drewski6

Okay, but reality mutual options never get exercised and you should consider them invisible. The structure may change the allocation of the financials for CBT (and maybe even cash) purposes - but there is a 99% chance that the buyout is the only thing that matters here. It will be 41m for the 2026 season. Maybe 10m of that gets allocated (or even paid) to 2027, Im not sure. But there is a 99% he wont be here for 30m in 2027. And even if somehow makes mutual sense to exercise a mutual option (never happens, never does), theyll prob still rip up the contract and sign a freshie for 2027.

Im a little fuzzy on this but I think all local TV revenue is shared, but the dodgers have some weird exception that has been in place for 14 yrs and time to revisit. I also can see how maybe the accounting can get a little fuzzy with related party transactions, e.g. if dodgers own the tv station, they pay the dodgers practically nothing (because that revenue would get split) and keep the dollars on the tv side which same owner but prevents it from getting split. I always use pockets to illustrate. Might be a situation where same owner , so same body, but if i move money from right pocket to left pocket, that gets it split, so ill just keep it in my right pocket But Im sure better accountants than I (havent been one 20 yrs) can figure out how to audit against related party shenanigans.

Why Cedanne second over Story vs RHP?

Strike outs are better than groundballs when there is a runner at first and less than 2 outs. If Anthony shows an improved launch angle, Im fine with him third. I hear you on the L-r-l-r thing, and this is probably why duran hits third as opposed to second where hes prob a bit better suited for. So if you want Anthony 3rd, we are just going to have get aggressive, and from this POV Story actually works well because hes underrated at stealing bags. If you wanna go Duran, Story, ANthony - I dont hate it. But I dont want Anthony coming up with runners on first. Second and third with RA at the plate, im great with. First and second, not so much. Because second and third , you either walk RA to load the bases for Contreras (not bad) or Anthony smashes the ball into the dirt that gets fielded (Anthony out, Duran scores from 3rd). Or even better because its RA, the ball will be smashed into the dirt, and Story is fast and smart enough to get home from 2nd should it get through (and many many will and do get through the infield). What I dont want : Duran, Story, RA batting order playing station to station.

Im always warry of sophmore slumps for position players, especially when they are as young as Roman is. Im not expecting especially bad things for him or predicting them. Like I said, Im confident that the ops will be good, im just not sure hes ready to be a superstar at the plate with an OPS above .850 at what 22 years old? Very very rare for 22 yr olds to mash like that. I know he is a very very rare 22 yr old and im not disputing that. I just think his age is one of many reasons why we need more hitting.

Ive got some ideas: 1. If your payroll is north of 285m, you lose your ability to defer money on any free-agents signed until you are back under 285m 2. If your payroll is north of 285m, you HAVE to send out more money in a trade than you get back (borrowed from basketball) 3. IF your payroll is north of 285m - change penalties to loss of draft pick (rather than move back 10 spots) and obviously this effects your signing pool 4. If payroll north of 285m - slash international FA signing allotment (and lose ability to trade your int'l FA signing pool money or trade for more) Like in basketball, they were about to lock-out/strike over a salary cap, but what they did was make too hard to swallow basketball penalties in addition to too hard to swallow financial penalties to effectively make a salary cap without calling it that. In baseball the financial penalties are major for spend/spend/spending, but the baseball penalties could be made more severe which is what Im trying to do here.

Im also wary of sophomore slumps for position players. Like didnt even Michael Chavis look good his rook season? Obviously, Im aware that RA is a cut above, and Im sure hes going to hit and hit well. Im just not 100% that the OPS will be north of .850. I am confident it will be north of .800.

With a launch angle improvement - he is our best hitter As is - he may be our best hitter I agree with you.

