harmony

Today this Seattle fan posted his offseason plan for the Mariners: https://www.lookoutlanding.com/2020/11/15/21566234/harmonys-offseason-plan The plan has the Mariners spending some money on short-term commitments without going all-in for 2021.

Each of your trade proposals elicits a reaction. Has Tampa Bay maintained its rumored interest in Christian Vasquez? The Red Sox would be fortunate to land Aaron Civale, the righthander out of Northeastern University.

Over at Baseball Trade Values notin posted the interesting proposed trade of Jeter Downs and Connor Wong to Tampa Bay for lefthander Blake Snell and center fielder Kevin Kiermaier: https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/trades/trade-29736/ The Red Sox would most likely improve but Tampa Bay may have little interest in Downs, the 40th-ranked prospect, when the Rays have top middle infield prospects Wander Franco (No. 1) and Vidal Brujan (No. 41). Wong ranks 19th in a pedestrian Boston farm system. Top 100 Baseball Prospects | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM The Official Site of Major League Baseball

Do the Red Sox have assets in personnel to trade for a "big name" starting pitcher without creating a hole elsewhere in the lineup?

Aware of the high rate of prospect attrition, this Seattle fan had written off Mariner outfield prospect Kyle Lewis when injuries threatened the career of the 11th pick in the 2016 draft. A corny tribute was expected after Lewis was named 2020 AL Rookie of the Year but this 32-minute video is truly inspiring:

For Boston Globe subscribers only, beat reporter Alex Speier offers the inside story on the rehiring of Alex Cora: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/11/14/sports/alex-cora-red-sox-manager-search-how-it-happened/

WEEI's Rob Bradford on Jarren Duran: https://www.radio.com/weei/sports/red-sox/the-red-sox-jarren-duran-conundrum

Each offseason SB Nation permits one volunteer to play general manager for each team, negotiating with the volunteers for the other teams. https://www.royalsreview.com/2020/11/1/21544545/the-2019-sb-nation-off-season-simulation-official-thread#comments This year the unnamed Red Sox volunteer: -- traded Chris Sale, Nick Decker and $32 million to the Cardinals for righthander Miles Mikolas -- traded J.D. Martinez and $20 million to the Tigers for lefthander Daniel Norris -- traded C.J. Chatham to the Athletics for righthander Norge Ruiz -- declined option on Martin Perez before signing Perez to a one-year, $3 million contract -- signed outfielder Eddie Rosario to a four-year, $45 million contract -- signed lefthander Rich Hill to a one-year, $11 million contract -- signed righthanded reliever Alex Colome to a two-year, $14 million contract -- signed lefthanded reliever Tony Watson to a two-year, $6 million contract -- signed lefthhanded reliever Chasen Shreve to a one-year, $2 millon contract -- non-tendered Austin Brice and Jose Peraza Better deals have been found on this forum. The award for the most lopsided trade goes to the volunteer general manager for the Seattle Mariners: -- a trade of three Top 100 prospects -- Julio Rodriguez, Emerson Hancock and George Kirby -- for one year of Chicago Cubs third baseman/outfielder Kris Bryant. Baseball Trade Values assigns median surplus values of $5.3 million for Bryant, $73.8 million for Rodriguez, $19.4 million for Hancock and $14.7 million for Kirby. In other words the proposed trade represented a combined $107.9 million for $5.3 million.

Nearly every April for two decades I've attended a Friday-Saturday meeting on the Oregon Coast. At sunrise on Saturday I jog from the hotel to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and back (about one-third on the beach, including a soaked crossing of a creek that empties on to the sand): One of my favorite places in the world. I never noticed whales there until perhaps a dozen whales appeared when I took my extended family to the lighthouse on a reunion in the summer of 2016.

Shouid I place a library hold on the 2019 book A Summer with Montaigne by Antoine Compagnon?

Expressed differently: What do I know?

"Or not" is the humble acknowledgment of a mere fan who has far less expertise and information than those in MLB front offices.

