JoeBrady

I don't consider that remotely close. It's tough to assess someone like Janek, but the Ks are huge and no guarantee he sticks at catcher.

Mr. Crochet, Bregman and Chapman would like a word.

Duran is worth way more than what Paredes is worth. But I do like Paredes as a target. See if the Astros are interested in one of our 2nd tier SPs.

There is certainly some logic to that. But when I see older players ending the season poorly, some consideration has to be given to a final decline.

It's supposed to be that way. You're facing off against some smart agents and lawyers. Even when they think you're really interested in their client, you have to plant some seed of doubt that you have a Plan B.

If they sign Imai, instead of re-signing Realmuto & promoting Painter, then the message I see is that Painter has issues, I always want to see the motivation. If Cincy or Pitt want to trade pitching for Duran, it makes perfect sense. But DD trading Painter would make alarm bells go off.

That's why it doesn't bother me to lose most FAs. There are some teams that make historically bad decisions. There are some GMs that won't make it thru one more losing season. You cannot bid against them in a signing or trade, without hurting yourself.

Asking me to read people's minds is (slightly) out of my lane, but I believe the scientific term is 'I can't believe they are paying me $72M for this.

No more lefty bats.

He has a career ERA+ of 98, and a 2025 of 98. He's got talent, but nowhere near consistency to be considered a #2.

It's not particularly outrageous by LAD standards. Diaz is pretty good.

I like Kim a lot. I especially like that he will likely be a 3-year deal, which fits the Arias-Story-SS/2B window well. Story leaves in two years, Kim slides to 2nd in his 3rd year and Arias into SS. And finally a farewell to 4-out innings.

He wouldn't be doing his job if he, or any of the 20 other assistant GMs, didn't answer every call. I'm pretty sure that he didn't go into last winter thinking 'I have to have this guy Narvaez'. In many ways, it is like fantasy BB. I read every trade offer, but only respond to 10% of them, only make a trade 5% of the time, if that.

IMHO, the reason to do so is that Masa has definite value, just not what his salary is. Hicks still throws 100, so that at least has some lottery ticket value to a team that thinks they can turn him back into a BP contributor. But the main concept is that Burnes is underwater by about $70M. So if AZ, who is rumored to be clearing payroll, wants to cut ties with Burnes, they can either $70M, or eat $25M and roll with Masa & Hicks, who might still provide some value.

To get rid of Burnes.

Any fan that cannot see both sides is going to wind up being wrong way to often. IMO, there are way too many considerations for a straight-out yes or no. The age of your trade target Recency factor for your target Trade value v projected value for your prospect The need & fit for your prospect The recency factor for your prospect Monetary considerations The guys I have the most interest in trading away: Duran-Great value but very poor fit Any of our #8-infinity SPs. No matter what the talent, they are unlikely to ever get a chance. Someone like Harrison is going to get de-valued quickly if he is sitting in the BP, but has starting value to someone else. Campbell-The recency factor hurts him, since he struggled. But even if he succeeds, we still need an opening, TBD. Casas-Bad recency factor, but if we are going to sign an Alonso-type, we need to establish a trade. And since this is about Mayer/Marte, I'd make Mayer my opening day 3B and never look back. And I would factor in that Marte likely only has 1-2 very good years left. Which is fine, since he is cheap. But my guess is that his contract still only has a surplus value of $36M. And of course, the second rule of holes is that you don't dig a second hole to fill the first hole.

It is the way of the Red Sox Fan. We have a lot of fans that will cherish a player forever, based on a 2-HR game from 2 years ago. And be willing to dump a prospect who starts his career with an 0-2 count.

I've saying this for a while. With Okamoto, you don't have to worry about whether or not Casas is healthy, you have a great substitute for Mayer against tough lefties, as well as taking some ABs from Yoshida. And cheaper and shorter duration than Alonso.

If you think you're close, you can always make tiny or absurd requests. Two off the top of my head: AZ has no 1B. What is their interest, if any, in Casas? AZ is supposedly pressed for money. How much of the Burnes contract would they pay down? It was a bad signing, but that doesn't make him a bad player. We owe Hicks & Yoshida ~$55M. $30M of that offsets Burnes' 2026 salary. $25M offsets part of $140M owed to Burnes for 2027-30. That makes him a $115M/4 player. If AZ were to chip in another $20-25M, would they be motivated to move on? 90% of the time, such talk amounts to -0-. But every once in a while...

I added Clarke at the last second. Meant Witherspoon

There would be riots in Cleveland if they did that, Not only one of the best, but also one of the most consistent players in baseball.

I'm pretty sure it is a moot point. You don't choose a guy overall #3, develop him into a top-15 prospect, have an opening for him, and then trade him. While there are almost never guarantees, this is the prototype for a good draft pick. I'd be very surprised if he wasn't our starting 3B.

The problem is that pitchers are getting faster more quickly than hitters are aging better. In the past 10 years, there have only been 12 players that have averaged 2.5 fWAR/year.

It was just a crazy concept, imho, to be talking about windows. You're right, we should always be in the Window. Past that, adding present talent, controlled talent, prospects, etc., even we don't have the longest window in BB, I'd be a little surprised. C Narvaez 1B ??? 2B ??? SS Arias 3B Mayer LF Campbell CF Rafaela RF Anthony SP Crochet SP Bello SP Tolle SP Early SP Clarke CL Perales Obviously some things will go sideways. But I've followed BB for a long time, and I don't remember seeing any team with this type of forecast.

Well, maybe we can grab the #1 draft choice.