maxjusttyped

Voit has a 133 career wRC+. The dude absolutely rakes. The Yankees must think his body is about to completely breakdown because he's a better hitter at this point of his career, when healthy, than Rizzo.

So are the Yankees going to give Voit away? I think he'd be a great flier for basically anyone that doesn't already have a top 10 1B + entrenched DH.

I know Volpe is coming, but Yankees fans are going to revolt if Kiner-Falefa is their Opening Day SS

Trading their 2021 first round pick for Gray would imply they are at least trying to win this year. Even if the moves look a little unconventional right now.

Hopefully the Twins didn't just free up money to go after a guy like Story, Bryant, etc.

Sanchez isn't perfect, but he's an upgrade on what they have. I like Urshela too. I definitely think this raises the floor of their team quite a bit.

I wonder if the Yankees are going to go after Wilson Contreras now. Even if Kiner-Falefa goes back to catching, he isn't good enough to be their starter. Right now they have one of the worst catching situations in the league.

Buster Olney and Ken Rosenthal have both floated the possibility of Correa signing a 1 year deal. This would be pretty shocking, but maybe the demand isn't there for him to sign the ~300M deal he's looking for?

Cruz getting a 2 year deal at this stage of his career would be pretty sweet for him

I don't think they would willingly not sign a star caliber player because there are 2 non top 100 prospects they feel pretty good about as potential RF options a year or 2 in the future

Feels like the entire off-season is on hold until Freeman finds out if he can get an extra year out of the Braves or not.

I love Kopech as much as anyone, but if you can turn him into 3 years of a top 10 (conservatively) starting pitcher, that is the biggest no-brainer of all-time. But the Brewers aren't trading Woodruff. Imagine if the Sox would have traded Giolitto last off-season for a high end pitching prospect. Not happening.

It's been so long since the Sox signed a major FA, I can't remember if Grandal or Keuchel were seriously rumored beforehand. Obviously when the Sox make marquee trades, those usually come out of nowhere. I'm clinging to the unrealistic hope that Bryant is their main target and they're finding a way to stay of the rumor mill for him right now. He's been linked to Seattle a little bit, but it's not like you're seeing Passan, Rosenthal, etc linking him with 6 different teams right now or something.

Neither would the Brewers so we don't have to worry about this trade happening.

A 30+% strikeout rate paired with a 76% GB rate will lead to better results than Bummer got almost every time. Obviously we all saw him pitch into poor luck, but that'll happen to certain guys on any staff every year. The Sox as a team last year basically pitched right to their FIP, xFIP, etc. I don't see any reason to think Bummer won't be one of the best relievers in baseball again next year.

I'm just gonna say this quietly and back away.... if the Sox make a meaningful addition in RF (Bryant, Conforto, Suzuki) I could deal with a guy like Greinke or Tyler Anderson as the 5th starter. That at least pushes Kuechel and Lopez into depth roles and also reduces the number of starts we'd see from Lambert, Stiever etc this year.

It seems like the Sox will acquire another SP, hopefully it's a good one. If that happens, I think Vera or Jose Rodriguez will have to be involved in the deal. I don't think any of the Kanny pitchers performed well enough to hold much value at this point. Unless, of course, they deal from the major league roster again. Which is certainly possible.

If you find someone who likes Vera, him being a Ginn equivalent isn't crazy. Would people on here have been okay with Vera and Lambert for 1 year of Bassit? But maybe I'm overrating the Sox guys here. I think it would have been workable, but making trades for good players is (obviously) a lot harder when you have the worst farm system in baseball.

I believe there actually is a leverage component to fWAR for relievers. There's just no way to make the math work where even the best relievers like Hendriks, Hader etc produce the same value as good every day players. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/we-provide-leverage-a-thought-experiment/

Merk is a PR agent for the organization and they still never throw him a bone to break a story. That's tough.

I try not to be this guy, but Reinsdorf could also just pay the tax for 1 season so the Sox can put the best team on the field for 2022. Kimbrel, Abreu, & Keuchel would all be coming off the books so it'd be easy to go back under again next year.

If he has trade value at that point, it's because he'd be pitching well. Then it wouldn't make sense to deal him because "premium" relievers have more value in the playoffs than they do the regular season. That was part of the logic that "justified" overpaying for him in the first place.

“He’s going to pitch like we got him last year. Pitch late. And if we’re in a bunch of (close) games, he can close to protect Liam,” La Russa said. This quote has me thinking not, but who knows. Given the fact La Russa seems to believe not closing was an issue for Kimbrel, it would be illogical not to give him a shot there.