moonslav59

I'm super pumped with optimism for the everyday 13 and the depth, there. We need pitching to win a ring, and it's not in the system, now. We need to add 3-4 pitchers to have a shot at the next ring.

It's been a long time! Pedro- trade The Duke Lester- draft Theo Beckett- trade Theo Sale- trade DD Wake- FA The Duke Schilling- trade Theo ERod- trade Ben Buch- draft Theo Porcello- trade Ben Price- signed by DD D Lowe- trade The Duke Lackey- signed by Ben Nate- trade DD Dice-K- signed by Theo Houck-draft DD I probably missed some, and the best since DD... Pivetta- trade Bloom

You like what you see on Abreu, or not?

On Wilyer Abreu and his value: He has largely been used as a platoon batter, as he started 89 of 104 games vs a RH'd SP and only 5 vs 41 LH'd SP'ers, but he also missed 3 weeks with an injury in June. Of course, no platoon batter will ever have really top value, and we must consider this: OPS when starting vs RHP: .853 and .643 v LH'd SP'er (better than his overall splits of .876/.511.) Fangraphs has his RF defense as being very good: +5 OAA, +10 DRS and +4.2 UZR/150. The guy just turned 25, this summer. Some are saying his trade value equals a mid RP'er. I think he is worth a decent #3/4 SP'er or very good set-up man- maybe 2 decent set-up men. Any thoughts?

I do think they see him as a SP'er for 2025, and the questions are only among fans like me. I think he'd be a very good mid/long man out of the pen- maybe a spot start, here and there. (Same with Whitlock.)

He did have a nice 4 game start to 2024.

True, you'd be working "for" us.

With Fitts and Priester, I think not. Are we sure Whitlock is done as a SP'er for this team? Will Gio start the season on the IL? Has Crawford become a pen vs rotation choice for 2025? Too many unknowns.

A possible 40 Man Roster on Opening Day 2025: (38 listed, including 3 pitcher additions.) SP: ____, Houck, Giolito (IL?) Crawford, Bello Criswell, Priester, Fitts, Dobbins (R5,) Perales (to IL) RP: Hendriks, _____, Slaten, Whitlock, _____, Winckowski, Kelly, Bernardino Booser, Weissert, I Campbell, Guerrero, Fulmer (R5) C: Wong, Heineman or ____ 1B: Casas 2B: DHam, Grissom, SS: Story, Romy 3B: Devers LF: Duran CF: Rafaela, Jh Garcia (R5) RF: Abreu, Refsnyder DH: Yoshida, E Valdez Add 2 from below or new additions: Bubble: Mata, Murphy, Wikelman, Horn, Sogard, Gasper Bubble Rule 5: Gambrell, Liu, Bastardo, Monegro, Castro, Sikes, Jordan

Bobby Dee went unclaimed and is now a non-40 man roster player for Woo.

What adds intrigue is the fact that none of the top 5 MAJOR LEAGUE READY prospects need to be protected for Rule 5, this winter. It is often the case, teams hold off adding them to the 40 (and 26,) as long as possible, so they can keep as many viable options on the roster for opening day. Players going on the 60 Day IL cannot be placed there, until after opening day, and this further tightens the screws on roster selections. Now, we could place perales on the 60 day, after opening day, and add Anthony or Campbell, immediately afterwards, if we want them to have a slot. (Even if Perales is not placed on the 60-day IL, he is a player who will not see ML action in 2015, but takes up a slot on the 40. Wikelman is another, and he may need to be traded or DFA'd, if we face a roster crunch. I do think we have plenty of players we can DFA without causing too much concern, and we will very likely make some trades from bottlenecked positions, but most other teams are looking at roster crunches, too and aren't looking at adding more "bubble players" to their mix. To make an extra slot, we'd have to trade 2 or 3 for 1, or trade a 40 man guy for a lower prospect.

I'm not sure how we'd be "underachievers," if we stayed in the race longer than expected.

If we don't trade Abreu, we can wait until the end of April to call-up Anthony, and IMO, we should. I was told, that is all it takes to get that "extra year." If we do trade Abreu, then I'd think long and hard about going light for a few weeks for that extra year. I do think there is an excellent chance Anthony breaks camp on the big club. (Maybe Campbell, too, but we have a lot of guys who play 2B that might do well enough to push him back 3 weeks.)

We need to do better in the winters, so we don't have to overpay at deadlines and risk meltdowns from those we do get. It's better to overload in the winter and be forced to trade players when bottlenecks occur than to have to scramble to fill need areas we knew were there in December.

To me, Zanetello should not be top 60, until he starts showing he can hit, and that may be never. Our "second wave" of prospects might take giant steps forward, next year: Arias & Valera 18 Cespedes & Jo Garcia 19 Bleis & Romero 20 Jh Garcia & Monegro/E R-C 21 Then, there are the draftees, of whom most were college picks not long-away HS promises. I'm pumped up over the farm, and we finally have reached the point where we have 4-5 ML ready or very near ML ready top prospects and another 2-3 possible ML ready role player types. Of course, the problem is all are everyday players, and we already have 12-15 useful or better vets fighting for those 13 opening day slots. If there is not a trade of two to ease the bottlenecks and fill some pitching needs, I will be befuddled.

