moonslav59

I wasn't hurt one bit by Vaz being traded. He had an inconsistent bat, although better than the norm on average. He did not handle our staff as well as his back-ups did. His D was okay. He was getting older and wanted too much money. Getting Abreu and E Valdez was one of Bloom's best trades. How they handled notifying him of the deal was bush league, but the trade was great. Also, in a seperate move, we picked up McGuire by dumping Diekman and his contract on the CWS. McGuire outplayed Vaz to end the '22 season- another win for Bloom, that summer.

It does not change his trade value one penny. If it did, then it would be cancelled out by everybody knowing SEA has a glut of pitchers and is desperate for bats, so we can demand more value for Casas and Abreu, right? Besides, we can DH Abreu, if Anthony wins the RF job. Maybe trade Casas and give Abreu a 1B mitt.

If we are better off because other teams got worse, that is still a good thing. I get the same record argument, and for all we know, we may end up with a worse record than 2022 and 2023, but I feel way better about our future than I did after 2022 and before this season began, and that is not based just on the promise our top prospects bring to our future: it's based on who is returning from the 2024 team and several questions that were answered, positively, over this season. I hate relying on players returning from injuries as a significant factor in evaluating next year's team, but we do seem to have a lot of potential in those players: Giolito, Whitlock, Fulmer and a full season from Slaten. Full seasons from Story, Casas & Grissom. Of course, some of these players may not do well, or get re-injured, and other players might take their places on the IL, but I think going into 2025, we look way better than we did going into 2023 and 2024. Houck looks better now than in March. Gio returns. Crawford showed some promise. Bello has done better, recently. The depth from Criswell, priester and Fitts looks better. Our pen looks worse, with the loss of Jansen & Martin, although the 2024 Martin does not need a great replacement pitcher to do as well. Slaten is a year older. Fulmer and Henriks might impress, and guys like I Campbell, Weissert, Kelly and others have room to improve. Our offense looks way better than we thought it did, over the winter, where we lost Turner, Dugo & Duvall. Our defensive outlook looks brighter, if and only if Story can stay healthy. I guess Rafaela winning a FT job improves the outlook, too. I get the point about not wanting JH to think our optimism is justification for his "plan," but I'm not going to deny it, just to keep him on his toes. (I doubt he reads what we say, anyway.)

I get your point. We were willing to pay that much, when we made the trade- a trade that included giving up Betts. But, let's face it, that trade was absurd, so I'm not sure using it as an example to defend your suggested trade helps your case.

To me, our bench has been one of our strengths. Our team OBP is .321. Our SLG is .431. Ref: .361/.472 DHam: .303/.395 (but does have 33 SBs that acts like turning singles into 2Bs) Romy: .323/.418 They do K a lot, and their D is not very good, but these guys have done okay, as a group.

It turned out to be less due to Price optiing out of 2020's Covid season.

I'm not against giving him a shot, but where? 1B or 3B? 2B? Also, be prepared for another player with a high OBP in the minors not seeing it translate to the bigs. It seems to happen more often than not.

That's how I see it. Although one could argue spending big after 2025 makes more sense, we could make moves that help in 2025 and beyond, plus a couple 1 year deals that give us flex to make bigger splashes in 2026. There is no excuse to spend just to $200M.

Crappy loss after a gutsy outing by Criswell. Before tonight's Oh-fors by Duran and Devers... Duran .541 in previous 13 games. Devers .486 in previous 19 games (.431 last 12 gms.) Our best 2 hitters have tailed off.

I doubt that would ever be leaked, even if true. We ended 2023 at $203M ($226M lux tax.) According to cots, we started 2024 at $171M, but they have our lux tax number at $225M. This counts the $17M player benefit and other costs, so if they are talking payroll budget only, that number would be below $208M. Cots has us at $135M before arbs are decided, but we don't have many, since most players are still pre-arb. Plus, all our arb players are year 1, which is a traditional low cost year. The tax line is $241M, but minus the benefits and bonus pools, it's really like $222M. While I can see JH going light for another year, I hope we spend close to the line. A $200M player budget would still give us money to spend on 3-4 pitchers, but trading for 1 would focus the winter budget on 3 rather than 4 pitchers or 2 rather than 3. I don't know what to expect. I'm not sure anyone, outside the organization knows, either. (Maybe a decision is yet to be made.)

