SoCalChiSox

Nice....this is a huge jump for him and the first few days have reflected that but hopefully he can start to adjust a little bit in the next few weeks.

And if Mead matches his 2026 and 2027 current Zips projections, we will all be uniformly thrilled.

I think they will certainly spend some but I don't think JR wants any long term deals past the CBA and it's hard to sign good players on 1 or 2 year deals unless they are coming off a bad year and are willing to sign a 1 yr prove it type deal.

Vargas is head and shoulders better now than when he first got here. He has a shot at 20 HRs this season. There are some things on his swing he still needs to work on but he has the look of a solid 2 WAR player with a bit more consistency.

Not a bad return here. We will see what Fuller can do with Mead. The arms also seem interesting.

MIN is just trying to dump as much financial liabilities as they can.

If he is still on the roster as of the deadline, then it means they got the OK to pick it up.

I think the argument is we aren't necessarily getting nothing if they are picking up the option.

Yeah the return is garbage. I wouldn't go for that.

First tier SPs need to move before Houser moves...so it may be near the end

I guess the question is would he use that 20m elsewhere or not? If he is.....is it on 3 scrubs rather than one really good player? If he will somehow pay Robert but otherwise would pocket the money, I think we know which alternative we prefer. This is not a good outcome but at least the baseball team will benefit in 26 with him in CF rather than Taylor or Baldwin. I'm reaching for positivity I know

So I guess JR really is willing to pay the 20m then. Cause if it was really a bluff u trade him at the last hour even for something smallish... but now at least he helps the team next year and we can try this again.

Return to BAL looks very light, explains why Robert deal didn't come together

That's probably also happening too....at some point the clock forces both sides to get real if you really want someone.

Jays system really sucks.

I bet they pivoted to Mullins cause Getz was dicking around with stupid demands.

Yeah that's the hope....or maybe a three way trade cause Preller needs to see first what we want from the 3rd team.

We just need to find some damn way to pair Clifford with him. Eat money, throw in a reliever or throw in Houser. Find some way, Chris.

@fathom, do u have any info as to what NYM has actually offered us? The Tong ask is obviously not realistic at all but I'd be interested to know what kinds of things have been offered? Are the Sox even interested in Clifford?

Holdup may be some of the big SP names haven't been moved yet so market hasn't shifted to secondary options.

There was a report I think a couple days ago suggesting the Cubs were interested. Could we get Wiggins?

Thanks for the cite on the Tong thing. I'm hoping this is just midday gamesmanship and then Getz presents his true fallback demand in the afternoon. Get your LH bat and your CF project. This isn't that hard.

NYM isn't gonna do that. Its stupid if Getz is dying on that hill. It shouldn't be hard to do a Clifford + Acuna deal if u eat some cash and throw in a reliever. There is no way we will get any of their top 5 guys. BTW I didn't see this report where is it?

Part of me still thinks this Feinsand report is a plant because we are arguing with NYM over the quality of the non Acuna piece.

He's more useful as a bridge to Braden unless someone is willing to give up a Top 10-12 player.