moonslav59

Crochet does not have enough of a record of success to be worth a top 4 prospect. It's Abreu plus of we move on to another plan.

A certainty, for sure.

I seriously doubt we give a top 4 prospect for Crochet. Maybe Abreu and DHam or Abreu and Arias or Romero.

Teams keep losing, and ND seems to look more and more solid. AP Rankings: 1. ORE 11-0 (idle) 2. Ohio St 9-1 (vs IN) 3. Texas 9-1 (vs KY) 4. Penn St 9-1 (at MN) 5. IN 10-0 (at Ohio St) 6. ND 9-1 (vs Army) 7. AL 8-2 (at OKL) 8. GA 8-2 (v UMass) 9. Ole Miss 8-2 (at FL) 10. TN 8-2 (vs UTEP) 11. MIA 9-1 (vs WF) 12. Boise St 9-1 (at WY) ___________ 13. SMU 9-1, 14. BYU 9-1, 15. TX A&M 8-2, 16. COL 8-2, 17. Clem 8-2, 18. Army 9-0

I think they greatly overestimated what Richards, Kluber and Paxton would give, but yes, how much more could they have done that would have gotten us to the dance.

I dropped him from my list when the comp pick was attached.

That is easy: he is the number one set up man and back-up closer. He will get many save opportunities, too.

Agreed, a Soto signing would have to be coupled with a major trade for a pitcher, and then we could afford add another OF to the trade.

Ding, ding, ding! The winner is....

Welcome! Yes, Mayer not Anthony for Crochet, but I'd like to trade Mayer and Abreu for a btter SP'er with a longer record of success or more years of control.

Murphy could be added.

We now have 40 on the roster. Before we add the Rule 5 guy(s), we will need to make some trades or cuts. When we add 2-4 more FAs or trade additions, more cuts or trades need to be made. Let the fun begin.

MLBTR reports "guaranteed $2.25MM on a deal that offers another $750K in incentives. He’d earn $150K apiece for reaching 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 appearances."

He's the lefty, and Scott can be the closer we need.

I think we'd need to keep the 1-2 punch of Soto & Devers to get the full affect of adding Soto. (Trade Casas & Abreu, maybe.)

He tried, but at $10M/1, I'm not sure expecting solutions was reasonable. Bloom should have done better with what he spent on SP'ing. $30M on Richards, Kluber and Paxton was a miss. $12M on Wacha & Hill was fine. $11M on 2 years of Perez was meh. $53M on all these guys was a miss, but not too far from what is expected for 6 pitchers and 8 years of control, counting the on Paxton was rehabbing. Bllom did better with the pen: Jansen, Martin and finding Schreiber and others. (The Barnes extension & Diekman were yuck-a-doodle-doo.)

Agreed, and the sham went so deep and on so many levels. I think the sham went back many years, at different levels from extreme to kinda mild. Part of me thinks the plan was for a long and slow rebuild, while trying to stay semi-competitive, or at least give the perception were were from 2019 onwards. One could argue that time is up, and the final rebuild step, which to me is to add key pieces from outside the organization to get as close to glory as possible, is upon us. Now, I need to pinch myself or smack myself upside my noggin'.

You guys crack me up!

It just seemed like the team was snake-bitten starting in 2019. Injuries, unexplained major decline years, here and there. So many of our biggest signings and extension players getting hurt, underperforming or both. The ALE getting very strong, then just when they really balance the schedule more than ever, the ALE was not as good. Things like that pile up. Then, the back-breaker Sale trade.

Equally important is that Brez chooses wisely or has good luck. (Do you think Gio was Brez's top 3 pick?)

Pivetta has had several 12-18 start stretches over his career, where he looks like a solid #2/3 SP'er, but yes, he has never put together a full solid season as a SP'er. I just get a sneaky feeling he will turn down the QO and have that season, elsewhere.

I'd rather sign the young guy Sasaki over Buehler, as "the second guy." We also have to think Pivetta may force himself into being the "second guy," if he takes the QO. We aren't adding two big SP'ers, if Pivetta is returning.

Kinda/sorta/yes, but as you know, I'm "tired" of relying on comebacks. Buehler is 30. He has not had a great year since 2021. He had another great year in 2019. I'm not sure those two seasons, 4 and 6 years ago makes him a better bet than Kluber and Paxton were. Richards was 33 when we got him, so throw him out, and he had gone 6 years without a great season, when we gave him a shot. Kluber was a two time Cy Young winner and top 3 four times. Yes, he was 37, when we signed him, but had made 31 starts the year before and did okay. He was 5 years removed from his last great season, so I do agree Walker B looks like a better upside choice than Kluber was. Paxton was never as great as Kluber or Buehler but had decent year just 4, 5 and 6 years prior ('17-'19) He was 33, when we added him, but 34 when he pitched for us. 4 and 6 years ago is a long time ago. Buehler's last 3 years: 28 GS (about 9 per season) 4.74 ERA (83 ERA+) 4.74 FIP 1.43 WHIP 7.8 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 These numbers are not much better than the guys I mentioned were, when we signed them.

He's not getting younger, either, but DH'ing mostly could help. I think adjusting to the new culture and game could offer reason to think he could do better, but I just don't see how we can expect any better than what he gave us in 2023-2024, but maybe at more PAs. He does have a 3.2 bWAR, career, which does come to about a 2.0 for 650 PAs. fWAR really slams DHs. He has a career 111 OPS+ which is a plus for a DH, but not great. He has value, but just falls way short of the $18M a year he gets. I think we hold onto him, until he gets healthy and a top prospect is busting down the door. None of our top prospects need to be added to the 40, and they won't be added until they are going to the 26 as a FT or very near FT player. There simply is not enough slots in the line-up for 4, right now. Even 3 is pushing it, and the catcher position might be the one slot, where our top prospect, Teel, is the least ML ready of the top 4-5 prospects at AAA (including Meidroth.) To me, if Campbell, Mayer and Anthony are on the 26, Yoshida and Abreu will be traded, and whoever is playing 2B will be utility. Even this configuration squeezes the middle IF or moves Campbell to the OF or DH (3B, if we move Devers to 1B and Casas to DH, as I would like.) This would be my ideal alignment (with Abreu traded): C: Jansen or Higgy/Wong (Teel in '26) 1B: Devers (Casas back-up) 2B: Mayer (until Story moves here) SS: Story 3B: Campbell (Devers back-up) LF: Duran/Ref CF: Rafaela/Duran RF: Anthony DH: Casas (Ref back-up) Utility: Grissom, DHam, Wong, (Ref or Rafaela, whoever is not starting)

He seems like another Richards-Paxton-Kluber type signing, where most of us were okay with, as long as it wasn't the centerpiece of improving the rotation. Yes, he and Fried would be fine, but not him alone.