moonslav59

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.

That makes a lot of sense, but signing Fried or Burnes would be replacing Crawford- not Houck or Bello, and the projected WAR for them vs Crawford is what comp matters the most. Is that worth the money? Maybe - maybe not. To me, it's really about Burnes or Fried vs whoever we do add: Flaherty, Pivetta, Manaea, Buehler or gasp... just Sandoval. (Then, count the added value of Crawford in the pen.)

Innings of mediocrity is a plus, but at some point, we need more plus innings from somewhere. I'd say he is better than most teams' 5th starter, so in that sense, he's not a net minus, but when you compare our top 4 SP'ers to the top 6-8 teams in MLB, we are not near the top 3-4.. With a pen and defense like ours, we can't go late into games up 3-2, 4-3 or 5 or 6-4.

ND actually looks like a contender, but being matched up with Georgia, next round is a real bummer. We are a top 4 team, being forced to play the 2nd best team in the country in the round of 8 is just plain messed up. ND is 0-3 vs GA over the years. Today's games: Penn St is up 21-0 on SMU in the 3rd, Clemson is at Texas, this afternoon and Tenn is at Ohio St., tonight (nice Big 10 vs SEC match-up.)

In theory, we'll be adding Giolito, too. Also, Criswell is an option from day one, and I don't think we viewed him that way, last winter. (Fitts, Priester and Dobbins, too.) That being said, I still think the best FA out there, that can help us, is Burnes, with Crawford moving to the pen. Maybe adding Cutter to the pen would make the pen a little better than 2024's. That would leave a RHB and corner IF & C defense as the next priorities.

It would depend on what we give up and how the money net works out.

Chapman wasn't a bad move, since we needed a LH'd RP, but if he's being viewed as the closer or co-closer with Hendriks, something is clearly "not right:" I agree. Even signing a solid TOTR pitcher and moving Crawford to the pen does not improve the pen from 2024. It's not really any worse, but it's not better. No Jansen or Martin. Add Chapman, Hendriks, Wilson and the return of Whitlock from the IL and rotation. It was arguably our biggest winter need area.

I've never been as high on Crawford as some, as a SP'er. I'd like to see us add a solid SP'er and make Crawford our long guy/spot starter and keep Wink & Whitlock for the 1-2 IP guys for the 6-8th innings.

He could have been a signing that balanced our line-up, had we gone ahead and traded Casas for pitching or made Casas the FT DH, and dumped Yoshida. $60M/3, these days, seems like a steal.

Yes, they "jumped on Story" as it seemed nobody else wanted him. The "jump" ws more on the price than the "quickness." Yes, they "jumped on Yoshida," because they likes him since he was in diapers. It appeared nobody else came close to thinking he was worth over $100M in total costs. To me, we continuously make outrageously low bids on the top FAs we "are in on." Only the reported $700M Soto offers breaks from that trend, IMO. But, when it comes to flawed candidates, we seem to jump to the top and "overpay:" Diekman, Story, Yoshida, Paxton, Hendriks, and now Chapman and Sandoval. Some thought Wacha was an overpay stab in the dark, but I think other teams liked him nearly as much. Maybe my disgust with team management is clouding my judgment: it wouldn't be the first time. I can readily admit to thisi, but this seems to have a grain of truth to it, at least. We simple go gah-gah over the wrong guys.

If we are willing to call up a pitcher for a spot start, instead of going with a pen game, we should be able to avoid them. One hurdle is already passed: 4 are one the 40 man roster, already (Craiswell, Priester, Fitts and Dobbins.) We should try to avoid using Whitlock or Wink as "openers." If we add another starter, which I am doubting more and more, as time goes by, then Crawford in the pen could be used as a spot starter or 3-5 inning relief guy. Adding 1 solid SP and 1 solid RP'er would give us "plus" depth on paper. In 2024, we used 13 pitchers to start/open a game- maybe 6 or 7 were "openers." Shockingly, we used 34 different pitchers during the season. Two were nonpitchers, who pitched 4 times (4IP 0 ER,) so 32 identified as pitchers. (Some say they were born pitchers, but I think the public school system got them to trans to pitching.) 26 pitchers had 5+ IP and 23 had 10+ IP. Here is who we lost or who may not pitch for the big team in 2025: (IP rank) 4. Pivetta 146 (103 ERA+) 10. Jansen 55 (130) 11. Anderson 52 (89) 13. Martin 44 (124) 15. Keller 25 (74) 18. Horn 18 (67) 19. Garcia 15 (53) 20. Sims 14 (68) 21. Joely 14 (74) 22. Paxton 11 (108) 28. Uwasawa 4 (206) 29. Hill 4 (95) Note: we tend to focus on the losses of Pivetta, Jansen and Martin, which is truly a significant 245 IP lost, but the rest on this list total over 152 IP. That's pretty significant, too.

