hogan873

Easy to get outbid when you don't bid at all.

What teams could actually be players for Kimbrel? Sounds like Philly is out. I've seen some speculation, but I don't know what is more or less realistic.

Very, and he heard about it in the comments to his tweet.

I imagine this week could be pretty busy. Still some big FA names out there (Bryant, Castellanos, Conforto, Freeman, Story, Rizzo, Correa, etc.). Interested teams would like to have their guys in camp sooner rather than later I'm sure. Still hope the Sox add that one impact bat. It's odd, I think, that we haven't heard much about Castellanos or Conforto since the lockout was lifted. Those are the two big bats I could see the Sox most likely being interested in. Maybe we'll find out more this week.

Heyman is saying the opposite, that the Twins plan on keeping Sanchez. Maybe no one, not even the Twins, know what's going on.

I agree. I like the signing. He is the type of guy that can pester other teams and give your team an advantage.

I still expect Kimbrel to be traded, but what if he isn't and he returns to even close to how he was with the Cubs last year. The Sox bullpen could win them a lot of games. Plus, adding another asshole to the staff is always a good move. With Kopech, Lynn, Kelly, and Hendriks, there's going to be a brawl at some point with some team.

I’m okay with this. Especially if it means a bigger signing is coming for RF.

Is the Rodon signing the first domino?

Sorry to see Rodon go, but good for him. I bet he does well in SF.

I mean, he can't seriously expect the fans to be like, "Okay, we're cool, too with the current roster." Huge hole in RF, smaller but still substantial hole at 2B, and a glaring need for another starter. Not to mention more bullpen help. I get it. He can't say, "We have deals in the works and expect the team to look differently soon." But enough with the "we're good as we are" bullshit.

The GMs are all nervous about being first. Playing the dare game with each other. "Go on, Smart Ass, do it." "I dare you to go first." "Well, I double dare you!" "I double DOG dare you!" "I triple DOG dare you!" A major breach of etiquette.

Isn't it refreshing to be talking about free agents and trades (and how the Sox will disappoint) vs. the lockout? Should be a very exciting weekend, starting today. Who makes the first move? What big free agent goes first? Who on Soxtalk will vow to never watch a Sox game again after Player X goes to Team Y instead of the Sox?

It's like when a guy goes after his buddy's ex-girlfriend. Has to wait an appropriate amount of time so it doesn't look like he was interested in her the whole time she was with his friend. "Nah, bro, we like just started talking a couple days after you guys split. She just wanted to talk. I didn't mean to fall for her, but it just happened. You mad, bub?

Don't worry, he'll tweet something to the contrary once the first trade is completed. "Team X strikes first! Hot Stove is afire, kids!"

GMs right now.

Dear lord, I can already hear him saying it. ?

Kimbrel traded for nothing exciting. Conforto signed. One more starting pitcher (Rodon?) Middle infielder

That's essentially 15 more job openings for some of the defensively-challenged heavy hitters out there.

Officially getting no work done tomorrow. I'm going to put "Busy - Monitoring MLB hot stove" on my Webex status all day.

So is the universal DH effective this year?

Hell yeah!

And watch the free agent and trade frenzy start. How many teams have deals in place, waiting to press the Go button?

The biggest gap on the financial side seems to be the non-arb pool. MLB's latest was $40M flat through 5 years while MLBPA's starts at $65M and rises to $85M. I anticipate several back and forths on this today, and we'll be waiting until the next imaginary deadline. This could be the one thing that keeps a deal from being made today. Unless they want to argue about something else we haven't heard about yet.

Nope, they're not sucking me back in and getting my hopes up. *constantly refreshes Twitter and Soxtalk*