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The group of post hype OF prospects is something: Kelenic (#4 overall in Y21) Acuna (#56 overall in Y23) Pereira (#69 overall in Y23)

Agreed on Bader. Not exactly the model of consistency and you would be signing him after a big year. Also on the wrong side of 30. He’s turning 32 in June. MLB.com keeps updating this article of free agent transactions: https://www.mlb.com/amp/news/mlb-free-agents-2025-2026.html

Gonna be some tough losses for the Bears staff and hopefully some interesting hires.

I need to go through the free agent list. I think they will add a veteran OF in some capacity, whether that is as a NRI or a guaranteed contract. There is some value in hedging with a vet, especially at one of the corner OF spots. I’d certainly go into the season with a CF competition between Baldwin, Pereira, & Acuna. Going out and signing Bader to a multi-year deal after trading for Acuna would be insanity.

I was referring to dead last in payroll. I expect them to spend some of the $20M in savings, but I’d be surprised if Jerry didn’t pocket some of it at minimum.

The best thing about the Robert trade was at least getting another potential CF to replace him. I guess Pereira could have played CF but he is an unknown as well. But at least we don’t have to watch Hill play the majority of CF in 2026. I’m sure you have taken a look at the remaining free agent outfielders. It’s pretty ugly. They are mostly too old or bad. Would you even sign any of them? At this point, it may be more productive to give the majority of outfield at bats to these guys. Baldwin Pereira Acuna Kelenic

I actually like the strategy if we’re talking about post hype guys without tons of major league runway. I ripped the Fedde / Kopech trade at the time, but Vargas alone could make that trade a win if he can take another step next year (and that’s ignoring anything from Perez who’s coming off a really strong season). I also like the idea of taking a shot on Mead given his past minor league success, although a little less enamored at the moment given our current roster construction. That being said, Mead came with other pieces and was acquired for a pure rental. I will admit Acuna is a tougher sell for me as his lack of success in AAA last year is hard to ignore. There is still a non zero chance he figures something out as he is still relatively young and there are some good tools there, but I have very little conviction that will happen. Given our meager payroll, extremely unproven OF, and potential upside of Robert, I would have held out for more if I could have but I also get this is Jerry making us dump salary and probably the best we could do.

If close to dead last is inevitable with Robert gone, then it was inevitable with Robert here. Derek Hill nearly put up an equal WAR last year in 149 PA as Robert did in each of his last two seasons. Acuńa in 224 career PA has nearly Robert's WAR from twice the PA last year. Had Baldwin played CF last year instead of Robert I doubt the difference would have been more than a game, and I'm not even sure which direction that one win would go

I’ve often argued that there was no way they should’ve traded Robert that offseason. Coming off a career year with 4 years of control, there’s no way they would’ve gotten a return good enough to actually move him. 100%. Truman Pauley was a 6th round value. Sox probably just chose a couple other guys instead.

I don’t know, it’s tough to take anything a GM says at face value. It’s very possible the Sox really like Acuna, but at the same time only made this trade because Jerry made them dump salary. Lying to the media is a key part of a GM’s job. I don’t agree that Getz trading for 40 man roster depth is a bad thing when the cost is practically nothing. Tristin Peters may end being useless, but he cost us nothing and probably gives us a replacement level floor if needed. We saw under Hahn the dangers of having zero depth at the AAA level. As long as the costs are reasonable and they aren’t blocking someone, these are smart moves to make.

Lets just hope Getz told the truth about spending the money. Then with the prospects, and whatever else they buy, there’s a good chance they can come-out ahead once Robert grabs his hammy again. But that’s hard to earmark.

Agreed, although I do remember some people mentioned either one or both guys in the old massive Robert trade thread.

Maybe this will open up the SP market

Seems like Getz just takes what he can get among a team’s former top prospects that have since lost their shine. Vargas, Mead, and now Acuna all fit that description and were all right around 24 when acquired. It’s almost like he pulls the prospect listings for a team from two years prior and sees who has fallen and can be obtained now. I realize it likely isn’t that simple but it sure seems like it. I also thought it was funny when Getz said that about the Mets not wanting to give up Acuna in that video. He seemed like the perfect guy for the Mets to give up for Robert. Acuna has struggled hitting in the majors thus far, is out of options, and the Mets are loaded with infielders.

Rosenthal said we were willing to. It’s possible that changed after adding Murakami. It’s also likely in this particular case that a rich club like the Mets weren’t willing to offer much of anything for $10M of payroll savings.

Maybe so, isn’t this on along the same lines as those trades? Aren’t most/all Getz trades (except Crochet) kind of similar? Those tampa trades, low stakes as there were, stand out to me as Getz at peak naivete, just accepting soon-to-be org guys. I still get the sense that he evaluates a lot of our return based on what the other GMs tell him. Listen to him go on about how the Mets hated losing Acuna. Getz seems awfully trusting of these GMs who are trying to rip him off.

Closest thing I can think of is they picked up Alex Rios' waiver and then took on his salary basically "for free". Amazingly the Sox agreed to pickup the 58.7 million left on his deal just to improve the team -- 16 years ago. JR wasn't always such a stooge but his time is long over as anything but a dinosaur. I don't want to defend Getz' overall record, it's mixed to this point at best -- at best -- but he's not operating with any sort of fair deck relative to even the other bottom 1/4 payrolls.

Over the last 4 seasons, Robert missed 195 games. More than an entire season worth of games. The real question should be, who’s going to play CF if Robert was still on the team.

We were never going to get either of those even if we ate $19M.

They stole the prospects we were hoping to potentially receive for Robert.

Brother you gotta come back for the WBC. I've been getting hyped watching last tourney's games and some of the team Taiwan training footage. Bud Selig had a bunch of crap as a commish but helping create the WBC is a big time feather in his cap.

Brewers rewarding their own winning ways.

Bed time with the kids has doomscrolling perks

Man, I bet he is wishing he said “until ST starts” right about now…

The offseason doesn’t end until Opening Day per betting purposes, so he’s going to be in the penalty box a while longer.