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Something barely coherent I'm sure

What does it really change though? One of the most pitching needy teams added a pitcher. It’s not like some team like the Marlins got him and fucked up the whole supply/demand equation here.

Thank god. I wanted nothing to do with Odorizzi.

As we mull how productive he can be in the future just want to state that I love Jose and I really hope he gets a playoff game as a white sox.

Based on all of Hahn’s recent comments, here’s what I’m thinking they do: Wheeler - 5/$105M Grandal - 4/$72M Abreu - 2/$28M Gonzalez - 1/$7M Smoak - 1/$5M Collins, Stiever, & Walker for Haniger Rutherford & Flores for Mychel Givens Here’s how the roster would look: Robert, CF Moncada, 3B# Haniger, RF Grandal, C# Jimenez, LF Abreu, 1B Smoak, DH* Anderson, SS Madrigal, 2B Bench: Mendick, Engel, Garcia#, McCann Giolito Wheeler Cease Lopez Gonzalez* Kopech Rodon* Bullpen: Colome, Bummer*, Givens, Herrera, Fry*, Marshall, Cordero, Hamilton That’s a legit playoff caliber team IMO and payroll should be around $130M which is more than doable.

If they are all quality hitters, I absolutely don't care. Of course I would *prefer* a lefty, but it's not going to make me cross a meaningful upgrade off my list.

It sounds like he's still unhappy about being left off their postseason roster, which is probably a fair point. That's one obvious problem with trying a setup like that; you have to make decisions in baseball that won't leave everyone on your roster totally happy, and as a consequence eventually everyone's gonna know.

He wanted this to be a big deal, for sure. I also want to add that while Fiers is taking all the heat here, there were other players who confirmed this but didn't put their name on it. Fiers gave no fucks and I respect that. Transparency isn't a big part of clubhouse culture; which is why they got away with this for multiple years despite players leaving.

If it had an opt out after year 2, sure. If not he probably should just take the qualifying offer.

With like 150 pitches in a game by the Nats, if putting down a series of signs takes a few extra seconds, that’s a nontrivial increase in the length of each game.

Absolute trash tweet by Rogers here.

RIP CITY...

You are for giving Ryu and Wheeler deals, which would be multi-year. 2020 it makes sense to sign 2 SP because of Kopech. 2021 it doesn't make sense because WHAT IF your rotation is Wheeler, Gio, Ryu, Cease, Kopech, Lopez and add in Rodon? That's 7 SP. WHAT IF we are assuming none of those guys have to get TJ or blow their shoulder out? It's a waste of money. They should not be persuing more than 1 multi-year SP this off season. If somebody blows their arm out you can address that offseason going into 2021.

Pederson 2019 UZR 6.2 UZR/150 13.2 Castellanos 2019 UZR -5.2 UZR/150 -4.9

Yeah I saw this. NYY was doing the same thing. It is a fucking joke this is and was going on. It ruins the damn game. As good as those Astros hitters are it REALLY makes you wonder what those numbers would look like. I've seen Bregman hit like 7 or 8 HRs so far with this garbage and it just started.

I'm bored. Would you guys send Madrigal and Carlos Rodon to Boston for Mookie Betts if Betts agreed to the same 8/$250 contract that Machado turned down last year?

But I think I am also playing the long game. Among Kopech, Cease, Lopez and Dunning we can realistically hope 2 of them are good enough to be a No.1 through 3 starting pitcher for years to come. By signing Wheeler and Ryu it gives them time, be it next year, 2021 or 2022 ,to become what we hope . Ryu has been projected by fangraphs to get only a 2 year contract but I can see him getting 3 years so he might not be as expensive as you think. In the event that none of them become a 1 or 2 type you still have a top 3 of Wheeler, Gio and Ryu. If they do become everything we hope any excess can be traded.

Oh. Well I'll wait for some credible sources.

He accepted the QO for a reason.

This concept reminds me of the Mark Teahen trade. Convince yourself a guy is better than he is, trade for him, extend him based on how good you've decided he is.

I may be in the minority, but I am still a huge Jon Gray believer. He doesn't use great sequencing, and his inconsistent, but there's an elite starter in there somewhere just waiting to break out!

