moonslav59

I'll trade anyone and everyone, if teh return is greater. Equal is fine, too, if we fill a greater need area. Right now, our needs are pitching, pitching, catcher, pitching, RHB. I'm fine with trading Crawford, if the deal upgrades one of these areas by as much as it downgrades our pitching staff with the loss of Crawford. I've never been as high on Crawford as some, here, but he's a good 5th starter and probably a very good long man/spot starter, too. The HRs are a major concern, and I'm not sure he can continue to allow so many of then with no men on base, going forward. He worries me. I could see deals like this: Crawford + Abreu for a better pitcher. Crawford + DHam for a better pitcher or a RHB and or a catcher. The only guy I'm really "for trading," just for the sake of trading and not really looking for anything in return, is Yoshida, and even with him, I think it's best we wait and hope he gains value by getting healthy and producing for a while. I'd rather have Casas and Devers share DH duties and play 1B as little as possible. With Devers, no 3B, except when our FT 3Bman needs a rest.

We didn't lose Soto.. I'm not making fun of them. I'm pointing out that they are not going the extra mile to address all their needs. I'm pretty sure Yankee fans are not thrilled at the net gains and losses, so far, but they probably have more hope for the rest of the winter moves than us Sox fans do. I have been making fun of our moves.

The Story signing was not much of an overpay. You are right. I guess I was thinking more that it seemed we identified a need (Bogey about to depart,) and I'm not sure how many others were even bidding nearly that high. Some other SSs got some big paydays earlier in the signing period, yes, it did not look like a gross overpay, but he did have an injury issue and some concerning home-away numbers that seemed to bother other teams more than our guys who wanted him more than others. I'm not speaking to the "overpay" due to hindsight. The one injury was about expected, but I'm talking about times, where we saw certain players and made a choice to not be outbid, and some seemed like nobody was close to our offers. Then, there are so many other players, where we make grossly lower-than-market value offers and claim "We wanted ____." There seems to be a weird disconnect going on. Maybe, if can simply be explained as poor value analysis.

He does play LF or DH, a position we already have many that can play, but he's a good RHB, and it seems the LAD are not going to get into a bidding war for him. To me, signing him would force a trade, but not in a bad way. We were likely going to trade Abreu, even if we did not add a RHB OF'er. Sign Teoscar would mean... LF Teoscar (Duran, Refsnyder) CF Duran (Anthony) RF Anthony (Campbell) assuming we trade Abreu for pitching or a catcher, or both. Burnes and Teoscar would be very nice. Flaherty, Teoscar and Estevez would be okay. Teoscar and more Sandoval types falls way short.

The Yanks have had some head-scratchers, too,

Carlos Santana gets $12M/1 from CLE. Wow!

The semi finals are set: 12/31: Penn St v Boise St in Fiesta Bowl 1/1: Texas v Arizona St in Peach Bowl 1/1: Ohio St v Oregon in Rose Bowl 1/2" Georgia v Notre Dame in Sugar Bowl To me, #1 Oregon and #2 Georgia face tougher opponents than #TX and #4 Penn St.

That has to be it. Plus, the only thing that kept Booser on the 40 was the shortage of LHPs in the pen. We added Chapman and Wilson, still have Bernardino and are going to see Whitlock, who kills lefties, back in the pen. (Whitlock career OPS Against: .695 v R/ ,689 v L and .251 BA vs .236)

Booser may not have played, anyway. I had him about 13th to 15th out of our 17 pen guys in MLB and AAA.

What do you think he's worth? Apparently, they turned down our offer of an oft-injured s***** defensive 1Bman.

I assumed we'd give something with Rafaela, but not a top prospect or player...maybe Rafaela + Fitts or Priester, or maybe DHam. If they say no, then move on. They do not think Castillo is Pedro. Why say stuff like that?

I have always felt that anyone talking about themselves in the third person was pretentious and cocky, but with Ricky, it fit.

