moonslav59

I'm happy we got Verdugo, Downs, Wong and salary space going forward. There will never be another Betts, but I'm "movin' on."

Do you honestly believe... Torres > Castillo?

Baz is pre-arb and Chavis cheaper than Bell. I'd be okay giving them Groome or Ward instead of Chatham, if it got the deal done. (I'd then give Chatham to TB to sweeten their take, if they insisted.)

While I doubt this trade would be acceptable to either the Pirates of the Rays, it was accepted by BTV and would fill just about every need we have: SP: Taillon Closer: Anderson CF: Kiermaier 2B: Adam Frazier 1B: Josh Bell C: Stallings To TBR: C Vazquez CF Duran to Pitt SP Baz (from TBR) 1B Chavis C Grullon SS/2B Chatham Our 26 Man Roster (0thers) SP: Sale, Eovaldi, Taillon, ERod, Pivetta/Houck (Seabold, Mata, Mazza,Weber, Ward) RP: Anderson, Barnes, Brasier, DHern, Taylor, Brice, Whitlock, Valdez (Brewer, Walden, Bazardo, Payamps, Feltman, Gonsalves) C: Stallings, Plawecki (Wong) 1B: Bell, Dalbec (Casas) 2B: Frazier, Arroyo (Downs)) 3B: Devers (Potts) SS: Bogaerts (Munoz/Arauz) LF: Benintendi/Renfroe (Puello) CF: Kiermaier (Wilson, Rosario) RF: Verdugo (Gettys) DH: Martinez (Ockimey)

Here are some deals I threw together that were accepted by BTV. I'm not saying I am for all of them, but the theory behind each trade is that was can lessen the return by taking on a contract the other team wants to shed. 3 Way: BOS: Taillon & Stallings PHI: Vazquez & Chavis PIT: Abel & Marchan or BOS: Eflin, Frazier & Stallings PHI: Vazquez & Chavis PIT: Chatham & Marcham or BOS: Taillon, Anderson, Stallings, Frazier, Kiermaier TBR: Vazquez & Duran PIT: Baz, Chavis, Chatham & Grullon 2 Team BOS: Taillon, Frazier, Bell & Polanco PITT: Beni, Chavis & Groome BOS: Yarbrough, Fairbanks & Kiermaier TBR: Chavis, Chatham & Ward BOS: Anderson, Yarbrough, Kiermaier & Tsutsugo TBR: Vaz, Beni & Bello BOS: Riley, Inciarte, W Smith & Langeliers ATL: Dalbec, Bello & Brannen BOS: Muller, Wright, Wilson & Inciarte ATL: Dalbec & Bello BOS: Mancini, T Scott, Cobb BAL: Beni, Ward, Chatham & Bello BOS: Keller, D Duffy, Soler KCR: Chavis, Chatham & Bello BOS: Gurriel, Thornton, Kay, Roark & Grichuk TOR: Beni, Chatham, Pivetta, Wilson & Bello BOS: Manaea, Soderstrom, Neuse & Piscotty OAK: Chatham, Groome, Arauz & Flores BOS: Manaea, Soderstrom, Jeffries, Neuse & Piscotty OAK: Duran & Chavis BOS: Hader, Houser & Cain MIL: Beni, Chatham & Groome BOS: Hoerner, Rizzo, Baez, Wick & Heyward Cubs: Chavis, Beni, Ward, Arauz & Eovaldi BOS: Garcia, Antone & Castellenos CIN: Ward, Groome & Chatham BOS: Weaver, C Smith & N Ahmed AZ: Ward, Groome & Chatham BOS: Anderson & Kiemaier TB: Chavis, Chatham & Groome BOS: Gallo, Leclerc & Odor TX: Duran & Ward BOS: Conforto, Peterson, Nido & Familia NYM: Vazquez, Beni & Chatham BOS: V Reyez, Goodrum & Boyd DET: Beni, Ward, Chavis & Arauz BOS: Eflin, Abel, Hasely, Velasquez & Kingery PHI: Vazquez, Chavis & Groome BOS C Javier, J Jamez, R Pressly & Gurriel HOU: Ward & Chavis Also, I would not be surprised if every opposing GM said no to these deals. In some of these deals, I'd offer more than listed (needed on the BTV site) or take back one less piece,

They save a lot- beyond AVV as Heyward has more years that JD and Eovaldi. Also, they could maybe trade Eovaldi, afterwards. I'm not saying they'd do this deal, but only offered up a way for them to get something in return rather than just pay cash, like the will probably have to do.

The big "do-over:" sign Scherzer instead of Pablito & HanRam. (Then, we don't sign Price and spend that money elsewhere....)

Well, that was just part of the deal. I'd expect the Cubs to send us something to balance that out- a player or two, a player and a prospect or a player and some cash.

Agreed, or we send them Eovaldi & JD.

Likely, yes. I didn't check. I'm pretty sure Cincy would say no to the first one.

Me neither. I was just pointing out what it would likely take to get a deal done. This would be the worst time to make a deal like this. We are not a Luis Castillo away from being a top contender, and our farm needs to be strengthened not weakened.

