SoxBlanco

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.

This would not be true if we signed Grandal first.

You forgot three important steps: 1. Increase payroll to $170M in 2021 by signing Betts. 2. Win the World Series. 3. Celebrate.

He's talking about Holt and Dickerson. He thinks either of those two guys can be signed for a max of $10 million per year.

Huh? We were 72-89. That's literally 17 games under .500. Yes, if we were 9 games better, we would have won 81 games, but it's pretty obvious where the 17 games came from.

Fox Sports Chicago. Their usual channel.

I’m ok with that as long as we add a legit DH, like JDM.

I wish we would have lost our DH on multiple occasions this year. We'd probably have a better output from that spot in the lineup.

I'm starting to think that Grandal should be the first target because whether or not we sign him will affect who else we go after. If we can't sign Grandal, that means McCann and Collins will be the catchers, and somebody like JDM would make sense at DH. But if we do sign Grandal, then there is no need for an additional DH because Grandal, McCann, Collins, and Abreu will just rotate between 1B, DH, and C. Overpay Grandal right away. Last year, he turned down a contract of 4 years, 60 million. If we offer him 3 for $65 right off the bat, will that be good enough to get him to sign immediately?

This. Why would somebody fall on the sword for a shitty record in a rebuilding year when many core pieces played well?

I think Luis Gonzalez is going to get back to being a legit prospect next year.

No way. I understand the fear, but there’s just no way that happens.

Yeah, Vaughn being called up next year will depend on how he hits as well as who we sign this offseason.

How would people feel if our offseason consisted of signing Grandal, Calhoun, Abreu, Wheeler, Nova, and a bullpen arm?

If he hits well in AA, he could be up in July or August, which would not be within a year of his draft date.

Did you mean to say 2020?

Yeah, would it be possible for somebody to take all of these lineup posts and discussion and move them to the Future Lineup thread? I agree that the FA market isn't great for RF. But what are the chances that we would win a World Series with Nimmo instead of Calhoun (and all other things being equal)? In other words, if the trade doesn't put you over the top, why give away prospects when we could just wait until next year to see if one of our prospects is the answer or if there is somebody who is a FA after next year that could help?