moonslav59

God, I hope not. We'd just be undoing a skeptical improvement to thh rotation, this winter. If we followed it up with Duran for Lodolo, maybe. Crawford and DHam for Donovan?

That's what keeps me feeling pessimistic. Plus, I'm not big on Bichette for even 5 or 6 years. More likely, if we go for a FA, it will be Suarez or Okamoto on a 2 or 3 year deal.

Probably not, but we may have offered something similar or maybe even slightly more.

This touches on the point I made before winter moves began. Bloom & Brez did a pretty good job building up the foundation with depth from the DSL to the 40 and 26 man roster. The pattern had been and kinda had to be to spread the spending in a more thin way, to fill the many gaps we had. By this winter, we only had 2-3 major needs and 1-2 minor ones. We could and should focus our resources on just a few high quality moves rather than 4-6 near moderate to moderate ones. 2B or 3B (maybe both) 1B #1 or solid 2 SP (maybe two solid 3's or low 2's) Minor needs: LH'd RP (but converted SP'ers could fill this need) Back-up Catcher (minor league C depth) ________________________ Contreras filled the 1B need well enough, to me. S Gray has been the focus of a lot of debate on him being a 2 or 3, but to me, he was about the minimum SP addition needed, and Oviedo made the total SP additions barely acceptable. (Losing Dobbins, Fitts and to a lesser extent Criswell & Perales took a chunk out of that gain.) The losses of Wilson, Bernardino, Murphy, Matz and others has elevated the need for pen help, but again, maybe our SP depth can help out some. (Note: I said the same thing last winter, and we ended up not having enough SP'ers to make it through the season.) That leaves 2B and or 3B and maybe a solid LH'd RP'er. A solid #2 SP'er addition could take the slack off these other needs, but to me, we need one major addition (KMarte, Breggie, Bichette or maybe Suarez) or two semi-major additions (Suarez, Donovan or maybe a Vientos type PLUS a solid P like Mitch Kelly, Alanatara, Gore, Bubic, Singer or a really good RP'er.) We aren't in a horrible situation if we just need 1-2 significant adds.

Astros get the Imai prize! $18M x 3 years. He's just 27 years old.

To BOS: Paredes & Mitch Kelly To; HOU: Kutter Crawford (If they want or need, and since they are losing 2 infielders, give them DHam) To PIT: Brice Matthews (If HOU does not want or need DHam add him to PIT) This is more complicated: To BOS: Paredes, Keller, B King, B Sousa, W Janek To HOU: K Campbell, K Crawford, DHam & Wong To PIT: B Matthews

While the idea of Mayer at 3B (maybe Eaton or Romy as a partial or full platoon) and DHam/Romy at 2B might work out okay, is it really what we feel good about? It's a big step down from Bregman at 3B and a mix at 2B. The Contreras addition does not offset the Bregman loss. Then, what offsets the Devers, Ref and Lowe losses? That's bout 660 PAs. We can hope and pray another 330 PAs from Anthony makes up for half that loss, but now we're at the point where we need to hope for zero injuries or some major step up by someone like Abreu, Rafaela, Mayer or maybe Duran having a career year better than 2024. Some sort of patch fix like Vientos or Donovan would help, but I seriously doubt either would be enough, and neither is worth trading one of our OF'er for. To me, Paredes, Suarez or Okamoto are about the level we need to begin to have hope we will be at least as good as 2025 on paper- maybe better with just a little luck. KMarte, Bregman or Bichette might get us to a surer plus over 2025, with nothing else added: no LH'd RP'er. No #2 SP'er. No second addition to the infield. I keep reading all this talk about one more big and bold trade or signing is in the works, and maybe it is. I'd like to see two, but that would mean JH is spending more than I think he will and or we'd be trading away more of the future than I'm comfortable doing.

Had we upped our Bogey offer to $220M/8 or $240M/9 and landed him, would be happy with the deal, right now? How about $200M/7? $180M/6? $170M/5?

So, your assumption is no news means bad news.

It's hard to know, but I doubt it's the 60 day IL. There has been very little info on Crawford, Sandoval and Casas.

Think context. How many teams have 3 quality SP'ers? Maybe 8-12? How many of those 8-12 have 6 decent depth pitchers? 0-2? Yes, quality and depth within the context of what other teams have. Name 3 other teams that have the quality and depth. Maybe 8-12 have one or the other- maybe. I bet no more than 3 teams, including us, have both.

If Campbell could give us an .800 OPS, his defense at 2B might not matter much, It would allow us to trade an OF'er and Crawford for a solid #2 SP.

