Vulture

In the five years immediately prior to Loaiza's breakout with the Sox he had a total of 5.5 WAR with an ERA over five, that's 1.1 per year compared to a guy who put up an average over 3 WAR with a 3.38 ERA. Then Lynn followed up a 7.8 war season with another strong albeit shortened season, whereas Loaiza followed his breakout with .9 WAR season. Loaiza had full seasons of 0.1, 0.4, and 0.6 WAR around that 3.7 WAR season and only one other season above 2, out of 8 seasons. If you think that's a reasonable comparison I'm not surprised honestly, but yeah pretty garbage comparison.

You can't seriously be comparing a guy who followed up a 3.38 era in 1000 inning with the cardinals with his performance since beginning of 2019 to Estaban Loiza. Not a fan of giving up long term control for a one year rental either, but no need to get absolutely ridiculous once again.

Damn that better be a low end prospect

Is that a guess? I sure hope so

No one's trading for Heyward by himself for anything let alone Dunning.

Are you sure about that? If the cubs covered a portion of Heyward's salary to bring it down to ten mil per, that would be 32, 29 and 28 million per for the next three years. Have to admit I have no idea what Pederson signs for, but if Bauer is looking at 30 million like some say id think it'd be closer to 40 million per, and you could get someone like Hendrik for close to the difference.

He was talking Darvish/Heyward and cash not just Heyward.

To me the lack of commitment in a walk year is actually the attractive part of acquiring Bryant, providing they are unloading him for secondary prospects. Sox can afford to take on an extra 20 million for one year compared to projected payroll in '22 and '23, Sox are at about a 20-25 million lower starting point in '21 than those years. Then give him a QO after he reverts to .900+ OPS form, let him walk, and reload in RF in '21. Reap the reward of a player motivated heading into FA and move on. Considering after Springer there is no one close to that potential production, may be better off finding a longer term solution next year anyway.

Speaking of Wood, how is his number not retired? His numbers are just insane. Two years in the top 15 in major league history for single season WAR, and the two best in Sox history, at 11.8 and 10.7(the year Allen won MVP with a 8.9 WAR), another at 7.8, a year at closer at 5.6, which is higher than any single season mark by Mariano Rivera. Allen "saved the franchise" with a 8.9 war MVP season which was in the middle of a three year stretch Wood averaged 10 WAR per season. Four twenty win seasons, 163 wins, 57 saves and 3.18 ERA with four dominant years at closer and four at starter. '68 season was inarguably the best season as a closer in Sox history, '71 the best season as a starter in Sox history. '71-74 at 35.5 war, most dominant stretch by any Sox player in history, '68-75 50.6.

Quintana looked really good the couple times I saw him pitch in '20. Granted, he only pitched something like 12 innings all year

I dont see how Arrieta is an apt comparison Arrieta, age 32-33 4.53 FIP 1.369 whip 3.2 bb/9 7.2 k/9 Lynn 3.43 FIP 1.173 whip 2.6 bb/9 10.3 k/9 Arrieta had a couple years that were absurd outliers from his previously putrid performance followed by a visibly sharp decline, while there is no hint of decline in Lynn's recent performance, which has for the most part been consistently good throughout his career. In his case, one mediocre season is the outlier. He just averaged more than 7 innings per start. Arrieta was struggling to get through five at age 33. There is nothing there that suggests he is on a similar arc to Arrieta. Their career totals may sum up to be similar, but their careers have been anything but.

Eye test was telling me Brantley was barely passable in left field, but statistics say he was actually pretty good in left. Don't think he's the best fit, but there shouldn't be much question about his bat imo. Dude can hit, no doubt in my mind about that. I just don't see how a guy who hasn't struck out 70 times since 2011 suddenly at age 34 becomes a candidate for Encarnacion/Dunn style drop off. People seem to forget Dunn was an out of shape slob who was crying about how being a designated hitter sucked immediately after signing to DH for the Sox and Encarnacion was always a low average high strikeout hitter, in which case any diminishment is inevitably going to result in total collapse of productivity. Sox rolled the dice and lost on a one year deal. Bid deal. Doesn't have anything to do with Brantley

Funny a guy who hits .300+ year in year out with one of the lowest strikeout rates in baseball is being compared to Dunn and LaRoche

TV revenue alone exceeds player payroll. Then you've 3 billion in annual merchandising sales. MLB "lost revenue" like a ten million dollar player player who ended up getting paid around four million lost six million. Forget he still got paid four million, he lost six million. Must be in the poor house.

You're beating your head against a wall man. Facts, consistency or logic don't apply in this case. Never have, never will. You could provide an absolute mathematical proof and it would be denied.

