in fact their draft picks, even when high ones, are not as good as several other teams did with lower picks. This was true even before Bloom. I used to visit the site raysprospects.com, but it ended in 2014. We thought Theo was the master at acquiring comp picks, but the Rays once had 12 of the top 89 picks (2011). 10 were comp or supplemental picks. However, how many turned out great or even good? 2011 TBR draft: 24. Taylor Guerrieri 31. Mikie Mahtook 32. Jake Hager 38. Brandon Martin 41. Tyler Goeddel 42. Jeff Ames 52. Blake Snell 56. Kes Carter 59. Grayson Garvin 60. James Harris, Jr. 75. Granden Goetzman 89. Lenny Linsky (Of course, the draft slot money was not around back then, so signability issues directed a lot of picks for richer and poorer teams.)

Theo was a great one, for sure, but he started getting away from focusing on the farm as a top priority towards the end of his time with Boston (same with the Cubs). While he did draft Mookie his last year here (along with a few others- see below) , these were the top prospects he left for Ben, according to soxprospects.com: 1. Middy 2. Kalish 3. Ranaudo 4. Bogey 5. Iggy 6. Lava 7. Barnes 8. Brentz 9. Jacobs 10. Swihart 11. Coyle 12. Cecchini 13. Weiland 14. Doubront 15. A Wilson 16. D Britton 17. Vitek 18. Head 19. Pimental 20. Tejada His drafts after 2005, despite having several comp picks didn't really measure up to the ones in 2003 and 2005. Top 50 picks: 2006: Jason Place, Daniel Bard, Kris Johnson, Caleb Clay 2007: Nick Hagadone 2008: Casey Kelly, Bryan Price 2009: Reymond Price 2010: Kolbrin Vitek, Bryce Brentz, A Ranaudo 2011: Barnes, Swihart, Owens, JBJ (Betts with the 172nd pick) The area he never seemed to let up in was international FA signings: 2004: Doubront 2006: Dice-K, Okajima 2008: Tazawa 2009: Bogaerts, Iglesias, Montas 2011: Margot Ben got us Devers, DHern & Moncada that way.

That's how I see it. I was ho-hum on the Price signing but felt it was necessary. While the necessity for a top pitcher is as real as when we signed Price, we are not an ace away from being a top contender, and Bauer does not have the bonafides Price had when he was signed.

I'd rather us sign DJ or Realmuto over Springer, too, but even those two are not the types of players to spend large and somewhat long on. I'd rather sign Hernandez and Marisnik and use more of the budget on signing RP'ers and maybe someone like Odorizzi or a 1 year deal for Lester. I'm thinking the best way to get a decent SP'er is to trade for one while taking on some salary in the deal.