harmony

The criminal justice system is an imprecise institution that occasionally convicts the innocent or acquits the guilty. The former is more concerning than the latter.

The Los Angeles Dodgers designated Trevor Bauer for assignment and have seven days to trade Bauer before the righthander is released on waivers: Transactions | Los Angeles Dodgers WWW.MLB.COM The Official Site of Major League Baseball Designate for Assignment (DFA) | Glossary | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM The Official Site of Major League Baseball The Dodgers will likely trade Trevor Bauer for the best offer. Three teams might be willing to pay Bauer $5 million this year if the Dodgers pay the balance. The bidding could go up from there. If more than one team would be willing to claim Bauer off waivers, at least one team should be likely to pay part of Bauer's 2023 salary to prevent the competition if the righthander goes to waivers. And the Dodgers should be open to recouping a portion of their sunken cost.

The 2023 Red Sox should have the benefit of low expectations.

Wishing our favorite teams and their fans a Happy New Year!

The Red Sox should be all over this proposed Rafael Devers trade to the Mets: https://fansided.com/2022/12/29/mets-trade-package-rafael-devers/

That was certainly true for the 2022 Seattle Mariners, who suffered no injuries in their starting rotation. The Mariners went with an opener in three games but Robbie Ray, Logan Gilbert and Marco Gonzales each made 32 starts. Matt Brash and George Kirby combined for 30 starts while Chris Flexen and Luis Castillo combined for 33 starts. Injuries were not the reason that Kirby and Castillo replaced Brash and Flexen in the Seattle rotation. Absent a trade, Seattle will return those seven starters with prospects Emerson Hancock, Taylor Dollard, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo providing starter depth. Although the Mariners are rumored to be willing to trade a pitcher, odds are that the M's are unlikely to field an injury-free rotation in 2023.

Corey Kluber's was one of the few free agent contracts to come in under the MLB Trade Rumors prediction: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/11/mlb-trade-rumors-top-50-free-agents-predictions-2022-23.html What former Stetson Hatter righthander will post the best numbers in 2023: Kluber, Jacob deGrom or Logan Gilbert?

Even with the former's down season, Max Kepler and Luis Arraez, who come with multiple years of team control, this year combined for more fWAR than Rafael Devers posted. The Red Sox should hope to better a package of Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs and Connor Wong.

A Minnesota vulture is circling the Rafael Devers prey: A Potential Trade for Rafael Devers - Minnesota Twins Free Agents & Trade Rumors - Twins Daily TWINSDAILY.COM While reading “3 Third Baseman Trades that Could Provide the Twins a Productive Bat” posted by Nate Palmer, I got a very interesting idea. The first trade he proposed is one for Rafael Devers, which got me thinking… The Minnesota Twins are in a unique place where depth isn’t quite a concern anymo...

The Seattle Mariners have trouble attracting free agents despite the absence of a state income tax in Washington.

Good will to all!

Another excerpt:

Red Sox beat reporter Jen McCaffrey at The Athletic detailed the team's four-year pursuit of Masataka Yoshida: https://theathletic.com/4029222/2022/12/24/red-sox-pursuit-masataka-yoshida/ Subscription required. A Red Sox scout assessed Yoshida's left field defense from the scout's perch atop a Ferris wheel just outside a Japanese stadium. An excerpt on Yoshida's skills:

The Red Sox offseason is among those reviewed by a FiveThirtyEight columnist: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-teams-that-won-lost-and-confused-us-this-mlb-offseason/

CORRECTION: Gurriel will become a XX( free agent upon expiration of contract after 2023 season

A trade for Daulton Varsho likely would have cost the Red Sox a top prospect such as Triston Casas, who is a month older than Gabriel Moreno, who plays a premium position. Casas entered the 2022 season as the 17th-ranked prospect at Baseball America while Moreno entered the season as BA's seventh-ranked prospect. This year Casas posted 0.3 fWAR and 120 wRC+ in 27 MLB games while Moreno posted 0.7 fWAR and 113 wRC+ in 25 games. Of course the Diamondbacks also got one year of established veteran Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the trade. Two years of Alex Verdugo might be a reasonable comp.

A trade for Daulton Varsho likely would have cost the Red Sox a top prospect such as Triston Casas, who is a month older than Gabriel Moreno, who plays a premium position. Casas entered the 2022 season as the 17th-ranked prospect at Baseball America while Moreno entered the season as BA's seventh-ranked prospect. This year Casas posted 0.3 fWAR and 120 wRC+ in 27 MLB games while Moreno posted 0.7 fWAR and 113 wRC+ in 25 games. Of course the Diamondbacks also got two years of established veteran Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the trade. Two years of Alex Verdugo might be a reasonable comp.

FWIW when the Red Sox traded Mookie Betts with one year of team control remaining, Betts had posted 36.9 fWAR and 42.2 bWAR in 794 games with the Sox. Rafael Devers, who has one year of team control remaining, has posted 18.1 fWAR and 15.2 bWAR in 689 games with the Red Sox. Betts was a four-time All Star and the 2018 AL MVP while Devers is a two-time All Star who has never finished in the top 10 in MVP voting. Since entering MLB in 2014 Devers ranks ninth among qualified third basemen with 18.1 fWAR in 689 games (sandwiched between Kris Bryant with 18.2 WAR in 620 games and Eugenio Suarez with 17.5 fWAR in 810 games): https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=3b&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2022&month=0&season1=2017&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2017-01-01&enddate=2022-12-31 Newly acquired Justin Turner posted 22.2 fWAR in the same number (689) of games over that period. Working in Devers' favor is his relative youth at 26 years of age.

David Price was a 34-year-old lefthander with three years and $96 million remaining on his contract when the Red Sox traded Price, Mookie Betts and cash to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Chris Sale, a lefthander who turns 34 in March, has two years and $55 million remaining on his contract. A package of Rafael Devers and Sale would not be out of the question.

Isn't that precisely what the Red Sox did with Mookie Betts?

Avoid use of I, you and related personal pronouns. Stick to ideas. IMHO

Petty personal attacks do not enhance the quality of this forum’s discussions.

Columnist Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic on the J.D. Martinez signing: https://theathletic.com/4019710/2022/12/19/mlb-offseason-trades-dodgers/ Subscription required.

From The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal: https://theathletic.com/4014758/2022/12/19/red-sox-owners-free-agency-blame/ Subscription required.

At The Athletic, the Red Sox came in second on columnist Jim Bowden's list of losers (and winners) so far this offseason: https://theathletic.com/4005734/2022/12/19/mlb-offseason-winners-losers/ Subscription required.