moonslav59

I've never denied they botched the Breggie signing. He was clearly their #1 plan. My point is I'm glad they did. I didn't want him signed at even the contract they offered. Bregman will not be an elite hitter going forward, IMO. I'm surprised he had a season that good in 2026. That's not a ringing endorsement of Brez for both botching a negotiation and choosing the wrong top priority. It's also not saying Bregiie would not have helped us bigly in 2027. I'd rather we have Suzuki than Bregman. I'm glad we have Suarez. I'd rather have Suarez and Suzuki (and Durbin) than Bregman, Harrison, Drohan and now have to sign a pitcher at less money than Suarez cost us.

Nobody is a sure bet. Breggie did better than I expected and Ticker worse. Suzuki has been way more consistent and steady than Breggie was as a batter, and he's like 100 days older than Breggie was last winter. OPS+ in previous 5 years: 113>130>138>125>131 Suzuki 113>134>122>116>128 Bregman before 2026 (124)

I don't know how you ranked Breggie as an elite batter before 2026.

The only time JH has "overlapped" was extending Crochet shortly after the Devers extension kicked in, then what.... He quickly dumped Devers. He has not had 2 big contracts on the books other than those 3 months, since Sale and Price. (Guess what? He dumped Betts to do that.)

How old was Breggie, and look at his previous 3-4 year history. HE WAS NOT an ELITE BAT!!!! His OPS since 2020 is the same as Roman's career OPS you just poo-poo'd (.803.) It was .799 before 2026 (6 yrs 2020-2025) "Maybe" Tucker... LMAO! He was equal to Durbin!

Surely, you jest.

What do you base this opinion on? Maybe not specific, but JH & Co. would have to agree one signing a major contract when we are already over the tax line. If we can shed $11M Duran, $5-6M off Story and $3-4M off Yoshida, then that $20M could allow us to sign one big deal and trade for a lesser paid stud.

Bregman will prove to be a bad signing. We shoulda got Alonso. Schwarber was a Philly all along.' I like Sato or Suzuki over Breggie, Tucker and Bellinger.

My step one is trading Arias and others for a big bat SS (DLC/Abrams.) Step 2: sign a big bat (Sato/Suzuki) My guess is we do neither but lets say we get DLC... 1. Anthony LF 2. Mead 2B/DH 3. DLC SS 4. Contreras 1B 5. YES, Abreu, but he's better 6th. ______________ 1. Anthony DH/LF 2. DLC SS 3. Suzuki LF or Sato DH 4. Contreras 1B 5. Mead 2B 6. Abfreu RF 7. AR C 8. Durbin 3B 9. Rafaela CF

How much do you think JH will allow us to go over the tax line, this winter? Cots has us projected $8M over and Spotrac about $20M over.

Nobody knew Contreras would be that good, so Abreu was mostly projected 3-5th. In the modern line-up philosophy, 4th and 5th are more important than third. Going into 2027, Abreu's best slot would be 6th, and not with AR 5th.

I think some posters who are keenly aware of the fixed nature of our spending, prefer we spread out the spending and rely on a prospect or two rather than go large and long on 1-2 players. It's not illogical, and 3 years ago this team had so many holes it was kind of an essential strategy. To me, we have a pretty solid and deep core. Our farm is not so great, but we have so many young and controlled players, that we can now look at quality vs quantity. We also lose a couple big contracts after 2027, and hopefully knowing that will be enough for JH to think we can spend large and long, because it will really be like one major uptick in 2027, that will be offset by no Story and Yoshida for 2028, 2029... (maybe I'm dreaming.) Our biggest trading chips are Arias and Anthony, and since I'm all for trading Duran, and our OF depth sucks, I'm thinking trading Arias plus for one elite bat and signing another should be possible within a tight budget. This is also one reason I think we may need to get creative to free up a few million by trading Duran plus Story and or Yoshida. Other trades could be KC ($7.5M savings) or Bello ($9M) but we may need Bello badly.

I only trade Story, if we get some added budget space that allows us to get an elite bat over just a good one. I'm not so sure he goes quietly to a bench role and $30M (counting the buy out) is a lot for a sub that may not even be as good as the $6M IKF was. I don't like him at SS, but I do like him better than Monasterio and maybe Cheng, too. We are "thin" there. My suggestion is trading Arias and others for a solid big bat SS, and I really like Arias.

Maybe it didnt "register," and I apologize if I did, but I don't recall anyone wanting KC as FT'er n 2026. Even if it's one, is it worth ranting about content fans, when it's one or two? (granted, I said name one." I will say that the reality is we have a fixed winter budget, so what we spend here mean no spending there, so at times, we do have to choose where we skimp, if we spend all or money on an elite (bat) player. (Which both of us feel we need more than anything else.) Kimmi hasnt been posting much, so I got caught up in recency. She does favor giving kids a shot. Joe seems to be more optimistic about the players/prospects we have than others, but I don't see him being overly reliant on prospects to carry us to a ring.

