moonslav59

I suppose being moved 10 slots down in next year's draft isn't going to hurt us too badly. Maybe we'll go over by $30M next year. Sign someone like Duda & Nunez. Or, maybe trade for a bigger bat and sign Nunez.

I'm sure winning has a lot to do with it, but are you really saying you haven't noticed more energy and enthusiasm since Nunez & Devers joined the club? I see more "fire". Maybe I'm the only one who does.

First priority is a power hitter- probably 1B, but 2B or DH could work too. If we then have space for Nunez we should make a strong bid for him.

Agree

Yes, the bonus counts as part of the AVV and is "spread out" for tax purposes, but I think Segura got the $3M at the signing. Giving players more up front money than they'd have gotten otherwise, sometimes helps lessen the overall cost (or back-end cost). I think the M's did well locking him up.

Of course, they will be tough. They killed us last year and have added EE, and Brantley, Carrasco and Salazar are back from injuries.

At least you admit it was a "crazy thought."

Maybe the Sox can take credit for messing AC up. Scrappy win for you guys tonight. I think getting Gray is going to be a steal.

Doesn't the $3M signing bonus essentially give him $9.2M for 2017?

I wonder if anyone would want Holt in trade. I'm not expecting anything worthwhile, but maybe we could get a single A somewhat high ceiling/low floor type player. Even if we don't bring Nunez back, we could go with a 4 man Holt-free bench like this (assuming we sign a 1Bman): C Leon (Swihart) IF Hernandez IF Travis, Lin or Marrero (Maybe Chavis mid season) OF Brentz (maybe Chavis, if he learns to play LF)

I'm looking more at... 9 straight seasons with an OBP of .390+. 5 of the last 6 over .434 Leading the NL in OBP in 6 of 8 seasons, including last 2. SLG over .540 for 3 straight years 1.050 OPS at age 31 (2017) 29+ HRs in 3 straight seasons He certainly fills the need we have at the clean-up slot. Cincy is notorious for asking a lot for their stars, and Votto has said he wants to stay in Cincy.

Updated from another thread... Runs per game with Devers playing: 95 in 17 games= 5.6 Runs per game with Nunez playing: 96 in 16 games= 6.0 Nunez did not play 7/25 (5 runs scored) and 7/26 (4 runs scored) Devers did not play 8/9 (8 runs scored) Both players have made a tremendous difference in our run scoring. Devers 13 R + 13 RBI - 6 HR= 20 in 17 games Nunez 10R + 13 RBI - 4 HR= 19 in 16 games I'm not taking anything away from Devers here. Without him, we'd have lost a few more games, but Nunez has been huge as well. Small sample size alert, but both have been worth at least a run per game played!

The reason Miami would trade Stanton is to massively cut their budget and set themselves up with 4-5 highly promising or proven players to go forward with. They may pay a tiny bit of the deal, if it meant getting much better players than if they did not, but I doubt they take any significant salary in return, unless it is cost-effective player. No Price. No Castillo. No HRam. Certainly not 2 or 3 of them. Now, maybe with the Cuban population, we can get them to take Castillo, but he's no help off our luxury tax budget, and if we did include him, we'd probably have to add another top prospect or go from something like Beeks to Groome as one of the prospects included.

His age and years left scare the hell out of me, but man-o-man the guy can still hit!

I missed that, but you might be onto something. Before tonight, his K rate was actually down (12.5%> 11.0%> 10.2% last 3 years), but he now has 4 in his last 9 PAs. He also had 8 Ks in 33 PAs from July 30th to August 8th. In between, he had zero in 20 PAs. Combined, that's 12 in his last 62 PAs (56 ABs). That's a 21.4% K rate in his last 12 games.

Just mentioning Devers with these guys is an honor. cp is right. These historical posts are priceless.

If Pedey was back, we could rest Bogey or sit Moreland. The real comp is do you prefer Pedey over Moreland or a slumping (maybe) Bogey in the line-up?

Price's contract just about cancels Stanton's. If the two prospects were Travis and Beeks, I'd surely do it (this winter). If the two prospects were Groome and Chavis, I might do it, but we'd have to sign a SP'er either way. I'm thinking we lose Bogey in 2.3 years anyways. ERod is tough to part with. I'd hand Price away for nothing. Note: Miami will NOT WANT PRICE!