Castillo >>> Torres Castillo >>> Garcia, Schmidt, Dominguez & Severino

I don't disagree, but are you for trading Downs, Casas, Duran, Chatham & Mata for Castillo, Castellenos & Moustakas? Will we be a contender by trading our farm away- again?

I updated the list to include every team but the Stankees...

I was firmly against the Kimbrel and Pompom deals. I thought the Price deal was needed and he was about as sure a bet as one could ever get. The Kinsler, Nunez and Thornburg trades were nothing outlandish. I loved the Sale deal. The Eovaldi and Pierce trades worked like charms.

We're just saying that's what it would take- NOT to do it.

The contract cost is better. I would not say Castillo is better than... Chris Freakin' Sale! at the time of his trade.

And, the 3 arb year contracts look better than Sale's contract at the time of his trade.

Why doesn't Cincy just fold? I can see dumping salary, but trading Castillo is just giving up on the now and the future. He's got 3 arb years left.

Although this trade was not accepted, the value exchange was exactly equal: Downs, Casas, Chavis & Ward for Castillo, Castellanos, Moustakas, Miley & Akiyama

I'm surprised so many people see Duran as the answer to our 2021 OF needs. To me, he may become available by mid season, but he's still learning the OF position and how to hit. Some of his best offensive stretches were aided by an extremely high BAbip. Sure, his speed helped him get a lot of infield hits, and that could continue, but the kid has a lot to prove on offense before he's deemed ML ready. Great speed is a big asset in CF, but I'm not sure how "plus" he is on defense, just yet, either. I'm not down on the kid, but he has not shown he is ML ready for April, 2021. I don't even think it's close. Even a great spring training may not convince me. I'm certainly not trading Beni with the idea of having Renfroe FT in LF and Duran FT in CF. The chances of something "negative" happening are higher than a "positive" result. Even if Duran does prove he belongs in the bigs by opening day, and does well, keeping Beni still makes sense, since Renroe vs RHPs is a possible problem area. Duran put up great numbers in A- ball at age 21, which is not all that young for that league. He had a .941 OPS but only 168 PAs. He did well when promoted to single A, but again, an .872 OPs in just 134 PAs is somewhat suspect. All total, his 2018 season, which go everyone all gah gah was just over 300 PAs, in total. In 2019, he had 226 PAs at A+ ball and really shined. His .998 OPS certainly justified his promotion to AA at age 22. Many very good baseball minds think the only numbers that really count with prospects are at AA and higher levels. His .634 OPS in his largest sample size in the minors (352 PAs) was not encouraging. His .737 OPS in 101 PAs in the fall league did little to improve his outlook. He's only had 37 PAs in the PRWL, this year and has a .498 OPS, so far. I'll be happy to be proven wrong on his readiness. I'm not saying that he'll never make it, but to me, it's pretty clear, he's not ML ready, now.

We need pitching, pitching, pitching and a CF/RF'er. If we spend resources on a LF'er, too, it will likely mean we go lighter in higher need areas. We have Renroe, already, and while everyone is talking platoon due to his great splits vs LHPs, he's actually somewhat decent vs RHPs, too. He could hold down a FT LF position for a while, if needed. He averages 30 HRs per 650 PAs ve RHPs, and while his .717 career OPS v RHPs is not all that great, it's not awful. His last full season, 2019, he had a .733 OPS vs RHPs with a 650m pro-rated HR total of 39. (It was 53 HRs v LHPs!) I think the best plan is to roll the dice in LF with a Beni-Renroe platoon. If Beni does well, maybe he squeezes Renroe into a 4th OF'er/back-up DH, PH slot. Renroe couldplay RF with Verdugo polaying CF'er, if we are having issues with whatever CF'er we add, this winter.

We don't need to give Beni 3 months of negative performance. We will likely sign a CF'er or RF'er (move Verdugo to CF) and be ready, if Beni struggles. We could also try a LF platoon with Renfroe. I share oldtimer's concerns on Beni, but trading him, now, would likely not bring us much in return. His upside potential is worth more than what we'll get back. Yes, he seems to have downside potential, too, but since we won't get much by trading him, now, the loss will not be that great. Also, it's not like our roster is so full, Beni is denying some promising young player a slot on the 26 or 40 man roster. Our OF roster depth is one of our weakest areas. Duran is NOT ML ready. Wilson? LOL. Worst case scenario: he sucks out of the gate, we demote him to AAA, and if he continues to suck we cut him loose. Picking up a decent LF'er mid season is not usually all that costly.

This deal was accepted by BTV: Beni, Chavis, Ward & Arauz for Reyes, Boyd & Goodrum

True. With players like Beni, it might not make sense to trade him, now, when his stock is as low as ever. He's got a bum rap, in some ways. His 2019 season was not all that bad, and young players often have a step back year as the approach prime. Arouz is still very young. He was only on the roster due to rule 5. His trading value may not be high enough to help us get anything of need. His upside for us may be worth holding onto. We'll have to give up some players other teams like to get anything back of value, except with salary dump type players. The one area we may be able to cash in on is acquiring good players other teams can't afford, but whose contracts are not all that bad for us.