moonslav59

Trading Betts made dumping half of Price much easier. We are still paying the price for that trade. I'm not sure that is a good example on how we can or might dump Yoshida. I would not look for someone to take Yoshida, if they wanted Duran or Casas with him, unless we get some young and controllable pitcher who looks to be an ace. How many rebuilding teams who would love to have Mayer, would agree to take on Yoshida or 3/4 Yoshi. I guess there might be someone, and maybe Brez needs to get real creative, My guess is, Yoshida will be our DH, next season.

Agreed, and it's all going to come down to the willingness to pull the trigger, and how well Brez chooses the right guys to keep. He missed on Sale, but I do think he had some valid reasons, and 2024 was apparently not part of the "open window" period, anyway. I guess, one could argue, however, that had Brez used the $19 AAV from Gio and signed Lugo, Imanaga or Wacha and not made the Sale trade, we'd have made the playoffs and "opened the window wide." He seemed to do okay to good on getting Slaten and Fitts. The jury is still out on Priester, Sandlin, Weissert and I Campbell. Brez will have very little room for error, this winter and simply CANNOT have a major miss like Gio and the ATL trade. The budget JH hands him will be important, but so is how B rez uses it and his trade capital. Get it done, Brez!

The Orioles are 23rd and were 27th, last year. Minnesota is another team that seems to make the playoffs, often, while being in the middle or lower third of the team budget rankings. While spending on more FAs does help some teams, some don't seem to be able to sustain winning for very long. GO TIGERS!

It could be more than Abreu, or a prospect, if they prefer that. It's not easy finding a trade partner to balance a salary dump trade, since they would likely prefer to dump the whole salary and get young talent in return. The idea is to allow them to still save some money, and maybe get a better return by agreeing to take Yoshida plus some cash but not a big chunk as part of the package. We all saw what including half-Price to the Betts trade did to the return. Something on those lines. Maybe someone takes Yoshida, if we package him with Mayer, or Mayer and Abreu. One would assume a decent return player might be received.

There is a theory that a manager can rest his players at DH on some sort of rotation. Instead of giving a player 5 days of total rest, you can DH him 10-15 times and stay in the line-up 162 games (for the good hitters, only.) The idea of Casas and Devers sharing 1B and DH also could help both stay healthier and not miss any line-ups, at all. 81 games at DH and 81 at 1B, each. That being said, I'm not for trading Yoshida just to add $2-3M to the winter AAV amount Brez is given. I'd rather just keep him at DH and hope he does a little better. Trading other players will bring back better returns. The idea of trading Yoshida for a high-priced pitcher was just a theory. I came up with the Guasman example, and said I doubt TOR does it, unless they rest of the return package helps their longer term outlook (like Abreu would) AND save them some money, as we could pay down enough to tilt the money balance in their favor. There are other high priced pitchers on teams looking more toward the extended future than 2025 & 2026. I just hope we kick all the tires on trading Yoshida, because I think our team can get much better by opening up slots for Anthony, Campbell, Mayer, while letting our poor defenders DH or move to less important positions. I seriously doubt moving Devers off 3B will happen, this winter, but it would be one big way to improve the defense, without hurting the offense or costing Brez a penny.

No doubt. Those recent deals really closed the deal- something we avoided, last winter and deadline.

There has been a lot of talk about the promising farm we have, right now, despite the lack of sure-fire pitchers. This aspect has been a weak area in the Sox pipeline since the days of Letser, Buchholz, Masterson and others. Somehow, we made do, often by trading everyday players and all types of prospects for top pitching, from Pedro to Schilling to Beckett and Sale. This is not a complete list of significant farm infusions since the Theo days, but I do think it shows we are seeing a trend towards more helpful homegrown players and perhaps more importantly pitchers. I'm not sure we can ever match the top 3 farmhands left for Ben: Betts, Bogey & JBJ, and we had some stretches of very little help, along the way. Here is my list: 2015: Margot (traded with others for Kimbrel) [ERod from BAL system acquired by Miller trade.] 2016: Moncada (traded with Kopech & others for Sale) Beni (later traded for Wink) Dubon (traded for Thornburg) Espinoza (trade for Pomeranz) 2017: Devers 2018: Beeks (traded for Nate) Buttrey (traded for Kinsler) Espinal (traded for Pearce) 2020: Houck (first big impact in '24) Dalbec (brief impact '20-'21) 2021: Duran (1st impact '23) [Whitlock was a NYY farm product acquired from Rule 5. Wong from LAD system made 1st impact in '23] 2022: Casas (1st impact '23) Bello (1st impact '23) Crawford ('23) [Winckowski was a product of the KCR farm, but did see a lot of time in the BOS system.] 2023: Rafaela (2024) [Abreu was a product of the HOU farm, acquired by trade. DHam from MIL system made impact in '24.] 2024: [Slaten was a product of the TEX system acquired by trade] What jumps out at me is the long gap between the Devers call up and when Houck, Duran and Casas started to make an impact in 2023. Secondly, is the fact that Houck, Bello, Crawford and to some extent Wink and Slaten show a marked improvement of pitching impacts from previous years. I won't get into the long list of current prospects that look very promising, but it does seem like a corner has already been turned.

I used to live in Milwaukee and was a big Tommy Harper and Brewers fans, when the first moved to Milwaukee from Seattle. I'm a huge fan of great defense at SS. I admit I don't know how to project Adames defense going forward, or if there is any way to predict he direction on D. I might pass for that very reason. Like the RHB aspect, but the kinda low OBP makes me have doubts. He's just 29, so the "risk" of bust is less than almost any FA pitcher, though.

It is interesting to note that the year the SDP wnet below the tax line, they made the playoffs. (2023 was over: they missed/ 2024 under: they made it.) Using them as an example seems a bit out of context.