What matters most with Segura's $70M/5 extension was his production before the signing, the buyout of 2017, the $3M bonus and 5 years with a team option for 6 at $17M ($1M buyout) extension. Segura's history: He was 27 when he got the 5 year extension. He will turn 32 during the 5th year. He began playing FT at age 23 and played 4 full seasons before 2017. OPS .752 .614 .616 .867 (.803 so far in 2017) WAR B-R/fangraphs 4.0/3.5 0.6/0.0 0.0/0.3 5.6/5.0 2017 2.2/2.3 Segura played 3 full seasons before his first arb year and made $2.6M his first arb year (2016) and was making $6.2M this year (2nd arb of 3). It's hard to compare Bogey with Segura due to a number of things: 1) Bogey was younger when he started. 2) Bogey has not finished this year, next year and half of 2019. 3) The "going rates" might change in 2 years. Bogey made $4.2M in his first arb year out of 3. He will turn 27 just after his last arb year (close to JS) He started playing FT at age 21. OPS .660 .776 .802 2017: .729 so far WAR 0.3/0.3 4.6/4.3 3.7/4.7 2017 0.9/1.8 Tough call for me to make. Bogey might make $6-8M next year (2nd arb of 3), and depending ho well he's doing, he could make much more in 2019.

You're right. John Henry pays DD and others to "care one big s*** load" about the budget and taxes, so he doesn't have to. I think it's more of a pride thing than an unwillingness to totally open up the wallet and give our GM total free reign to sign anyone and everyone he pleases. We saw how just about every non-Yankee fan hated the Yanks even more for outspending everyone by oodles and oodles. Saying he "bought championships" took away from the perception that he was a good business manager/owner. I don't think JH wants to be thought of as the new George Steinbrenner. (Note: I have absolutely zero evidence to support that idea, but I do think that us straddling the luxury tax line for years indicates an unwillingness to spend more and more until he becomes the new GS.) In my opinion, we will see the budget go about $19M over the luxury limit this winter, or we may save some room for summer spending.

That's different from leadership. Pedey has a strong competitive drive. In some ways that's "leadership" by example. I just don't get a strong sense that Pedey does anything beyond his intense on-field attitude (that I greatly admire, I might add) to "lead this team". We're not privy to much of what goes on or is said in the clubhouse and hotel rooms between players, so I'm not taking a stand on anyone's leadership or poor attitude arguments, unless clear evidence is presented.

To be accurate, I see "fire and desire" now that Nunez & Devers have joined the team. I did not see it before. I'm not talking running out to congratulate a player on a walk-off hit. I'm talking about energy and enthusiasm in between walk off hits. I'm not asking for fake rah-rah emotions and constant dugout cheering or intense looking focus every second of every game by every player, but am I really alone in seeing more mental mistakes with this team than at least any other team in the Henry era? Fundamental running mistakes beyond just very high aggressiveness. Fundamental fielding mistakes (not out of lack of physical skill sets). Farrell, himself, coming out of the dugout to make a pitching change no allowed by the rules. Only the fact that we are still winning despite all the blunders is what is preventing just about all fans from going totally loco on JF's ass. Now, I do see a crazy looking bull pen somehow leading the league in many tough statistical areas. I do see one returning every day player doing better than last year (Vaz). I suppose JF should get credit for that, at least. I know managers are by-and-large judged by wins or losses, but to me, it's always gone far beyond that. On a personal note, I'm usually the last guy calling for a manager's removal. (Bobby V and Tito were two examples.) I think Joe Morgan was the last guy I could not support for most of a season. Yeah, I complain about line-ups and general philosophy, but I rarely use a microscope on every in-game decision. I give the manager the benefit of a doubt in those areas for the most part. I even defended the decision to leave Pedro in the game. I rarely even visit the game threads, in part because knit-picking irritates me and prevents me from enjoying the game. It's really a rare thing that I thrown blame at any one person in a baseball organization (player, coach, manager or GM). As much as I have criticized moves made by DD, I'm not even close to calling for his removal. Not even close to close. I am sure of one thing: I do not think JF is a net positive on this team. I do not think he does enough to be proactive about preventing blunders. I know players should not need to be motivated, but a good manager can and will notice when a team is losing focus or losing enthusiasm and will do what it takes to keep the team positive, focused and enthusiastic.

I'm not actually "for" publicly "calling out" players, unless it's a last resort, and you have some idea it might have a positive influence on a player. My point was that JF is willing to "call-out" a player for a poor performance or even for some unknown reason, but he won't when certain players make multiple mental mistakes within short periods of time. I'm just not sure there is any accountability on blunders. Maybe there is. Maybe JF is very good at secretly addressing this issue, but nonetheless the mistakes keep piling up at a seemingly increasing rate.

Hmmm.

I agree. Paying big money is one thing, but to give up the budget AND top young talent is a double whammy. One major reason I loved the Chris Sale deal was that his contract is relatively low for 3 years.