Compare the numbers over the past three years for Gary Sanchez in his age 25, 26 and 27 seasons (2018-20) and the numbers for catcher Mike Zunino in his age 25, 26 and 27 seasons (2016-18): GS 244 G, 998 PA, 132 R, 62 HR, 154 RBI, .200/.296/.453/.748, OPS+ 99, 3.7 bWAR, 4.0 fWAR MZ 292 G, 1032 PA, 105 R, 57 HR, 139 RBI, .223/.300/.462/.763, OPS+ 107, 7.0 bWAR, 8.3 fWAR Following the 2018 season Seattle traded Zunino, Michael Plassmeyer and Guillermo Heredia to Tampa Bay for Mallex Smith and Jake Fraley. Sanchez likely has far less trade value because of his defensive deficiencies. Or not.

As a non-tendered free agent last offseason Taijuan Walker signed with a Seattle club that was not expected to contend in 2020. From Walker's Twitter account: https://twitter.com/tai_walker/status/1299376282262745088/photo/1 https://twitter.com/MLBNetworkRadio/status/1298812489912717313/photo/1 His other tweets suggest an affinity for Seattle. Walker's wife is from Seattle (as is the wife of Walker's buddy, lefty Marco Gonzales, who had an offseason home in Seattle before his trade to the Mariners). The Mariners probably have less than a 50 percent chance of signing Walker but because of the team culture their chances may be as good as any team's. Or not.

A CBS Sports columnist predicts the Red Sox will sign righthander Taijuan Walker: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/matching-one-mlb-free-agent-with-every-team-dj-lemahieu-returns-to-yankees-trevor-bauer-heads-west-and-more/ Boston is an unlikely destination.

Tanner Houck's two weeks at the MLB level fell far short of the 172 days needed for a full year of MLB service. Under the special rules for the shortened 2020 season, Houck was credited with 36 days of MLB service: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/houckta01.shtml Don't be surprised if Houck opens the 2021 season with at least 40 days in the minors to extend team control through 2026.

https://nesn.com/2020/11/this-mlb-free-agent-pitcher-would-love-to-play-for-red-sox-next-season/ Keone Kela should just return to his Seattle roots. Or not.

That elusive match explains why so few trades happen.

Perhaps the team that got the lesser return?

In the past decade trades have presented the most efficient means of adding talent because the free agent market was getting increasingly expensive. With the rumored crash of the free agent market, trades may become less appealing because trade assets have salaries largely set before the crash of the market. If in fact free agent bargains can be found this offseason, those underpriced assets can become valuable in the future trade market if the free agent market recovers. Or not.

As an aside, in 2016 I saw righthander Corbin Burnes pitch for Saint Mary's College of California: https://portlandpilots.com/sports/baseball/stats/2016/saint-marys-game-1-/boxscore/8024 The right fielder for the Gaels was Anthony Gonsolin, who went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Tony Gonsolin was the starting pitcher in the deciding Game 6 of this year's World Series.

Good ideas but Lorenzo Cain has been with the Milwaukee Brewers since January 26, 2018.

Yankee fans can be as petty as ... well, fans of other teams: https://yanksgoyard.com/2020/11/06/red-sox-alex-cora-hire/

MLB Trade Rumors predicts that free agent Jackie Bradley Jr. will land with the Houston Astros: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/11/mlb-free-agent-predictions-2021.html

I thought of Ben Gamel independently before finding this March 2020 scouting blurb at FanGraphs: "Fraley is officially in tweenersville. He plays a fine center field but he’s not such a black hole that it makes up for his lack of power on offense and enables him to profile. Perhaps plus corner defense with a slightly better hit tool than I’ve projected means Fraley can be a platoon 45 FV, but I think enough puzzle pieces with power are floating around that he ends up a Ben Gamel style, luxury bench outfielder." https://blogs.fangraphs.com/top-38-prospects-seattle-mariners/