moonslav59

Don't need clues: it stopped after 2017- right before his best two seasons.

Very nice article. Hearing a lot down here in Houston about the loss of Bregman's clubhouse attitude and how he helped this guy and that.

How desperate is STL to trade Arenado, now? It appears the Sox were their best chance. Apparently, Bregman agreeing to play 2B was part of the Sox choice. I still can't believe we paid $40M per for a .795 hitter to play off position. Arendao did agree to play 1B, but unless we trade Casas, it makes no sense talking to STL, anymore. They don't want Masa, but they could still cut some major budget by adding Contreras to the deal. Would anyone trade Casas & Yoshida (no money) for Arenado (no money) and Contreras? How about Arenado & a Catcher from Herrera or Pages? (We'd have to add cash.)

I'm 99% certain Yoshida begins the season with the Sox. He will be on the 26 or the 10 Day IL. He still has value, even if Devers and Casas are moved to a near FT pair-share of 1B & DH. He cannot build more value, if he doesn't play. There are other players that still have something to prove or think they have earned a right to show 2024 was no fluke. Abreu might feel he deserves a chance to play FT. Refsnyder has every right to believe he should start vs every LHP, either at DH or corner OF. Rafaela probably thinks he deserves a FT role in CF or as a CF/utility guy that plays 150 games. Duran has earned a FT role, but where? LF, CF or both? Anthony must think 2025 is his call-up year. Yoshida probably think he deserves to play everyday, or at least vs every RHP, as a DH or short corner OF. That's 6 guys for 3 OF slots, without mentioning Campbell's ability to play OF. The DH slot could be a Dever-Casas share with 1B or a Yoshida-Refsnyder platoon, or someway to mix and match. 1B: Casas or Devers and Casas. 3B: Bregman or Devers, or both. SS: Story with Mayer waiting for his shot. (Rafaela & Romy as depth) 2B: Campbell FT? Bregman FT or to start of at 2B or some share set-up at 2B and 3B? DHam-Romy platoon to start 2025? DHam-Grissom platoon? I have to think DHam thinks he should get serious consideration as a platoon at 2B. His D was plus. He stole a ton of bases in half a season. He hit RHPs, pretty well, after his slow start. Add Wong and Narvaez and I'm not sure how many players I mentioned, but it's way over 13.

I meant Haniger. My bad. The only advantages we get is that Haniger bats RH'd and could possibly platoon with Abreu (esp in away parks) and has one year left to pay. He could end up being traded or DFA'd, if Anthony gets the call. This is purely about getting out from as much of Masa's deal as possible. I like DHam and have not given up on Grissom, yet, but they seem to be squeezed, now, and certainly when Campbell gets the call.

I mentioned DHam as he bats LH'd, and we just added a RHB IF'er. His value is higher than Grissom, so maybe we could save more on Masa by sending him over Grissom. (I guess BTV says $10M more.) Masa+ $12-20M & Grissom for Garver. Masas +$2-12M & DHam for Garver.

Well said. I have to think the more Bregman plays 3B, the better we will be, but certainly times may arise, where other options might work out the same or better. If Devers and Casas are mainly pair-sharing 1B/DH, they may be able to play close to 160 games, there, but Bregman will need some rest, so Devers might play 5-10 games at 3B. Masa could DH on those days. He could play LF on some other days, when Ref (v LHPs) or Duran are not in LF. How well Rafaela does might dictate how much Duran plays CF vs LF, and how many opportunities Masa and Refsnyder get in LF (vs a DH platoon.) How well Abreu hits LHPs can have an influence on CF and LF playing time for Duran and Rafaela. When Anthony gets the call can have a major influence, at some point. There are so many moving parts, options and opportunities for several players to shine or shift to another position, things could get very interesting if more than 9 guys are doing well (or more as parts of a platoon.) Catcher is pretty set with Wong and Narvaez, but Narvaez could gain more and more playing time. 3B: Devers or Bregman (or a mix) 1B: Casas or Casas & Devers DH: Casas, Casas & Devers or Yoshida-Refsnyder platoon 2B: Campbell? Bregman? A platoon of DHam & Romy or DHam & Grissom SS: Sory, if healthy. Mayer, if not. Rafaela or Romy in a pinch. LF: Duran. Duran w Masa/Ref. Masa-Ref platoon almost exclusively. CF: Rafaela. Duran & Rafaela. Anthony? RF: Abreu FT. Abreu-Rafaela platoon? Anthony FT (Anthony RF v LHPs and CF vs RHPs?) It's enough to get the head spinning like the exorcist.

When did the trashcan banging stop?

Well, on the surface, Yoshida for Haniger, straight up would need $14M going to SEA, Maybe $7M in '26 and $7M in '27, but I really can't see why SEA wants to pay Yoshida $11M x 2 after 2025. Grissom might make them think he's worth the gamble. I'd trade Grissom, Yoshida + $14M for Garver. (I'd probably give $20M.) Do you think SEA would prefer DHam over Grissom?

Not only "selling low," but it seems like the 1Bman stock as a position has taken a tumble, this winter. Trades for decent 1Bmen got bad returns. 1Bmen FAs seemed to sell at decent prices- not inflated, like everyone else. I also feel like Casas could have a mega bustout season in 2025.

