moonslav59

Did I say it was all on DD? Did ownership have anything to do with the 2 rings?

And two cliffs. (Oh NO, you DIH-ENT!)

With everybody healthy, we might see this (at most)... 2 of 7 at 2B 2 of 7 in LF 1 of 7 at 3B/SS (1 of 14 each) 5 of 7 at most Last year, he had 491 PAs. If he gets 5 of 7 PAs, that's 500 out of 700. He can also PH and PR in games he's not starting.

UZR Position DRS/innings -18.3 SS -42/2091 -17.1 2B -8/359 -10.5 3B -5/1857 +7.0 RF -1/39 +20.8 LF -2/283 (+16.8 OF -3/322)

I'm not a DD basher. I like what he's done. I wish we had Moose instead of Moreland. I wish we had Scherzer instead of Pablo & HRam. I wish we had had Joe Shmoe instead of CC.

His best UZR/150 is the OF. He can make sure JD always plays DH, except in NL parks. He can give Devers a rest. Pedey might be better served playing just 5 days a week. He may be bad at SS, but it's not like Bogey is a plus defender.

He'll be worth double the $6.5M or more this season on fangraph's value formula. He's had an 11.7 fWAR over the last 6 years and was at 3.7 last year. He's only 29 this year.

I don't think I ever criticized you for that opinion, but yes, you were right. Right or wrong, GMs are usually judged in hindsight. Ben should have known Pablo & HRam were going to suck and so on.... Theo should have known CC was about to implode. I'm not being critical of DD on signing JD. I was critical of the Moreland signing before he even signed him, so that is not "hindsight" in my case. Moose was a steal. We missed out on him. He cost the same as Moreland, but for just 1 year. Even moving Moose to 1B and keeping Devers at 3B would have been better than signing Moreland. Why is it so wrong to point that out? I hear people pointing out Ben's mistakes years afterwards.

First of all, I'm not complaining. I said, I liked the JD signing. I'm just saying, in hindsight- and that's how GMs are all to often judged- these bargain deals look like massive steals by other GMs.

I'm not big on attaching any significance to ST'ing numbers, but these are somewhat eye-opening: OPS (18+ PAs) 1.383 Bogey (Looks like the wrist is healed.) 1.328 Beni (Big bump from Beni would be huge.) 1.197 Swihart (Keep it up Swi!) 1.130 Devers (Does this guy ever not hit well?)

We don't really know this. We have ERod and Wright returning at some point- maybe earlier than we think. If Pom stays healthy, we could be okay with just needing one 6th starter until one of those two return. I'd like to add some inexpensive depth, but I'm not sure what's left. Johnson has been on the 40 man roster since 2015. He's dealt with health issues here and there, but he's 27 now and has plkayed 3 years of college ball and 8 years of professional ball. It's finally time, once and for all, to find out what this guy can do. If he fails, we can finally clear his dead weight roster spot. If he does well, we'll have save money for a summer pick-up. Velazquez is 29. He's played in professional ball since 2010 and been under a 3.00 ERA for the last 3 years in a row. I'd like to see what he's got. He looked good in a tiny sample size last year, so let him show what he's got. Keep a short leash on both of these guys, and if the suck, trade for a guy and use the $4M remaining on a pro-rated deal. Also, Elias looked good in Seatlle for a year or two. He's been on the 40 man since 2015. He also has dealt with injuries, but has looked good so far this Spring and had a nice winter league session. I'm not going to say, "He deserves a shot," but I wouldn't be very surprised, if he does well when called upon. Beeks, Haley and Shepherd are a long shots.

They may be poised to swoop in on Arrieta at $9M x 1 or something like that!

Why would I want to move my young 3B to DH so early in his career? You don't think it would have devastating effect on him? Essentially you're saying Devers can't play defense at major league level. So you lie to him and say but we want you to keep practicing at 3B? I'd like to give time to Devers to develop his defense at 3B, but when a guy like Moose comes around at $7M/1, and you had a way to make him fit, you could jump at it. Devers' defense is a significant negative right now, and we have a short window to win it all. Devers could still have played 3B when Moose rested, and we could have DH'd Moose some, too. You're better poker player than I am. DD jumped on first chance to stabilize 1B spot. I think he likes Moreland. There's no way I waited until March 9th sign a position player. JD was different. DD realized JD did not have much of an alternative. He's going to make more money as DH than Ortiz ever did. I get this, and that's why I prefaced my statement with, "In hindsight, we may look back..." DD did not know prices were going to drop this much. Again, I like the JD signing, but these bargain deals look too good to not think, "what if...?"

Yeah, who would want Moustakas over Marrero or Holt. (Sarcasm alert) We could also have traded players (Leon or Swihart) to make room for more bargain basement signings. I hated the Moreland signing, but now it looks worse then awful. I'm not complaining about the JD signing. I liked it. I'm just saying we may look back and say we'd have done better with this... instead of that... This... Morrison (1B) Moustakas (3B) (Devers to DH) Nunez Pitcher instead of.... JDM Moreland Nunez

Moustakas signs for $6.5M! What a steal! $5.5M/1 $1M buyout on mutual option 2nd year at $15M. I'm starting to wonder, if we might have spent our money in a better way. Low risk- short term deals to 3-4 players instead of one big one for JD.

Another 200 to go?

Yes, and a decision to make about where Nunez gets continued PAs. At that time, we might have a catcher on the DL or know enough about Swihart's relationship with our staff to feel secure enough to trade or dump Leon. Another option would be to trade JBJ for a SP'er, use JD and Nunez in LF and move Beni to CF. This seriously hurts our OF defense, but the offense could be stronger. How good the pitcher we get in return would be the key for me agreeing with this plan. Swihart could then play some DH or 1B or LF as HRam DHs or sits so as not to vest. There's all kinds of scenarios that could allow Swihart to play more often, if he is doing well. If he's not doing well, the choice will actually be easier. I'm hopeful.

He does have 4 arb years starting in 2019. Vaz and Leon have 2 more arb years.

I can see not wanting to carry 3 catchers, but since Swihart can play 1B & LF, I think we can make it work, even if just for the first part of the season. I would not trade Swihart after a small ST'ing bump in his value. He could end up being worth much much more.

I don't think Swihart will start at the catcher position much, but he probably would be the best offense at the position of the 3.

I'm for keeping Swihart, at least for a few more months. I wanted him to stay, even before his hot start. If he fizzles out, it's not like we can later say, we missed a chance at getting someone really good in March. I like the idea of being able to PH for a catcher- maybe even twice in a game. Our catching position is, by far, our weakest offensive position. Swihart can also play 1b and OF, so we can avoid playing JD in the OF, if Swihart hits well this year.

I'm not thinking we'd get anyone great- just someone slightly better at a position of need in exchange for 2 guys with no options. The overall return value could even be a little less, if it's a position of need and we clear up roster issues from all these out-of-options players.

Yes, of course. If we need a starter in late May, then we may have to look then. We may need two of the four right away (My guess is the out-of-options Johnson plus Velazquez. If one fails, or someone else gets hurt, we can try Elias or Beeks. It will take 2-3 starts to see, if they can work out, so that's two weeks each. I get the argument that trying these 4 guys first and watching them all fail, could put us in a bind for the playoffs or home field advantage, but I'm not convinced Lackey or Dickey are significant enough upgrades to pay more for and cut into our spending budget for the summer.

I actually think one or two of these four will be alright. Johnsom Velazquez Elias Beeks I just hope we don;t have to go through 2-3 massive failures to find the one or two that work out.

Don't count out Elias.