wrathofhahn

The problem with Abreu is he is a declining asset. If he isn't moved at the deadline I doubt he is ever moved. Look at what Detroit got for J martinez. It's hard enough to get value for a 1B/DH a guy whose also in his last year? Forget about it. I think we can probably get a top 100 guy and someone just outside for him. I'd personally still do the deal especially with Davidson here and Berger looking like a future 1B/DH.

He's really mostly just a name at this point. His stuff nowhere near resembles what it was when he entered the league that more then anything is a big part of why he was DFA. Even if he regains his command he's more of a 4th/5th starter so why deal with the headaches too. I'm with you hard pass for me.

Big believer in taking chances on these type of guys but dudes stuff is no where near where it once was lost more then 3mph on his fb

Agreed but when you talk about Harper and Machado they aren't gap fillers you are committing to them for probably at least seven even maybe a decade.

Encarnacion is a perfect example of the type of player you target instead. He has what a 3 year deal even if he is useful for two he won't hamstring you. Contrast that to Davis and Pujols.

If the farm system truly is loaded then we shouldn't need to commit to someone for 7-10 years we should be looking to fill holes. Just because the FO has done a poor job in the past should not preclude us from doing so in the future.

Agreed we should but the reality is we just don't and as much as these longterm deals for superstars are popular for fans they almost never work out for the club that signs them. I'd much rather us wait figure out what we have and either fill in the position holes with acquired talent or veteran stop gaps. If you are going to spend extend your own guys and if your are going to spend big in FA try to keep the term short.

There are definite concerns about Rutherford I'm not discounting that. All I'm saying is to me the numbers he is putting up as a 21 year old in high A ball is much more impressive then the numbers put up by a bunch of 24 year olds with terrible plate discipline.

Whether you for the rebuild or not isn't really material at this point. It's happened. The question is how far we continue the process my contention is all along that we continue that a proper rebuild takes at least three years. The Cubs managed in three with Epstein. The Astros took four. That is sort of the bench mark. Right now we are in year two of that process. The question I'd pose is will we be competitive next year if we sign Machado? I mean he's tearing the cover off the ball for the Orioles and whats their record. The MLB isn't the NBA there is no guy whose going to come in and sort of single handily turn around the club. Other people say well signing Machado doesn't mean we have to be competitive immediately. Come on. Signing Machado starts the clock and forces us to be looking at the nearterm rather then the longterm. I'm not ready to commit to that at this point. Like I said we are only in year two of the process and honestly we don't know the timetable we are hoping for 2020 as the best case scenario (also mentioned by Hahn) but it maybe longer if the first wave disappoints. We just don't know. I think at this point we need to see it through and if we aren't then we better be damn sure we have enough moving forward to build a competitive roster because there are no doovers here. The clock and service time of these guys gives us a window if we screw it up then they are guys we will be talking about in 2022-2023 about moving and starting yet another rebuild. I'd rather it be done right the first time.

One thing Davidson hitting does is make it easier to move Abreu. If Davidson continues to mash and obviously he can play the field then it makes sense to put him at 1B since he's under control till 2023. Abreu on the otherhand only has two years.

I know Rutherford is sort of a guy whose on the backburner but he deserves an honorable mention. He's tearing the cover off the ball. Blackmon is a 24 year old in A ball. Booker is a 24 year old in high A ball I mean comeon they are ancient for their levels.

I mean when someone loses command and velocity of their fastball like this it's usually an arm issue. Not always of course some guys just lose their stuff and command at the same time but more often then not you see a drop off like this and the next thing you know he's on the DL

With a BB/9 of 8.55?

Particularly the velocity spring training we were told he regained most of his stuff and was sitting at 93-95 MPH again. Instead he's lost so far an average of over 1.3 MPH off his fastball in 2017 and 2.2 MPH since 2016. He's barely hitting 90's most nights. Is there something wrong with his arm?

I'd be open to playing Garcia back in CF then having Avi and Nick as our corner guys. Problem is they aren't healthy either. Engel is one lucky SOB. He once again basically gets the CF job because he's the only man still standing.

This is what I was talking about in the thread earlier sure we are way ahead of schedule due to the trades but expecting a full rebuild to happen in 2 years is beyond optimistic. It took Epstein three years and the Astros four to do theirs. People have unrealistic expectations of how long this is going to take. It's going to take at least another two years possibly three and that is only if Hahn continues to make all the right moves and we don't have any serious setbacks.

It really depends on how the season plays out and who needs a 1B/DH. For example last year we did a good job playing the Yanks and Redsox off each other ultimately convincing them to take on Robertsons entire deal along with Frazier for two good prospects.

Agreed my position is get as many prospects as you can so if a couple flame out which they will we are still in a good position. That means for me this year we sell off the rest of our remaining assets. Abreu. Avi. Jones. Soria. I still hope we can get one more big package with what we have left. The other benefit of moving them now is our contention window is 2020 like you said so even if these prospects are blocked and never play for us they still can be moved for cost controlled guys in 2020 at positions of need. I'm not sure the same can be said for Abreu once he signs an extension or Avi who will both be signed at that point to new deals and two years. So the time is nigh to make a move assuming the standard things they are playing well, there is a market for them, they get a good offer, etc.

I mean I think he continues at least September. Not high on him at all never was but the only guy sort of ready is Tilson and he's stinking it up in minor league ball. Cordell would be the guy if he was healthy.

I hope not. It's way too early to be thinking about Manchado

I think you do that by looking at the deals he pulled off last year. The Sale trade. The Q deal. The Eaton deal. The Robertson trade. Even the Soria deal this offseason was good work. I mean those deals should build trust and I'm confident that if/when we sell Abreu and Avi Hahn will be able to maximize what we get back. Once we come out of the rebuild whether these are the guys to lead us into contention well that is an open question but they've done really good work on the rebuild we are much farther along then most teams year 1 in a rebuild. They sort of should have everyones complete confidence to at least continue the process.

Honestly people who are saying this team is bad what can be done to fix this mess don't understand this team was meant to be bad and it will only get worse. Rebuilds don't happen in a year and no we shouldn't be going after Manchado next year. If you don't trust the process and the rebuild that's fine but dear god give it more then a year before trying to pull the plug.

Nothing continue to rebuild. People thinking you can build rome in a day were fools this will be a multi-year rebuild last year was year one we'll see where things are at in 2020. The only thing that kind of sucks is none of the vet guys have any value right now. Abreu and both Garcias should be moved.

Blake Rutherford is having a nice early start to the year

Also it would be nice if you allowed us to have a list of themes to switch to personalize the site.