moonslav59

MLBTRs reports...Besides the Marlins... Frisaro pegs the Dodgers, Braves, Astros, Rays, Padres and Reds as the six teams still in the mix for Realmuto. Frisaro further tweets that the Dodgers “may be [the] most motivated” to land Realmuto of the six current suitors. Why are the Rays looking for a catcher?

Got it. My bad.

I forget about Zunino. I read somewhere recently that the Rays were interested in a catcher.

Now, TB needs a catcher.

Not necessarily. Feltman was not rule 5, so he didn't need to be added. By not adding him, we were able to keep one more player a little longer in hopes of seeing MLB qualities. If Feltman has a great spring, there is a slight chance he could be added to the 40 man immediately, maybe by putting someone on the 60 day DL, trading someone or DFA'ing someone not likely to ever amount to much anyways. IMO, Feltman is unlikely to make the 25 man roster until 2020, September of 2019 at the very earliest, but stranger things have happened.

It only counts with Yankee players. We also need to worry about Sale's late season struggles, but Severino and Torres will repeat only their first halves of 2018 two times next year. Bank on it.

The Rays love defensive catchers, and Vaz would be their starter.

Not a chance.

Slightly, but by about the same as Kimbrel... CK https://www.fangraphs.com/graphs.aspx?playerid=6655&position=P&pitchgraphs=true&statArr=&legend=1&split=base&time=daily&start=2016&end=2018&rtype=mult&gt1=15&dStatArray=FA&ymin=&ymax= CA https://www.fangraphs.com/graphs.aspx?playerid=12183&position=P&pitchgraphs=true&statArr=&legend=1&split=base&time=daily&start=2016&end=2018&rtype=mult&gt1=15&dStatArray=FA&ymin=&ymax=

Bum is a risky get, as he is showing some decline. Wouldn't signing Keuchel be less risky?

Would TB agree to this? Vazquez, Chavis & Shawaryn or Houck for Jose Alvarado We might then have enough budget space to sign Allen and keep some wiggle room on the max line.

Dombrowski: Red Sox “Have Not Anticipated Large Expenditure For A Closer” By Steve Adams | January 9, 2019 at 8:08am CDT The Red Sox have already lost Joe Kelly to the Dodgers via free agency and stand to lose Craig Kimbrel in free agency as well if they don’t make a push to re-sign him in the coming weeks. However, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski downplayed the possibility of retaining Kimbrel in an interview with Bob Nightengale of USA Today. “Craig did a great job for us,” said Dombrowski. “He’s a Hall of Fame reliever, but we have not anticipated having a large expenditure for a closer.” Those words have to be cringe-worthy for Kimbrel and his representatives, as the seven-time All-Star reportedly entered free agency hoping to secure a six-year pact. As of late December, Kimbrel’s camp had dropped the price tag a bit but was still seeking a deal along the lines of the five-year pacts scored by Aroldis Chapman ($86MM) and Kenley Jansen ($80MM) two offseasons ago. As I noted at the time of that report, though, Kimbrel is only three months younger than Chapman and eight months younger than Jansen — meaning he’s over a year older now than were the other two hurlers at the time they signed. Looking beyond the impact of Dombrowski’s comments on Kimbrel, however, it’s perhaps alarming for Sox fans to hear the team’s top decision-maker suggest that there may not be a bullpen splash of note. Ryan Brasier, Matt Barnes and Heath Hembree are currently in line for work at the back of the Boston ’pen, and that trio can’t exactly fill fans or the team with confidence. While Brasier looked sensational as an out-of-the-blue reclamation project in 2018 and Barnes has emerged as a quality setup piece over the past two seasons, the overall bullpen is lacking in experience. Brandon Workman has been solid over the past two seasons but in a smallish sample of 81 innings. Tyler Thornburg was tendered a contract after a pair of injury-ruined campaigns, while lefty Brian Johnson has been steady but unspectacular. It should be noted, of course, that Dombrowski’s comments certainly don’t indicate that the Sox won’t be making bullpen additions of any kind. But a splash for Kimbrel seems unlikely in the wake of such a public declaration, and second-tier names like Adam Ottavino could also prove steep depending on Dombrowski’s definition of “large expenditure.” It’s worth noting that over at Roster Resource, Jason Martinez projects Boston’s current luxury tax payroll to be at a hefty $239.7MM. Even accounting for a bit of wiggle room, that doesn’t leave Boston with much room if the team hopes to remain south of the top luxury tax penalization bracket. Of course, there’s also no real reason that the Red Sox should need to remain below that threshold unless ownership makes the curious decision to mandate doing so. The Sox are entering their final season of control over Chris Sale and Xander Bogaerts, and they could see J.D. Martinez opt out of his contract next winter as well. There’s every reason for Boston to put the pedal to the proverbial metal in this instance, even if doing so means taking a hit in the draft for a second consecutive season. (The collective bargaining agreement stipulates that exceeding the luxury threshold by more than $40MM will drop a team’s top pick in the following year’s draft by 10 spots in addition to a 45 percent luxury tax on any dollars over $246MM.) Perhaps the Sox will find an intriguing option on the trade market or make a shrewd investment or two in the lower tiers of the free-agent market for relievers once the market dries up a bit, but it’s nevertheless puzzling that a team that is so heavily invested in every other area of the roster isn’t taking a more aggressive approach when striving to replace its two most prominent relievers. Of course, it’s also possible that Dombrowski’s comments not only reflect some real hesitation, but also represent an effort to shore up his leverage in negotiations with potential signees.

