moonslav59

To me, Duran would still be a blue chip trade candidate. While most teams would prefer Anthony and likely Campbell, Teel or Mayer, he'd still bring back a hefty return. He has 4 years of team control, and while all are arb years that are getting more and more expensive, he will still be grossly underpaid for 4 years. IMO, our trade chips might be ordered like this: 1. Anthony- ML ready & pre-prime 2. Houck- 3 of 3 arbs remaining 3. Campbell- ML ready & pre-prime 4. Mayer- ML ready & pre-prime 5. Teel- ML ready & pre-prime 6. Duran- 4 of 4 arbs remaining 7. Casas- pre-arb for 1 year more 8. B Montgomery- prospect 9. Arias- prospect 10. Fitts, Priester, Sandlin, Crawford, Bleis, Cespedes, Perales, Tolle pretty much bunched together. Most likely trade candidates: 1. LHB Abreu RF/LF 2. LHB DHam 2B/emergency SS 3. RHP Winckowski 4. SS Mayer 5. 1B Casas

Agreed. Saving only $29M and taking on Yoshida would not be something they'd want. That's a lot of savings, but they would likely want a big 4 prospect. I doubt paying even more off Yoshida's deal gets STL to a yes. I do think these types of deals are what we should seek, first.

I don't pay for BTV, but I expected it would take a bigger package. Hunter Brown is the REAL DEAL- something one poster does not seem to understand. How far off was it?

I really like the idea of Campbell or Mayer at 3B. Of course, if Story or Mayer get injured, maybe we can't afford to spare one at 3B, but we'd still have a Grissom-DHam platoon at 2B, so why not give it a try?

Wonder what percent chance we get the 2nd pick.

Mayer and Yoshida ($54M/2) with $6M paid in 2027 for Gausman ($46M/2 and $22M AAV) & Bichette ($17.6M/1 but $11.2 AAV) Total $$$ to Sox: $64M (AAV $31M year 1 and $20M year 2, year 3 is an $16M savings) TOR saves $16M overall and gets a SS for 5-6 years. They may be looking to rebuild, or they could use the savings to bring back Guerrero.

Call Houston... Casas, Dobbins and Abreu for Hunter Brown (pre arb)

$14M for two good pitchers on short term deals? I know JH is a miser, now, but this is cheaper than Gio.

Here is a stab in the dark: Abreu, DHam & Yoshida ($54M/3) +$3.5M cash x 3 years for Erick Fedde ($7.5M/1) and Sonny Gray ($50M/2) Cash: $43.5M to STL and $57.5M to BOS STL saves $14M

fangraphs has him plus on range.

I guess it's better to just repeatedly say the FO sucks and won't do anything to fix our problems than offer suggestions and ideas. Nobody is making suggestions thinking Brez & JH is reading them and may take our advice. We all have different ideas on how we can try to improve the team. I enjoy hearing other ideas, even if some just make me laugh.

Maybe offer him a QO, and if he takes it maybe we trade him. If he says no, we get a comp pick, if he signs.

Good order and comments

Soxprospects has him listed as Rule 5. He will certainly be added to the 40 before that.

Draft Odds: Rockies (61-101): 22.45% Marlins (62-100): 22.45% Angels (63-99): 17.96% Nationals (71-91): 10.2% Blue Jays (74-88): 7.48% Pirates (76-86): 5.31% Reds (77-85): 3.67% Rangers (78-84): 2.45% Giants (80-82): 1.9% White Sox (41-121): Ineligible A’s (69-93): Ineligible Rays (80-82): 1.5% Red Sox (81-81): 1.22%

Tito signs 3 year deal with Cincy to be their manager.

If that is near accurate, one could argue he's worth a QO. (Not me.) One season, where he still missed games, multiple times should not bring his stock up this much, IMO.

I coulda said 1%, while my suggestions are 0.001%.

At least you offer suggestions, even if the odds of coming true are close to zero.

While we need a RH's power bat, I think we'll pass on O'Neill. We have 5-6 OF'ers and a limited budget with pitching as our highest priority.

The New Miracle Mets!

Good point, and DHam/Romy are not part of any high-skilled bottleneck. It's basically 3 guys with 2 having major injury concerns. Grissom offers some hope at 2B, and if DHam can take another step up, he's be fine at 2B. SS: Mayer & Story 2B: Story & Campbell We can roll the dice by trading Mayer or Campbell and still have 2. I'd choose to trade Mayer, since Campbell is less of an injury risk, but I'm not sure how well Campbell can play SS, if Story gets hurt again. Choosing Campbell would allow Mayer to play SS (assuming both aren't hurt at the same time) and then use Grissom-Dham at 2B, which might not be all that bad. Our middle IF has been such a mess, the last 2 years, it's pushing it to say we have a bottleneck of talent, when 2 are unproven prospects.

He just has to beat the low bar set by Casas at 1B. I happen to think Devers is better with the glove than the arm, which is not to say he's great with the glove and range. Fangraphs has these career numbers: +3.3 Range -23.0 Error -3.8 UZR/150, which is bad, but not as bad as -62 DRS and -29 OAA in 8269 innings. Comparing 1B to 3B is apples to oranges, but here are the Casas numbers in a much smaller sample size: +0.2 Range -0.1 Error +0.2 UZR/150, so maybe he is better at 1B. -8 DRS in 1747 innings -11 OAA Since Casas has plalyed about 1/5th of the innings as Devers, let's multiply his DRS and OAA by 5; -40 DRS and -55 OAA, which is close to the Devers numbers, but again apples to oranges.

JH is the main reason I am focusing on trades to improve pitching, at this point in the offseason. That and the bottleneck of talent we have at middle IF and OF.

All correct, and I did not mean to imply they will do as I suggest in this one scenario. They may see the Devers moves to 1B as being years away, but I can't help but think they know his 3B defense is a major liability, as is Casas at 1B. Those two positions are not as important on defense as middle infield and CF/RF and catcher, but if improving the defense is a goal, to me only catcher and corner infield look to be on the agenda. Middle infield may fix itself with a healthy season from Story, alone, but adding Mayer and Campbell to the mix could help as well. An OF of Duran, Rafaela and Abreu with Anthony joining soon is already one of the best defensive OFs in all of MLB, if not THE best. With Teel in the system, maybe a temporary fix at catcher might be the only external move we make to improve our defense. Shifting players around offers a non-external option, and opens up questions that cannot be answered, until we see it happen. Devers may be no better than Casas at 1B, but the plan was to move Casas to DH, anyway, so if Devers looks worse, we simply move him to DH and keep the same exact rotten D at 1B as we already have. No change in D at 1B, but the suggestion assumes whoever we put at 3B (Campbell, Mayer, Meidroth of even Romy/Sogar) would almost surely be better on D than Devers. I simply cannot imagine anyone being worse. Hey, how about Yoshida plus others to STL for Arenado? He is at a $30.5 AAV x 2, but makes $32M x 2. That's $64M for the $54M owed Yoshida. Add Abreu and maybe a little cash, and maybe STL agrees. This would not free up the 3B slot for our bottlenecked middle infield, but our defense would be greatly improved, no matter who plays 1B.