Campbell won't improve at 2B, if he never plays there.

Maybe we are due to get one right. Even Buehler was a similar type gamble. Richards, Kluber, Paxton twice, Wacha, Hill, Hendriks, Sandoval & Buehler. I'm probably forgetting someone.

Great idea! Masa & Hicks for Trout and $80M. BTV calls it a "moderate overpay" by the Sox. ($100M cash would make it even.)

He may end up moving up to the 2 slot in the rotation, or be DFA'd by the trade deadline. Patrick Sandoval 2021-2022: 3.17 ERA (132 ERA+) 3.44 FIP and 2.6 K:BB 2023-2024: 4.45 ERA (98 ERA+) 4.07 FIP and 1.9 K:BB

I'm convinced KC should not play 2B, again, unless he shows improvement in AAA first. Since he is apparently being used in LF, that won't happen anytime soon. His "natural position" might be DH. The Sox often "hide" a bad defender in LF, but we are loaded in the OF, so IMO, we should trade one.

If Romy is not needed as a Mayer platoon, the comp being made should be DHam/Romy vs FT Donovan. (I guess we could platoon Donovan and Romy, too.) I'd prefer Donovan, but I agree with those making the case that the gain made might not balance out what we give up to get him.

Well said, and if you believe Campbell is a major part of our plans for 2026 and beyond, he have 5 OF'er and 4 DHs (counting KC twice.) OF: Anthony, Duran, Abreu, Rafaela, Campbell (Masa) DH: Masa, Casas, Campbell, Romy (Duran) I would not trade a 4/5 slot pitcher, unless we upgrade to a 2/3 SP'er. I like our rotation depth, but we've already reduced it enough.

Some teams have bigger stars or even 2-3 better than ours, but I like our depth. Our pitching depth has made a major leap upwards, since Brez took over, too. Positional: 8-9 Anthony & Campbell 6 Rafaela 5+ Narvaez, Mayer, Arias, Gonzales, Godbout, Soto, Romero & more 4 Abreu, DHam 3 Duran, Casas, Romy, Wong 2-3 Story, Contreras Pitching: 6 Crochet 5+ Tolle, Early, Bennet, Witherspoon, Valera, Phillips, Sandlin, Eyanson, Holobetz & more 5 Harrison 4-5 Bello 4 Slaten 3 Crawford 1-2 or 2 year guys: Chapman, S Gray, Oviedo, Houck, Masa, Hicks 1 year left: Whitlock & Sandoval

The Angels finally rid themselves of Rendon by restructuring his remaining money owed, but are showing interest in Arenado? Is there a worse management group in all of sports?

Well, I think we really need a LH'd RP'er and HOU has two good ones. I don't think now is the time to build up the farm, but I get your point. If Paredes ends up evening up Duran on O and fills our great need at 3B (and back-up 1B,) then maybe it's not a bad idea. BTV values HOU prospects as such: 22 Neyens SS 11 K Alvarez OF (nope) 10 Matthews SS/2B (MLB, now) 9 Janek C & Mayer P BTV accepts: HOU: Duran 46 BOS: Paredes 12, Neyens 22 PLUS King7 or Sousa 5 or BOS: Paredes 12, Matthews 10, King 7 & Sousa 5 or BOS: Paredes 12, Neeyens 22 & Matthews 10 (not sure HOU does this.) How about Duran 46 for Paredes 12, Matthews 10, Janek 9 & King 7? I'd do Duran for Paredes, Neyens, Janek & Sousa.

Do you think the half season of DHam in 2024 is more "the real" DHam, or all the rest? Donovan's numbers are more sure and proven. The 50+ OBP edge is significant. I'm not sure what STL wants for Donovan, but I do think the 32 BTV number is kinda high. That's like Crawford + Phillips high. I'd like someone better than Donovan. I'd prefer JH just pay for Okamoto or Suarez, and trade Duran for Lodolo or some 3-way trade you insist needs to happen to get a solid #2 SP'er for Duran. (Add a piece like Harrison or DHam/Sandlin/Mullins, if needed.)

I really like Paredes and think his 11 value on BTV is way too low. Maybe Duran's 46 is too high, but I think Duran for Paredes, King AND Sousa is still an overpay by the Sox.

I thought about King over Sousa. He's younger and has a similar K:BB rate. Abreu has one year at about $5M arb. I doubt HOU gives us both King and Sousa with Paredes, but BTV still rates it an almost 2:1 value give by the Sox. How about this: BOS: Paredes, Donovan & Sousa HOU: Duran & Sandlin STL: Matthews & Neyens