Jake

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

Wait too long and you end up lacking leverage

I think Houser should have legitimate value. 1. He has a long track of competent pitching in the major leagues. Career 4.00 ERA. It's not like he's never been able to get people out before and suddenly figured it out. 2. The underlying metrics for Houser this season look rock solid even if not on the Cy Young level that his ERA suggests. His FIP is 3.29, xERA is 3.96. 3. The improvement in results relative to his recent past is explainable by an uptick in his stuff. Most obvious is that he's gained 2 mph on his fastball. His changeup and slider also have significantly different shapes than before. He's a different pitcher than 2024 rather than just 2024 + luck.

Okay, I'll settle for Marcelo Mayer rather than Roman Anthony then