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Escobar Conforto Bassit / Alacantra Two Bullpen Arms … Sounds good to me…

In what world would one year of Chris Bassitt cost Vaughn or Jimenez?

Yea… his last 4 seasons average at a 141 ERA+, he strikes out about 9 per 9 innings, and gives up about 1 homer over the same span. Considering our current starting 5 is Giolito, Lynn, Cease, Dallas, and Kopech with Lopez first on the depth chart… why on earth would Hahn even consider a starting pitcher who began his professional career on our team that’s preformed 40% better than his peers over the past 4 years, according to one metric. What other ideas do you have… since this one clearly is awful. ?

The problem with this line of thinking is that there simply aren't REMOTELY enough examples of hitters that have made the transition to be able to generalize like you are. Suzuki is way better and, more importantly, WAY different than Tsutsugoh, even when Tsutsugoh was in his prime -- simply the fact that they both hit thirty-plus homers is not enough to compare them. It would be like saying Fernando Tatis and Pete Alonso are similar because they both hit thirty-plus homers this year. There's reason to be skeptical, yes, but the only way to project is to use scouting and evaluate the players as individuals -- which maybe we can't do well from where we are, but the conclusion should be uncertainty, not pessimism. Or, put another way, the skepticism should come from our lack of ability to draw a clear conclusion, not from a sloppy conclusion we DID draw from a lack of data. Also, there are some small parks in Japan (Jingu, Tokyo Dome, Yokohama), but there are just as many cavernous, pitcher friendly stadiums (Sapporo, Chiba, Nagoya). Homerun numbers are not inflated over there at a league-level. Finally, I think it's important to point out that, contrary to what I think most people believe, the players that get posted by NPB are RARELY the best players in the league. They are invariably GOOD players relative to the league (nearly always past their primes), but NPB teams work hard to keep their superstars. The reason that Seiya is so intriguing because this is the first time since Hideki Matsui that a player is posted that is arguably the best overall hitter in the league. I think you can make a case that Masataka Yoshida and Munetaka Murakami might be better overall hitters or prospects, but it wouldn't a definitive one, and neither of those guys just had the season that Seiya did. I can tell you that, for sure, how Seiya fares will have a major affect on how I evaluate the hitters in Japan for years to come, because we simply haven't been able to see someone like him, in his prime, take a real shot at it... really since Ichiro. Even Matsui was significantly older and clearly out of his athletic prime when he made the jump (he used to play CF, if you can believe it). It's going to be interesting.

Oh not disagreeing with you guys at all. It’s a shit system no doubt. And you’re right, it was two years had he waited. Still pretty nuts that he didn’t get the Angel’s entire bonus and only like $2M. Dude sacrificed so much coming over when he did.

Romy is going to end up in Oakland somehow. Then he’ll rollout 3 and 4 war seasons

Bulls atop the East nbd ?

Oh....yeah we're not trading Vaughn or Eloy for a rental. Come on man. Are you trying to end the rebuild by next year?

In a world where pitchers are getting $40 million contracts...and having just a one-year commitment on the books has a ton of value for many cash-strapped franchises with better/deeper farm systems. Ultimately, that would be what the A's would ask for to begin with. Now would they accept a package around Burger and Collins and maybe one Tier B prospect? Throw in Yermin for good measure, since the A's seem to be able to extract value from nearly any hitter historically. Maybe, probably...?

Olson is a stud, but where would he play on the Sox? And I would love Chris Bassitt back on the Sox. Would something like Burger/Sheets (pick one) and Kelley work? You don't think much of Eloy do you? Now you're bringing him up in trades for rentals. Earlier today you wanted to trade him to the Twins.

Shush… people don’t have to explain their reasoning on Soxtalk. It is the way.

That Fields trade I'll make every day, twice on Sundays. Its Pace trade the other draft capitals over the years that is setting this franchise back. Hell they traded up in the 2nd round in this same draft to take an O-Lineman with a bad back.

Good write up that can provide some comparative insight into the potential value of Escobar. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/11/free-agent-faceoff-kris-bryant-vs-kyle-seager-vs-eduardo-escobar.html

So what did we learn from the Pittsburg game. That rolling the QB out and doing some things that is outside the normal Nagy offense is good. So what happens the next game. We got back to Nagy offense. The continued development of Fields is going to involve removing Nagy from the equation. He needs to go. He is stubborn and doesnt learn.

His body type, the 2 achilles tears, scouting reports. It seems like you're taking it personally that I said he is at best an average 3rd baseman. I didn't call him fat slob, so I don't know why you're equating what I said with that. What makes you think he can be an above average 3rd baseman? Blind optimism?

I still think the Dodgers will resign Taylor. I just have a hard time believing them losing Seager and Taylor in the same off season. Movement from the Sox? Yes I think they'll make at least one move if not a couple.

For sure, and in hindsight, it’s hard to argue his choice to sacrifice his earnings for the benefit of his personal development wasn’t absolutely wise. If he didn't start adjusting to the league for another couple years, there’s virtually no shot that he would have done what he just did this season. It’s nonsense to incentivize a player to do something other than what is going to lead him to reach his ceiling. We’re all lucky as fans that Ohtani ignored the incentive.

I can understand why. If Romy fails, you plug in Taylor. If Yoan gets hurt, you plug in Taylor. If any one else needs a day or two off, you plug in Taylor. Conforto is a one position guy, basically.

Man I hate this system. Just brutal how it treated Ohtani (felt like owners gleefully screwing him over). Goes to show how important it is to these players to prove they are the best in the world, because I can’t imagine this will be much more lucrative.

I love the 'go big or go home' approach. But for the love of God, please don't ever suggest sending Eloy to the Twins. I think some people are forgetting how it was mentioned when he first got injured how he might not have his power back until 2022. Don't sell low on Eloy. He could easily be a top 3 or 4 hitter in baseball next year.

The thing with the dodgers is that 1)they are much better at the other defensive positions than the Sox 2)they are very good at shifting to migitate muncy's limited range. The Sox don't shift much (could be changed) and are pretty bad at many other defensive positions too (hard to change)

What about Jake Burger makes people think he can play 2B? The guy is at best an average 3rd baseman, probably below average. His range would be absolutely horrendous at 2B. Imagine a team with Jake Burger at 2nd, Eloy in LF, Vaughn/Sheets in RF, and Jose at 1st. The pitchers would be livid. That's an all time bad defense.

Sour candy? That’s dumpster diving. Padres would have fancy chocolates

My recommendation to you is to start exploring 7-11's go yum offerings. They had this one that had chocolate pretzels and peanut butter that blew my mind

Finkle is Einhorn; Einhorn is Finkle!

So the return for Kimbrel will be a super utility guy who is both loved and hated on this board.

It surprised me last year that we never tried splitting the closing a little bit more, but then I remembered who our manager is.

It's not. It never is.