Zero reason to give a third guaranteed year. I'm ok with a two year deal at a reasonable sum, and a club option w/buyout for year three

The Sox were so bad that stealing signals was actually detrimental to the Astros

Fiers and McCann were also teammates in Det. I am HIV positive that Fiers told McCann about Houston.

Grab your popcorn folks, its going to get much much worse

The sheer amount of evidence coming out is comical. BREGMAN'S FIRST CAREER HR was because of this. Draft picks are not enough. Hinch for one needs to be banned or suspended for a year at minimum.

He should take anything that guarantees him more than 18 million.

If the Astros gave Greinke away for virtually no prospect return, would you take on his full remaining contract and leave the Astros with the money coming from Arizona? I might.

While it's a limitation, if your organization is insistent that you're keeping Abreu around, then yes you have to plan for your DH position to be filled by a 1 year guy this year, or at least have some flexibility to move your DH to other positions. I kinda like Moustakas for the second reason; throw him a 1b glove this year, tell him to learn that position and become a true utility guy by next year, give him a 2 year deal and he covers 3b, 2b, 1b, and maybe you could talk him into a corner OF spot, along with DH, and he also fits in by giving some LH balance. There's 500+ PAs available in year 2 for him if we can do that with him.

I'm not handing Abreu a three year guaranty, absolute max of two years and on club terms. He should take the qualifying offer, he is unlikely to be happy if he declines it

If he's really "mulling that over" I'm not sure who's dumber Hahn or Jose.

There is better chance of a supermodel falling in love with me than Jake Odorizzi getting 4/80.

Not to make the playoffs. I also dislike approach of caring about total spend. We should worry more about fitting individual yearly budgets into place. Adding Ryu and Wheeler at that price is still a very affordable rotation, and both have potential for very high ceiling years (and also not playing).

The Brewers may not have had elite starting pitching but they had a bullpen way better than anything we're likely to have this season on paper barring some enormous breakouts. I'll still accept that a truly dominant bullpen is a way to get to the world series, but I also note that when a dominant bullpen (Yankees, Brewers) went up against a dominant rotation in the last few years (Astros, Dodgers), the dominant bullpen has consistently lost. The last time it worked was with Kansas City, since then, the world series winning team and most of the losing teams have featured extremely strong, front-line starters. The Braves were, interestingly, the weakest division winning team on paper last year by fangraphs/pythagorean record and the only weaker team in the playoffs was the Brewers, who again were carried by that bullpen.

"Fortunately, Cole or Strasburg IS going to happen." There -- the baseless speculation ledger is back to even and we can concentrate on waiting to see what actually happens.

Jose wants to be with the Sox, and the Sox want him back. If he gets insulted or impatient, he really doesn't have any other options. His offers from other clubs will be lower than ours. He will either take the QO, or he will end up signing for something like 2 or 3 years at 12 or 13 million per.

All it takes is money

Stras works at almost the same level so sure. I'm not going to be as excited for Wheeler and Grandal or something that brings in Martinez, but I'd get it. The stronger the top of this rotation becomes this offseason, the stronger this team is and the more I like it. The more you spread your dollars around, the more busts you are going to find.

Unfortunately, Cole or Strasburg isn’t going to happen. Maybe Giolito is our perennial ace- time will tell. Kopech, Cease have ace potential- again, time will tell. Basically, the Sox are on their own until they crack 81-81, then they might be able to persuade a whale to join the party.

Honest question: is there an offseason you would applaud the Sox that doesn't include signing Cole?

Florial will 10000000% be protected before the R5 draft.

That would be awesome. No way Ryu is getting four guaranteed years though considering the durability questions.

Pine Tar, Domestic Abuse and Sign Stealing: The Houston Astros Story Coming soon to a theater near you. Another example of why guys get so much better when they go to the Astros. Maybe it isn't that they have a great analytics department. Maybe they really cheat, a lot.

Jon Gray

I like this part of the draft lead up where I want every player and dislike the month prior where every player is flawed and terrible.

I'm never watching baseball again if Matt Boyd gets traded. Period.