SoxBlanco

Was it even possible to NOT decline after his ridiculous 2018 season? His numbers were insane in 2018, and he's one of the best college hitters of the last 20 years. In 2019, his numbers were still awesome, and every opposing pitcher knew the type of hitter he was at that point. He increased his walks from 44 in 2018 to 60 in 2019, and still put up a crazy 1.243 OPS in 2019. Sure, you can call 2019 a decline, but that's not painting a very fair picture.

But if you had the choice between that deal and signing Richards, which would you choose?

I think every single person on this board feels that way, but we all define “significant assets” differently.

Is Madrigal, Heuer, and Kelley considered “backing up the truck”?

Like I said earlier, I think James might know who that Dayton guy is. I have no idea if Dayton is credible, but I don’t believe he just made that up after reading the Reddit stuff.

I feel like @Y2Jimmy0 knows who that is. James, does Dayton have any credibility?

Haha, good observation. But if he just threw that pitch every time, the whole league would be hitting .000 against him.

I don't disagree, as long as that player you are getting has several years of control. Burnes would be a candidate for that, which is why I would consider trading Kopech for Burnes, as long as I don't have to give up any other major pieces.

But if we're not able to spend big money to land an ace in free agency, shouldn't we keeping the players who have the ability to become an ace, even if you think the odds of hitting that ceiling are low?

@Y2Jimmy0 said yesterday that maybe Madrigal has more value than we thought. This is pure speculation on my part and I'm not trying to put words in James' mouth, but I'm guessing that means he has also heard that the Burnes trade talk is heating up. This DOES NOT mean the trade is guaranteed to happen, but I truly believe the Sox are deep in trade talks for Burnes right now.

La Stella seems like a no brainer to me.

If we trade for Burnes, Cease will not be part of the package.

And Milwaukee loves Heuer, right? Madrigal, Heuer, Kelley

Pretty good write up on Burnes if you read his entire thread of comments here. Sorry if this was already posted.

If we trade Madrigal, I think we’d sign La Stella very soon after.

I don’t think it’s ridiculous to compare Burnes to Giolito. But do you really think their trade costs would be similar at this point in time?

The latter is exactly the proposal I posted from somebody else’s tweet earlier. James said he thinks Milwaukee says no it. It’s a pretty good proposal, though.

Maybe the Madrigal/Heuer chatter started from this hypothetical proposal from last week...

I agree with you. So why in the world would Milwaukee want to trade him?

How about something like Kelley, Madrigal, Thompson, and Bailey?

I definitely want Quintana. I think his production will surprise some people (the people who somehow think he's just another Gio Gonzalez from last year). Everybody seems fine with Keuchel as one of our top 3, but then don't want Quintana to be a #4. It doesn't make much sense to me. I have confidence that Quintana will still produce next year.

I’ve been one of the biggest proponents of trading for Musgrove, but I’m not upset by this. Go sign Quintana now.

https://vault.si.com/vault/2006/03/27/anatomy-of-a-rumor

This sounds like a job for @Orlando. He’s great at that stuff.

I would love a Quintana/La Stella finish to the offseason. This is a pretty damn good roster: Lineup Anderson Moncada Abreu Eloy Grandal Robert Vaughn Eaton Madrigal Bench La Stella Leury Collins Engel Rotation Giolito Lynn Keuchel Quintana Cease Bullpen Hendriks Bummer Crochet Marshall Heuer Foster Lopez Fry