Abreu is a top 30 batter in MLB, this year and a plus defender on all metrics. He is pre-arb, and SEA needs offense while always respecting defense. I think you undersell him. The only guy we get with value is Miller. Garver is a net negative. When you subtract Garver's money from Yoshida, he is no longer a negative. Garver is owed $13.5M, which turns Yoshida's deal from $18M x 3 to about $13M x 3, which is close to even. Maybe it would have to be Casas, Abreu and E R-C straight up for Miller. They may say no, but I think my suggested offer is ballpark.

Gaining an extra year of service time can be golden, since it is in the player's prime. Rafaela agreed to an extension: Anthony may not. BTW, I wasn't aware we held Rafaela back. It seemed to me, he jumped through the minors and into the majors, very quickly- before he ever figured out how to take a pitch.

I've mentioned a few ideas: something like trade Casas, Abreu and Yoshida for Bryce Miller and Garver. Then, sign Flaherty, Sewald and another arm. Move Devers to 1B and Campbell to 3B. Start Anthony in RF and let Mayer, DHam, Grissom and Story work our who starts in our middle infield.

What is the BTV values given to Casas and Abreu?

We just don't have what it takes to win these kind of games. We are really good at coming close, but time and time again, coming close ends up in the "L" column. I guess we still have a shot, but where are the signs we want this thing? Very depressing loss.

That was a big loss. Again, we had chances and chances. Same ole- same ole.

In the make-up game, the Sox scored 6 in the 9th to win 11-4. Campbell went 2-2 and Teel 2-3. They won the short game 8-4, as Priester went 4 IP w 1 ER (4H, 1BB, 7K.) Teel homered and walked twice, Anthony 2-4 (.949) and Grissom 2-3 (.725.) Castro & Jordan 2-4. POR lost 4-3, but Wikelman did well. 5 IP, 2H, 0ER, 2BB, 7K

I'd rather trade Casas than Campbell or Anthony, and maybe even Teel. I might give them a choice of Casas or Mayer plus secondary pieces. Maybe adding Yoshida and taking back Garver could be worked into the mix, but we cannot count on him as a real back-up catcher. Casas, Yoshida and Abreu for Miller & Garver with no money added. We move Devers to 1B and see who we can play at 3B: Campbell, Mayer, Story, Meidroth. Anthony takes RF from Abreu & Ref.

I gotta think Seattle offers the best opportunity to trade for a very good SP'er. We may not match up, in terms of what they need, and they are not the type of team that has a lot of room on their roster for a 3 forty man roster players for 1 type trade. We could try to lessen the return package by taking on some big salaries. We could part with a top 4 prospect or young players, but we can't create new holes by doing so. Here is a look at their 5 SP'ers. fWAR 4.1 Logan Gilbert (82 ERA-, 3.19 xFIP) 3 Arbs remaining (out of 4) 3.7 George Kirby (95 ERA-, 3.56 xFIP) 4 Arbs remaining (1 to 4) 2.4 Bryce Miller (83 ERA-, 3.90 xFIP) Pre-Arb ('26 is Arb 1) 2.4 Luis Castillo (95 ERA-, 3.84 xFIP) 3 yrs at $21.6M AAV w vesting option '28 2.0 Bryan Woo (62 ERA-, 3.84 xFIP) Pre-Arb ('26 is Arb 1) We would have to part with some real talent to get any of these guys. They are not in rebuild mode, but we have some ML ready prospects they may want: Anthony, Campbell, Mayer, Teel and maybe Meidroth, Fitts, Priester or Sandlin as add ons. We could offer top young players like Casas or Duran, or add to the package with guys like Abreu, DHam, Grissom or a lesser pitcher, but the larger the package, the more likely we'd have to take back a higher contract player, like... Mitch Haniger $15.5M/1 remaining or Mitch Garver $11.5M with mutual option for '26 at $12M w $1M buyout- essentially a $12.5M/1 deal. I don't think they view Castillo's deal as a drag, but they may prefer to trade him, so they can sign a FA with the savings, or maybe we could include Yoshida in a deal for him. It's hard to find a package that looks good for both teams.

In theory, we should try to ... (not in order of importance) 1. Find a taker for Yoshida with minimal payments needed going along with him. (Abreu-Ref platoon at DH w Anthony in RF or Abreu in RF and DHam/EValdez platooning with Ref at DH. 2. Find a bridge catcher to Teel. 3. Upgrade the rotation with the best pitcher we can sign or trade for, without creating a bigger issue. 4. Upgrade at closer or top set-up man and use Hendriks for the other with Slaten as the #2 set-up man. 5. Add another quality SP or RP. This is minimum and need not break the bank or empty the farm to get done.