They spent $12.5M on Goldschmidt, instead of $20M per on Walker. That's the sign of a management team not afraid to spend big... NOT!

Flurries with no accumulation is the perfect metaphor that is sure to become an extended one.

I'm not so sure. We basically will pay Sandoval $18M for 1 year, is $24M for Castillo really that much more? Yes, the years matter, and now that Sandoval is on the books, getting Castillo is a longshot. Also, let's say we trade Rafaela for Castillo, his AAV is $6M a tear for 7 more years vs Castillo's $2M x 3 (21.6M x 3 tax line) This would cost JH about $18M a year (close to Sandoval's actual pay for one year) for 3 years, then save him $6M for the next 4 years ($24M total.) The total money cost would be $72M for Castillo vs $49M for Castillo, or a cost of $23M total (3 yrs of Castillo.) I'm not advocating this trade, but just presenting a way that might make financial sense to miser (no, the "t" is not missing from "mister.") Henry.

Cam Booser to CWS for a minor league pitcher. This must be to make room for Sandoval, who needs to be on the 40 man until opening day, when he will be placed on the 60 Day IL.

Plus, you can't just add a Houck or Bello without drafting them 5-8 years ago and waiting for them to mature. We need an arm, now.

One of a kind.

This Narvaez kid is supposed to be the real deal on D, including handling the staff. His issue is high Ks and offense, but he does have 20 HR power and a .350 OBP on the farm, so maybe we found a hidden gem. I'd feel better added a good all around catcher. I still think pitching is a greater need. We could use a big RHB, so a trade for Sean Murphy would help solve 2 issues.

I'm expecting neither. If I had to guess, I'd say we might sign Estevez (RP) and trade for a decent catcher, and call it a day. Maybe, tops, we sign Flaherty (no comp pick lost) and add a catcher, somehow.

The Yanks have really gone for older aged 1Bmen, of late. Goldschmidt 37-38 Rizzo 31-35 LeMahieu has played some 1B at ages 34-36.

He is my age.

R.I.P. Ricky Henderson

Yanks sign Goldschmidt to $12.5M/1. I doubt he does real well for them, as he turns 38, next September. He helps them from the right side, but has shown some serious decline on O, except for his career high season at age 34 in 2022: OPS+ 150 from 2013-2018 (ages 25-30) 115 at age 31 145 at 32 141 at 33 177 at 34 (Outlier?) 120 at 35 98 at 36, this season

You don't have to talk me into improving the defense, especially 3B, where I have been suggesting Devers to 1B for years. We can do that without trading Crawford. I'm not against trading Crawford for anything that helps the team. Since we need pitching, I'm hesitant to trade anyone who is better than our 13th best pitcher, unless the gain is better than that loss. Weren't you the one who argues with me about not moving Crawford to the pen, of was that MVP? (Back when the talk was about who should go to the pen: Whitlock, Houck, Pivetta or Crawford.) I'd really like a real 3Bman, and I'm still thinking Arenado might work, if the money doesn't keep us from adding a pitcher we still need (SP or RP.) Paredes would have been nice. I'm not thrilled about paying $200M/7 for a .795 3Bman, but Bregman's D is a big plus and he hits lefties well. That solves 2 problems with one signing and may help fix teh 1B defense issue, if devers works out better than Casas on 1B D. I also think rotating Devers and Casas at 1B and DH would allow both to play 160 games not 150-155 by resting at DH. Okay, so if the plan is to sign Bregman and trade Crawford and maybe Rafaela or Abreu for a better pitcher, fine. I'd rather sign Burnes, Scott or Hoffman, or maybe Flaherty & Estevez and move Crawford to the pen, but trading him for a defensive 3Bman or catcher could work, too. We could add Abreu or DHam to make teh return even sweeter, but that puts pressure on Anthony, Campbell or Mayer to come through, quickly. I like that risk.