moonslav59

Yes, it's not a 1 year window, especially if HRam does NOT vest.

Last year you thought Sale was a "luxury" and not needed. Now, we have Sale, but Price is sketchy. Since Sale is better than Price, what's changed to make you think SP'ing is a high need? ERod's injury? Surely, Pom's rise to dependability outweighs ERod's projected missed time. Plus, our pen should be stronger with full seasons from Smith, Workman, Maddox and others as well as some possible innings from Thornburg.

I agree. How about.... Castillo ($37.8M/3 remaining) Leon (~$3M arb + 2 more arbs) Holt (~2M arb + 1 more arb) Swihart (4 arbs) Groome $8M cash spread out over 4 years for Prado $28.5M/2 ($13.3M luxury) JT Realmuto (~$4M arb + 2 more arbs)

We need a good laugh with all this endless boredom.

Actually, going over the second tier is not all that bad. Signing a QO free agent is about as bad. Since we reset the tax, things wouldn't be horrible going way over for just one year.

What's the chances DD does both?

MLBTR reports... Martinez To Sign With Japan’s Nippon Ham Fighters By Connor Byrne | January 6, 2018 at 5:22pm CDT Right-hander Nick Martinez has agreed to a $1.8MM deal with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan, according to Jon Heyman of FanRag (Twitter link). Martinez revealed that he turned down multiple major league offers before heading to Japan, per Sponichi (h/t: Kazuto Yamazaki of Beyond the Box Score, on Twitter). The 27-year-old Martinez had been on the market since the Rangers non-tendered him Dec. 1. Martinez otherwise would have been in line to collect a projected $2MM in arbitration. As it stands, Texas has been the only major league organization for Martinez, whom the team chose in the 18th round of the 2011 draft. Martinez ended up exceeding the 100-inning mark in 2014, ’15 and ’17 with the Rangers, though a lack of strikeouts and groundballs helped lead to run prevention issues in the majors. In all, he worked to a 4.77 ERA/5.36 FIP with 5.14 K/9, 3.21 BB/9 and a 39.8 percent grounder rate over 415 1/3 innings before immigrating to Asia. Martinez was worth minus-0.2 fWAR during his Texas tenure, which he wrapped up with a replacement-level 2017 that consisted of 111 1/3 frames of 5.66 ERA/5.80 FIP ball.

Yes, and this is the reason he will never be called up. He'd have to be tearing up AAA to even consider a call-up.

So, which would your prefer? $150/6 deal ($25M x 6) or $161M/7 ($23M x 7)? For $11M more, we save $2M a year for 6 years both in real dollars and luxury tax costs. I'm thinking this might get it done.... $130M/5 ($26M x 50) with an option for a 6th season at $20M with a $5M buy out, making it... $135M/5 or $27M/5 but a luxury cost of $22.5M (essentially: $135M/6) or $150M/6 ($25M x 6)

I'd be fine with acquiring a top pitcher instead of JD, but I'd prefer we add major power. I'm usually all about pitching, and maybe I have more faith in Price, Porcello & Pomeranz than is deserved.

No. He will not get $210M/7 from anybody. I'm thinking $125M/5 will be the top offer, but I might go as high as $130M/5 or $150M/6, if that's is what it will take to get him.

I am very near certain, DD is not thinking status quo, despite the Moreland re-signing.

I'm not sure I'd say "historically". His career .771 vs .721 2nd half vs 1st half is greatly influenced by 2016 & 2017 numbers. His 2017 splits (.806 vs .671) were probably directly related to the wrist injury. (Note: he was .803 in September, so there is hope he is over the wrist injury.) Here's his history: 1st half vs 2nd half 2017: .671- .806 2016: .718- .889 Before the last two years, there was no "history" of late season fades. 2015: .750- .803 (had better in 2nd half) 2014: .658- .661 (about the same) 2013: n/a- .684 (plus a nice playoff) Minors: 2013: .814- .829 2012: .851 (A)- .937 (A)/.948 (AA) 2011: .847- .832

Yes, almost double- which matches up with two years for one.

Yes, Nunez is like Holt with an OPS 75-100 points higher. A Jack-of-no-trades who carries a big stick.

Yes. It would have taken me three paragraphs to say this!

It seems like you finally have my position correct. I was against trading away so much of the farm, but I was fine with trading some of it. I loved deals like Chris Sale, but not 4 prospects for a RP'er making close to top dollar (at the time). I hate "playing it half way", so now that we have gone for broke, I am NOT for keeping the status quo. I want us to win a ring in the next three years, in order to justify trading away so much of the farm. Bringing us to the edge and then stopping makes less sense than tanking it for a few year (like the Astros did). As much as I know we may regret signing JD, I want us to acquire a player of his hitting skill set. With no QO or need to trade more of the farm away, JD looks like the best option right now.

I think agents top players on that. They have more practice at it.

I agree. It would be very surprising to see Bogey have a better year, even just offensively. When you factor in defense (like using WAR), Machado should blow Bogey away.

I think that was a big part of it, and the numbers support this view: Batters' OPS against .791 1st PA as starter (90 PAs) .701 2nd PA as starter (82 PAs) .897 3rd PA as starter (only 67 PAs) (8 PAs 4th time around for an .875 OPS Against) However, a strange thing happened that kind of countered this view. He had a 9.00 ERA in the first inning, which, in theory, should have been like a RP'er inning. 5.59 ERA in 2nd inning 3.00 3rd inning 1.00 4th inning (Some of these innings may have been as a RP'er.)

The National Anthem.

Yes. All agents have conflicts of interest. BorA$$ has more, because he has more clients.

Is this writer, Scott's dad?

My family is nearly all teachers, including my wife. I volunteer teaching ESL 4 days a week at a title 1 school nearby. Here in the Houston area, we can't find enough teachers, let alone good ones, even with a starting pay of $55,000 a year. There's never enough ESL, SPED, Math and Science teachers to fill the needs. Some districts have been given the okay to use non-certified teachers to fill the holes. Others use permanent subs. It's a mess. I could go into the many reasons why it got like this, but funding for public schools has not gone up in Texas since 2005, and they have such archaic laws that communities can't up the taxes to pay for the needs.

I totally agree, but why pay baseball players peanuts while the owners make even more "sick" money than they make now? Do you want to mandate they lower ticket prices and sports cable packages, so all in baseball make less? I'm not sure how workable and fair any "solution" to lowering player salaries can possibly be. If you think restricting salaries will lower ticket prices, I think you are mistaken. Owners will always charge what people will pay.