moonslav59

Walker to HOU for $60M/3. (Exactly what MLBTR projected.) PHI signs Kepler for $10M/1.

Signed Paxton for the end of '22 and all of '23: he missed '22 and part of '23. Signed Hendriks for the end of '24 and all of '25: we've yet to see one pitch. Signed Sandoval for the end of '25 and all of '26: any guess what will (not) happen? But hey, in 2023, we played it safe and signed iron man Kluber.

We'll be lucky if he's ready by opening day 2026.

I agree, Nick. This signing is horrible, especially for a team that is pinching pennies. This likely means we will not sign a big FA pitcher. If all we end up signing is Bregman, Teoscar or Santander, it will still be a failed winer.

This is just what I hoped we did NOT do.

Sandoval is a Sox Type 2 signing. Type 1: Add or extend a pitcher with a long or recent history of injuries: Sale, Nate, Whitlock, Richards, Kluber, Hill & Wacha Type 2: Add a pitcher you know is out for a few months, hope they come back at the end of year one but always ends up being year two, if that: Paxton, Hendriks & Fulmer Type 3: Add pitchers who seem to have no major injury history, but once they join the Sox, BAM! Thornburg & Giolito I'm sure I forgot someone.

You wonder, if the Mets end up winning a ring, if cohen will seek a new shiny toy.

I feel the same way, and even if Anthony or Campbell never help in the OF in '25, our OF is still a strength. LF: Duran v R/ Ref v L CF: Rafaela v R/ Duran v L RF: Abreu v R/ Rafaela v L

It was easy to forget just how good he was in differing roles before the 2023 bummer season. He showed some nasty stuff before this season, so I am very hopeful this season was the real Houck.

I might have Castro 28th or 29th.

Mitch Keller is no top of rotation starter, but he'll be just 29 in April. The Pirates extended him, and back-loaded the deal, so they appear to be looking to unload him, already (year 2 of a 5 year deal.) He'll be 33, when his contract ends. His tax hit is a reasonable $15.4M. (He'd get more as a FA.) His 3 year numbers: 4.13 ERA (103 ERA+) 3.92 FIP/1.31 WHIP with about 9Ks and 3 BB per 9IP (1.1 HR/9) Here is how he ranks among 153 SP'ers with 200+ IP since 2022: 15th in IP at 525 and 14th in GS, so looks durable & dependable 35th in fWAR at 7.5 (avg 2.5 per season) Near Wacha & Bassitt 59th in xFIP at 3.91 (Near Flaherty, Monty and Bello) 63rd in FIP at 3.93 77th in ERA- at 97 (Near Singer, Rodon, Monty, Flaherty & Stroman) By the rankings, he looks like an okay #3 SP'er, with a solid workload that pushes his value up to maybe an okay #2. So, to me, he looks like an upgrade over Crawford and Giolito and maybe Bello, depending on what direction Bello takes. I'd like him in our rotation, but would prefer we just sign Burnes or not have to give up anything and just sign Flaherty or Manaea. What would it take to get him? His salary is a drag on PIT's budget: $15,4M>$16.9M>$18.4M>20.4M, but he's not a "dump." I certainly would not give a top 3 prospect for him, and would hesitate to give up Arias, but I would consider Abreu or Bleis, Cespedes or JH Garcia. I'm not sure they'd take Rafaela, even if we added DHam. If we were looking to expand the trade, maybe asking for switch-hitting Reynolds to play LF might be a fit, instead of signing Teoscar or Santander. His career splits are .842 vs R and .772 v L, so he does not really fit the big bat v LHP need. He turns 30, soon and is signed through 2030 at a tax hit of just $13.3M. His pay goes up, too, but not as quickly as Keller's. I'm not sure I really want him. I think I'd rather keep Abreu & Rafaela.

At this point, I'm just throwing things at the wall. Of course, the best plan is to just spend, and then spend some more. Burnes or Flaherty Bregman or Teoscar (maybe Santander) If we can't get one of the above, get one plus Hoffman, Scott, Manaea or Estevez.

Could be, but part of the deal could be to make STL pay it off.

Castillo is better than Crawford, Gio and Bello, but we could get some money thrown in.

I agree: we need to see action, as in some serious spending to show a true commitment. I would not call Crochet "crickets," but Chapman and he are not nearly enough to show an improvement over a team that missed the playoffs. While I agree that Anthony, as well as Campbell and Mayer are pure speculative values, I am near certain one or two will be plusses, this year. I mean how sure are we of DHam, Grissom, Narvaez or even Rafaela (or Abreu v LHPs?) Make big signing or two moderate ones, one more trade from surplus areas and we should be much better on paper. If we look much better but disappoint, well, at least we can say we tried.

One of the stories on the possible Casas to SEA trade rumors was that they were looking for a RHB 1Bman, not a lefty. Now, there is a rumor they are looking at Josh Naylor- a LHB. Would you do Casas for Castillo? If SEA says no, would you add Rafaela or DHam? I doubt SEA does Casas, Abreu & Fitts for Miller or Woo.

They still have Castro 18th. Sometimes they really stick with certain players way too long.

40 Man Roster Changes this Winter PLUS: Crochet & Narvaez by trade, Chapman & Wilson by free agency and Jh Garcia & Dobbins by Rule 5 protecting. MINUS: Pivetta, O'Neill, K Jansen, Martin, DJansen, E Valdez, Sims & Garcia (not counting players who are not on the 40 but still in the system or players who left the team before the end of the season.) Notables who left during the season: McGuire, P Reyes & C Anderson

With Arenado refusing the Astros trade, I wonder if we may have talks with STL, and no, not with Yoshida going to STL. Apparently, STL was willing to pay $5M for each of the 3 remaining years. (COl is paying $5M for the next 2 years, each.) If the number stayed the same, his cost would be: $22M in 2025 ($20.5 AAV) $17M in 2026 ($20.5 AAV) $10M in 2027 ($10 AAV) If we gave them Rafaela, the total money would be pretty close, but the AAV would be: $14M in 2025 and 2026, and $3.5 in 2027, then a savings of about $6M/yr from 2028 to 2031`. He'd greatly improve our defense, and the contract would still allow us to sign a pitcher and maybe TH and a pitcher, or sign TH and trade Abreu and Casas for a pitcher. (Throw in Wink! LOL)

Who takes half-Price at half price? Porcello was a no-brainer, granted, but many were bummed about losing Kimbrel, until he started sucking. Some wanted ERod back. Some wish we now had Sale.

Good stuff. SP's had Romero as high as 8th, so maybe they were not that far off. My ups and downs, right now, are... I'm higher on Cespedes han most. Both he and Jh garcia are top 10. I like Jo Garcia, too, but over a small sample size. I think D Reyes keeps moving up. I've always felt like they had Castro too high. I think they are so high on Cason, because of the Ohtani Effect.

If the bar is just to be "better," I can't disagree. I do think the half-Price dump may have needed to be a 3/4 Price dump. I'd still like to see what the budgets would have been, all those years, and you still did a bit of hindsight picks.

Come on, Man, what? Give nate 33 starts in 2020, and he still is lower than Nick.

I remember reading, at the time of the trade, that Abreu was the real prize, not the recent hard-hitting Valdez. They did seem to undervalue WA and overvalue EV. Who would you say they are short-changing, now?

You could hindsight hand-pick all the best signings from 2019-2024 and make it work at almost any budget above $180M.