drewski6

I dont think Suarez as a 3b (everyday) was realistic. This could have been the lineup sometimes, but I dont think Suarez could give you more than 70 games at 3b. Which is fine cuz Raf shouldnt sit for 100% either, but it doesnt really matter anymore.

Casas career as a red sox was dead and buried the day we got contreras, the far better player RIP Maybe we can get some value for casas back in a trade

And we traded for Contreras to play catcher?

6 platoon guys, 3 platoons and backup catcher for bench. Unless you platoon at catcher, than 8 but thats not something teams usually do (platoon C)

Well things have changed since we deprioritized Refsnyder

We would have a better offense with Suarez at DH, it would push Cedanne to 2b and Suarez > Masa But Breslow doesnt care about offense

Well like Utah said, cant believe this is where we are. Im not sure why but Rengifos name has always sounded a little like he could be a character on street fighter to me. Maybe something about my ears hear Rengifo and think Zangief? 1. He lets us keep Duran (our best acquisition of this offseason) 2. I like his name 3. I had him on a fantasy team 4 years ago This is where we are, might be fine. Certainly better than trading Duran to sure up the defense.

Seager

I like Suarez too. I just hope we keep looking for offense both internally (KC could take a leap) AND externally, but Im sure we will.

Thats fine. But they were always going to get Romys bat in the lineup against lefties. My hunch would be Romy would play DH, Duran jump into a corner OF spot, Abreu to bench vs lefties is how you would platoon Abreu with Romy. You keep Duran playing OF sometimes so the skills dont erode. And really Im choosing Abreu because he seems to be the odd guy out vs lefties (I expected him to play vs lefties last year and it didnt happen and Moon reminded me a few times that I was wrong, so Im just trying to not repeat past mistaken assumptions). Understood, a few moving parts here (Duran to LF/Anthony to RF). So maybe they would have platooned Duran/Romy at DH, so you can keep Anthony in LF always and Abreu in RF always (less moving parts). Maybe you platoon Romy with Mayer. BUt if Dham is going to have a .680 OPS vs righties and Romy .900 (vs lefties), thats roughly .733 (assuming lefty 25%, so (680*3+900)/4 What I am saying is including Romy is raising that from .680 to .733 and I dont think its accurate to compare that .733 to what we would get from Bregman (.820). Because if we got Bregman, that .900 OPS vs lefties (romy) would still be in the lineup. Lets say Romy would platoon with Mayer if we got Bregman. So, I look at mayer OPS vs lefties, which was like .400 but tiny sample size, so lets say .600, so our apples to apples comparison is (.680*3+.600)/4 which is .660. So by not signing Bregman, its a drop from .820 OPS to .660 because 3/4 times is DHAM bat in the lineup now that you dont have Bregman (when its a righty) and 1/4 time its Mayers bat in the lineup (when its a lefty). I still think we get an everyday infielder at some point, and even after we do (assuming we do) ROmy will still play vs lefties. So dont factor in Romys OPS when deciding how much that *acquistion* infielder helps the offense becasue his bat is NOT coming in for Romys. Its coming in for DHAMs 3/4 times and Mayers 1/4 times.

Defensively -okay, but I dont think its fair to consider Romy in a comparison of should we vs should we not acquire an everyday infielder (not implying you are doing this) because I think Romy was/is always going to play vs lefties. If we got Bregman/Paredes/Marte for example - Romy would have platooned with either Abreu or Mayer (most likely), so its not like you gain his bat vs lefties by not getting a Bregman/Paredes/Marte I think apples to apples, if we are deciding for example, how much Paredes helps us offensively, its not accurate to compare Paredes to what youd get offensively from a DHam/Romy platoon. I think its more accurate to compare it to what youd get from DHam (vs righties) + what you would get from either Mayer or Abreu (vs lefties), because by not getting an infielder, one of them goes from bench to starter (vs lefties) but Romy was always going to start vs lefties so you dont gain that.

