SoCalChiSox

Greg, it isn't "monopoly money" because we know JR has a budget and thus every dollar overpaid to person X will eventually have to be paid for by underpaying person Y which may well result in not securing the services of person Y. Unfortunately we are very much a rob Peter to pay Paul organization. I just hope we didn't rob Wheeler to pay Abreu.

Yes but it's Boras so the deal won't get done till March and the FO is acutely aware of fan pressure and the cheapness angle. I don't think PR wise they can sign only Hamels from now until then on a 1 year deal.

Forget about Castellanos. With Abreu basically having to be the DH long term, there's no place for Castellanos and no putting Robert between two butchers in the corners is not a great idea. We badly need the RF to be competent defensively and a lefty power guy. Pederson is a much better choice and will cost much less in salary. Leury can play vs LHP until Basabe is ready.

Ryu could probably be had for a 3/50 deal.

I don't want to trade him either, before he got hurt, he had the highest floor of any of the pitching prospects but TJS introduces some uncertainty into the equation and if the market for Wheeler gets to 6 years, i think that's too much risk. Since we can't/won't pay for Cole/Strasburg the Sox would have to trade for a pitcher as Ryu has injury issues and Boras issues and Madbum isn't a good fit.

If Jack is right and the market gets up to like 6/125, I'd prolly fold there. I know we want them to spend but 5 years with Wheeler is already probably 1 too many. I wonder if we could get Marco Gonzalez from SEA for Dunning/Walker and a third piece.

The Reds needed offense badly and once Grandal was off the market, the agent had them cornered. They are prolly out on Wheeler now I imagine especially if they still want Gregorius.

Im not disputing that Trout is worth more than the 35m or whatever his AAV is. But he's gonna be 29 so of the remaining 11 or 12 years of his deal, I don't think he can produce 8+ WAR per year for more than maybe 3 more seasons. Once he has to move to the corner which will happen at some point, his value will take a hit too. Once you get past 32 or so, it's gonna be rough. Looking at the next 3-4 years when Robert is making peanuts, I guess I'd rather have a 3-5 WAR player making 1m or less than an 8-9 WAR player making 35m. Trout's production in his early thirties in no way will be worth 35x Robert's and even a prime Trout's production (10 WAR) still wouldn't be worth 35x Roberts. With his defense in CF, Robert's floor is prolly a 3 win player. He is that much of a monster. With some plate discipline and experience, I wouldn't be even remotely shocked if he is a 5 win guy consistently in his prime. You'll have to pluck Robert from my cold, dead hands. Hell no to any trade.

It would be a bargain if Trout were 25. He will turn 29 during the season. I wouldn't touch that deal.

Trout has a 400+ million contract we would have to absorb. The latter half of it will be bad even if he is still a decent player and Robert is cost controlled for 7 years which means we get practically all his 20s which will be his prime years. So no.....I wouldn't trade Robert for Trout.

I wouldn't do Nimmo for Bummer straight up. Nimmo is hurt too much and I don't see the power there. Id prefer Joc....although I wouldnt give up multiple years of Bummer for him, either.

Yeah Bloom is gonna have to put in some serious work to solve that problem. That's right I forgot about that we need a stopgap lefty starter to eat some innings. So we should finish 130-135m in total payroll and actually will have a good roster. Next year about 20m comes off the books in Colome and Herrera, hopefully by that time Burdi is able to take a big step forward and Bummer remains consistent. If we didn't do that awful Abreu extension, we'd have even more breathing room to help offset the start of arbitration salaries for some big guns.

86m plus 21m (Wheeler) (107) Plus 10m (Pederson/Calhoun, preferably the former) (117) Reliever (9m) (126m total)

We back?

Rabbit, hearing anything new today? The continuing lack of acknowledgement of Yolmer's release absent some other deal is very bizarre. I wonder how long they are gonna wait for whatever it is they are working on to be finalized. They have to say something. I'd really like to see Wheeler done but the closer it gets to winter meetings I think Wheeler's agents will prolly decide to see what happens there.

The problem with that, as I have noted above, is that the agent can easily call the Sox bluff on that. Wheeler is a more attractive option than Ryu (injuries, age, Boras) and Bumgarner (profiles poorly in GRF, mileage) and agents know we aren't gonna cut off our nose to spite our face. Wheeler has the leverage to force the Sox to both keep bidding against themselves and to wait as well. They know we aren't gonna shell out money for the top two choices and they know there's a sizeable gap between 3 and 4/5 and they know the fanbase is ready to tear into the club for losing out on Wheeler because of Abreu's foolhardy extension. Wheeler's agent has Hahn's sensitive parts in a blender with his index finger on the start button. They are gonna squeeze out every dollar.

They're planting that out there to pressure Wheeler to close the deal. Knowing JR isn't gonna fork out 180-200m for a pitcher already in his 30s, the agent will call our bluff and say sure please explore strasburg all you like. We are gonna wait for the Twins offer and if you want to "move on" to Ryu, Bumgarner etc. you can if you like.

I'm admittedly grasping at straws but didn't Tony say yesterday something would happen in the next 72 hours, not that it would be done yesterday or today.

6 righties doesn't seem like a great idea. Get a stopgap lefty instead.

Give me Wheeler and Joc before Thanksgiving, please!

Joc me Amadeus!

If we can recoup that it could pay for that 1 year stopgap 4/5 lefty SP

Hopefully the other spot is for Joc.

Wait....why is it at 39? I thought it was 38 with Burr and Yolmer gone?

Interesting that another 40 man move is coming. I wonder if this means Collins is about to get moved. I hope not cause we need as many LHH OBP power bats as possible.