I know the scouting reports don't do Dobbins any favors, but he keeps getting the job done. Today, he went 6 IP, allowing 6 Hits (1HR) 1 ER, 1BB and 5Ks. His AAA ERA is 3.45. Grissom went 2-5, while Anthony went 1-2 w a 2B and 3BB. He's at .961, now. Meidroth went 3-5 and is up to .860. POR lost 9-0 as Early let up 6 Unearned runs. Their season is almost over.

I hope it's more accurate than Renfroe's. We could always move Anthony to CF, if it works out like that. Depending on how long it takes Montgomery, maybe it could be Anthony LF, Rafaela CF and Monty RF.

$200M is $41M under the tax line. Man, we are setting the bar lower and lower.

I might flip Williams with Farrell and would flip Bobby V w Kerrigan. IMO, the talent these guys had really matters when grading.

I do wonder how much SEA still values Castillo. Kicking the tires makes sense, there. If we can somehow include Yoshida, it's break my toe kicking that tire.

It's easy to foresee a situation, where when all are healthy (yeah, right) the utility role will be very minimal. C: Teel could play as much as most catchers can play: Wong plays the rest. 1B: Casas, if healthy, can max out at 1B and maybe play some DH on "rest days." 2B: Campbell or Story can fill this need, FT. SS: Story or Mayer can fill this need, FT, but health seems to be sketchy. 3B: Devers is FT. LF: Duran is FT and can play CF, when the CF'er is resting. CF: Rafaela and Duran cover this 162 games. RF: Anthony and Abreu is actually an overload, here. (Abreu could DH or play LF.) DH: Yoshida is FT, but this could become a catch-all slot, if he gets traded. To me, if Ref does not retire he should play vs every LH'd SP, somewhere- somehow. That limits any utility player's time. A D-Ham and Grissom/Romy platoon works well for 2B, so I'm not sure Wong is any better, there. Our need for depth is at SS, especially if Mayer or Story are hurt, 1B and 3B. Romy and Wong can play 1B, so maybe ditch Romy, if he's out of options. Devers could maybe learn 1B, soon, even if just to sub. Who is the 3B sub? Romy? Story> perhaps, it could be Meidroth. Campbell has played some 3B, but many seem to think his arm is too weak for many games, there. Down the road... C: Jo Garcia (Musett, Brannon) 1B: B Gonzales/Ju Gonzalez (Jordan) 2B: Cespedes (Alcantara) SS: Arias, Riemer 3B: Romero, Nunez LF: Castro, Asencio/Brito CF: Jh Garcia, Bleis RF: B. Montgomery, Yuten

49 innings at 1B and 19 at 2B. If Teel is the real deal, Wong may be riding the bench more or find other ways to get into the line-up, assuming he can stay near .770.

Radical.

How about Mayer at 2B (or 3B?)

Yes, make some serious efforts and hope we get it right, for once... not that other efforts were "serious."

Monty might claim CF.

Agreed. Hey, Grissom actually homered, twice!

True, but to make the deal happen, I'd give a side piece worth $4M.

Makes sense. You know SEA's needs more than I do. Sounds like you need a taker for Haniger and or Garver. Would Mayer make sense w SEA? I'm thinking Casas + Mayer for a better SP'er than Miller (Gilbert or Kirby). Casas, Mayer & Yoshi for Kirby or Gilbert plus Garver or Haniger

This guy seems like the real deal. The past Sox #1's, Beni and Dice-Ks were srt of letdowns. Our OF is strong and deep, so I think someone will be traded, but maybe not.