moonslav59

Lauer would have been some decent depth, here.

Pirates signed Eric Lauer to a minor league deal. He seemed like a good gamble as a low cost. I did not expect this low a cost.

LMAO! I've never seen a spell check so messed up as notin's.

JH may never approve a pitcher signing, again! Even the $10M/1 deals sucked.

I think the longer you wait, the later the 60 days is up, right? Maybe they want some of these guys to come off the 60 IL after May..

Huh?

Anyway you look at it, the money doesn't come close to Sale, Yoshida and GIO's AAV.

I like the deal and effort. Some of these deals may not work out well, but it's worth the gamble. Finally, something to be encouraged about, this winter.

So you get the more back-end post control years.

Good one!

Sounds great, to me, even at $95M/8. Add a 9th year option at $25M with a $5M buyout, making it $100M/8.

Agreed, or even a 3rd year option.

Why would he DH, unless he's hurt or lost his range due to an injury or quick aging?

Agreed on all this, assuming everyone is healthy and ready to pitch or play on opening day. I would not mind seeing someone like Jacques DFA's over Dalbec, and keep BD in AAA, in case Cron sucks or gets hurt, but DFA'ing him is fine with me.

I think these kinds of talks break down enough to think this is not a slam dunk signing. Talks with players with several years of control are more likely to reach a deal than with vets with 2-3+ years of control, for sure. Players are seeking security, in case they get hurt or turn out to be not as good as many expected. Teams get added years of control at reasonable prices. It's set up to be win-win. I get it.

I never saw the word "imminent." Sometimes talks break down, but it does sound very encouraging. It is probably very rare, when "advanced talks" is reported and then no deal is made. BTW, I wasn't doubting Speier. I wasn't sure where the info he got was from. If it came from the Sox, I'd doubt anything. It wouldn't make Speier wrong for reporting what he was told. It does look like he will be extended. I'm happy for that. I hope it works out well. It should.

All I read was "Advanced talks." If I missed something, I'll gladly admit I was wrong. I admit, I am stuck on this whole sham thing, and may be blinded by that. I hope we extend him. It would make sense and calm the waters a bit. It also fits their longer term plans.

It's pretty common for these deals to just go 1-2 years beyond the end of control.

I read that and was responding to it. I'm saying it might just be part of the ongoing sham to brighten up our hopes (only to dash them, later with a no deal reached.)

I was pretty surprised we got someone as promising and MLB ready as Grissom, but paying most of Sale's remaining contract evened the deal out for ATL. The fact that ATL has a SS and 2Bman made it easier for them to make this offer. It took awhile for this deal to good, to me, but I like the idea of 5 years of Grissom for one year of Sale on a team destined for another season missing the playoffs. I realize, it didn't need to be this way, but I can't change the fact that it is what it is. Maybe Grissom fizzle like Jeter Downs. That would really suck, but even if Sale has a good year, it probably wouldn't have mattered. Also, we were never going to extend Sale, so this isn't like losing 3 years of Chris Freakin' Sale. I was a huge Sale fan. It sucks it ended like this. I have to admit, I got fed up with the annual Sale hope and dream dashing. In what seems like a lost season, it makes sense to get highly promising players for players that are not in our long term plans. So, this leads me to think, what can we get for Pivetta? Martin? Jansen, when healthy? O'Neill, at the deadline, if healthy? Maybe even something worthwhile for McGuire or Refsnyder and anyone else about to get squeezed by rising propsects.

Just some fluff to try and counter the bad news on Gio. I doubt we extend Bello or Casas, this year.

Mata on the 60 with a hamstring pull? Let's assume these 3 go on the 60, these might be some guys added, at some point: 1B Cron (if we don't like Dalbec on the 26.) P Fitts Gambrell Luetge Guerrero Hagenman IF Yorke Sogard Westbrook OF Contreras (I doubt it) Am I missing anyone?

SSS Minors 42 in 234 games at SS (6 in 21 career ML 3 in 50 games at 2B (4 in 44 MLB) Not great, but not as bad as what we saw in 2023 at 2B (and SS until Story returned.)

Giolito - instantly flushed down toilet. ...and no plunger available! Grissom - injured. Not worried about this. Sale - looking good so far. Famous last words.

We'd need incredible health luck and career highs in IP by several young and or tweeners slotted as SP'ers, this season, for this not to happen. What a complete cluster ____! Bello Pivetta Crawford Houck Whitlock Winckowski Criswell, Fitts, Walter, Gambrell, Murphy (Wikelman?)