A Realistic Offseason

[tray]

You are right about that but no doubt, most Cub fans seem to want Castellanos back because of how he energized the team in the last two months of the season.

Also, Castellanos  did not cost the team with key errors and he was a monster at the plate with numerous key hits and HRs.  The Cubs may be afraid not to sign him.

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

1 hour ago, greg775 said:

I just ignored you, Tony, so if you want to read my posts you can. Or you can ignore me back. You and southsider don't get me so this is best before I get banned, Adios, have a nice winter in the bitter wind of Chitown and GO SOX!

literally no body gets you... that's what's funny lol

[Pal]

Moose, Castellanos, Wheeler, Odorizzi, 2 yr Abreu extension. Actually think they'll make a bigger splash 

[ron883]

9 hours ago, cjgalloway said:

literally no body gets you... that's what's funny lol

I get greg. Greg gets me. We're both guys who don't need numbers to see how good a guy is at baseball. We've got a pair of eyes that show us everything we damn well need to know about a guy.

We don't need a computer to tell us what the ideal move is in a given situation. Our guts and instincts will tell us what the correct move is. 

Baseball is America's greatest pastime, and it is being ruined by a bunch of nerds. If we see one more team using an "opener", we're packing our bags and moving to Tijuana together. No more MLB for us. 

Edited October 4, 2019 by ron883

[bschmaranz]

3 hours ago, Pal said:

Moose, Castellanos, Wheeler, Odorizzi, 2 yr Abreu extension. Actually think they'll make a bigger splash 

I'd be pretty excited with this.

[poppysox]

4 hours ago, Pal said:

Moose, Castellanos, Wheeler, Odorizzi, 2 yr Abreu extension. Actually think they'll make a bigger splash 

This looks good but I too think they will go bigger.  Time for Jerry to go all in.

[Capital G]

5 hours ago, Pal said:

Moose, Castellanos, Wheeler, Odorizzi, 2 yr Abreu extension. Actually think they'll make a bigger splash 

Like who? I dont see them getting Cole. You thinking Stras?

 

TBH, add a couple of BP arms, and I'd be excited with just what you posted even if the idea of Castellanos in RF scares me (Only bc we would have Eloy in LF). I can just see injuries to LuBob bc of those two.

[YouCanPutItOnTheBoardYES!]

SoxTalk trades Greg to a Cubs forum in exchange for Ronnie Woo Woo

[SCCWS]

5 hours ago, ron883 said:

I get greg. Greg gets me. We're both guys who don't need numbers to see how good a guy is at baseball. We've got a pair of eyes that show us everything we damn well need to know about a guy.

We don't need a computer to tell us what the ideal move is in a given situation. Our guts and instincts will tell us what the correct move is. 

Baseball is America's greatest pastime, and it is being ruined by a bunch of nerds. If we see one more team using an "opener", we're packing our bags and moving to Tijuana together. No more MLB for us. 

Unfortunately, Tampa's success w using analytics to offset spending on star players will certainly interest FO pencil-pushers. Both are really nerdy types. 

[poppysox]

6 minutes ago, SCCWS said:

Unfortunately, Tampa's success w using analytics to offset spending on star players will certainly interest FO pencil-pushers. Both are really nerdy types. 

I tend to be a trust my eyes type as well.  In actuality...analytics and gut instincts both play a role in todays game.

[SCCWS]

1 minute ago, poppysox said:

I tend to be a trust my eyes type as well.  In actuality...analytics and gut instincts both play a role in todays game.

Agree. Tampa is huge into shifting which actually started w Maddon although front office driven. 

[poppysox]

45 minutes ago, YouCanPutItOnTheBoardYES! said:

SoxTalk trades Greg to a Cubs forum in exchange for Ronnie Woo Woo

No way I make that deal.  I can't stand Woo Woo.

[TheFutureIsNear]

Still think a realistic and successful off season starts with Wheeler and Ozuna. Anything on top is gravy to me.
 

Make a minor trade for Travis Shaw and sign 2 low risk/high reward pen arms and I’m a happy fan. I think a lot of you are setting yourselves up for disappointment with the expectations I’m reading...again 
 

 

[BackDoorBreach]

1 hour ago, SCCWS said:

Agree. Tampa is huge into shifting which actually started w Maddon although front office driven. 

They are the ones that really brought it mainstream.

I used to post on a message board years ago and all the Rays fans had "That shift cray" avatars overlayed on Maddons face.

[BamaDoc]

20 hours ago, tray said:

You are right about that but no doubt, most Cub fans seem to want Castellanos back because of how he energized the team in the last two months of the season.

Also, Castellanos  did not cost the team with key errors and he was a monster at the plate with numerous key hits and HRs.  The Cubs may be afraid not to sign him.

signing a player because the scrubs want him is perhaps not the best way to build a team.

[BamaDoc]

Why Ozuna?  He is not a great glove.  Had a real good year in 2017, 6.1 WAR.  Last year 2.9, this year 2.1.  He is going to require significant years and dollars and probably has a qualifying offer attached.  He is a national leaguer, (who knows how he adjusts to AL?), hits right-handed.  He will need to move from left to right field.  The guy I want has WARs of 4.9, 2.8, 4.0.  (Better WAR total and this year).  Hits left-handed, played a lot of CF as well as corners.  AL bat with no home park inflation of his numbers, no qualifying offer, and will be a lot cheaper.

