moonslav59

Yes, maybe we don't have to trade Betts, if we had no Price deal, at all, or even half Price.

Me, too, but with Anthony joining the OF, we need to find a spot for Ref vs LHPs and Abreu vs RHPs. They could play LF with Duran in CF and Rafaela on the bench or AAA, but the DH slot may be open, until Yoshida is healthy, again.

Okay. I'm not so sure $25M is "conservative," as his two arb years might total $16-20M/2. If we assume $20M/2 plus and extension of $90M/3, that would make it $110M/5 at an AAV of $22M. $25M is possible, especially if the extension is for 4-5 years or more.

You are probably right. I always thought Jeter was the best hope for the most value. Dugo was already established, somewhat. Jeter's value was speculative. I really think the inclusion of Price hurt the return, significant;y. I did not like the reported SDP offer, either. It was rather strange that nobody jumped in to offer more, but the cost of Betts + 1/2 Price was just too much.

Only over 130 IP, twice his whole career of 9 years. Only over 129, once since 2018. He's had 2-3, not great but still okay seasons , out of his last 8 seasons. 9 seasons: 6 with very good to excellent numbers when pitching: 2 seasons over 130 IP (180 and 180.2) and 3 seasons between 128 and 129.1 IP. That's 4 seasons under 107 IP, including 50 in 2020. He's a damn good pitcher, but I'm tired of injury risk pitchers.. He turns 32 this December.

I don't want Snell, at all. I hope I never hear our name and his linked in any way. Fried then Burnes, is how I see it. Sign Scott and one from Estevez, Hoffman and Holmes, or two from the next tier of 3-4 RP'ers.

I used to think that some savings here or there was a good thing, so they could spend it elsewhere on a more needed area. Now, that old miser just pockets all savings, what's the benefit to the roster? Yoshida might have a good year. We can trade Abreu for a pitcher and hardly miss a beat on O. I'm not holding my breath on any major changes from JH, but just spending the same as last year could work out okay. I'm wanting better than okay, of course, and maybe we are due for our GM to actually get a few things right, even out of luck.

If he had confidence, he's take the $20M, have a great year and then sign for $60M/3.

Yes. I get that. To me, I'd prefer an Abreu-Ref DH platoon, so saving $3-6M a year and spending it on a better pitcher is worth it. Again, I might wait until he's healthy and hope his stock goes up. (Assuming he does well.)

AP Rankings: 1. ORE, 2. Ohio St, 3. TX, 4. Penn St., 5. IN, 6. TN, 7 BYU, 8 ND, 9. AL, 10. Ole Miss, 11. GA, 12. MIA, 13. Boise St, 14. SMU, 15. TX A&M, 16. Army Coaches Poll has ND 7th.

What does "2.08% under budget" mean? What budget? Does the Crochet $25M assume an extension that begins in 2025? He has 2 arb years that may cost $4-5M and then $6-18M, depending on how well he does in 2025. I doubt he'd be given that sort of extension that comes to a $25M AAV, that buys out 2 arb years.

I'm assuming you mean "more major" than these off seasons: 2021-2022: Signing Story, Wacha, Hill, Strahm, Diekman, Refsnyder & T Shaw. Extended Whitlock and traded Renfroe for JBJ & DHam. ($160M+ spent) 2022-2023: Signing Devers (started in 2024) Yoshida, Jansen, Kluber & Martin (around $450M spent)

$6M a year or $18M total saved, in a trade, right now? I doubt it, but maybe possible. Would he get an $18M/3 FA offer, this winter?

You guys think Pivetta takes $45M/3 over $20M/1?

Next to nothing, except "maybe" $4M in savings to spend on someone or add to a contract to make us the top bidder. IMO, we can trade Yoshida plus $45M ($3M x 3 years saved) for nothing, right now. If he comes back and hits well, maybe we can get $5-6M a year. I'd wait to trade him. I doubt $3M x 3 years makes much difference, unless we get that close to the tax line. (Doubtful, IMO)

