SoCalChiSox

Can we at least lockdown Wood so this isn't a complete disaster when Hahn balks at 4/80 for Keuchel?

Sox offered 2/30 but Miley's daughter just got accepted to Ohio State. Oh well!

Hahn needs to act soon cause once Ryu and Keuchel get signed, the demands in the trade market will soar.

Mr. Giolito lost me at Covey is gonna figure it out.

If Ryu gets 4 years then Keuchel will also end up getting 4 years. Thanks, Mrs. Wheeler.

I think we would have scooped up Ryu for 3/50 if he could be had for that by now. I think Boras is trying to get a 4th year for both Ryu and Keuchel which is why there may be a stalemate for awhile.

Well played. Lol.

I realize there isn't a portal, however the agent has every incentive to keep shopping around the best offer to others to see who can top it and by how much. It makes no sense to hide the particulars of actual offers when you are trying to create a bidding war. I have zero doubt the agent told the Sox what kind of premium would be needed to get it done. The Sox folded like a cheap suit. Just like they did last year. I expect them to produce a No. 2. A No. 2 is NOT Dallas Keuchel nor is it David Price. And I expect them to do it without giving up Moncada, Jimenez, Robert, Giolito, Kopech, Cease, Madrigal or Vaughn. And I expect them NOT to give up both Dunning and Stiever. How are they supposed to be doing that? Well they are taking first class flights like they are big shots when they've been pathetic losers for a decade. If you're a big shot figure it out.

Ok...then grossly overpay. The window has 4 years left before Moncada and Giolito hit the market. We also have been told we have unprecedented financial flexibility. So why isn't Wheeler signed? The reason can't be because his family wanted to stay close to NJ because if that's the case there's no reason for you to be chasing him for two months in the first place and making him a 125m offer. Wheeler will gladly sign in Afghanistan if you make it worth his while. We didn't.

It was reported that after taxes, the Sox offer was about 2m more than PHI. So no they aren't really overpaying in relationship to the offer which where family wants to be. Looks like the Sox offered just enough so they could plausibly say we had the best offer (they learned from last year when everyone could see through the BS incentive deal last year) while at the same time knowing the difference would be tiny enough that their offer would be turned down. Offer 135 and lock your no.2 down. It's better than wasting money on garbage. Or getting a 4/5 for 80m and having the fans curse at them. They will receive ZERO credit for getting backed into overpaying for Dallas Keuchel.

If there's no reasonable backup plan then if it means overpaying by 15m instead of 5m or whatever you have to do it. After all, we now have "unprecedented financial flexibility" or so we were told. It sucks to overpay but it's worth it compared to basically waiving the white flag for one of Giolito/Moncada's remaining four years which it seems they are now doing.

It's true but also keep in mind it's Heyman who is a Boras mouthpiece.

I agree Ryu would fit the bill if healthy ofcourse. I was referring to Keuchel. If they got Keuchel and Wood then they failed to get a 2 and a 4/5.

Mods or OP should change the title of this thread to "On to Plan F"

Hahn did say something was gonna get done in "the next couple weeks... hopefully sooner rather than later" so he's boxed himself into doing something. He can't just do nothing till February.

It's not that I'm scared of the last year, it's that with higher floor low ceiling guys you aren't getting a ton of WAR in the beginning to make up for the investment being bad later. He's like a 2.5 win guy and then it just goes down from there. He's already in his 30s and doesn't strike out anyone. The plan was to get a 2 and a 4/5. Here, we have two 4/5s and no 2s or even 3s. I just expect a little more especially when Hahn says stupid stuff like dont look at Mazara in isolation look at what it allows us to do. Ok, I'm looking at what it allows you to do and I'm pretty damn sure you could have spent 50-60 on a pitcher even if you had signed an OF for another 50-60. So in my mind if you are gonna get 2 guys and one is DK, you still gotta get a 2, not Wood. Wood is your 5. If you get DK for 50-60, then use the other 60 from Wheeler to buy a bad contract (NOT price) in exchange for getting a legit young controlled 2/3.

Even at 4 years for DK?

Keuchel on a three year deal and Wood wouldn't excite anyone at all, but it's prolly the best we can reasonably do without giving up significant assets. What I fear is if Boras jams us into 4 years for Keuchel because the supply of even halfway decent pitching is more or less gone. That would piss me off.

That's a terrible deal. Let them have him. Poor fit in GRF anyway. Ryu is the one I want to see. If the market doesn't go to 4 years, we should get him. And you can add Keuchel as a 4/5 guy, hopefully at 3/48 or something. Between the two will still be less than Wheeler's total contract and at a shorter term. Those two can prolly get us about 5 WAR next year...maybe more if Ryu pitches a full season.

Yeah it will be a PR disaster if they do that after this trade.

COL seems to want to shed payroll. How bout getting Marquez in exchange for also taking Desmond's deal?

Could we get Clevinger for Vaughn?

That MLBExec guy on Twitter predicted Sox would sign Wood on like a 1 year 5m deal.

I agree 125 was more than reasonable. I'm not blaming them for that. What I will blame them for is if we get to March and all they signed is table scraps or had to give up mega assets for a pitcher or had to basically eat price's deal with minimum salary help from BOS for an aging pitcher, or had to give Madbum or Ryu a ridiculous deal just to secure their services, jeopardizing future budgets. These things would tell me there was no backup plans or contingency planning. If that's the case, then yeah, I'd rather go up to 130m for Wheeler rather than 100m for Madbum or Ryu. It's an even bigger overpayment but better than the alternative.

3/60 is not enough. Fangraphs just estimated his 3 year WAR at about 6 wins. There's a decent amount of 2 win pitchers out there. They also estimated on the market he'd prolly get a 1 year deal or maybe 2/30. Why would we pay double that? The estimate is -60m in value. So 3/60 only gets you halfway there. Add Benintendi and there's a deal to be made with BOS also eating 30m on Price.