Snopek

I imagine this bodes well for Rodon. Not the same situation, but similar high risk/high reward.

I know I'm in the minority, but I enjoy the rumors. It's a stupid, fun and harmless way to break up the offseason monotony. And no, I don't care how credible someone is or isn't. It's Twitter. Who has the energy to keep up with that?

As the saying goes, "One man's trash is another man's trash we're all bad at this let's suffer together."

Your plan sucks

Would y’all be happy with this offseason? 1) RF: Conforto 2) 2B: Escobar 3) Backup catcher: Manny Piña 4) SP: Alex Wood (incentive based contract for IP) 5) RP: Resign Tepera And for those of you that have a better feel for budget and contract expectations, is this even in the ballpark of being realistic? Would these moves require offloading most of Kimbrel and/or Keuchel’s contracts? I think it’s hard to effectively fill all holes in an offseason, so there are definite flaws here (SP and RP depth).

Hey, you did it. I appreciate it. Interesting paths here, but I'm still having trouble drawing too many conclusions about expected performance for these 4, at least in a definitive manner. Which goes back to the Cesar thing: I'm not necessarily surprised that he regressed (and if he is indeed in career decline, it wouldn't shock me), but I disagree that it was obvious and the Sox should have seen it coming. IMO there are too many variables to identify some trends so definitively. For the record, being okay with the Cesar addition (at the time), does not mean I was okay with not adding a RF. They could have done both. And with that, I think I've filled my quota for Cesar Hernandez talk for the next few years. Back on topic, Michael Conforto is a great fit for the Sox and also his mom is a three-time Olympic medalist in synchronized swimming.

Well no cuz you haven’t done your fun/mildly condescending “back of the baseball card” breakdown for those guys yet. That’s what I was waiting for, so that I can understand what the difference is.

I generally agree with this, but my assumption is that those types of veterans might prefer to play for a more obvious contender at this point in their careers. I’m not exactly jumping up and down with excitement if I’m a Tigers fan, but I think it’s a decent move. Plus, they’ve shown the willingness to spend when they consider their window to be open.

This actually feels like a pretty separate discussion from your specific comments about Cesar's clear and obvious regression. I'm still wondering why Cesar was an absolute lock to fail and Atlanta's pickups were not a lock to fail, despite having worse profiles?

I don't get the point of posts like this.

I think the A's and Reds targets are fairly obvious, but I'm curious who is considered most available on the Marlins. No doubt they have a surplus of young pitching, but I'd assume a team like the Sox is looking for someone with a bit of a track record. So that's Alcantara, but it'd be wild if he was traded. Pablo Lopez would be fun. Elieser Hernandez feels like someone that doesn't move the needle enough for a contender. After that, it's a bunch of talented but unproven dudes.

It’d be neat if being a GM was as easy as you make it seem.

Every offseason usually does not include being in a title contention window and JR’s handpicked manager/friend having a say in roster construction. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as cynical as the next fan, but this is sort of uncharted territory. We don’t know for certain how things will shake out.

Is this what the kids refer to as straw man? Holy exaggeration.

But I'm not even talking about what kind of contract he ends up getting. I'm just going off of this quote from Hahn that another poster shared: "We know we won't have him back for 1 at 18." I interpret that as he knew Rodon accepting the QO was not going to happen. Maybe that's a misinterpretation on my part? Because otherwise, why wouldn't you just offer the QO as a formality and let him decline it? That way, you either 1) Work out some other deal with Rodon. Cool. Or 2) He signs with another team and you get the compensatory pick as a result. I feel like I'm missing something and/or misinterpreting that quote, because this seems way too obvious of a move. And I'm not one of those armchair GM types, I'd be an absolutely atrocious GM.

That was waaaay not my intention. I meant more of the lawyerspeak/word salad thing. Rick is good at it, as he should be.

Against my better judgement, I'm going to hold a magnifying glass up to a Rick Hahn quote: If you knew you he wasn't going to accept the QO, why wouldn't you still offer it so you can get the compensatory pick?

Ha, in that case I am pleased with my usage of this forum.

Yeah, the "if good thing happens, team will be fine" type statements always feel too much like crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. No reason for a team that considers itself a title contender to go into next season hanging hopes on a Keuchel bounce back. It could happen, sure, but getting anything more than they got from him this past season should be considered a bonus.

To each their own, but I'm not putting too much stock into a quote from a lawyer.

If so, I've done a really poor job exploiting him for his fame.

He should be able to do both if Keuchel lets him borrow his golden mitt.

It's pretty obvious to me that they're gonna have Kimbrel fill Rodon's spot in the rotation.

I've seen more posts complaining about the complaining than I've seen posts that are actually complaining.

Oh yeah, for sure. I thought you were talking only about actual performance, as in his effectiveness in the starts he did make was a fluke. Because I see no reason why he can't pitch as effectively next year as he did this year. But yeah, when factoring in durability/reliability/availability, the odds of a repeat season are clearly lowered.