Well, I could see us doing exactly what I mentioned: trading Mayer (for a pitcher,) then spending money on Adames. Spending on FA pitchers seems more risky than on Adames.

Unless we trade Mayer, I doubt we even contact his agent.

One was the trainer, Ben Chadwick. I'm not so sure this is that big of a shake-up, and how many of these guys were "old guard?" Is this just Brez making minor adjustments and quietly putting his stamp on the organization? It does seem like there has been a very significant change to the system that began under Bloom and includes the overhaul of the farm system personnel.

I'm not sure TOR wants Yoshida, or would like to save more money by trading Gausman for a low cost player, but this may be the only type of Yoshida deal that makes sense. Of course, I'd prefer we go out and get a younger, cost controlled pitcher, but that would likely cost us a top prospect of someone like Casas. Abreu, DHam + Winckowski is not getting us that.

He should have made the honorable mention list, I suppose. Too many baby injuries for my liking.

Agreed. Not many teams go into the winter thinking they are looking for a DH only player with little power. Put aside the $18M owed for 3 more years, and ask, what would a team pay him as a free agent for 3 years? That is the probably the "break even" points, as in trade him with cash that evens out that number, and expect nothing in return. I'm guessing other GMs might pay him $3-6M x 3, maybe $7-8M tops. Some may seek to give us a higher-priced player in return to lessen the cash return needed, but that gets complicated. It's a sad situation, and it's not an easy choice to make. We have a team with two awful defensive corner infielders with some injury histories. It would make a hell of a lot of sense to at least let them DH a dozen or two times a season to get some or more rest, while still keeping their potent bats in the line-up as much as we can. I fully realize this whole idea could be just a pipe dream or something that is years away from happening, but it would improve the team, IMO. The choice to just keep Yoshida at DH and roll the dice on hopes he can do better as he ages also makes some sense. Why pay a team $10-14M a year to have him hit for them? Just hope he can get over .800 and keep our corner infielders where they are for 3 more years. Is saving $4-8M a year going to get us a helpful player, anyways? Who knows? Maybe no GM wants him at even $3M a year. We'd probably have to take a bigger contract to even get a GM to listen to us. Thanks Bloom & Co.!

You thought .700 before the season, or after he had that nice run to get over .700?

Do you think Rafaela did better than you expected in 2024? Do you think being asked to play so much SS affected his offense, at all?

No, they won't. A three way deal has a better chance. The Astros need a 1Bman, but I doubt they part with a top, young SP'er to get Casas.

Roman AnthonyKristian CampbellMarcelo MayerKyle TeelBraden MontgomeryFranklin AriasLuis PeralesYoeilin CespedesJhostynxon GarciaRichard FittsMiguel BleisDavid SandlinChase MeidrothMikey RomeroElmer Rodriguez-CruzJohanfran GarciaHunter DobbinsYordanny MonegroJuan ValeraPayton Tolle

Our OF and possible depth/prospects: LF: Duran, Abreu, Campbell, Refsnyder (Jh Garcia) CF: Duran, Rafaela, Anthony, Campbell, Abreu (Bleis) RF: Abreu, Anthony, Campbell (Montgomery) Our Middle Infield and possible depth/prospects: SS: Story, Mayer, Romy, DHam, Meidroth, Campbell (Romero, Arias, Riemer) 2B: Story, Campbell, Mayer, Grissom/DHam, Meidroth (Romero, Arias, Cespedes) Surely, we can part with one player from each group.

How many current owners would we rather have than JH? (I have no idea.) I do know many are way cheaper than JH and or are not very good at hiring good baseball men to run their team. Everybody wants the LAD owner who spends and spends (and has a mega revenue line.) Here is what the Dodger paid for pitchers, this year: 0 GS (out for playoffs- pitching) Ohtani $70M ($46M x ??? Lux) 22 GS (out for playoffs) Glasnow $32.5M ($27.3M x 5 Lux) 0 GS (out for playoffs) Yamamoto $18.3M ($27.1M x 12 Lux) 16 GS (out for playoffs) Bueler $8M x 1 (same) 7 GS (out for playoffs) Kershaw $5M x 1 (same) w $5M player option (Gavin Stone and Dustin May- out for playoffs) Man, we thought we had injuries.

Good afternoon, back at ya! If JH won't spend big on a SP'er, he should not just allow a big trade, he should demand one for a SP. Use the budget on the pen and a RHB (catcher?) and SP'er depth.

I'd trade the three guys mentioned for Finnegan, and Abreu and DHam to TBR for Fairbanks and Diaz, then trade Casas to SEA for Bryce Miller. Sign Tanner Scott, Danny Jansen and Nick Martinez and call it a day. SP: Houck, Martinez, Miller, Gio, Bello (Crawford #6 or long relief) RP: Scott, Fairbanks, Finnegan, Hendriks, Slaten, Whitlock, Fulmer, Crawford 1. Duran LF 2. Diaz 1B 3. Anthony RF 4. Devers 3B 5. Campbell 2B-Mayer 2B/SS 6. Story SS- Mayer SS 7. Yoshida-Refsnyder DH 8. Wong-Jansen C 9. Rafaela CF (Maybe Campbell in CF?)

RHB Diaz would be a nice get. He's owed $10M in 2025, and has a $12M option for 2026, so might be on the block. That could work out even better, if we trade Yoshida or Casas. His OBP dipped but is .373 career- something we could use.. Meidroth for Fairbanks looks good, to me, too. (I'd like to know, if we feel comfortable with Grissom or Campbell/Mayer at 3B, if needed or Devers is moved.

Yup, and I feel like we'd have made the playoffs, if we went over for just this season... assuming our other additions were not like Gio.