SoxBlanco

It’s a running joke that Ron hates Jose.

Yeah, sorry for not clarifying, but that included Abreu and banking on a buyout for Calhoun. Like you said, it leaves us open to making more moves next season, while addressing some needs this year.

Nice. Thanks for doing this. I had us signing Grandal, Calhoun, Will Smith, Wheeler, and Hill. Total payroll is at 116.7 M.

Stone and Merkin have stated multiple times recently that Cole is not likely. Seems like this was intentional because either... A) We truly aren’t going hard after him and our front office wants to keep expectations in check. or... B) We will make a push for him but our front office doesn’t want another Machado situation where there was such a let down because of the expectations.

I think 7 for $250 gets it done.

Great thread. It reminds me of how many people criticized Hahn about the Sale trade when Moncada was struggling in his first year. "We should have demanded Benintendi...blah blah blah" The hindsight bias that exists on this message board (and every sports message board in the history of message boards) is so ridiculous at times. Bottom line: We had three great cost-controlled assets, and Hahn got a great return for all three. In addition, the extensions we gave them prior to that made them such a valuable trade chip. Hahn deserves a lot of credit for those trades.

That was my first thought as well. “If you’re thinking mechanics while you’re up there, you have no chance. You need a good approach.”

I believe it's in reference to the title of the thread. He's saying that the 11th pick shouldn't feel any different this year because you should always take the best player available. I could be wrong, though.

Would you be upset with an offseason of Wheeler, Keuchel, Grandal, Calhoun, and a bullpen arm?

His injury history might scare some teams away, but it shouldn't scare us as much. With Kopech and Rodon waiting in the wings, we have a solution should he miss time.

I feel the exact same way.

Agreed. Although I’m guessing that would take Grandal off the table.

Haha, I thought the same thing. I was 99% sure he was kidding.

@Look at Ray Ray Run, thanks for doing that. It's pretty interesting stuff.

His point was that there is no chance the Cubs don't pick up his option.

If we can land any two of the top 7 guys (Cole, Strasburg, Bumgarner, Keuchel, Ryu, Odorizzi, Wheeler), I will be extremely happy. If we land one of the top 7 guys and then land one of the lower-tier options (Hamels, Wacha, Wood, Miley, etc.), I will be content.

Yeah, I figured it would be confusing because of that reason, but I wanted to get the point across that Gonzalez and Walker had pretty similar seasons in A-ball (one year apart). I think Gonzalez is underrated around here because of his down year, but AA is a huge adjustment, and he got better as the year went on. His BB rate stayed the same from A to AA, and his K rate actually improved after moving to Birmingham. His knock this year was a lack of power, but he slugged .504 at Winston Salem compared to Walker slugging .426 at the same level and at the same age.

Luis Gonzalez in his age 22 A-ball season.

Correct

Yes...same age, same level.

Player A: .307 BA, .866 OPS, 19.0 K %, 8.9 BB % Player B: .284 BA, .811 OPS, 14.8 K %, 9.5 BB % Simply going by these stats, which player do you like more?

I’m admittedly bias because he’s always been one of my favorite prospects, but I think Luis Gonzalez will have a nice bounce back year to get back on the map and be in the mix for a big league spot in 2021.

I agree. If Cole is unrealistic, I want Wheeler, Keuchel, a bullpen arm, Grandal, and a one-year RF.

I stopped reading when I got to the "Trade Moncada" part. Was the rest of the post decent?

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.