drewski6

Of course there is a walk away point and yeah if hte bidding gets nutty, we have to walk. We'll see

One where hes gotten hurt every year for the last 10, and makes 18m/yr and is 37 yrs old Id put him in the pen.

For a 37 yr old sale on a non contending team, on a 1 yr deal, for like 18m? When he got hurt last year? Im honestly surprised they pulled the trigger on the option. No way I give up Early/Campbell/Tolle I think straight up for Sandlin is prob fine. If Im them, however, I wait to the deadline because if hes healthy and pitching well, then the price tag would go up. I could be wrong but I think he has very little trade value.

My comment was in response to your comment about him standing on first base most of the time, by erring on the side of taking borderline pitches (clearly implying walks) Walks are irrelevant to ISO because the denominator is AB, not PA. Also, leading the team in ISO isnt a particularly high bar, unless we are including Devers, which we should if we are comparing Casas 2024 stats for comparison. Over his career, Casas hits 8.4 extra base hits over 100 PA (8.4%). Abreu is at 10.2%. Story is 10.7%. Devers is 10.8%. Duran is 10.5%. Judge is 11.6%.

Sale makes a lot of sense as a deadline add more than an add at this point in time. 1. He'll be 7m as opposed to 18m, 2. if hes healthy at the deadline he has a much better shot at making it through the season because less runway between then and playoffs vs now and playoffs

Good point. Ill take Yoshida in the minors (to start the season) over the 4-5 mil (injuries will happen) but Im obvs taking the 4-5 mil relief over a handshake and a no-hard feelings let him go into free-agency with us on the hook for the whole salary.

Can we bait and switch in Harrison?

This is fair and I have no argument.

Why is Sale the expense of the future? Id give very little in a trade, and put him in the pen. And they might bite. But as I sip my coffee , probs not cuz theyll prob want to flip him at the deadline. If hes healthy at the deadline, could be a good add but no reason to decide on that now and hes not or was ever going to be the "#2 pitcher" we need right now.

Better than saying the opposite, but this dude yaps too much (Breslow, not Hitch). Hes just yapping. Like he yapped about how we'd be buyers at the deadline.

The best part about getting Skubal is not that if you have two legit aces you are automatically a contender. You arent. YOu still need a very good offense or you arent doing anything. The best thing about having Skubal and Crochet, however, is that if one gets hurt you still have an ace.

Touche. My point is really just that I think we should build through the offense vs through the pitching. If you have 2 great starters and a team of noodle bats, they wont carry as far as they would have in the nineties/early 2000s when dudes would throw 300 innings. I do thnk Crochet was this teams MVP last year, and will be this teams MVP next year, and I dont really think theres a convincing argument against. So my point is not that pitching doesnt matter or that you dont need it. Just right now, Im a bit lazer focused on the offensive needs because we had Yoshida batting cleanup last year, lost Bregman, will probably trade an OF'er and I dont think the youth is enough to compensate for all that. We need a pitcher, but not necessarily one as good as Skubal. Or, at least, we dont need an elite pitcher as much as we need an elite hitter (my opinion). A lot of that is because we already have Crochet.

First of all, I dont slap - when I swing, I do it with a closed fist. I would happily swing on any billionaire given the chance, but especially the one who owns the Pittsburgh Penguins, the organization who employed Matt Cooke, who ruined Marc Savards career with a cheap-shot elbow. But my point here is that Im not sure that even if Henry opened the checkbook, that would be enough for Breslow to close deals. Breslow has come up short quite a bit, and it hasnt always been just about money (for example the deadline). Ive also heard him talk and interact, and I honestly think at least part of the problem is hes a pompous jerk. You have to talk to people to sign people, and I think people genuinely do not want to talk to him. That being said, obviously the agents have their price, and wont let Breslows awful personality and puchable face stop them from getting their clients paid. I do hope we splash some money around this offseason. I like your comment that one bat or one middle infielder is just getting back to where we were with Bregman so we need multiple. My dream is Bregman, Schwarber, and trade for a pitcher. I can live without Bregman, as long as we get a solid (or better) infielder + Schwarber. Im fine with like Polanco or Peredes. Marte would be even better than Bregman. But in any of those cases, still need Schwarber and a solid (or better) starter

Ah, Yamamoto.....Yeah, hes really good. Still, of the top 30 WAR , all of baseball, 8 are pitchers. Highest was SKubal who was 7th. Not trying to say that pitching doesnt matter, just saying that in todays game, where pitchers are rarely pitching into the seventh, its better to have a stacked offense where the players play every night.

His 3 ER in 2.1 IP rally won it for them.

Having an elite pitcher in 2025 is like having an elite big man in basketball. Aint what it use to be. Game has changed.

SKubal is vulverable the third time through the order just like any pitcher in todays era. His 6.5 WAR is not Maddux-esque or even close. Its just one of hte ways the game has changed. Pitchers are asked to do less. All of them, including SKubal and Crochet. Skubal is 66% of Maddux. Thats very good. But the era of the 8-10 WAR pitcher is dead. Build through your offense.

Plus Skubal is not as good as people make him out to be. Hes the best pitcher in AL, but only a tick above Crochet. He aint like prime Pedro.

He had 2 years left which matters a lot vs Skubals one year left. You trade for Skubal and you need to fork over 400m and we'll have no money for offense.

Swing the bat, boomer.

Not swinging at fastballs will get you BENCHED. Doesnt even have to be srtike 3. I still would bench dudes more than they are benched for it, but its not like its accepted anymore. We are not in the era of draw walks and work counts and foul and drive up pitch count. We are in the era of punish mistakes even if they are on pitch 1 of an at bat If I was a manager I would bench dudes in middle of at-bat for taking a fastball hahaha. Unless they are a 7,8,9 hitter or we are against an ace. You can work a count if its vs an ace.

Its not. It was for a while, but its changed back. I agree though. If you are taking strike 3 that also means you are taking too many meatballs early in the at-bat. Working counts is yesterdays news. You have to use your time in the on-deck circle to time the fastball. On a 0-0 count, you pull that trigger if its a fastball.

Garlic fries and crab at Oracle park.

It bothers me that Breslow is Coras boss. Id be much more cool with it if it was the inverse. But I guess just because Breslow is technically Coras boss , that doesnt mean he can just fire him.

"Playing with my money is like playing with my emotions" - Big worm in the movie "Friday"