Baker

Scott Boras owes Mike Moustakis big time. His foot dragging last Spring cost Moose about $50M. Placing Moose early has to be a big priority. Obviously, Harper doesn’t give 2 shits about Moose’s situation. But if Bryce does decide to come to the White Sox, Boras May lean on the Sox to add Moustakis at about 3/40. It wouldn’t surprise me.

Thanks for clearing that up. I had thought Preller orchestrated the whole thing.

I don’t think Shields was injured, but Preller did manufacture fake discord with Shields as a pretext to getting rid of him. Preller should be banned from baseball.

On the podcast tonight Hahn seemed to back off on the “in on everyone” talk. He said the team isn’t looking for stop-gap measures and is keeping the long term approach. This doesn’t rule out premium long term deals ( think Harper, Machado). It might rule out types like Adam Jones, Markakis, etc.

I’d say Clint Frazier is a much better prospect than Zach. Ellsbury has to be better than Engel. Decent outfield for now, Eloy-Ellsbury-Clint. Only $20M/yr for the whole group.

Ellsbury and Clint Frazier for Zach Collins. Sign Grandal.

1.1 in bWAR for Colome. 2019 Arb est. $7.5M. Omar 1.9 bWAR 2018.

Shouldn’t us, the customers, have a place at the table. Let the owners and players make less and mandate lower ticket prices. The sport is losing young fans because it’s too expensive to go to a game.

I’d say Harper is worth $300M in baseball value and another $100M in star power value. Just having him signed up would boost tv and attendance by at least 10% ( $20M per year) Manny doesn’t have that kind of star power Harper might take $50M x 4, $35M x 6 4 yr opt out = $410M. I don’t think the Sox will be outbid except maybe the Cardinals Sox have a better future than the Phils Most others won’t pony up Sleeping giant here on the South Side Chances I’ll put at 25%

Harper and Bryant have the same agent, Boras. Bryant will be a free agent in 3 years, so the Cubs would have to give Harper a 3 year opt out so that he can follow his buddy somewhere.

Ha. Thanks for the Kapman link. A few minutes over there made my day. They’re still talking about Heyward’s World Series speech. That’s the biggest yarn ever perpetrated on the baseball public. Why didn’t he pull that speech out for game 163?

Moncada has some attributes that would make him a great 3rd baseman. His strong side-arm throw and super quick transfer from glove to hand would make him exceptional on slow choppers, just like he is at 2nd. Solid range and quickness can allow Timmy to cheat a step or two toward second base. The problem I see is Yoan seems a little baseball shy. He likes to field balls off to the side instead of getting in front of them. Same thing taking throws from the catcher. I don’t recall him taking a smash off his chest or even diving much , not a good attitude for 3rd base. At the plate he wears so much armor I don’t know how he can even swing the bat. And that’s with 1 hbp in 650 plate appearances. He stands too far from the plate. ( Rizzo gets 30 hbp wearing no protection). I’m not bashing the kid, just saying I’ve noticed this. I don’t think he’s ‘gritty ‘ enough to play 3rd.

Las Vegas has some odds on who will sign Machado/ Harper. The top 10 were listed and the Sox weren’t on either list. Texas/Giants were 10th at 5% chance for either. Probably less than 1% chance either one comes here. I hope some team grabs them soon so we can move on.

The mega-rich teams in baseball have plenty plenty of money to top off the talent on their clubs in free agency. But they’ve also scouted and drafted major stars. Can the Sox afford the best scouts and development people in the industry? Surely just the tax money on Luis Robert’s signing would allow them to lure the best people from LA, NY STL. Where’s our Severino, Judge, Andujar, Bellinger, Buehler, Betts, Benentendi, etc. ? It’s depressing.

Actually it’s the person with ADD that gets the paradoxical calming effect from the Aderall. For non-ADD people it is a stimulant.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Eloy was the long-term solution at 1st.

I heard pitching analyst Eno Sarris on a podcast this year observe that Reynaldo Lopez has frequent lapses of focus and could have ADD. He said Adderal treatment has helped many players. There are currently over 100 exemptions to players for ADD.

If the Sox do offer Abreu a QO next year, he would be smart to accept it. Not much of a market for an aging 2 WAR corner infielder with compensation attached. ( See Moustakas, Mike).

Neither Avi or Abreu will probably get a Qualifying Offer ($18M) next year from the Sox. So no draft compensation. But the team has to have some protection in the line-up for Eloy, and they’ll need Jose for that at least.

I’d like to know if there is a scouting grade on Vaughn’s glove. Like in the pros a good bat can help you get a gold glove. I think Jake Burger was Defensive Player of the Year in the MVC.

Jason Benetti is doing the Cubs game today on espn radio.

Whoever the Sox sign I hope it doesn’t include a no-trade condition. Look at the way the Marlins got boxed in with Stanton. Then again, they did get Starlin Castro out of it.

If the Sox take a catcher at #3, we get a 1st baseman in the deal, Collins.

Haha. It appears the cancelled Marlins game may have cost the Tigers a spot.

Bonus item....... Sox now own the tiebreaker with Detroit and Miami next year. We’ll probably need it.