moonslav59

He'd be a nice get. Best ERA- since 2024 3. Tarik Skubal 4. Cris Sale 59 8. Hunter Greene 63 10. Chris Sanchez 68 13. Corbin Burnes 71 (Crochet at #16) 22. M King 76 27. Peralta 78 30. R Suarez 79 31. Giolito 80 32. Imanaga 80 35. F Valdez 82 45. J Ryan 85 53. M Kelly 89 56. Lodolo & Singer 90 61. Littell 92 (Bello at 93)

We could also trade Rafaela, Campbell and maybe upgrade on Perales or add Clarke/Valera/Fajardo or Sandlin. I'm not sure CIN agrees. They'd want Tolle or Early id no Abreu or Duran. Rafaela, Duran & Perales would do it. Our OF would be... LF: Anthony/Campbell CF: Jh Garcia (Anthony) RF: Abreu/Garcia

Improving the infield defense needs to start with seeing Casas as the future DH. Next, move Story to 2B. One can argue he is not even an average defender at SS, and being "rusty" is not an excuse. That leave Mayer as the SS or 3Bman, and we need to add a left side infielder who is plus on D. That's not E Suarez, but he'd be okay at 1B (and emergency back up to 3B.) Paredes is not a good defensive 3Bman, but he'd be okay, so trading Harrison & Jh Garcia for Paredes and signing Suarez might be all we need to fix the O and be good on D. Both are RHBs, so trading Duran or Abreu might not be suck a great idea, but Duran would have to DH, unless we trade Rafaela and play Duran in CF. (That's a big hit on our OF defense.) And, where does Casas play?

That works in Greene's favor. BTW, he only had under 22 GS once in his 4 year career. Crochet had an injury, too. I still am not all hung up on him being 72nd in GS in the last 3 years. He's 55th in GS in the last 4 seasons, but of course many more durable pitchers weren't in the bigs in 2022. I'm not disagreeing with your point. He needs to pitch more for me to think of him as top 10, as well, but when he pitches, and it's still quite a bit, he has some numbers that show he looks like he's top 10 or close to it. We did not know Crochet would be top 10, either. We worried about him being able to go over 160 or 170 IP, and also injury and durability/stamina. I recognize he's a different case, but when you can see a pitcher has nasty stuff and a pretty nice size sample size, sometimes you roll the dice. Greene's sample size is just under 500 IP. Crochet's was 219. That does matter, too.

Yes, and with it the Dodgers spend more. I will take $100M today rather than $10M a year for 11, 12 or even 13 years.

That's a stunning fact. I guess you don't really miss the Robinson Cano days.

That's debatable with differed money.

I don't disagree, but being 72nd in IP is not all that bad. 150 seems about as arbitrary as any other number between 125 and 175. Of course, he'd be much better with more IP. They gave up a lot for Crochet and extended him to big money on less than averaging 125.

I was hoping to see your M's in the WS. Yu guys had a nice run, this year and you did all the right things to maximize your chances. I'd wish you better luck, next year, but there is a certain other team in the same league. May we meet you in the 2026 ALCS!!!

I think the Sox have done a pretty good job building up a solid foundation of young players, many of whom are pre-arb or locked up for many years at reasonable rates. They pulled the wool over on their fans with the "we will be competitive this year" sham, but all the while they were methodically doing some things right. The next step involves making strategic investments at 3, maybe 4 of our weakest areas, and this time not with wings and prayers, but with actual solid projectable talent- proven and for real. Of course, nothing is for certain, but clearly guys like Buehler, Sandoval, Giolito, Kluber, Wacha, Hill, Richards and Perez were shots in the dark. That has to end. The trade for Crochet and subsequent extension, along with locking up 4 kids over the past 2 winters, bodes well for the new direction this team has taken. However, it's not enough. We need to go bold. We may not have to emulate the Mets & Dodgers, but we have to do better. No more one-and-dones. No more returning from injury but was great 1-3 years ago guys. We gotta give to get. Luckily, this is a good year for power bats who play 1B or 3B, well at least they try to. Luckily, we have teams very interested in Duran or Abreu, and we have a guy like Anthony that won't be a step down when replacing the guy we trade. It's not rocket science. It's not "we gotta spend like the Dodger." It's not "let's sign 5 mid level guys," either. To me, it's very simple and doable. We may even be able to pull it off and still reset the tax line for 2027. 1 Bold trade for a #2 SP, Power RHB at 3B or 1B. 1 Bold signing (Corner infielder or #2 SP) 1 semi-major signing like Hoskins, Naylor, Merrill Kelly, Gleyber Torres or maybe not so "semi" E Suarez, depending on just how bold the first two guys ended up being. 3 Major additions. (Maybe add Matz and some MiLB depth.) We can maybe be creative and dump some salary in order to raise the quality of FA signings, but just trading Duran & Campbell saves us over $15M AAV and would bring back one of the 3 needed players- perhaps at less AAV. Try to dump some of Hicks & Yoshida's salaries, even if we have to give something with them and or pay down a sizeable chunk of their deals. Just add $5-15M AAV to the winter budget and we can maximize the 2 signings we can and SHOULD make. Just do it!

