moonslav59

Taking back a big(ger) salary is one way to unload Yoshida. Adding a decent prospect or two to the deal might be another. Paying $12-14M a year is another. I do think an important step towards building a winning 26 and 40 man roster is that when you feel you are close to getting "there," you need to identify the highest areas of improvement needed and where you have depth that is as good or nearly as good as the starter and use those two aspects as driving forces to create a trade. Almost every MLB roster, at some point in the season, carries players like Toro, Eaton and Sanchez, but also guys like Grissom and Yoshida, who offer just enough hope and value to think they should get another chance. When you look back at 2020, the 5 guys I just listed are probably better than 10-15 on that roster, but that doesn't make it okay. 1 -2, okay- maybe 3, but 5 or more is limiting your manager's choices. With 10 guys on the 60, we were able to expand the choices, and many have worked out well. I'd really like to see us go into 2026 with no Yoshida, Grissom, or guys like Toro, Eaton and Sanchez. Maybe one guy like Sogard is okay. Guys like DHam are borderline, but he plays good 2B D (a weak area) and can PR, too. Okay, so Sogard and DHam are our 39th and 40th roster slots. The rest need to have better value that them. We've backed ourselves into a roster crunch by needing to add Tolle and early to the 40 before Rule 5. Chances are, they'd have been added in 2026, anyway, but adding them now creates a winter 40 man crunch, since there is no 60 Day IL to stash players and make the 40 man into a 50 man roster. We don't have big Rule 5 crunch, this year (maybe Sandlin, Mullins and ___?) That will help. I'm also thinking our roster is at the point where we need to narrow the focus on additions that are higher quality and not be thinking quantity by trying to half-fill our 5-6 biggest need areas. We don't have 5-6 open slots. Better to choose 2-3 major areas of concern and add just 2-3 top quality players. No more Buehlers, Wilsons and Hicks types. I'm thinking maybe even Lowe needs to be nontendered and upgraded. Fred is right about there being too much "mediocrity," but just don't tell him I said that. (Also, I disagree that guys like Rafaela or sub mediocre or at the mediocrity level.) If we can pull off a 3 for 1 trade for someone like Ryan or Keller, then maybe we can go from 2-3 to 3-5 major additions, but then we start butting aginst JH's wallet.

Yoshida is always my elephant. Duran could DH and be the 4th OF'er. Ref, KC or Jh Garcia could be kept around as a RHB option, but not all 3.

I thought so, too.

Many wondered if Dave Roberts was enough. Did the scorecard change afterwards? Was Nate viewed as a coup, at the time? So, May + Matz+ Lowe has not been better than we expected from these 3? Nothing has changed?

Part of the issue with trying to make trades at the deadline, is everyone wants a guy(s) better than the one Brez offered. We have a lot of talent on the farm, and maybe GMs thought the deserved better, because we have better, where other teams do not. Or, other teams have 1-2 guys better, but all they have are 1-2, so they cling to their pair. Until I see firm offers made, I'm withholding judgement, and we may never know for sure offers out their. Tolle plus others for Ryan scares me. I was one throwing Early's name around with Duran or Abreu, and maybe that would have been a bad idea trading him. Brez got us Lowe and Matz at or after the deadline. He missed on May, but that ended up forcing Tolle and Early to get a look-see. Maybe they do better than Ryan or keller have and will do since the deadline. Maybe not. This site is famous for hindsight judgements, which is normal, but why is the focus only on May for some? Matz and Lowe have more than made up for May's 3 bad starts in 5 outings. Newcomb had 3 of 5 bad starts. Even Dobbins had 5 of 11 starts that were bad. That's not much better than 3 out of 5. Houck had 6 of 9 bad starts. We are 2-8 in Fitts starts. Joe Ryan has a 5.05 ERA since the deadline and has 3 bad starts in 7.

I was talking about why we did not choose to promote Mulline to AAA, after the AA season ended. Murphy was going to be demoted for Harrison's promotion, and yes, that's 14 pitchers and the limit. I haven't seen it announced, yet, and apparently Tolle starts, today- not Harrison.

I've been a big Pivetta supporter and have claimed he's been better than many claim he is (was,) but even I was not banging the drum to bring him back. I was not high on Buehler, but he did get just 1 year, so I was not upset or complaining we chose him over Nick.

