moonslav59

He could have been a signing that balanced our line-up, had we gone ahead and traded Casas for pitching or made Casas the FT DH, and dumped Yoshida. $60M/3, these days, seems like a steal.

Yes, they "jumped on Story" as it seemed nobody else wanted him. The "jump" ws more on the price than the "quickness." Yes, they "jumped on Yoshida," because they likes him since he was in diapers. It appeared nobody else came close to thinking he was worth over $100M in total costs. To me, we continuously make outrageously low bids on the top FAs we "are in on." Only the reported $700M Soto offers breaks from that trend, IMO. But, when it comes to flawed candidates, we seem to jump to the top and "overpay:" Diekman, Story, Yoshida, Paxton, Hendriks, and now Chapman and Sandoval. Some thought Wacha was an overpay stab in the dark, but I think other teams liked him nearly as much. Maybe my disgust with team management is clouding my judgment: it wouldn't be the first time. I can readily admit to thisi, but this seems to have a grain of truth to it, at least. We simple go gah-gah over the wrong guys.

If we are willing to call up a pitcher for a spot start, instead of going with a pen game, we should be able to avoid them. One hurdle is already passed: 4 are one the 40 man roster, already (Craiswell, Priester, Fitts and Dobbins.) We should try to avoid using Whitlock or Wink as "openers." If we add another starter, which I am doubting more and more, as time goes by, then Crawford in the pen could be used as a spot starter or 3-5 inning relief guy. Adding 1 solid SP and 1 solid RP'er would give us "plus" depth on paper. In 2024, we used 13 pitchers to start/open a game- maybe 6 or 7 were "openers." Shockingly, we used 34 different pitchers during the season. Two were nonpitchers, who pitched 4 times (4IP 0 ER,) so 32 identified as pitchers. (Some say they were born pitchers, but I think the public school system got them to trans to pitching.) 26 pitchers had 5+ IP and 23 had 10+ IP. Here is who we lost or who may not pitch for the big team in 2025: (IP rank) 4. Pivetta 146 (103 ERA+) 10. Jansen 55 (130) 11. Anderson 52 (89) 13. Martin 44 (124) 15. Keller 25 (74) 18. Horn 18 (67) 19. Garcia 15 (53) 20. Sims 14 (68) 21. Joely 14 (74) 22. Paxton 11 (108) 28. Uwasawa 4 (206) 29. Hill 4 (95) Note: we tend to focus on the losses of Pivetta, Jansen and Martin, which is truly a significant 245 IP lost, but the rest on this list total over 152 IP. That's pretty significant, too.

We do have a record of "jumping" on players we like and overpaying. Yoshida and Story come to mind. Chapman was not even listed on MLBTR's top 50 FA list, which bottoms out at $8M/1, and we signed him at over $10M/1. Maybe someone else was involved, but I haven't heard of anyone interested in him. We can't assume we won a serious bidding war.

I'm not sure it is "discounting" but rather the realization that almost every team does not look to trade away young pitchers with talent, or even just promising young pitchers, and if they are pressed to do so, they ask for the world in return. I'd love to get some of the young pitchers you have mentioned, but it's hard to determine what sort of return package should or has to be. Would you trade Anthony for any of these guys? (They might demand him and maybe others, too.)

Castillo has been one of MLB's most healthy and successful pitchers for several years. True, we aren't the only team signing guys on the IL and hoping they comeback in months, but I'm not sure there was any bidding war on PS.

Stealing one of notin's ideas, let's get some kids in the game, while adding some quality talent in key areas? Trade Story and whatever cash it would take to get RHB Sean Murphy to catch. Sign Bregman and Hoffman. Trade Abreu, Grissom and Fitts for Mitch Keller. 1. Duran LF v R/CF v L 2. Bregman 3B 3. Casas DH/1B 4. Devers 1B/DH 5. Murphy C 6. Anthony RF 7. Campbell 2B 8. Mayer SS 9. Rafaela CF v R/ Refsnyder LF v L Bench: Wong, Rafaela/Ref, DHam, Romy (Yoshida) SP: Crochet, Houck, Keller, Bello, Giolito RP: Hoffman, Chapman, Hendriks, Slaten, Whitlock, Crawford, Winckowski, Wilson Rotation: Better Pen: Better Defense: way Better RHB-LHB balance: way Better Bench: Better AAA depth: Better

Nobody was bidding that high, except maybe Cohen getting JH back for the Soto push.

Always enjoyable reads. While I do agree that JH is making our CBO/GMs job near impossible, he's not holding a gun to their heads over Sandoval. $18M is enough to do better, even if just for a dreaded one year deal. $18M added to the next guy we sign could have gotten healthy quality over speculative promises.

