Timmy U

Didn’t they get Bregman with the pick they got for not signing Aiken? That worked out pretty well.

Well done, but that’s Macbeth. Hie, get thee to a nunnery!

I was strongly anti-Madrigal. (I hope I am wrong.). I wanted Kelenic. Therefore, the Mets trade really puzzled me. My deepest fear is that Madrigal may maximize the skill set of and be the absolute best version of Darwin Barney. But, with golf ball they use these days and his bat to ball skills, maybe he’s a 15 homer guy.

Interesting lineup. Gotta say, though, if Robert isn’t up in 2020, something has gone seriously wrong.

Not me. Doesn’t strike anyone out. Big contract for a non TOS, seems like huge potential for a lefty James Shields signing and we probably would not be lucky enough to get another team to bail us out of it the way Rick and Kenny bailed out the Padres.

The AA outfield situation is interesting. Here's a reason to move Basabe to AAA: Charlotte's a much, much better place to hit. So while Basabe will be seeing a lot of breaking stuff and people pitching him backwards more, he'd at least be rewarded when he did hit the ball hard. Results in Birmingham sometimes don't reflect how well a guy's swinging it. That said, Robert, Basabe, Gonzalez, and Adolfo are the key guys here. Pick what's best for them and fill guys like Booker in as needed.

I think I have reached a point where I dislike the Ricketts family more than I dislike the Cubs. I call that maturity.

Steele Walker has nothing to do with Call. He’s not the reason the Sox thought Call was expendable. Call’s behind Luis Robert, Luis Alexander Basabe, and Luis Gonzalez both offensively and defensively in CF. And that’s just the guys named Luis. If you add in everyone else, Call was going to struggle to find AB’s in AA. That said, I think he has a decent chance to play in the majors and is a nice pick up on a salary dump for Cleveland.

Huh, I always heard the Ryno in that case was Prince Fielder. https://247sports.com/mlb/tigers/Board/103351/Contents/A-Rumor-Ill-Print-about-Prince-Fielders-Wife-Avasail-Garcia-70637487/

Good point. It also reminds me of the Shields trade. The only reason you trade your top 2 prospects for a reliever is cuz you think you're going to win now. No one thinks the Mets are going to win now except the Mets' front office. If they win the division, probably a good trade. If they don't, it's a potential disaster like the Shields trade. I'm thinking closer to the second outcome than the first.

Am I crazy or was Kevan Smith the Sox best pitch-caller? It seems like the rotation collapse coincided with Castillo’s return and that they pitched MUCH better when he was suspended.

That is what elite power looks like. Crushed it, but easy swing.

I think Cashman gets good value generally and this trade was no exception. I’d point out that the Sox all but had Jesus Lazardo for Robertson alone prior to the season, so dumping his salary and including Kahnle for Rutherford has to be considered somewhat disappointing. That said, Hahn got so much for Quintana that overall he had a good year.

Where the Sox are in the rebuild, it seems to me that signing Machado or Harper as a building block makes sense, but older guys like Happ or even Corbin seem like mistakes. There's a lot of downside on older pitchers and unless the Sox are somehow going for it this year, the upside would come in non-competitive years.

But what you want makes absolutely no difference to the outcome of the game. Why not root for the Sox, enjoy if they win and if they lose, take solace in the draft pick?