[TheFutureIsNear]

6 minutes ago, BamaDoc said:

Why Ozuna?  He is not a great glove.  Had a real good year in 2017, 6.1 WAR.  Last year 2.9, this year 2.1.  He is going to require significant years and dollars and probably has a qualifying offer attached.  He is a national leaguer, (who knows how he adjusts to AL?), hits right-handed.  He will need to move from left to right field.  The guy I want has WARs of 4.9, 2.8, 4.0.  (Better WAR total and this year).  Hits left-handed, played a lot of CF as well as corners.  AL bat with no home park inflation of his numbers, no qualifying offer, and will be a lot cheaper.

Who?? Why be oddly secretive about it lol?

[BamaDoc]

Sorry back on page one when I started thread.  It is Brett Gardner.  Only thing against him is age but he hasn't shown signs of any slowdown.  One year and option or two years probably gets it done.  I think he would be a great mentor as well.  Never heard a bad thing about him with NY writers around everyday.  Allows time for our young minor league guys to develop or allows you to go after big FA RF down the road.  When I started researching, I was very surprised by his numbers.  Keep an open mind and take a look

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gardnbr01.shtml

[TheFutureIsNear]

8 minutes ago, BamaDoc said:

Sorry back on page one when I started thread.  It is Brett Gardner.  Only thing against him is age but he hasn't shown signs of any slowdown.  One year and option or two years probably gets it done.  I think he would be a great mentor as well.  Never heard a bad thing about him with NY writers around everyday.  Allows time for our young minor league guys to develop or allows you to go after big FA RF down the road.  When I started researching, I was very surprised by his numbers.  Keep an open mind and take a look

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gardnbr01.shtml

I won’t be upset if we sign Gardner, but he seems like more of a stop gap option to me and I’m not sure why the Sox would be interested in that. We’d be looking for a new OF’er again by the time we are ready to truly compete for a WS. Plus do you really trust Gardner’s sudden HR power? I know it seems like pretty much anyone with a pulse can hit 25 nowadays, but also wouldn’t be shocked if Gardner went back to a .360-.370 SLUG%?

And while I don’t love Ozuna by any means, I just don’t see many players on the free agent list the Sox can plug into their lineup the next 3 years and get at least above average production out of. Ozuna brings that in both the lineup and OF in my option. Will he likely get overpaid? Probably. But will that $2-3M/year overpay have any impact on the Sox payroll? Highly unlikely. 

[BamaDoc]

Part of my rational is they sign Grandal who would hit higher in lineup so Gardner would provide balance and possibly be more in the 6-8 range.  You wouldn't require the bat to be as important and the glove (especially compared to other options) would be there even if he does drop slugging a bit.  He walks at close to 9% indicative of making a pitcher work like Grandal.  Gardner's numbers home and away are similar so it wasn't just hitting them into the short porch in right.  He is a stop gap and would not span our window of opportunity but as he winds down I expect one of our prospects to be ready.  Plugging a young cheap option in gives financial flexibility as others get to bigger dollar levels.  Other free agents would require longer years and many have bad gloves or other risks.  His shorter contract length could allow you to fire at a Betts or Springer if everything breaks right although with current FO/O I doubt that is possible.  More about putting a solid 3 WAR guy in RF where we were negative WAR last year.  In a realistic plan you can't get every top guy but you need solid players also.  

[BigHurt3515]

Has anyone talked about signing Hyun-Jin Ryu?

[BackDoorBreach]

1 minute ago, BigHurt3515 said:

Has anyone talked about signing Hyun-Jin Ryu?

He is hurt a ton.  Look at his IP by year.

[flavum]

1 minute ago, BackDoorBreach said:

He is hurt a ton.  Look at his IP by year.

For the right deal, he would fit in nicely. Diversify the pitching styles of our starters...and obviously, lefty. 

[SoxBlanco]

2 hours ago, TheFutureIsNear said:

I won’t be upset if we sign Gardner, but he seems like more of a stop gap option to me and I’m not sure why the Sox would be interested in that. We’d be looking for a new OF’er again by the time we are ready to truly compete for a WS. Plus do you really trust Gardner’s sudden HR power? I know it seems like pretty much anyone with a pulse can hit 25 nowadays, but also wouldn’t be shocked if Gardner went back to a .360-.370 SLUG%?

And while I don’t love Ozuna by any means, I just don’t see many players on the free agent list the Sox can plug into their lineup the next 3 years and get at least above average production out of. Ozuna brings that in both the lineup and OF in my option. Will he likely get overpaid? Probably. But will that $2-3M/year overpay have any impact on the Sox payroll? Highly unlikely. 

With all of our upcoming outfield prospects (you would hope one of them pans out) and the quality OF free agents next year, I think a stopgap RF is exactly what we should be looking at for this year. This would allow us to fill a hole with minimal cost while we throw more money at pitching, which is the greater need at this point. I want two starting pitchers, one bullpen piece, Grandal or a DH, and a stopgap RF. If there were better RF free agents available, then I would want to look at a long term signing. But all of the RF free agents have flaws.

Edited October 4, 2019 by SoxBlanco

[BackDoorBreach]

12 minutes ago, flavum said:

For the right deal, he would fit in nicely. Diversify the pitching styles of our starters...and obviously, lefty. 

I wouldn't mind him at all, I just hate gambling on often hurt older pitchers.  He's a soft tossing lefty that spots all his pitches.  He'd be a great balance piece for sure.