harmony

Do the Red Sox have a "decent" spare starter who would be an upgrade over Ariel Jurado, Yolander Mendez, Luke Farrell and Adrian Sampson?

The Cubs reportedly will sign reliever Brad Brach:

The Texas Rangers have a projected starting rotation of Mike Minor, Lance Lynn, Drew Smyly, Edinson Volquez and Shelby Miller: https://www.rosterresource.com/mlb-texas-rangers/ https://www.fangraphs.com/projections.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&type=steamer600&team=13&lg=all&players=0&sort=19,d

FWIW, the Seattle Mariners have four prospects in Baseball America's Top 100.

I thought the Mariners had been in last place. Past tense.

Neither the Red Sox nor the Yankees placed a player on Baseball America's Top 100 prospect list released today:

With two years and 164 days of MLB service, Blake Swihart remains under team control for four more seasons (including this year as a Super Two with a salary of $910,000): https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/swihabl01.shtml

The only thing I remember about my law school tax course is the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion.

The Seattle roster has some entertainment value: https://www.rosterresource.com/mlb-seattle-mariners/ A non-contending team can gamble with an outfield of Mitch Haniger, Mallex Smith and Domingo Santana, ages 28, 25 and 26, under team control for an aggregate 11 seasons, who will earn only a combined $3 million this year despite seasons of 4.6, 3.4 and 3.3 fWAR within the last two years. A non-contending team can gamble on bounce-back seasons from second baseman Dee Gordon and third baseman Kyle Seager while Edwin Encarnacion takes over at first base, Omar Narvaez at catcher, Jay Bruce at designated hitter and Tim Beckham at shortstop until J.P. Crawford is ready. Ryon Healy and Daniel Vogelbach wait in the wings in anticipation of trades of Encarnacion and Bruce. A non-contending team can gamble that 27-year-old Japanese lefthander Yusei Kikuchi replaces 30-year-old southpaw James Paxton in the starting rotation. Nearly 27-year-old lefty Marco Gonzales last season ranked 23rd among all starters in fWAR, just ahead of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke (and nearly a full fWAR ahead of any Red Sox pitcher not named Chris Sale). Even Mike Leake has posted 3.6 fWAR in 36 starts with Seattle. As points of reference, last year Rick Porcello and David Price each posted 2.7 fWAR in 33 and 30 starts, respectively. The Mariners, who will lose some of those gambles, aren't expected to contend but could well avoid their first last-place finish since 2012. While Red Sox fans enjoy another likely winning season this Seattle fan hopes to enjoy the entertainment of the this year's Mariners.

The Seattle Mariners could be surprisingly (but characteristically) mediocre this year: https://www.rosterresource.com/mlb-seattle-mariners/ Or not.

MLB.com contributor Jim Callis on August 2 ranked the Yankee farm system No. 10: Top 10 farm systems in MLB WWW.MLB.COM When A.J. Preller took over as the Padres' general manager in August 2014, he hoped to return the club to contention instantly. In his first four months on the job, he traded a slew of prospects -- including Jake Bauers, Zach Eflin, Max Fried, Joe Ross, Mallex Smith and Trea The Yankees have since traded away at least four prospects, including top prospect Justus Sheffield.

Indeed. Mookie Betts should not be limited to a single employer for six MLB seasons and be forced to accept a league minimum salary for 2+ highly productive years.

Fair enough.

From Monday's chat with MLB Trade Rumors owner Tim Dierkes: https://www.jotcast.com/chat/live-chat-with-tim-dierkes-4390.html

From Monday's chat with MLB Trade Rumors owner Tim Dierkes: https://www.jotcast.com/chat/live-chat-with-tim-dierkes-4390.html

In the same exchange I provided contract numbers that would enhance the trade value of Christian Vazquez versus the trade value of Felipe Vazquez: Objectivity is a heavy cross to bear.

LOL If a poster offers a player value that strikes me as a bit off I will provide numbers I find relevant to the valuation. The reader can choose to incorporate or ignore those numbers. Sometimes the numbers enhance the valuation of a Red Sox player and sometimes the numbers detract from the valuation. Because of the pro-team bias on the forums of most clubs, the numbers detract more frequently than they enhance. That's the nature of the beast. Instead of addressing the valuation issue at hand, some posters change the subject by responding that I'm a fan of a team with the longest postseason drought in North American professional sports. That's certainly true but adds little to the discussion at hand. The Red Sox have won four World Series in the 17 years since the Seattle Mariners made their last postseason appearance. I'm OK with that. Over the years I have gained knowledge by visiting baseball forums across the spectrum. I hope to continue my participation. Best regards. PS: A poster at a Seattle forum started a thread about Blake Swihart when MLB Trade Rumors reported his potential availability: http://forums.seattletimes.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=247843

The same can be said of Xander Bogaerts, Rick Porcello and perhaps other Red Sox.

Because of luxury tax implications the Pirates may have fewer problems than the Red Sox with Francisco Cervelli's 2019 salary of $11.5 million.

The search goes on:

And they share a last name, were born less than a year apart and each has a guaranteed contract that runs through 2021 with a team option for at least one more year. Felipe's $19 million guarantee outshines Christian's $13.3 million guarantee. Of course the Pirates would be disinclined to pursue Christian Vazquez as the current Sox would be blocked by Francisco Cervelli, who last year posted the third-highest fWAR of all catchers: https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=c&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=100&type=8&season=2018&month=0&season1=2018&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0 ... not to mention that the Pittsburgh bullpen would be significantly weakened.

Steamer600, which assumes 200 innings for each starting pitcher, projects about 312 starters with a higher 2019 WAR than Brian Johnson: https://www.fangraphs.com/projections.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&type=steamer600&team=0&lg=all&players=0&sort=19%2cd Steamer600,, which assumes 450 plate appearances for each catcher, projects 239 catchers with a higher 2019 WAR than Blake Swihart: https://www.fangraphs.com/projections.aspx?pos=c&stats=bat&type=steamer600&team=0&lg=all&players=0&sort=27%2cd Trivia: In consecutive years Brian Johnson and Seattle lefthander Marco Gonzales won the John Olerud Award as college baseball's best two-way player. Each was a first-round selection as the Red Sox took Johnson with the 31st pick of the 2012 draft and the St. Louis Cardinals took Gonzales with the 19the pick of the 2013 draft. Each lefty has five years of team control although their careers have taken different trajectories. Gonzales made his MLB debut a year before Johnson did and picked up two MLB postseason wins in relief after only 16 months in professional ball.

Steamer600, which assumes 200 innings from each starting pitcher, projects 28-year-old lefthander Brian Johnson with a 2019 WAR of 0.7 and an ERA of 5.10: https://www.fangraphs.com/projections.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&type=steamer600&team=3&lg=all&players=0&sort=19,d Steamer600, which assumes 450 plate appearances for each catcher, projects nearly 27-year-old Blake Swihart with a 2019 WAR of 0.2 and an OPS of .652: https://www.fangraphs.com/projections.aspx?pos=c&stats=bat&type=steamer600&team=3&lg=all&players=0 I question whether two barely replacement-level players, who are out of options, will bring back "a very good, cost effective" reliever.

Unless Nathan Eovaldi is last year's Drew Pomeranz and Steve Pearce is last year's Eduardo Nunez. Eovaldi and Pearce may have overperformed in 2018 ... or not.

Another site's inventory of free agent relievers: https://metsmerizedonline.com/2019/01/taking-inventory-of-free-agent-relievers.html/