Because profit margins are what it's all about. We look at revenue vs spending and say "WTF!" They look at revenue vs spending and say, "Nice job, guys- keep it up!"

I'm hearing Paredes is on the block. I'd rather get Lodolo for Duran that IP. I'm not sure what HOU would want. They do have a way of taking meh pitchers and turning them into Cy Young candidates, so maybe they like one of our younger arms. Duran & Sandlin for Lodolo, Jh Garcia (or Campbell?) & one from Harrison/Fitts/Dobbins/Crawford for Paredes Sign E Suarez for 1B, if Alonso is too expensive for JH. 1. L Anthony LF 2. R Paredes 3B 3. L Abreu RF/ R Refsnyder RF 4. R Suarez 1B 5, L Yoshida DH/ R Romy DH 6. R Story SS/2B 7. L Mayer 2B/SS 8. R Narvaez C 9. R Rafaela C

I'm okay with 6-7 year deals on 28-29 year olds, 5-6 on 30-31 year olds. I'm sympathetic to your views. I have suggested JH, Brez & Co. look into deal for guys like E Suarez and Merrill Kelly, who are likely too old to get 5+ years.

Imagine a league with 30 owners like the Dodgers. I find it hard to get a clear idea what it would be like.

I don't see it that way, but he wasn't much help in allowing Devers Forevers, When it comes to this winter, I doubt Brez is given a big budget and doesn't use it. To me, this winter will be all about JH & Co.

The theory is sound, but you wonder... If someone is worth $25M AAV, why are they accepting just 3-4 years? It's usually... an injury issue over 31 to 35+ years old recent struggles not a long record of success Our last 2 FA deals longer than 4 years have not worked out well: $140M/6 Story in '22 $90M/5 Yoshida '23 (plus fees) Players on the current FA market that may take $25M x 3 or 4? Probably not Schwarber, Bregman, Ranger Suarez, Dylan Cease, Dante Bichette and Shane Bieber, but maybe 30 year old Michael King or 31 year old Giolito. I don't see many others.

Our line-up would have been very nice with Devers at 1B and a healthy Anthony.

Agreed. I'm expecting tightwadness, until proven otherwise. Last winter got my hopes up, but as I've said before, we are back to square one after the Devers dump and Bregman bolt.

That would be fine, too, especially as a "long man."

It will come down to length of contracts, IMO. We can replace Bregman's AAV with Alonso, but it won't be a one year deal. Again, I'm not projecting any large and longs, but we can afford two or more.

I'm not denying that nor defending tighwadness.

Good points, but they held off on any $150M/6 deals until the Story one, a couple years later.

It may be enough: it may not be. I'd prefer Alonzo, Lodolo AND another decent bat at 3B/2B, but just 2 major gets might be enough.

When the other option is Casas, yes, both would be upgrades. (Casas should be DH competition with Masa.)

I'm far from defending JH. I am just stating facts. He was not a "tightwad" last winter. Subsequently, he dumped the Devers salary and Breggie opted out. The Buehler & Gio contracts came off the books, and we are back to square one, again with no idea how JH will spend, this winter. That's not defending JH. I have repeatedly said JH & Co, can spend way more and still make a "hefty profit." I am also aware of the fact that this is the way rich people make money.