moonslav59

I know ERod is hurt and Price is questionable, but it seems weird that last year we didn't need pitching, but this year we do. Last winter Pom was questionable and Wright was injured.

Lots of Sox players on the list... 7 Betts 21 Sale 26 Beni (41 Moncada) 45 Bogey 46 JBJ

I think they were gauging interest, perhaps for a winter deal. The salary issues with the Sox trying to reset their luxury tax kept them from making an offer this summer. I think other teams did not claim him, because they did not want the distraction or didn't want to put together a deal at that time. I find it hard to believe no team claimed him, because they were afraid Miami might just hand him over for nothing in return.

They'll still take the best offer, and that depends on how much one GM will give up. I don't think of him as a classic "salary dump", since Miami will get something nice. I've been saying all along, I do not think the return will be super great for Stanton, but it will be substantial. However, all it takes is two GMs who really want him to drive the price up to beyond "substantial".

Chavis got his first two starts at 1B- making one error. Owens didn't walk a batter in his last start! He did, hwever, let up 5 runs in 4 innings. Looks like it's time to non tender him. Travis is learning LF. Swihart is catching and has these numbers in 8 games: .417/.517/.500. Brentz hit 3 HRs in one Mexican Pacific League game.

Or maybe Caribou.

They couldn't guarantee him a slot in the rotation. A minor league offer would have been a slap in Hill's face. I also think they would not come close to the money he ended up getting.

You just said "passes can be given" and other certain deals can be "pinned" on him. I'm all for giving all praise and criticism on the GM. I'm okay with putting it all on the organization as a whole. I just find the splitting of the blame speculative and ultimately non-prove-able.

I had a feeling they'd look to trade (not dump) Gordon. Prada is a straight dump. If we took him with Stanton, we might get by without having to part with one more of our top young prospects. I'm not sure we can absorb his salary though.

Best: 1. Tito 2. Dick Williams 3. Bill Carrigan 4. Jimmy Collins 5. jimmy Williams (McNamara/Kennedy/Cronin) Worst (My lifetime) 1. Joe Kerrigan (He once wanted Manny to change his swing.) 2. Bobby V. 3. Butch Hobson 4. D Johnson (Hated Bill Lee- I mean, come on!) 5. Joe Morgan (John Farrell)

Our highest picks those years: 20th Vitek 2010 (Theo) 19th Barnes, 26th Swhart 2011 (Theo) 24th Marrero 2012 (Ben) 7th TBall 2013 26th Chavis 2014, 33 Kopech 7th Beni 2015 (Ben)

His biggest signings were a bust. The ones that worked worked for only one year (2013 & Vic, Naps, Dempster). He did have a few signings that worked out well, but we remember the big busts more (and for good reason, since they are still killing us). Ben inherited a 3rd place team with a relatively weak farm and a roster and budget with these guys on it: (JD Drew, Papelbon, VTek and Wake all becoming FAs or retiring) Crawford 6 years x $21M+ Beckett $17M x 3 Dice-K $10.3M/1 Youk $12.2M/1 Jenks $6M/1 His significant moves: The good... Resigned Andrew Miller after 8.54 & 5.54 ERA seasons and moved him to strictly the pen. Traded Lowrie & Weiland for Melancon Signed Cody Ross Signed Rich Hill Podsednik for cash Breslow for Albers & Podsednik Wright for Lars Andeson Webster & de la Rosa for AGon, CC, Beckett & Punto Signed Jonny Gomes Signed Victorino Signed Koji Uehara Signed Napoli (the first time) Signed Breslow Mike Carp for cash ERod for 2 months of Miller Robbie Ross for Ranaudo Signed Badenhop Sandy Leon for cash de Aza & cash for Gunkel The so-so Clay Mortensen for Scutaro Signed Dempster Signed Stephen Drew (the first time) Peavy for Iggy & Montas Hembree & Escobar for Peavy Marco Hernandez for Doubront Miley for DLR & Webster Hanigan for Middy The ????? 1 yr 2 mos. Cespedes & draft pick for 2 mos. of Lester & Gomes Porcello for Cespedes & Alex Wilson Joe Kelly & Craig for Lackey The bad... Holt & Hanrahan for Melancon & scraps Signed Stephen Drew (the second time) Signed AJ Pierzynski Signed Mujica The ugly,,, Reddick for Bailey & Sweeney Signed Pablo Signed HRam Signed Masterson Int'l signings, drafted & signed: Beni Devers Moncada Kopech Espinoza Lin L Basabe L basabe J Guerra Chavis Maddox Travis Marrero B Johnson Taylor D Hernandez J Diaz Ockimey Mars J Haley R Castillo TBall T Stanki