The bottom three may be as good as most other teams bottom 3, but its not a great bottom 3 or even bottom 4. The top 5 may be as good as most other teams top 5, but its not a great top 5. And injuries will happen And what I expect: is that the pitching will carry us into the playoffs, but we'll hit a wall against Toronto, NYY, Seattle. Good season - but I think youll have to add to the thump to get past top 3 in the AL. ANd I dont think swapping Abreu for Paredes gets you there. BUT theres always the deadline (assuming we dont blow it again) Your team (swapping Abreu for Paredes) I think positions us decently enough to start the season, remain in contention, but I think we'll need more firepower at the deadline (or the chance that KC breaks out, which the chance of is not 0%)

Baseball is a lot about managing attrition in 2026. Its not just pitchers, although maybe especially pitchers. Like everyone talks about needing a good 6th,7th,8th pitcher but nobody talks about needing a good 4th of But I would submit that injuries to both pitchers AND position players are at an all time high. We didnt start last year intending to start Eaton, Lowe, Hamilton in the playoffs. Granted I think you are most likely to lose pitchers than position players, so Im not saying people are wrong to prioritize starting pitching depth over positional depth, but its not like positional players arent getting hurt at a very high rate as well. Its like pitching injuries are up 300% and positional player injuries are up 200%. At least thats how it feels.

Duran at DH is not a waste to me, its depth and versatility. But again, I dont think Duran is a DH, he may DH 50% of games ,sit 25% and and play OF 25% with a full team (no injuries/slumps) but its gonna change when the twists/turns of the season start.

Anthony doesnt really have the loft to bat third (at present, launch angle will likely improve), but Im okay with second. Duran Anthony <please be an elite hitter or close> Contreras Abreu Story And we're cooking (especially with our pitching staff)

I like both.

There is no buyout or mutual option. THe contract was reworked when he was traded. Hes making 40m this year, 20m from the cards, 20m from us, and hes a free agent after the year

Dont love starting the year with a bottom half of noodle bats, and a mediocre top half 2 injuries to the top half and we're plugging in guys off the waiver wire like we did last year. Hopefully DHam and Eaton are doing push-ups right now

Same, and right now its looking like hes not going to be traded, but that kind of stuff is fluid.

I think that he understands that pitching will only take you so far.

I would love to upgrade the DH spot, but I guess one way to do that is to not trade an OF'er

No that was a brainfart.

"Look, we'll never know what happened and fans shouldnt pretend. But heres what I think happened, and anything that doesnt take this as fact, I will disagree with."

When I wrote that Bello may not make the rotation, I had been recently reminded how much I love Kutter Crawfish and I was thinking: If Tolle is dominating and Kutter comes back strong, way may need to bump two. But after I submitted reply, I thought that Kutter prob if he was to join rotation wouldnt be out of camp, so Im willing to fall back to Bello may get bumped from the rotation at some point, but I agree near lock to start year in rotation.

Wait, timeout, three years of Duran for one year of Jazz? But of course, Ottavino wasnt doesnt sniff the value of jazz when ottavino was traded. When I said ottavino im just trying to shade verdugo.

With the dodgers signing Tucker away from the Jays, and the likelihood that Jays get more aggressive to maybe compete with what Im sure is an already aggressive Phils offer, I would think that the chances of the sox signing Bo prob just fell drastically - like 8% to 2%, and I know that doesnt feel super drastic (very low -> very very low) but it is a big decrease.

I like Jazz, I like his story. I like how he learned baseball from his grandMOTHER who was like captain of the Bahama mama national softball team until she was like 65. Like a modern day softball satchel paige. I like that Jazz has been on the cover of MLB the show (video game) and had a feature (which is how I know his story). But IVe seen him get into it with his manager(s) more than once. I like him though and would be interested. He might be a tad overrated but he's one of those guys who steals bags with timing and knowledge rather than pure speed (like Acuna) edit: when i say like acuna, I mean jazz is like acuna (and ohtani) as in their speeds plays up because they always get a great jump....I dont mean acuna is someone who has elite pure speed becaus he doesnt. Knowing how to steal bags is almost as important as pure speed. Jazz/Ohtani/Acuna these guys are better base stealers than they are fast even though of course they arent slow. Story speed plays up on basepaths too

Adam Ottavino?