Michael Morse won me a fantasy league once , love him

I dont blame Bello at all, I didnt agree with the quick hook. He had only given up a 2 run homer to a hot Ben Rice. We scored 2.3 runs/game that series. I dont blame the SP. And not only do I think it was NOT the SP that did us in last year, but I think that the SP was going to get better this year even without bringing in any of Gray/Ranger/Oviedo. I think Kutter coming back and Im expecting Tolle to be a rookie of the year contestant. I think that a staff of: Crochet Crawford Tolle Bello Early Sandoval Harrison Is already PLENTY good enough. I think its already like the second or third best in teh AL. I dont think we needed a single starter.

Trivia: who performed the main theme/song in this movie? I had it as a question on weds and whiffed and it haunts me (even though we won). I should have gotten it because I like the band.

Good point here

I think the chances of that are quite low because I believe the reporting is that it was Breslow who believed that his contract was tops and "didnt want to bid against himself" What you are describing is more of a "RS hit their limit" , which to me isnt the same. Put another way - I think that if Breslow believed that he would have had to match the cubs offer he would have and I think he would have had the green light to because Im working from a belief that we didnt up our offer because we didnt think we would have to (as opposed to being like we dont think theres value if we go any further north) So what you are describing isnt really on my radar as a high probability, but certainly, if Breslow cannot offer a NTC no matter what and that was always a dealbreaker , then sure - not breslows fault. But I find it all to be much less likely than simply Breslow thought Bregman would take the offer on the table and thought he had it in the bag until the shock of the cubs agreement. If Im willing to pay $200 for something at a store and I get there and its on sale for $150, Im not going to pay more because I dont have to. This doesnt mean I was unwilling to spend the $200. I think the sox should have and would have matched the offer had they thought they had to, but didnt think they had to.

I would imagine that more often than not, if a GM/CBO is asking a player to leave money on the table, and the player agrees - theres a NTC. I would speculate its almost assumed.

If the cubs want him at 175 , deferred down to 155 in adjusted value....And he signs with the red sox at 165 deferred (remember considerably more than cubs deferment)....So thats prob adjusted down to like 135.....He just created a 40 trade value unit surplus for the sox regarding his contract vs what the cubs want him at. Then yes, he is turning himself into a tradeable asset immediately. If I was a free agent and you wont give me a NTC then im taking the highest offer without question. Im not taking a discount to sign with you so you can trade me. I agree its unlikely that the sox would ink him at a discount and flip him, it would smell terrible. But I see why he wants to protect against this

I love Kutter tho :( And yes, I acknowledge Ive talked about man-crushes and biases before and being a hypocrite here. But Kutter is 29 and Bello is 26, and if they dont want bello because they are going full rebuild, subbing in crawford isnt really going in the right direction. Maybe Early for Donovan? Also - BTV is not always right. Im not sure Harrison is actually 5 and Donovan is 31. But that could be wishful thinking on my part because to me , Harrison makes a lot of sense to trade. Here are the starters that I am against trading at this point in time (in order) 1. Suarez (you cannot trade him at this time, no new free agents can be traded until mid june, so its not an option at all) 2. Crochet can technically trade him but of course no f'ing way not for anything 3. Gray (maybe) Im not sure if we can trade Gray, if we can he moves down 3 spots 4. Tolle (6'6 huge bodied lefty, thows 100, looks like a crochet clone, seems poised - I think he figures out at least 1 or 2 secondaries - rookie of the year potential) 5. Kutter Crawford - yes im biased, but hes one of my guys. Been following him since he was a long shot minor leaguer. He was like 30s or 40s on soxprospects YEARS ago and i read an article like - this guy gonna rise, dont sleep and ive liked him ever since NOTE here is where Gray would be if we can trade him 6. Oviedo - Im intrigued and I dont think he has a lot of vlaue in a reflip. Im a little worried we gave up some value in this trade (e.g. I think that Garcia may have more value than Ov, but I dont hate the trade if we love Ov, but I dont like the trade if we flip Ov for less value than Garcia had) 7. Sandoval - just dont think he has any value 8. Bello I think hes a good pitcher. But he has value as a sinkerballer who can get out of jams. 9. Early 10. Harrison Meaning, Im looking to trade Harrison or even Early, but I want a lot more value for Early. Youd have to blow me away for Tolle.

