SoCalChiSox

If you're RH, there is NO hill on which you die on. Your job is to give a lawyerly and thoughtful gloss on BS decisions made over your head so as to make chicken s%*# seem like chicken salad. In exchange you get a very good salary and more importantly job security for life. Sure there may be other GMs that make 3-5m a year and you might be stuck between 1-2m but so what, those checks are guaranteed for as long as JR is around, rain or shine. If you've got that gig you don't "die on a hill" ever. You milk it until its absolutely dry.

We might think it's a price worth paying but the math is still gonna have to work out when the FO has to account for every penny and even a slight overpayment is likely to result in robbing Peter to pay Paul again.... RH: So Jerry we got Mike Clevinger, a former Cy Young winner for only 12 million and.. JR: Yeah, but how are you gonna pay for that. I said payroll is only 180 million. It isn't even December and you're already over it. RH: Don't worry, Giolito is on his way out and that's a 10 million savings. As you know he just got also elected to the MLBPA executive committee so we're killing two birds with one stone there. JR: Yes I agree that's great except for one problem. RH: Whats that? JR: What about the other 2 million?

Perhaps this is why it was rumored the Kepler trade was expanding to include a SP coming from MIN also.

Wong prolly doesn't cost anything....MIL just wants to dump salary. Kepler does cost something tho.....how much remains to be seen.

My bad. I thought they were around 16m combined. Still, 20m for Kepler plus Wong is still better use of limited resources than 16m just for Conforto....plus there's an option for Kepler for 24 too. BTW, if Clevinger is at 12m that's not our no.5 that's 1000% Giolito's replacement. If SD wants him, we need to get Campusano out of the deal so that we can address C. They aren't gonna be able to afford even a halfway decent catcher on the open market next year when Grandal is gone. Address the issue now. Have Campusano catch 5 games a week, Grandal 2 and he can 1B/DH 2 other days.

At this point, the best bang for the buck would prolly be the Kepler trade assuming it only costs something like ReyLo. Kepler plus Wong at about 16m combined > Conforto for 16m all by himself. Adding in Clevinger at 12 means you added 28m to payroll but likely subtracting 10m for Giolito and I dunno what people would project for ReyLo this year...last year it was like 2.6, maybe he gets a raise to 4...so deduct 14 and its a net payroll add of 14. Weren't we at 172 and the budget was 180...so we'd be at 186....which means maybe another high priced RP would need to go since no one will take Grandal. Honestly, if budget really is 180 this is about the best result we can ask.

Yep....no way JR will have an MLB exec committee member on the team.

This.

If it's Kepler plus a SP (hopefully LHP) then ReyLo++ is likely going to MIN. It also means Giolito is about to be moved soon thereafter.

Yeah get something while we can.

I'd rather have Kelenic than Haniger, Kepler etc.

That would be great but I think they will use savings from Giolitos 10 to basically try to buy 2 low salary position players and offset most of the cost in a 3 team trade.

How about LHP? Oh wait i forgot we hate left handed anything.

It might be but I'm trying to hit two birds with one stone where the value is semi realistic. If our budget is 180m that's going to be very difficult and will require alot of manuevering. Maybe after they get a young C like Campusano in a trade like that, they could then package Grandal with some prospects not named Colas or Montgomery to open up some cash. More likely they'll need to sell Hendriks. I think Anderson needs to be moved while he still has 2 years of cheap control. They seem to really believe Montgomery is a SS so all you need is like a one year bridge.

We have to get creative. If you sent Giolito to SD for example, using the trade value site, you could get back Snell and Campusano and it would be a wash. While Snell is also under contract for just one year, at least you swapped out a RHP for a LHP and you also got a legit young cost controlled C to replace Grandal after next year without having to spend more money later. With the remaining SP hole, you can prolly put in a cheap scrub since you already added the LHP and honestly with Cease, Snell, Kopech and Lynn, the No. 5 SP doesn't matter much.

At least they are looking at the right places to improve. They had all these same needs last year and blew their wad on relievers, although to be fair it was TLR calling the shots not the FO. They can't afford Nimmo or Benintendi, or Manaea, Rodon etc. I could definitely see Frazier at 2B and maybe that Kepler trade if it's not too painful. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Giolito trade. They need to free up money somehow and he isn't coming back in 24 so they need to address needs with that chip now since there's no way they can move Grandals salary most likely. Moving Anderson would also net them a strong return IMO.

That's steep. Law thinks Ramos could be a monster, I wouldn't give him away for Kepler. Just sign Conforto for 1 yr deal. Spend some money for once and stop robbing Peter to pay Paul. I'm sick of this s%*#.

Trying to buy low. Had several good years vs RHP before last year. Defensive metrics still awesome...I assume you put him in RF and Colas in LF. I wonder what it would cost?

Seems like he'd fit in well.

Need to unload Leury's salary first somehow.

MOAR right handed hitters. Just stop already.

RH: "Pfft. We don't need no savqges"

Bring me the left handed savage Jazz Chisholm at 2B.

That's awesome.....saves 8m. They can put that towards a 1 yr Conforto deal.

This is a good time to move TA. You can get a huge return most likely since there would be 2 years left on a cheap salary for a 3-4 WAR SS.