We do have a record of "jumping" on players we like and overpaying. Yoshida and Story come to mind. Chapman was not even listed on MLBTR's top 50 FA list, which bottoms out at $8M/1, and we signed him at over $10M/1. Maybe someone else was involved, but I haven't heard of anyone interested in him. We can't assume we won a serious bidding war.

I'm not sure it is "discounting" but rather the realization that almost every team does not look to trade away young pitchers with talent, or even just promising young pitchers, and if they are pressed to do so, they ask for the world in return. I'd love to get some of the young pitchers you have mentioned, but it's hard to determine what sort of return package should or has to be. Would you trade Anthony for any of these guys? (They might demand him and maybe others, too.)

Castillo has been one of MLB's most healthy and successful pitchers for several years. True, we aren't the only team signing guys on the IL and hoping they comeback in months, but I'm not sure there was any bidding war on PS.

Stealing one of notin's ideas, let's get some kids in the game, while adding some quality talent in key areas? Trade Story and whatever cash it would take to get RHB Sean Murphy to catch. Sign Bregman and Hoffman. Trade Abreu, Grissom and Fitts for Mitch Keller. 1. Duran LF v R/CF v L 2. Bregman 3B 3. Casas DH/1B 4. Devers 1B/DH 5. Murphy C 6. Anthony RF 7. Campbell 2B 8. Mayer SS 9. Rafaela CF v R/ Refsnyder LF v L Bench: Wong, Rafaela/Ref, DHam, Romy (Yoshida) SP: Crochet, Houck, Keller, Bello, Giolito RP: Hoffman, Chapman, Hendriks, Slaten, Whitlock, Crawford, Winckowski, Wilson Rotation: Better Pen: Better Defense: way Better RHB-LHB balance: way Better Bench: Better AAA depth: Better

Nobody was bidding that high, except maybe Cohen getting JH back for the Soto push.

Always enjoyable reads. While I do agree that JH is making our CBO/GMs job near impossible, he's not holding a gun to their heads over Sandoval. $18M is enough to do better, even if just for a dreaded one year deal. $18M added to the next guy we sign could have gotten healthy quality over speculative promises.

I still think he's better than a good #3. I'm not for upgrading a #4 or #5, but I see him as better than that, and I see real value added with Crawford eating 90-120 innings from the pen and spot starts. I think we can do better. Maybe my suggested offers were overpays, and yes, I'd prefer Miller or Woo, of just sign a damn FA quality SP'er, already, but if we signed Bregman and traded for Castillo, we'd be much better off.

From the "full throttle" to this year's comments about the CBT not being an issue, this winter and the near total lack of any meaningful financial expenditures, so far, is keeping me in sham frame of mind, until I see concrete actions, and the emphasis is on that "S" on the end of the word action.

I know there is a lot of winter left. There are plenty of quality players still on the market, with some big spending teams laying off a few of them. We have three top prospects ready or near ready to make their mark in MLB. We have a bunch of players coming back, next year after being hurt for much or all of 2024. We added an exciting young pitcher with nasty stuff and a good LH's RP'er. There is a lot to be optimistic about... BUT... We still have clear and long-standing weaknesses. 1. We need better pitching. Period. A really good SP'er AND RP'er may not be enough. 2. Our Corner IF defense had been god-awful for several years, and we've done nothing about it, but claim their bats more than make up for it. (Newsflash: their bats can still be in the line-up, just not at 3B.) 3. We need a real catcher. Defense is most important, but an all around one would be better. 4. A power RHB. We don't need to fix all 4 of these, and maybe Narvaez can be the next Sandy Leon, but we can and MUST fix at least 2 of these 4 areas before opening day. There is no excuse. Bregman would fix the corner IF D and take a big bite out of our needs vs LHPs. (Teoscar or Santander only fix the RHB need, but if we trade Abreu and or Rafaela to make OF space for them, than maybe that fixes two needs.) Signing Burnes, Flaherty or Scott would fix one of our biggest needs. Two would be heavenly. (Signing Manaea and Hoffman would do the same.) I suppose we could skimp and do okay with Pivetta, Hoffman and an Arenado trade, but I'd still be disappointed in the total winter plan.

If he just spent up to but below the tax line, we could have a clear playoff contending team in 2025 and an even better looking extended outlook.

So, I wonder who we DFA to make room for Sandoval, who will be placed on the 60 Day IL, day one of the season. MLBTR says we are still $50M under the tax line, which should not even be a firm budget limit, anyway. That's still enough for Burnes and Teoscar or Bregman and Flaherty. Maybe enough for Teoscar, Buehler & Hoffman.