striker

My argument was that he was pricing himself out of our reach. I don't think he is, because he is a part time player.

One of the smartest teams in baseball does not consider him a full time player.

This. The time to develop in the majors has passed. You do that when you don't care about winning. Now you push your chips in to put yourself in the best position to win every day. Too many good pitchers is a good problem to have.

I think the important differentiator between Stroman, Bauer and Gausman is price and what you can do with that other $. You might be able to get Bauer but not have enough to fill other holes. If you go with Gausman then maybe you can also afford Quintana or Walker, given you a lower end but deeper rotation. I prefer the depth approach over ceiling. Depth helps get you to the playoffs more than ceiling, just ask DeGrom.

Stroman will get close to Wheeler dollars, or at least he should. The only thing that would suppress that would be budget constraints from covid. Wheeler had 750ip and 12.5 WAR heading into free agency. Stroman has 849 IP and 15.8 WAR.

Bauer strikes out more and markets himself more, but from straight performance Storman and Gausman have performed more consistently and Stroman has actually out performed Bauer on a more consistent basis (FIP). I like Stroman more because he is a GB pitcher, career 58% vs 41% for Bauer. Gausman is the least popular one and one whose FIP is trending in the right direction. Gausman could result in similar performance as the other two but cost less, which shouldn't be but is a factor. Savant likes all three, but Stroman is best at weak contact, which to me is a more sustainable approach.

Stroman Gausman Bauer Gausman has been surprisingly comparable to the other two.

These three pitchers have similar career numbers and are talked about very differently. One hasn't really been considered as much as the other two. Age, IP, WAR 29, 849, 15.8 29, 985, 15.0 29, 1190, 19.9

Those were annual salaries not total salaries.

Give me JBJ ($8m), LeMahieu ($18m/3) and Gausman ($16m/3) and call it day. That gives us a great bat, a good LH bat, 180 innings and outfield/infield depth. This gets us to the trade deadline where we can plug any additional holes. SS Anderson 3B/DH/2B LeMahieu CA/1B/DH Grandal 1B/DH Abreu LF/DH Jimenez 3B/DH Moncada CF Robert RF/LF/CF JBJ 2B Madrigal SP Giolito SP Keuchel SP Gausman SP Dunning SP Cease/Kopech

You try filling out the roster first via free agency, then you fall back on trades. The only way you do trades first is if you get a can't miss long term piece. Why trade all those pieces to Boston when you can just sign JBJ and Q for the same net WAR but you keep your prospects.

Conforto is not going anywhere. He is the cornerstone of that team and they just landed a new billionaire owner. Yas is not going anywhere. He too is a cornerstone to that team and the Giants don't rebuild. Not sure if any of them are available, but I like Verdugo, Marsh or Stevenson via the trade route. Who knows what the Red Sox plan to do. Marsh is blocked by Upton/Trout/Adell. Angels and Nationals might both be interested in our pitching prospects. If the Red Sox go into sell mode, then maybe we could land Vazquez and use him like we did McCann at CA and DH. Free agents, I like JBJ and Profar. I could see Bauer happening since we have all of these inexpensive young guys.

If you go by baseballtradevalues.com, Hader + Woodruff would cost you Vaughn, Cease, Kopech and Madrigal. https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/trades/trade-26770/

I'd try and get a RF and SP in one deal. I'd be willing to include Kopech and or Madrigal in any of these deals. Verdugo + Eovaldi Lynn + Gallo Gray + Blackmon Bundy + Marsh

I wouldn't mind Happ. Try and get Frazier with him, that would fill two holes

Plus we are competing for those said arms, as other teams need pitching too

They have six starting pitchers. Degrom, Thor, Stroman, Matz, Wacha and Porcello

I think they are working on something big with one of the Red Sox, Rockies or Mets.

This move only makes sense if they still land with a ~$120m payroll. That would just mean more $ is now available to fill the other holes. I'm hoping Price, JDM and $

Taillon needs tjs

Frazier

Snell, Kiermier, and Meadows for Madrigal, Cease, Vaughn, Lopez, Collins and Engel

I hope Cishek is right and we land Gallen

This is what I'm thinking. Shorter commitment than Machado. You could move Moncada to RF or back to 2B and use Madrigal in a trade.