Y Grandal signs for 1 year deal! $18.25M/1 with Brewers. Big get by MIL.

True. Also, these stories of some big time players ending up broke might make wanting a few more million more appealing. Many players who are getting these mega deals grew up thinking $1M is a lot of money and $2-3M is enough to retire in semi-luxury. Maybe, it's hard for them to just think $3M is not much when compared to $200-300M deals. I don't blame any player for seeking the very most he can get.

Much better, but we'd still be over the 2019 max tax line by over $20M and make resetting after 2019 much more problematic, but it works for me. I wonder how Henry would view it.

I know expecting no injuries is a lot to ask for, but looking at our rotation, we can see it offers a a huge area to improve or at least to make up for some of the downside of a diminished bull pen in 2019. In 2018, we got 34 starts from Pom, Johnson, Velazquez, Cuevas & Beeks plus 4 from Wright. It's possible we replace those starts with... 4-7 more from Sale 2-3 more from Price 12-20 more from Eovaldi 6-10 more from ERod Unknown more from Wright On offense, just getting these guys to 152 games would add this many games... 16 Betts 16 Bogey 4 Beni 2 JD 31 Devers 8 JBJ Unknown from Pearce (Vaz & Moreland also missed time in '18.)

Even 3 is too much, but it's better than 4 or 5. I'm still doubtful we get him unless his price falls on a 3 o4 year deal or he agrees to a 1 or 2 year deal at top dollar.

I hear you, but I wonder how many big teams would agree to play UFC. They'd have nothing to gain and everything to lose. How easy is it for them to change into a better conference?

These pain meds are doing me in! I thought Kimbrel was 2 years older not 200 days older. My bad.

I think D Hernandez has the best chance to make a major impact within the next 1.5 seasons. I pick Bryan Mata as the prospect who rises the most over the 2019 season. Chavis and Dalbec (maybe Shawaryn) might be the first to get a chance and make an impact. There's an outside hope with Feltman late in the season, but I think 2020 is more likely. Groome is hard to figure. Houck looks to be bound for the pen and may become significant, but I'm not expecting it. I'm still thinking our best hopes are with our far away prospects like Casas (18), Mata (19), Flores (18), D Diaz (18), Scherff (20) and Decker (19)/Howlett (19)/Northcut (19)/Jimenez (18)

One could easily argue Kimbrel is showing signs of decline, and when you look at his age, I would guess Kimbrel is more likely to decline than Allen or other younger RP'ers.

Agreed, and I realize maybe I got too high on Pearce based on a tiny sample size last year and some surges here and there during his career, but I think the platoon may surprise many.

Here is Greg Bird's history since 2014: 2014 A+ 325 PAs AA 212 AZfall 115 2015 AA 212 AAA 115 MLB 178 2016 DL- all season AZfall 78 2017 AAA 59 MLB 170 DL returned back to DL A+ 22 2018 DL to start the season AAA 18 AA 20 A+ 11 MLB 311 DL

So, one bad year means we write them off? Cody Allen just turned 30. He's younger than Chapman and Kimbrel, but I guess we're supposed to believe he's over the hill due to a bad year. He had 5 straight very good to great seasons before last year's "bad year"- a year in which he still posted a 10.7 K/9 rate. His BB rate spiked Also, the "market" extends beyond free agency. I think there's a significant chance we trade for a decent to solid RP'er and sign Allen or Brach. We leave some money left over for a mid summer trade, if needed. We also can fall back on using Eovaldi as a closer.