If only someone wanted Masa. Cora makes the call, but to me, the best team on O and D is having Bregman at 3B and Casas/Devers on a 1B/DH share. Everything else is secondary and less impactful, such as what do we do with Masa? Trade, Bench, Demote, play in LF are the 4 major options, unless he's on the IL. Play in LF hurts the D, but not by as much as we added with Bregman at 3B. Play LF w Duran in CF and Abreu/Rafaela platooning RF is better O than Rafaela playing CF FT, but the CF and RF D stays about the same. Trade makes sense, if we can find a taker and save a few $million. Bench wastes a bench spot for basically a DH/back-up DH/emergency LF'er sub. Demote helps nobody and hurts his value. (Might as well trade or DFA.) I know the team has said they want Rafaela to play CF as much as possible, but they also said Masa may get time in LF, so that pushes Duran to CF. Something has to give. I just hope it's not a Casas trade. To me, there is a drop off on O from Casas to Yoshida at DH. We can't afford a drop off on O, especially vs LHPs, where Casas is one of our best hitter and has been better than Masa and Bregman, recently.

How about Grissom and Yoshida to NYY for Stroman (owed $18.5M in 2025 w player option for $18M in '27, if he gets 140 IP.) Maybe pay off some of Yoshida's 2026 and 2017 years, since Stroman has just one year left.

Damn! Those guys are usually low-balling everyone.

I can't see him being worth $40M at 2B. His splits at Fenway give us hope he can improve on his .795 five year OPS, but he needs to play 3B to get the most value out of him and FOR THE TEAM! If we trade Casas, we might be worse on O with Breg vs Casas.

According to some sources, that puts us right on the tax line.

I hope so. We will not promote Anthony to platoon. Maybe Campbell could play RF vs LHPs and 2B vs RHPs, so he'd be FT. Maybe Anthony could play CF vs RHPs and RF vs LHPs, with Duran moving to LF vs RHPs (Ref plays LF vs LHPs.) I'm a big Abreu fan, but he was horrific vs LHPs, last year and had bad splits in the minors, too.

He's not a min wage player, so we should be able to save something via a trade.

Well, my scenario is based on Grissom doing better than we've seen, and maybe DHam reverting back to how he was before June 2024. I'm not expecting it, but he still has some hope. He just turned 24, and his arb 1 year is 2027.

As much as I crap on our pen, here are the top 4 pen guys from the ALE teams: (projected fWAR) BOS: 1.1 Chapman, 0.8 Whitlock, 0.7 Hendriks, 0.5 Slaten NYY: 1.4 Williams, 0.8 Cruz, 0.7 Hamilton, 0.6 Weaver BAL: 1.6 Bautista, 0.9 Akin, 0.4 3 guys TOR: 1.4 Hoffman (may start) 0.5 Y Garcia, 0.2 C Green, 2 at 0.1 TBR: 1.0 Fairbanks, 0.5 Uceta, 0.3 Cleavinger, 0.2 M Rod

Nobody wants Yoshida in the OF, but LF in Fenway has parked many an awful defender, although most hit way better than Yoshi has, thus far. A Yoshi-Ref platoon in LF would be a way better hitters than Rafaela, but the D would be way, way worse. With Anthony pounding on the OF door, adding Yoshi-Ref to the OF seems like a real bad idea, but maybe start the year like that, and see what happens. If he hits well, his trade value rises.

He'd probably get about $21M/3 as a FA, so we could eat all but that and maybe send him somewhere. Maybe SEA takes him and $10M in '26 & '27 for Haniger ($14.2M x 1) or Garver ($12M x1). Both are RHBs with a chance for a resurgence in '25. Garver is not good on D, as a catcher, but he could act as our 3rd C, and allow for multiple PH for ur catchers in a game. Haniger is not good on D in RF, but he can't be much worse than Ref. (Ref hits LHPs better.) I doubt LAA wants Yoshi and cash for Soler ($12.1M x 2) SFG? Robbie Ray ($23M x 2) straight up?

The Bregman signing has perked up my optimism for sure, and I don't want to burst anyone's bubble. The guy has a 1.250 OPS at Fenway and is a real pro. That being said, he has a .795 OPS since 2020. That's a 5 year sample size. It's a 122 OPS+, which is very helpful, but this is not the 7-8 WAR guy from 2018-2019. If the thought is to balance the L-R situation, his OPS vs LHPs since 2023 is .704 (.746 since 2020.) Hell, trade-talk-guy, Casas, is over .790. We need to maximize this guys value by playing him at 3B and batting him 2nd- hoping his .315 OBP in '24 was a fluke.

litocots is no longer the go-to site for contracts and budgets, but they have us at $7.5M over the first line, and count the full $40M towards the AAV CBT line. If they are wrong, and or we want to get under tax line, tare the contracts we could try to trade: (CBT$) $19.2 x 1 Giolito $18 x 3 Yoshida $9.2 x 5 + option Bello (not happening) $6.3 x 5 Rafaela (unlikely)

Agreed. Heo longer a lefty killer. He could regain that, but for 2 years, he's been worse than LHB Casas v LHPs. His big asset is 3B defense, overall decent hitting with upside and maybe clubhouse leadership. he plays 2B, we lose a big chunk of his value to our team.

Who platoons with Abreu in RF? Ref? There goes the "elite D."