I think it's a close call between Burnes and Fried. I think Fried gets less money and years, so he seems like the better bet, but Burnes may be a better injury risk. On decline??? fWAR last 4 years: Burnes 7.5>4.6>3.4>3.7 (I think maybe the 7.5 was an outlier, and we should not punish Burnes for being so great that one year, 4 years back.) xFIP: 2.30> 2.85> 3.80> 3.55 and ERA- 58>73>78>74 shows remarkable consistency the last 3 years. 32-33 GS'd the last 3 years Fried: 3.7>4.9>1.9>3.4 (maybe the 4.9 was an outlier and these numbers seem more up & down. xFIP: 3.45>3.09>3.10>3.33 seem more consistent and certainly better the last 2 years than Burnes. ERA- 71>61>58>78 looks very similar to Burnes. 2023-2024 combined: 7.8 Pablo Lopez (trade fodder) 7.2 Burnes 6.0 Wacha & Kikuchi 5.7 L Castillo (might be trade fodder) 5.4 Ober & Ryan (trade rumors) 5.2 Fried 5.1 Houck & Nate 5.0 Flaherty 4.9 Monty (trade) 4.9 Martinez (QO lost pick) ERA- 62 Snell 72 Fried 75 Martinez 76 Burnes 78 Wacha

We have no more Chris Sale's to trade for 2B prospects.

When you think about all the moves we made with the intention of improving our middle infield, we've failed so miserably, it's not even funny. The Downs trade. The Kike signing, especially the second one (and attempt to play him at SS) The Story signing. The Grissom trade. Even lesser patchwork deals like Buttrey for Kinsler, Marwin, Nunez & Phillips signings and the Josh Taylor for A Mondesi trade, failed badly.

I seem to remember being pretty much alone in thinking we should have offered Mookie $420/14. I;m not saying this to brag, but more out of the sense that I felt Mookie needed to be blown away to accept an offer before free agency. The offer he took from LAD may or may not have been influenced by COVID, and I don't want to rehash old debates, but I think JH felt something hug was needed to sign Betts, and he just refused to buckle. We don't even know if some counter offer was even discussed. We may never know. On the return package, Betts was due for a hefty last arb year contract, and that alone likely excluded 15-20 teams from even making a phone call about a trade. It might have only been 4-8 teams that could have made an offer, if they wanted to. There was some talk that only two serious inquiries and offers or frameworks of offers were made. One by LAD and one by SDP. The one by SD looked to be no better. Once the decision was made to trade him for whatever best offer we got, that backed Bloom into an unwinnable corner, and as we all saw, he and the team lost, bigtime. The inclusion of Price was probably what narrowed the teams to two, and the offers to substandards. The Soto trade did not involve a David Price tag on.

It was horrific, indeed. What made it even worse was that the centerpiece of the return, Jeter Downs, sucked. Dugo was okay, and the Fitts return on the Dugo trade may prove to be very helpful, but has to fall way short of what one would expect for a full year of Betts. Wong was looking like a nice part of the return, but his defense is so questionable, now, I don't see him as a major plus from that trade. Yes, NY Jets level bad.

Your point about the cost of Burnes and Fried being less than half of Soto, is the clincher. We could sign both and spend less than what Soto costs. While notin is right about the 3-4 years of value for both, together they total 7-8 years, which is about what Soto would give us. Signing Burnes and Fried would then allow us to trade Crawford, Abreu and DHam for a big RHB that can play LF, C, 1B, 2B or even a DH. It's easier to trade for a big bat than a top SP'er.

It's hard to know who is injury prone or not. The one good thing about Gio was supposed to be his durability and dependability. POOOOF! I think Fried is more on eth safe side than injury expectation side, and that seems about the best you can do. Well, a young pitcher might be safer, but that would involve a trade. I'm not sure there is a younger FA pitcher out there, as good and proven as Fried .

I'm all for signing a young Japanese pitcher, but I do not want it toe be the centerpiece of building up the 2025 rotation. If Pivetta accepts the QO, like I think he will, or agrees to an extension, that just keeps us treading water. While it's nice to not go backwards, we need to take a massive step forward with out rotation, and more importantly, our pen. Minimum: 1 major rotation addition and two major pen additions, ideally a closer and a lefty. I'd love to see Fried & Sasaki. Also, Tanner Scott (a LH closer) and one from Estevez, Hoffman or Holmes. Is Sewald coming off an injury? If not, I'd like him, too.

Well, even Bell mentioned $2M. I think, if he's healthy, we can find someone to take him at about a $4-7M a year cost to them. (Whatever they pay, we save.

Well, he's much more of an unknown and risk. I think it's time we add someone who is proven and not coming off an injury.