moonslav59

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.

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.