The Phillies do have a few promising young players. Hellickson was their only SP'er over 26 who had 4 or more starts. GS Pitcher Age 27 Nola 24 24 Eickhoff 26 8 Thompson 23 15 Lively 25 15 Velasquez 25 (was injured) 11 Leiter 26 26 Pivetta 24 Their 8 leading PA players were all under 28. They had a couple over an .800 OPS, which is more than we can say. Of their 12 players with over 200 PAs, 4 were over .800, and 6 were over .777. Some very high draft picks could start paying off at some point.

But, how do we know for sure what was mostly Larry or Theo or Larry or Ben? I prefer to either blame or praise the whole organization or just blame the GM for everything- good and bad. This walking the fine line and blaming one for this and the other for that is just conjecture until you have both people admitting it was a certain way. Maybe I missed something, but I've never heard bot sides agree on who was to blame or praise for certain moves.

...and no first overall picks like the Astros got during their "rebuild."

I've explained my position on Dempster, and we've had this discussion enough times to not have to rehash. Dempster and Masterson did not have the seasons Peacock and Morton just had. That's one reason Ben failed. Dempster did well enough as our 5th starter, and he helped us win in 2013, but he was paid like a number 3. We were lucky he retired, although the money saved was wasted. My point is that Ben built a formidable farm system. I doubt he was going to keep every last one. There was no place for all of them to play anyways. His big downfall was that he was given a budget to keep winning while we rebuilt, and he failed miserably on that front- or his players failed him. I say this because many of the same players who "failed" Ben did way better the next year under DD- most notably Porcello and HRam. Had DD not been given the farm and core young players Ben left him, there's have been no rebuilding and no two division wins. Had DD been forced to take Bobby V as his manager, what then? Ben was no saint, but he does not deserve the unqualified wrath that many seem to continuously throw his way.

How do we ever know for sure? To me, it's just easier to blame or praise the whole organization, and if you want to pin it on one guy, then blame/praise just the GM.

Where did I say you said we need to stop looking? Mistakes are made on players we see every day. They are also made on players they only had film on. Sometimes teams strike gold- like Abreu and Maeda. I'm sorry, if it sounded like I was saying you thought we should stop taking chances on signing players.

You don't know that. I seriously doubt his plan was to keep every last prospect. Look, Ben made some horrible mistakes. Instead of Morton and Peacock, he got Masterson and Dempster. Instead of Reddick and McCann, he got Pablo & HRam. There's no denying he botched some things up real badly.

Houston was built largely by NOT trading away their top prospects and making some strategic signings.. Ben was attempting to build a team in a similar manner, and the rug was pulled out before the prospects matured. He made some horrible signings.

They can use Morton or McCullers (whoever is not the game 7 starter) and even Keuchel, if needed.

Teams go wrong evaluating veteran MLB players when signing free agents. It's not some major surprise they go wrong on guys like Castillo. It doesn't mean you stop looking for players and acquiring them based on a couple of failures. We paid a lot for Moncada and got Sale for him (and others).

Best game I've ever seen, not counting epic Sox wins.

If he's given $40M to spend this winter, and Price stays healthy,then I'd say we have a good 2 year window left. We should make the playoffs both years where just about anything goes. I don't really disagree with your assessment, but I think Larry was involved in a lot of Theo's moves, too but is always blamed for just the bad ones.

Ahhh, come on! Take all our duds and a prospect for Cruz! HRam, Holt, Hembree and Travis. If the Mariners had no chance at winning next year, they might have looked at 3 years of JBJ, HRam, Hembree and a couple prospects (Chavis, Travis or Beeks?)for Cruz as possible.