I didnt use the word desperation (I dont think) so Im not sure why Im being asked to make a case that he was desperate. Apologies if I said that and do not remember. If anything , I think Breslow needs to be more desperate going forward. Try a little harder to sign a bat. Especially one like Bregman that fits on multiple levels (offense, defense, position, helps younger players, chemistry, PR). You (Notin) wanted Bregman back. I dont look at the cubs/breg contract and go "oh boy am I glad that we didnt give Bregman that". Im not saying Breslow should bid against himself. Im saying that he overestimated the strength of his standing offer. "Im not going to bid against myself" - to me, implies "I already have the top offer on the table", and I think that if hes super confident that 165m, heavy heavy deferred, without willing to include a NTC (and knowing that was a big negative against his offer)....To think the 165m heavy deferred offer being dragged down by refusal to include NTC - to think thats the highest offer and be sooo confident in that when you saw ALonso and Schwarbers contracts ..... ....I think he looks foolish, honestly. I think he should have known that his offer was quite unlikely to be the highest offer on the table. I knew it. He might still get a Paredes/Marte/Geno, we'll see, I bet he gets someone and we'll see if the team hits enough to contend next year. Im also aware that roster building doesnt stop. Im open to someone like KC breaking out with the bat or an in season acquisition. But I think Breslow messed up (my opinion) and burned some rope. How much he has left - I cant speculate on.

If Im being honest, Im not sure there is unanimous animosity against the Dodgers by all other owners. If Im a small market team that hasnt been relevant and wont be relevant, the Dodgers stacking WS championships isnt really affecting me - but I am certainly loving my piece of their tax bill. Im not sure most owners even want to go from a soft cap (with financial penalties) to a hard cap (cant go over no matter what) because they like their cut of financial penalties. I would imagine theres at least some owners that cheer when dodgers spend

Scenario 2: Boras: Thanks for the offer. But, surprise, surprise, we have another larger one, so you need to give us more money. Breslow: I’ve seen this show before. And I dont trust that this other offer exists and Im not going to bid against myself You have my offer. If it’s not enough, then take your other deal and I’ll sign someone else.

I think Cora is probably looped in/asked to provide consult at some point in the process but I agree with you. My point is not that Cora is finalizing deals currently, my point is that I want him to be or I want him to hire a GM if he wishes - but I want Cora above Breslow at this point. The tough part is they (my opinion) shouldnt have given Breslow the CBO title, he wasnt qualified for it. Should have just given him GM title, because then you can make Cora CBO and it would disguise Breslows demotion. If you have a VP and no SVP, and then you insert an SVP above the VP, that is very much a demotion, but its not as embarrassing as the VP getting his title downgraded to director. I dont know how you could insert Cora above Breslow for baseball operations when Breslow is Chief of baseball operations - without messing with Breslows title. Maybe principal of baseball operations? Maybe COO COO of organization probably above CEO of baseball operations, even if it doesnt appear that way, so maybe thats how you do it. But I want to demote Breslow, and whether or not he stays in a role where hes now reporting to Cora (not the other way around) is up to Cora first and Breslow second. Cora can manage or hire a manager game level, dont really care. Cora can fire breslow or leave him as a member of his front office team, dont really care. But I want Cora as head honcho, and if he likes breslow wants to keep breslow and breslow is fine with inserting cora above him, maybe you can do it in a way in which breslow keeps his title - because I dont want to go out of my way to embarrass him, thats not the point. The point is I want Cora driving the bus. Bres can navigate if Cora wants. And Im not looking to strip all responsibility from Breslow either.

No the order wasnt a ranking lol

Can you meet me at "unsubstantiated hypothesis?"