"But I say to you any who lust after a woman has already committed adultery in his heart." As far as the good Lord is concerned, you're already a cub fan whether you went all the way or not.

You may not have liked his stuff but from '13 to '16, Quintana was a top 20 starter in the game. If he wasn't at least a decent number two, there weren't very many decent number twos. Ranked 4th, 6th and 8th in WAR during those years. He's currently 23rd in active career ERA and 18th in FIP, and that includes his mediocre performance with the Cubs

It makes sense if they're planning on moving Bummer into the closer role. With eight man bullpens, three lefties in the bullpen isn't necessarily that bad of an idea either way. Fry as the top lefty set up man would be slightly questionable. Fry would become the expendable one out of those three if that were considered an excess.

Amazing. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers, it has been erased like a blackboard. The one constant through the years, putting on a cub uniform makes any one look like clownshoes

They must be planning on signing Bauer and Springer.

What good is pulling in a couple extra strikes when pitchers overall perform more poorly with him behind the plate. Framing, vastly overrated component of the catchers game, primarily because it is vastly more measurable than the others.

Are we still supposed to be waiting for the rest of the sentence?

What would a court of law think? Reckless discharge of gun that hits the ground vs. one that goes through a skull? DUI in which you are driving slowly enough to be stopped by a curb, or recklessly driving at 90 mph and killing someone? First is fines and classes, latter is decades in prison.

If the Sox sign Bauer at 35 per, the Sox will have close to 110 mil committed to seven players for '23, plus Giolito in year 3 arb, along with Kopech and Cease in arb. Over 120 million commited in '22, not including arb players. If Gio pitches close to how we hope, that could easily reach 30+ mil for those three by '23 and conceivably close to maybe 40+ if the other two approach their capabilities, so 140-150+ mil for ten players, not including any RF and RP acquisitions, and with Abreu and Keuchel needing replaced or resigned. Realistically, something like 160-170 committed minmum each of those years, without any other major acquisitions. Add in a couple relief pitchers and RF... If you're going with that kind of inflexibility, wouldn't it be more advisable to spread it around a little better? With relief, RF and SP being immediate needs, even if you're committing 50 mil per over the next three years there, you're at 175-185 mil in '22 and '23, with only 15 million per going to rf and pen. None to DH or LF, presuming Eloy is moved to DH upon Abreu's departure, or rotation additions, which hopefully won't be needed anyway, but you know it never works out that way. Odds are that's going to leave some major holes, particularly on the pitching staff. In sum, we'd have Bauer but we'd be skating on thin ice in RF and DH or LF, along with the bullpen and in the case of some unforeseen yet likely to arise need in the rotation. With a little more wiggle room in '21, sox could fill some of that on one year deals but then they'd have to be replaced with little room to manuever. Meanwhile, Sox could acquire significant upgrades at starter, RF and the bullpen for little more than 35 million. What if the Sox could sign Sugano at 15-17 million, Peterson/JBJ/Rosario at 9-10, and Hendriks at 10-11? Then use the other 15 million to sign someone like Quintana, a bench piece like Dahl and one of the derth of serviceable relievers then can probably be had at 1-2 million this year. If both Quintana and Bauer returned to '19 level of production you'd be getting essentially the equivalent Versus Bauer and 15-17 million to fill out right field and the bullpen with no bench or additional rotation arms. Maybe you could get Colome and Rosario, if youre lucky. That seems somewhat attractive for '21 but increasingly less so, compared to the other route imo, in '22 and '23 with increasing arb costs and holes that will need to be filled. Bauer, Colome and Rosario, or Sugano, Quintana, Pederson/JBj, Hendriks, Dahl and serviceable reliever, maybe someone like Wisler. I think I'd go with the latter. I imagine Sox are going to need seven starters to make 10+ starts in '21. That gives you Gio, Keuchel, Sugano, Quintana, Dunning, Kopech and Cease. With Crochet pushing Q out in '22 or '23, and Stiever, Thompson and Dahlquist when Keuchel is gone and if Dunning Kopech or Cease flop. Backed by a stacked pen headed up by Hendriks, Bummer and Heuer. Robert, Jimenez, Pederson/JBJ, Dahl and Engel pushed back to defensive sub role, would give a championship caliber depth, along with needed left handed bats, in the OF and DH, along with Vaughn Granted one could argue Sox should push payroll to 200 million and just as solidly cover the entire 26 man roster while adding Bauer. Not sure how realistic that is though.

That's actually far better than the general population, where its closer to 99% going to 1%. If that means mlb players are getting screwed over, the rest of us are getting a prison shower broom handle