moonslav59

Good list. I'd say Cora did a good job in '21, so maybe a two-hit wonder. How would you order these needs? I'd go: 1. Injury risks 2. Catching, 3, Closer, 4. LHB, 5. 3B defense, 6. 1B defense

K Jansen gets $10M/1.

On our opening day 40 man roster, a lot will depend on how many players we place on the 60 Day IL and who is added. We may still add 1-2 players from outside the system to fill some slots. I'd say Chris Murphy, Perales and Sandoval are locks to be placed on the 60 Day IL, but maybe not day one of ST'ing. Yoshida and Giolito are supposed to be ready by opening day. Whitlock might start the season on the 10 Day IL and miss 2-3 weeks, but I doubt he goes to the 60, unless there is some sort of setback. Maybe we add a RHB from outside the system (Bregman or Arenado?) I doubt we add a pitcher for the other slot, so maybe it will be Campbell and/or Anthony or some utility type player like Eaton or Toro. (maybe Fulmer) Let's assume Arenado & Campbell... (Whitlock on 10 Day IL) The 26: SP: Crochet, Houck, Bello, Buehler, Giolito, Crawford RP: Hendriks, Chapman, Slaten, Winckowski, Wilson, Weissert, Guerrero (replaced by Whitlock, later) C: Wong & Narvaez 1B/DH: Devers & Casas 2B: Campbell & DHam 3B: Arenado SS: Story LF: Yoshida & Refsnyder CF: Duran RF: Abreu & Rafaela Farm: P: Criswell, Fitts, Priester, Dobbins, Whitlock (IL) Kelly, Penrod (Fulmer?) Non P: Grissom, Romy, Sabol, Sogard, Jh Garcia ( Eaton or Toro?)

2024 was his worst, but the 3-4 years before 2024 were not vintage Bregman, either. OPS+ 144 from '16-'19 122 from '20-'24 120 from '23-'24 117 in 2024 He has been in decline for about 4-5 years. OPS vs LHPs since 2023: .794 Casas .704 Bregman .654 Arrenado I get the idea of improving 3B defense, but let's not pretend this is "balancing" the L-R line-up problem.

Would you do this deal? Casas, Fitts, Castro & Mullins for Arenado ($8M x 3,) Helsley & Herrera?

We are $31M under the tax line. I doubt we go over by choosing these two guys. Why would we take Arenado's full contract, when STL is willing to pay a pretty big chunk of it? I wouldn't give a prospect even if they pay near half.

They haven't done a stupid trade since Sale. LOL

They'd have to give us Herrera and Helsely, plus cash.

So, 11 and 18 means bottom 11% and 18%? He places 70th out of the top 270 batters by PA since 2023. (600+ PAs) His .194 ISO is better than 74% of MLB batters (30 teams x 9 batters=270 sample size.) Say "duh" all you want, but I was legitimately asking for an explanation, and with good cause. What am I missing?

Casas hits LHPs better than Arenado and Bregman, over the past 1-2 seasons. Neither swap outs would help in that area. It's not just about batting from the right side: you actually need to het lefties well to be a solution to that problem. This deal(s) would be about defense, and if we dealt Casas, it would hurt the O and cost a lot of money. I'm a firm no on trading Casas to add one or both of these guys. I'm a no on Arenado for a bag of balls, if he costs us more than $11-13M/yr. Bregman at 2B is a firm no, but with Arenado at 3B, it's not bad, but I'd still want Devers at 1B/DH and Casas at DH/1B with Yoshida gone or in a LF platoon with Ref.

Bregman has not done great in 4-5 years. I'd like him on this team for his defense, but he is not the RHB solution, nor should he be viewed as an .800 hitter.

It looks like we might start the season with a 6 man rotation, but if everyone is healthy and doing fine, we will likely move to 5. I think Crawford should be the pen's long man, when that happens.

Suzuki is being shopped, but I really like the Abreu-Rafaela platoon with Anthony and Duran taking the other slots. We need a closer, a catcher and improved corner IF defense. A RHB, who can fill one of those last 2 slots makes more sense, to me, than a RHB OF'er. I was fine with a one and done signing like Grichuk or Laureano, but I'm not high on the idea of trading assets for a RF'er. Also, Campbell could end up in the OF and is a RHB.

Only makes sense, if we have a deal in place to dump Yoshida. Even then, I'd look elsewhere.

If we trade Story, he'll win the MVP.

Not sure what this shows. Half is off the grid.

That could still be the "driver," but I do think he still is a business man at heart. In baseball, the largest profit might be when the owner sells, and you look at what he bought the team for. It's hard to know what makes JH tick, and if whatever it is has changed.

140-150 games at .740, not just any 140 games.

I used to think maybe JH was trying to show/prove how smart he was by building a team on a lower budget than others, but that won more often. Sort of a pride thing. I don't think that anymore. I think he got the 4 rings and lost the desire or need to get more. It's more about making money, now, and in a way, he resting on his laurels. I do think he wants to win, and I mean another ring, but not by becoming Cohen North. I honestly think he and his minions may have felt they were putting a competitive team on the field for most year- maybe not ring faves, but better than they actually turned out to be. The never seemed to get any sense of urgency, however, so that kind of hints at an ownership group that felt okay with what was going on, as long as the profits were still good enough. Wanting to win, thinking your team is good enough to win and actually winning are three different things. I kinda feel like the Story signing was a stab at appeasing the fans while also making us a decent playoff contender. Maybe they felt that way about Yoshida, too. Maybe these two failed deals and all the $10M/1 failures got the top brass to decide it's just not worth spending more and more: throwing good money after bad. While some owners might think, maybe we need a management team that actually signs good players, they decided to build the farm and make only short-term deals.

I would think adding Bregman would raise that to 53-55%.

I'd agree to near impossible on 145+ games played.

As long as Story plays 150+ games (ok, 140+) of near GG defense and hits over .750 (ok, .725+) he can K 300 times.

I truly believe they are actively making decisions based on how they can minimize losing fans (and adding fans) while spending the least amount of possible. I think they honestly believe they have been successful in doing that. Of course, they wish we'd win more, and I think they actually believe they built teams that they felt should have did better, but they knew all along these teams were never legit contenders. I don't know about "sitting gleefully," but I think they are happy with their profit lines, but do worry about losing fans or potentially losing some, going forward. They like the way the farm has rebounded. They are putting a lot of trust in that. They just used some farm capital to add Crochet. That has not happened since DD. I fully believe they believe in their plan. They are not happy with the W-L results, of course, but they are happy with the profits. Sorry, if I was not clear about what they were happy with.

IMO, we have a 50-50 shot at making the playoffs, now- without Bregman.

Is being 70th in ISO out of 270 batters with 600+ PAs since 2023, "not all that much?" I guess that point could be made for a top 26% player. He's 88th in SLG, which is top 33%. He's 41st in HRs at 50 and 59th in PAs, so this indicates he's not all that full of power. Man, we are obviously running out of things to talk about, if this gets so much exposure.