I still think he's better than a good #3. I'm not for upgrading a #4 or #5, but I see him as better than that, and I see real value added with Crawford eating 90-120 innings from the pen and spot starts. I think we can do better. Maybe my suggested offers were overpays, and yes, I'd prefer Miller or Woo, of just sign a damn FA quality SP'er, already, but if we signed Bregman and traded for Castillo, we'd be much better off.

From the "full throttle" to this year's comments about the CBT not being an issue, this winter and the near total lack of any meaningful financial expenditures, so far, is keeping me in sham frame of mind, until I see concrete actions, and the emphasis is on that "S" on the end of the word action.

I know there is a lot of winter left. There are plenty of quality players still on the market, with some big spending teams laying off a few of them. We have three top prospects ready or near ready to make their mark in MLB. We have a bunch of players coming back, next year after being hurt for much or all of 2024. We added an exciting young pitcher with nasty stuff and a good LH's RP'er. There is a lot to be optimistic about... BUT... We still have clear and long-standing weaknesses. 1. We need better pitching. Period. A really good SP'er AND RP'er may not be enough. 2. Our Corner IF defense had been god-awful for several years, and we've done nothing about it, but claim their bats more than make up for it. (Newsflash: their bats can still be in the line-up, just not at 3B.) 3. We need a real catcher. Defense is most important, but an all around one would be better. 4. A power RHB. We don't need to fix all 4 of these, and maybe Narvaez can be the next Sandy Leon, but we can and MUST fix at least 2 of these 4 areas before opening day. There is no excuse. Bregman would fix the corner IF D and take a big bite out of our needs vs LHPs. (Teoscar or Santander only fix the RHB need, but if we trade Abreu and or Rafaela to make OF space for them, than maybe that fixes two needs.) Signing Burnes, Flaherty or Scott would fix one of our biggest needs. Two would be heavenly. (Signing Manaea and Hoffman would do the same.) I suppose we could skimp and do okay with Pivetta, Hoffman and an Arenado trade, but I'd still be disappointed in the total winter plan.

If he just spent up to but below the tax line, we could have a clear playoff contending team in 2025 and an even better looking extended outlook.

So, I wonder who we DFA to make room for Sandoval, who will be placed on the 60 Day IL, day one of the season. MLBTR says we are still $50M under the tax line, which should not even be a firm budget limit, anyway. That's still enough for Burnes and Teoscar or Bregman and Flaherty. Maybe enough for Teoscar, Buehler & Hoffman.

9 teams went over the tax line- nearly 1/3 of the league... Dodgers: $103MM Mets: $97.1MM Yankees: $62.5MM Phillies: $14.4MM Braves: $14MM Rangers: $10.8MM Astros: $6.5MM Giants: $2.4MM Cubs: $570K Teams pay escalating penalties for exceeding the threshold in consecutive seasons. The Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, and Phillies have all paid the tax in at least three straight years — subjecting them to the highest escalator fees. Texas and Atlanta are second-time payors. Houston, San Francisco, and the Cubs did not exceed the threshold in 2023 and are marked as first-time payors.

Halftime, and ND is looking okay. Weird how the NCAA didn't make all the first round playoff games prime time events. They are playing during NFL games: how dumb!

Oh, you mean AAV, not total dollars, and even then it's $18M vs maybe $29M. I hate this deal. I'm not defending it.

I do think Crochet and Fried are pretty close. D Williams and Chapman are not very far apart. We lost O'Neill and they lost Soto and got Bellinger. We lost Pivetta, Jansen & Martin, and they lost Holmes and Cortes. Not miles apart.

You do know this isn't a "bidding war" for Sasaki, right?

Same money?

Hey. maybe we can plan of Buehler for 15 starts to start the year, then swap places on the IL with Sandoval, and Sandoval can finish the season with 15 starts. 15+15=30. WHAT A PLAN!!!!

Top FAs left, per MLBTR projections: 200/7 Burnes (might get 250/8) 182/7 Bregman (might get 200/8) 125/5 Alonso (maybe 130/5) 115/5 Flaherty (125/5?) 80/4 Santander (95/5?) 60/3 Teoscar (69/3) 60/3 Manaea (66/3?) (End of top 11) 56/4 Scott (64/4?) 44/4 Hoffman (48/4?) 27/3 Estevez (30/3?) Not interested.... 45/3 Profar (56/4?) 36/2 Torres (45/3?) 24/2 Pederson & Heaney (25/2?) (End of top 25) Others of interest: 21/1 Pivetta (76/4?) 20/2 Quintana (22/2) 16/2 Minter (17/2) 14/1 Yates (15/1) 14/2 Kittredge (15/2), 13/2 Kahnle, 11/1 Robertson, Jansen, Martin, Sewald 16/1 Scherzer, 15/1 Buehler, 13/1 Gibson, 12/1 Verlander, Morton, L Lynn

Two... https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/u/uwasana01.shtml

Perfect fit for their lame philosophy, yes.

Oh... I remember. I was just listing the pitching pattern.