moonslav59

All true, but it would have taken some serious spending to keep all our arb-ending stars, and some were aged out by 2019-2020, anyway. It would have been very costly to replace Kimbrel, Kelly, Porcello and later, JD, ERod, Nate, Sale and others, and those weren't even the arb guys. I'm not defending JH, but the farm gave us next to zero from Devers in '17 to Houck & Duran in '20-'21. It's hard for any team to make up for that by spending more and more. Sure, in hindsight, just extend Betts & Bogey and let Sale and Nate walk, but who pitches, and at what cost? The team was headed towards a massive payroll budget, if we really tried to keep all the main pieces, guessed right on which ones to keep and replaced aging or departing players in kind. While Porcello's post Cy Young Award numbers could be easily replaced, what would it have cost? While that roster still had some top talent, it also had a ton of deadwood, very little farm infusion outlook and some big paydays coming up. This was the payroll in 2019. It looked frightening! $31M x 3 years Price (The guy sucked by then) $22M JD x 3 (He still had some good seasons, but not like 2018) $20.6M x 1 Porcello $20M/1 Betts (last arb and wanting about $30M/yr) $17M x 4 Nate (was extended) $15M Sale but was extended to $30M/yr starting in 2020 $12M Bogey (last arb $8.6M JBJ w 1 arb left, headed for a big payday & decline) $5-6M: Moreland, Pearce & Nunez (anyone want them back?) $4.3M ERod (2 arbs left) $2.9M Vav (3 year extension with modest raises) $1.6M Barnes (2 arbs and decline coming up) Note: Kimbrel & Kelly were never replaced after 2018. Holding this team together was no easy task, and one could argue, bringing all these guys back would have been a failure, too.

TOR & TBR are not getting better. The Yanks added a lot (Fried, Bellinger, D Williams) , but they also lost Soto, Holmes & Cortes. I doubt we finish in last, even if all we do is re-sign Pivetta and Jansen.

If our biggest outlay, this winter is Teoscar at about $70M/3 or $80M/4, that falls far short of the tax line, it's not even funny. It would make the $700M offer to Soto look more like part of the continuing sham.

Okay. Cohen was 22.6% over the second team ($63M more than second team) , while in 2018, JH was just 10.5% higher ($21.7M more spent) than #2.

JH spent a ton of money on 2019.

It seems like we lead the league in Bronze Medals.

I agree on Pedro, and what makes him even more remarkable is that he put up those insane numbers during a "hitting era." The top ERA+ seasons after 1935: 291 Pedro 2000 271 Maddux 1994 260 Maddux 1995 258 Gibson 1968 243 Pedro 1999 229 Gooden 1985 226 Clemens 2005 222 Clemens 1997 & Greinke 2015 219 Pedro 1997 That's 2 in the top 5 and 3 in the top 10. 218 deGrom 2018 & Verlander 2022 217 Snell 2018 Pedro also had a 211 in 2003 and 202 on 2002

Yes, and is a way, so would be #2.

Okay. It just seemed to me that you were saying/thinking that Cohen set his mind on getting Soto for "whatever it took," regardless of what he was actually worth and was prepared to pay more than his actual worth, and that having more than triple JH's $6B net worth was the final factor.

Yes, but I was asking Bell, who seems to have a different view of Cohen.

LOL, so true.

I asked that exact same question in this post you responded to.

Agreed- just around 10th.

What is "earth" for Houck? The guy looked very sharp from ages 24 to 26, and it looks like 2023 was the "outlier" season. 2020-2022: 3.01 ERA (150 ERA+) in 146 IP: 2.95 FIP/ 1.12 WHIP 2024: 3.12 ERA (137 ERA+) in 179 IP: 3.32 FIP/ 1.14 WHIP Of course, any pitcher can take a step back in any given year, but I see no reason to expect one with Houck. There might be an equal chance he does better in 2025 than he did in 2024. His 3 year earlier sample size was better.

If Cohen would have gone $250M more to get Soto, then why not spend that on Burnes?

Even without Scott of Hoffman, I'd be thrilled. (Maybe an Estevez type signing)

I'm not so sure about that return package, but if Jones is all he's cracked up to be, I would. Hard to know for sure, but we don't know about Mayer, either, of if Abreu ever learns to hit lefties. On the surface, I think I'd say yes. Of course, I would first try a package without a top 3 prospect, but why would PIT say yes to... Abreu, DHam and two from Perales, Arias, Bleis or Cespedes (Romero, if they leave us Arias.) Even three or four from the Perales, Bleis, Cespedes, Romero or a Garcia brother would likely not be enough.

Jones?

I like the RHB more than Bregman's bat, but Bregman's D would be a big plus, and our OF is our strength. If the Teoscar signing got us a good pitcher for Abreu, fine.

Very true, but it just takes one team. The guy seems to be a good hitter. He has been hurt a couple times in 2 years, but that may not be his MO>

I think JH would pay that, but it will take $200M/6 minimum.

You may be right. Just curious, would a Bregman or Burnes signing be enough? How about two from: Teoscar/Santander or Flaherty/Manaea/Scott?

Until we win a significant bid, the sham continues.

JH has to pick a guy and just not stop bidding until he's ours. It makes so much sense, it will never happen.

He has a .795 OPS over the last 5 years. That's pretty good, but if we trade Casas, it is no upgrade on O. If we DFA or trade Yoshida, I'm not sure Bregman is much of an upgrade over a Yoshida-Ref DH platoon. He has had horrific starts to some seasons, recently. I'd like to see us sign him, and he should be okay on O, as he ages, but he's not great on offense. A Casas-Devers 1B-DH share would be ideal.