Yes, there have been posters who pre-slotted prospects into FT roles, but I don't think any expected greatness form day 1. I was answering your point about posters not wanting Alonso or Bregman due to prospects pending rival. I disagree on that one. Nobody trusted Mayer before 2026. Nobody trusted KC before 2026. Nobody wanted a prospect over Bregman. Some liked Arias but not to start the 2026 season at SS and what Story at 3B over Bregman, and 100% confidence in Mayer at 2B or 3B? Sorry. I don't think anyone did. There was no prospect for 1B or DH (instead of Alonso.).

I'll chunk my responses, and to be clear, I enjoy discussing this with you. I don't agree we've had good pitching. Before Brez, our whole system sucked with pitching- farm, development, acquisitions- everything. IMO, we'd never have improved if Brez didn't fix that, and I was shocked how quickly he did it. Now, dumping Devers, while logical and needed without replacing his offense was a bigger ding on Brez than the Sale trade. Bregman did well, but for 2/3 a season, then he let him go and barely replaced him with Contreras. The need is clearly offense, now. Maybe everyone doesn't have the same sense of urgency on that as you do, or even to my level, but we both want an elite bat or one plus another good one. Not everyone think it's as important as we do. I'm not denying some posters don't agree, but I get the sense you overblow the amount and extent of contentment with our offense as is. I also think it's not totally la-la land to have faith in Mead, AR and better seasons from Anthony and some others as "maybe" being enough. I disagree, but I don't think they are all wet and have no basis in reality. I like our core. I'm not sure you do as much as I do, and that's fine. IMO, we should upgrade our weakest slot (SS- DLC or Abrams.) Maybe DH (Sato) or 2B (BLowe) if Mead DHs or LF (Suzuki) if Anthony DHs. I'd like two adds, but don't think we have the budget and trade capital to pull it off. I know many posters don't agree with me or you.

Id there a single poster who is highly confident Arias will be a real good batter? Second Q: If someone says yes, how confident are you he will hit over .750 or .775 in 2027?

I'm not for wily nilly trying to fundamentally change the approach of a good batter. I'm just not. K's have never bothered me, if the guys gets on base and /or smacks HRs. Anthony does enough of both to not concern me about too many Ks. I don't think tweaking a player's general approach is a simple matter. It involves great risk of destroying the good the player was doing. I literally laughed when people would say, "They need to teach Papi to not swing at low and outside pitching." To me, that is an idiotic statement. (Sorry, if tat was you, because you are not an idiot.) I have no issues with Rafaela, and he just topped out at .761. Fred still can't stop suggesting we replace him or that he needs to change his approach. He's fine as is. I'm not saying to never try to offer advice or get someone to try a little tweak here and there. but this sounds like a major approach change request, and I'm 200% against even trying it. Maybe he cliff-dives like KC and I eat crow. I like Anthony's approach. I like his swing. I like his eye. I think he ends up over .800 and probably over .850 for his prime years. I'm actually more bothered by batters swinging for Hrs every time than guys like Roman.

The main cry was Duran and Anthony can't both play LF. It wasnt about Yoshida, although some said we should dump him. The idea was Alonso at 1B, but we got Contreras instead. We coulda got both, and not many hated that idea.

They wanted Casas as our FT 1Bman and KC at 3B?

There has been a lot of frustration, especially with some recent ones like Mayer and KC, and to a lesser extent with Roman, but none of these guys are over 550 PAs yet. Can we count it as frustrating that we got Crochet, Contreras, Gray, Durbin, AR & Mead for several top prospects? (Early B4 his trade, too, and others in previous seasons.) I'm not frustrated with Tolle & Bennett. I wasn't last year with Narvaez, and guys like Rafaela, Abreu, Duran and even Casas for a bit, before that. I like Arias a lot, but I'm not planning on even .725 in 2027. I've suggested trading him a lot. Others seem more sure of his success than I am, but I haven't heard one poster say they are expecting even .750 from him year one. Some like him more than Story, but that's more a slight on Story than a big confidence boost for Arias, IMO.

I never said that. I specifically said, I'm fine with .800 after his first 545 PAs. I expect better, but even if he stays only at .800, I'd pay someone $15M x 8 for that.

Agreed. Until the Crochet trade, we avoided any and all elite players. Between Price (2016) and Crochet (2025) we traded for Sale ('17) and signed JD ('18.) That's it. Basically, 2018 to 2025- nada.

Name one. That's just not true. "Role fillers" is one thing. Nobody wanted Casas slotted as the FT 1Bman to start 2026, not KC at 3B, and I'm one of the few Casas supporters left on this site. I'm also one of the farthest "give up on KC" posters here. Yes, a few posters did not think we needed to add a proven bat like Schwarber and Alonso. Anyone who thought Bregman was a proven big bat did not know his previous 4-5 year history. Some liked Contreras and felt the improvements made elsewhere made us better than 2025, but how I remember it, only 2-3 maybe 4 posters felt the offense was good enough on opening day.

I think an .800 batter after 545 PAs is good, yes. You don't? If he starts slipping, then fine try to make adjustments. Until then, YES, I'm fine. I was also fine not messing with Rafaela as long as he kept getting better every year, which he has. People complained about Devers chasing outside and low balls, and wanted to change his approach. I laughed. In baseball, don't tinker with success. I wish Duran learned that lesson after 2024.