Chisoxfn

I am not surprised - but I still think Derozan is a black hole on offense and I think part of why Lonzo was so important was him having the ball and swinging it meant the rest of the Lavine and Derozan were involved. I don’t blame either but it is clear Derozan and Lavine together don’t work unless coaching and them agree on making a change.

The only way McCann makes sense is as a salary dump / shifting of bad contracts where you feel a change of scenery helps. McCann as a major piece in any deal is non-sensical. He has negative value (just as Grandal & Leury have negative value and probably Joe Kelly too) for that matter). Now if it was McCann and Escobar for Leury and Grandal - I suppose that is cost neutral for Sox, that said - I don't quite know why Mets do it, unless they are just betting more on Grandal (or there is something I'm not aware of tax wise that this seemingly equal contract swap somehow helps them). With that said - the Mets have a young catcher who could be an attractive get in a package. Note: I realize Leury for McCann is a move that the Mets would make all day long (plus a prospect) - but if the Sox were willing to take on that kind of money, why not just sign a Conforto or someone else to a 1 yr deal with club option or something else (I get it isn't a complete wash) but that is a significantly better move than any view that involves McCann adding to payroll (and I haven't figured out a view where you get McCann in a neutral way that makes sense from a Mets perspective).

And yet avi in CF is nowhere close to the equivalent of Sheets or Vaughn. Heck - Rob Mackowiak in CF was not even bottom 3 of horrendous defensive decisions this regime has made. They regularly show an utter disregard for defense.

It is I think important to understand whether his 2022 was him breaking down and we'll see more detioriation or is there more left in there. I won't pretend to know the answer, but he was pretty darn consistent (in a good way) offensively from 2019-2021 and than just fell of a cliff in '22.

This would be an upgrade and create better overall depth.

With AD going down on the Lakers (but showing he's been back to MVP type form) - I feel like now is a good time to move one of DDR / Lavine to the Lakers. Get Westbrook and picks back and start the refresh. If there is someone young on the Lakers they want - fine by me. But lets start making changes. Than just play the young guys and maybe even look for some buy low candidates (ala how others got benefited on Bulls selling low on Lauri/Carter Jr). Not sure if there are any - but this needs to be a get as many assets and future picks as you can. I'm not saying build through the draft - but I am saying hit a hard reset and start over. Than you have those picks to use via draft or to acquire or whatever. And hope and pray that with all that extra opportunity Williams, Ayo, White - one if not two actually show some signs of being productive NBA players.

Exactly - Lonzo probably isn’t coming back and if he is it isn’t the Lonzo of old. How Lonzo made everything that much better I don’t know but I do know they need to blow this up and hope the lottery balls work there way and start over.

If Sox are taking on Escobar and Mcann I would think they are giving up Grandal or something….otherwise can’t imagine they are just taking on that much payroll just to dump Leury.

Swanson is a solid move.

Would the Mets trade Fransisco Alvarez? Not sure his glove is very good. But with Benitendi signed and knowing they were looking at Murphy I am curious whether 2B or C is next move we see.

Yeah - I would like them to follow this up by making a nice trade for a cost controlled guy that fills a need. Lowe, Ketel Marte, Chisholm…go back and give up some prospects and make one more big move. I will caveat risk with any of them given the cost. Or JR could just spend a bit more - give Segura a 1yr deal and use the minor league chips for something else / hold on reserve for deadline. Not saying Segura is super splashy either. But he is solid and adds versatility.

You are right - I am assuming Robert and Anderson are more like where they were than last year. Robert is hard cause he went from straight up elite to below avg almost instantly which was hard to understand (and the minors seemed to imply well above avg). Now maybe his horrible injury two years ago was why - or maybe it was the vision issues and nagging injuries. Moncada is good, TA is solid, Robert gets back to above avg, corners are solid…that is all much better than what they got. To your point maybe that doesn’t happen. We will see what they do at 2B and I guess I am just thinking 1B isn’t that important and it wasn’t as if Abreu was elite there. Long story short - defense should be better and has a shot to be much better. I can’t see it be worse, but man it would really suck if Robert ended up a crap defender after flashing gold glove stuff early in his career.

At the very least - DDR and Vuc have to go. I would do those two in seperate trades (get firsts or young players) and than trade Lavine for Westbrook and picks. I would also likely deal Caruso but don’t care either way. Play White and Williams a s%*# ton and hope one or both somehow shock us. Ayo too. Hope lottery balls go in our favor for once.

The Bulls have to blow this all up soon right?

I’m assuming he heads back and is more like the Pollock of 2 years ago than last year. Also I expect he will see a more reduced workload next year which might help him too.

One thing I will say - and I will caveat I'm in the camp that I would rather let Colas force his way onto the roster than just start with him - but when he is playing OF - the combo of him, Robert, and Beintendi is going to have plus plus range. When you factor in to what Eloy/Vaughn/Sheets did in the corners and holy cripes - we are talking about such a massive improvement for the pitching staff (maybe I'm overselling this - but I don't think I am - when you have the 2 of the 5 worst defensive outfielders in baseball logging a lot of time in both corners AT THE SAME TIME - that is just such a massive disservice to the pitching staff). The fact Eloy was like a gold glover compared to Vaughn & Sheets tells you everything you need.

One thing about Kelly - for someone who has as electric of stuff - he really seems to have a hard time putting batters away (or at least he did last year). A lot of times I can remember him getting ahead of a hitter 0-2 and 1-2 and next thing you know he'd walk the guy or give up a hit.

Again - this would be a marginal move I could support (presuming price is cheap). Another lefty bat and some defensive versatility (especially knowing we have a smorgous board of first baseman). Not sure what his splits are (i.e., if you platoon him does that help make him better).

I don't get overly fixated - I just fundmentally don't believe the 2 are equal. I just don't. No one will convince me otherwise but I understand people that will hang up and point to the one stat and say see - they are the same. I go back to - good hitters will deliver more often against good pitching than bad 3 outcome players do against good pitching. Not to mention - tight playoff games, etc - when you need a run, I want the guy up there who can swing and hit for a better average than the 3 outcome guy. That isn't to say I want Juan Pierre over someone who hits .250 with 35HR and a .340 OBP though. That is ludicrious. But someone who is basically a sub .200 hitter. Him getting a hit is basically dumb luck at that point. Yes - it might go far, but those guys just aren't valuable players and are complete black holes for significant stretches.

If they somehow acquired Lowe with prospects - I'd be pretty happy (quite honestly).

This sums it up well. The only difference I would go on to say is - I didn't expect fine (but I am sure the Sox have a new surprise and they are going to dump 35M in payroll in another day and create 4 new holes haha).

I go back to - and he did just sign with the Sox - so he clearly will just break. But he's 28, signed through age 33 ish - and pretty much his entire career he has been a solid baseball player. He has also had some well above average seasons at the plate - and was once an extremely highly touted prospect. This seems like just an all around solid move and clearly addresses a major void (garbage outfield range/defense), poor baserunning (Benitendi is a solid / fast baserunner), and getting a left handed bat (who is a solid hitter).

What - Gallo is straight trash. Such a flawed player. You can tell me its okay his power will bounce back but Andrew is coming off multiple solid seasons and is just a good / solid all around player. Is he a superstar, no, but he's a good player, a quality hitter, a good baserunner, has speed, etc. He's just a flat out solid all around ball player. So much better than what the Twins did.

No clue on money but I like this. Makes the team better.

Go find my post saying that