Maybe Tolle goes 3-4 IP and Harrison follows with 3-4 IP. Day off, then a 6 man rotation, except we have another day off on Monday and then the next Monday. The only time we have 6 straight games is from Sept 16-21 and then 23-29. If we called up Harrison, then, it would work better. Here is the day off schedule: today off 3 games off 6 games off 6 games end of regular season

That's how I feel, but I am not so sure Rafaela deserves a slot all that much more than Abreu and Duran. Abreu should be given a chance to play FT. He improved more vs LHPs, this year and has the same two year OPS vs LHPs as Duran. He's a way better defender than Duran and his abilities in RF make him pretty close to Rafaela's defensive value in CF. Duran might be a platoon batter, if his speed wasn't such an extra asset. He's a good defender but not like Rafaela and Abreu. My guess is Jh Garcia is better on D than he is and can play RF better. (Maybe not CF.) As much as we've talked about the need to trade a LHB OF'er, I'm wondering if trading Rafaela, Jh Garcia or Campbell might be a better choice. The return value changes things, too. IMO, Anthony is the only "Keeper," although I'll trade anyone for a better return. I'm a big fan of defense and Rafaela, but I like Abreu's D and everything Duran brings to the table, too. We could keep the 4 of them, if the DH slot was open, but it isn't, as of now. We don't get Ryan for KC + JH Garcia + 2 from Clarke, Paez, Sandlin & Mullins.

He has to be better with the bat to beat our Jh Garcia for a corner OF slot. I'm not sure he can be "that much" better, but he does seem to have the potential to be so. Both are RHBs, as is Rafaela, so I'm not sure we keep all 3 as FT or near FT OF'ers, since we have 3 more proven LHB OF'ers in Anthony, Duran and Abreu. I seriously doubt we start next year with these 6 still on the 40.

What happened to the 6 man rotation with Harrison, today and Tolle on Friday? I know the day off would give a 5 man rotation and extra day off, but why the change?

I thought $72M seemed out of whack.

Where does Harrison fit in, or does he not?

Rookies who played this year for the Sox K Campbell .664 OPS in 284 PAs (AAA) C Narvaez (6 gms w NYY in '24) R Fitts 5.00 in 45 IP on IL (4 starts in '24) H Dobbins 4.13 in 61 IP (IL) L Guerrero 4.15 in 17.1 IP on IL (10 IP in '24) R Anthony .859 OPS in 303 PAs (IL) M Mayer .674 in 136 PAs (IL) Jh Garcia .619 in 9 PAs (AAA) P Tolle 7.56 in 8.1 IP C Early 0.00 in 5IP

Bailey can work with Matz. Wilson was a good signing because of his last 9 IP if 2024 (1.14 FIP.)

I cherry picked the date, but still... AL since June 30th: (about 60 games) 39-21 BOS (23-14 in last 37) 37-23 TOR (23-14) 34-26 KCR (21-16) 34-27 TEX (19-19) 33-28 SEA (19-18) & CLE (16-11) 32-28 NYY (23-14) 32-27 ATH (20-16) 30-30 BAL (18-19) 29-30 DET (20-16) 28-32 HOU (18-19) 27-33 CWS (16-21) 26-35 LAA (15-22) 24-36 MIN (13-25) 24-35 TBR (17-19) Since AUG 21st 12-5 TEX 12-6 BOS 11-6 NYY 10-6 TBR 10-7 CWS 8-7 TOR 9-8 HOU & CLE 8-8 SEA 8-9 KCR & ATH 7-10 BAL 6-9 DET (collapse?) 6-11 LAA 6-12 MIN

I don't pay for BTV, so I don't have their data. Good point, but I don't think they view KC's contract, since the annual cost is not bad, as a minus. We could give them Jh Garcia and maybe up the pitching quality to Dobbins and Paez plus Sandlin or Mullins, but I'm sure BTV dislikes that one, too. What did BTV think of my MN offer?

I agree. He must be thinking he won't get a big offer after 3 years. The $120M/3 vs $175M/5 comp, shows' he'd need to make $55M/2 or more (like $70M/3?) to break even. He'll be going into his 35 year old season after 3 years.

The obvious choice is DH, but we have 13 of those, already.

I read somewhere that he had trouble judging the the hooks on balls hit to COF, but they didn't really give him much time there in AAA. My guess is, they want to first see, if he can play 1B well enough, and our OF overload might be a factor, too. (RHB OF'ers: Rafaela & Jh Garcia are both better defenders.)

They saved about $400K on Phillips and paid B Morgan $350K more, too.

That's about as mute a point as I've ever seen. It's even moot. I agreed with you. I think we get some plus value from the trade. I'm higher on Holobetz than some, but I also like Phillips chances and agree that Eyanson is a consideration- just maybe not 100%. If Eyanson and/or Phillips sucks, my point is not moot, since you tied them together with the money aspect, and this sort of debate is always going on.

Would Bregman take $120M/3 over $150M/4 or $175M/5?

1. LF: he needs to work on the angles, but I'd rather have him in LF than CF. 2. DH 3. 1B

It rubs off.