mac9001

I think in part the MLB relies on gate revenues a lot more than say the NFL or NBA. The TV deals just aren't as lucrative for baseball teams. In addition the NBA and NFL have set revenue targets the players take home. There's already a baseline if revenue comes in significantly under expectations that players are only entitled to a set percentage. That's clearly where the MLB owners want to go with this, if the players agree to lets say 50% of baseball related revenue (in the event of no fans, this would equate to significant player salary reductions) I'm sure the owners would be pushing to play each and every game. I don't see games being played until the owners have a set revenue split agreement with the players union. There's too much financial risk for the owners to proceed with a season until they have fully quantified their salary risk. I think this partly goes beyond COVID, the MLB owners have seen the other sports leagues pull this off and they're probably ready to mark their line in the sand and hold out or threaten to reduce the game count until the players fold.

Seeing Tyler Flowers on that list makes me optimistic there's a path forward for a guy like Collins. He has enough power and takes enough pitches to probably become passable offensively. If he can continue to show defensive improvement I'm willing to live the struggles when Grandal needs a day off.

There's obviously a deal to be made. It's in everyone's best interest to play as many games as possible, if the players aren't willing to agree to some revenue linked salary concessions then the first move on the part of the owners will be to limit games. One would hope there's a middle ground on the salary side that plays the most games possible.

From a purely resource standpoint spending money on anyone to primarily DH seems like a bad idea. Spend it on pitching and take your chances on filling DH ABs internally. Give the (old) kid a chance.

There's an elevated level of risk with a 34 year old. If we're going to spend $10M on a RFer and another $10M for one more back end rotation vet I would have preferred spending top dollar on a TOR arm like Bauer and rolling the dice with Dunning and Engel. To me Lynn is a get to the post season move, its not a WS move. That's why I consider it marginal. This could have been a WS move if we already had another TOR in fold.

This is a bit of a disappointment if its not part of a broader more aggressive plan. This makes us better in 2021, but only marginally. If you go out and get a guy like Bauer I like this as a final piece. But even with Lynn onboard we're still short a big time arm.

It probably doesn't make sense for a guy like Oh tani, but Matt D is a fringe big leaguer. He should be perusing every avenue in bringing value to a team. One roster spot it worth a mediocre bat and arm.

I've always been somewhat surprised that aren't more guys that play the field/pitch. If you can throw 90+ I'd at least throw some MiLB bullpen innings to see what happens. The roster flexibility of having an extra bullpen arm (even mediocre) would be fairly valuable.

That's exactly what's likely to happen this off-season (big bullpen spend). Just sit back and give it a few months.

With some many guys injured or coming back from injuries I'd have a hard time ranking them. If Hansen starts pitching well I could see him shoot up people's lists. Overall I've been very pleased with our drafts and the pitching talent we've acquired. Guys like Stephens, Battenfield, Flores & Lambert may not excite people, but I love that we're filling out our system with arms that have a legit shot at making it to the bigs. My guess is at least 1 of the above mentioned guys has more career success than our blue chip arms.

Tough break for the kid, he was probably on a path to make his big league debut sometime next year. This probably set him back a few years.

He's probably a better option than Giolito right now. That's counter-tank productive.

The flaw in your logic is they're not getting a stud. There's a reason teams won't offer a significant prospect package for Abreu. Defensively limited 1B/DH types are not that valuable. Add to the he fact he's been down right awful offensively in June and there's nothing particularly exciting about a guy like Abreu right now.

Why in gods name is Matt Tomshaw even in the org?

Any chance he gets cut at the end of his rehab?

Getting a offensive focused 1B/DH type on the open market is fairly trivial (and relatively affordable). The Sox are going to be really bad this year and likely only marginally better next year. There's plenty of arguments to be made to trade any piece that's not controlled through 2020 at a minimum If you see Abreu as potential add for the 2020 season we can just go sign him on the open market. Personally I'd much rather spend $10M on a value bat in 2020 then extended/commit long term money to Abreu.

There's also been talk about Adolfo given the field a try again.

Looks like Flores, Foster & Thompson are all going to B-Ham. Robert, Gonzalez, Battenfield, Henzman, Johnson , Rivera to W-S. OF is now even more crowded.

From my experience watching the Charlotte feed it's usually about 1-2 MPH slow. But the last Jordan Stephens start I watched he was sitting 87-88 so I'm starting to think it might even be a bit slower lately.

There's nothing overly impressive about Stephens but when you watch him pitch there's never a moment where you feel like he isn't in control. At this point he's definitely #1 on my next man up list.

I'm a Blake Battenfield believer, I can't wait to actually see the guy pitch.

I would have a hard time ranking any of the arms we just drafted over Henzman. Dude has been a ground ball dealing machine. Anyone with the ability to get guys to pound the ball into the ground at his rate has a chance at a long big league career.

I have nearly 200 IP to evaluate Hanson and despite the time he's missed I'm working under the assumption his injury is not serious. After 100 PAs from both Robert & Madrigal I may change my opinion, but for now he has the benefit of the doubt. It would put my mind at ease if they came out and said he's do back soon. The longer things stay quiet like this the more paranoid I become.

Ranking either Robert or Madrigal is difficult at the moment. Just give me like 100 PAs to build an opinion. There should almost be an incomplete rank until they can play a few games. At the moment I'd put Jimenez, Kopech & Hansen all above them simply because I have a much better idea of what those guys could eventually become. If Zack Collins keeps mashing and I keep seeing positive blurbs on his receiving improvements I'd might be inclined to rank him in the top 4.

Some ugly pitching lines tonight, but Henzman keeps rolling. He needs a bump soon.