Jake

I don't think LouBob would get a 5-year offer as a free agent but I also don't think he'd accept an offer with a team option attached so it's a little tricky to play out all the hypotheticals. My best guess is he'd take a contract in the 1 year, $10-15M range in the offseason if Sox didn't pick up his option. Michael Conforto got $17M for 1 year this offseason so it's possible I'm undershooting it.

Yeah I mean #1 doesn't make sense other than it is at least theoretically possible that a team's general manager is incompetent and blunders an obvious decision

If Houser isn't traded it would almost certainly mean either 1. Getz is delusional on asking price 2. There is some kind of undisclosed problem with Houser — injury, PEDs, misconduct, etc.

Definitely makes sense to evaluate whether the player is worth it or not, regardless of existing payroll obligations. That said, it's hardly an albatross contract. It's "do you want to pay this player $20M for one year with the option to keep him the next season at the same price." One year deals are never an albatross even if they can be a waste of money

It has been claimed that there is a lot of interest, but certainly not much in the way of concrete rumors

Yeah I won't be crying if the Sox have a player with the talent level of LouBob on the squad next year with a contract that has no negative impact on the team's future

I don't know how teams can or should factor this in, but LouBob's option decision is a little more complicated than most because it's still a decision that has to consider the next year as well. The upside of LouBob recreating his production from just two years ago is that you can have that below market value for two additional seasons (without being committed to the second one).

I don't think LouBob would have much interest in restructuring. He's made a ton of money already which gives him every reason to gamble on himself going forward

He did say during this broadcast that he's been in a situation in which he told ownership there was only about a 10% chance of contending in his estimation, thus he recommended selling, but ownership demanded going for it

I think this is a worthwhile consideration for both Tauchman and LouBob

Very surprised that all the Twins got back for Brock Stewart was James Outman

Houser has to go, but it's not exactly shocking that no relief pitcher has been traded. They're all bad and mostly rather short on talent. Few if any are pending FA. No urgency, no value. Grant Taylor obviously an exception on the value/talent part, but would be a weird time to trade him as well.

Return for Mullins seems quite light

The always-bad Luis Robert Jr.

Idle thought: seems that the Getz administration does not do much leaking

Yes (this isn't a comment on whether it would be right or wrong, which I haven't really thought about)

Get back to me when the butthole accounts start posting

I don't think there's any need to overanalyze the headline claim here. I'm sure they like Houser more than Civale. I like a Ferrari better than a Corolla. But I know which one I'm more likely to buy. This just tells us that the Red Sox don't like the price the Sox are setting for Houser.

The only thing that could happen at this deadline to make me think Getz is completely clueless is if Houser isn't moved. I'm not very comfortable holding on to LouBob but the potential upside of trading him seems so small that I can at least see the logic of holding on especially if ownership has signaled comfort with his option.

FWIW, Colson has never really had big lefty/righty splits.

I still have a hard time seeing the Sox pay him $20M next year unless he finishes the year completely on fire

Yeah tried to do a quick fix on that double negative

Mark Feinsand just reported on air on MLB Network that it's looking increasingly unlikely that LouBob is traded today

Didn't give up much there, although I'm not seeing much info on the talent level of the 16 year old pitcher. Gomez was an interesting-ish prospect before falling on his face in A-ball. Hitting pretty well in AA now and just 21 years old but probably not a ton of upside.

Remarkable deal for the A's, in my opinion. I get the logic for the Padres but I'd guess most of the league is wondering what the hell they are up to