Balta1701

So you expect them to sign another IF? Or Montgomery is up and Baldwin is the Backup IF with Rojas full time starter at either 2b or 3b? This one reminds me of the lack of anyone who could backup CF on Hahn’s 2023 Roster, where Grifol couldn’t give Robert a day off so he played in 89/92 games in the first half - with his injury history. The other way this could be super fun is if Baldwin is the only SS on the roster and has one of those minor injuries that shuts him down for 11 days but they don’t IL him - someone who hasn’t played or practiced SS in weeks is shifted there full time, and they surely have no idea why they’re giving up more hits.

71-29 at the half. That's something else.

THat's how it would go, but you also can't use him as the backup on a given day. That also means you better have someone on your roster who can cover all 4 infield positions, because any of those guys could get hurt - including shortstop. Someone, whether it's on of the RFs or the catcher, would need to be the primary backup 1b, and I'm not sure who the backup shortstop is. Most likely they'll "Kluge" it and pretend that they have a backup SS when they're talking about Sosa or Rojas, but neither of those is close to idea. The obvious result is trading Robert, but if that's not done, it sorta makes a mess of the infield.

So if Robert isn't traded, and this is a major league deal, The bench would look like: Taylor Backup Catcher RF Platoon (Whoever is not in lineup that day) Either they're going to go a pitcher short, or that would leave 2 backup outfielders and 1 backup infielder for any average given day.

So who is on waivers?

What's the status of the actual facilities? In Houston, there are clear articles saying "the publicly owned stadiums are not getting enough money put into them for maintenance and upkeep", which means they are passing the buck onto future politicians.

A temporary renewal while something is being constructed makes sense, but it doesn't make sense for new ownership to want to be wedded to that site. They're not going to get the same ridiculous sweetheart deal that Reinsdorf got if they do a long lease, it was a bad deal for the state last time. Furthermore, there's clearly been no opportunity whatsoever for development around the stadium site in the current area. For a modern ownership group, the ability to develop surrounding real estate is really important, that's where a lot of the money is.

Along the Cumberland river.

KC's cap situation is no where near in as much trouble as Buffalo's was last year.

So I have to quit my job and parade through the streets and you get to keep collecting your pay for positive posts about Getz? How is that a fair trade. Put your money where your mouth is, you should have offered to quit your job if he fails. You said I have to quit my job if he’s a success, you are a little let down if he’s a failure. Bold stance. Not remotely balanced. Exactly what someone would do if they don’t believe in the s%*# they’re shoveling. At least it’s blatant.

The Bummer trade had a fundamentally rotten philosophy, trying to bring in expensive, underperforming veterans, the Braves GM literally told Getz not to do it. The Cease deal was weak at the time and looks like garbage now. Thorpe was exposed at the big league level, Iriarte has control issues, Zavala seriously regressed, and we are in the thread on Wilson being put on waivers. The Fedde deal was weak at the time and Vargas looked worse by the day. No one even seems to have a position for him. I will count the Booser and Gilbert trades as controversial, I wouldn’t do them because I would rather have the 18 year olds. But I also know that if those guys fail, you’ll tell us next offseason how they were smart moves with the white Sox’s pitching gurus, because nothing can ever disprove that, including one of the worse bullpens we ever saw last year.

What will you do if Montgomery fails if I agree to that?

I’ll happily give him a mid-level grade this year. The trades for 32 year old relievers are bizarre and make no sense on paper, but he knows no one will fire anyone if those deals flop and no one will blame his pitching coaches. On paper the Crochet deal was a good one and that’s the important one. With payroll constraints, since Nov. 1 2024 he’s been all right, but we will see how the deals go. August 2023 through October 2024 he was an epic, unimaginable nightmare. 121 big league losses and basically every trade was a loss on paper at the time and looked worse later.

The Cease deal made a 121 loss team better. I’m just gonna leave this one here. You’re not paid well enough to shovel something that smells this bad.

Great; so you agree that if Colson Montgomery doesn’t become a strong major league regular then Chris Getz should be fired. You’ve finally given us a standard to evaluate him by that is something other than nonstop praise. I’m game for this, I totally agree. If Montgomery is a successful big leaguer this year it can buy Getz several more seasons. If he flops this year you agree Getz deserves fired immediately as he developed him. I agree let’s roll.

Can they??!!??? Please!!! I am totally ok with deals that make the team better. Did the Cease deal do that? If not, the GM will deserve to be fired right?

Colson Montgomery was drafted by Rick Hahn you know. So if he’s a success this year, you agree Getz Getz no credit right? All good work by Hahn. Or are you just refusing to give Getz blame for his failures? Just running the same logic. It’s almost as if I’m talking to someone on Getz’s payroll again. It’s hard to make someone understand something when their salary depends on them not understanding it.

And they thought Wilson was worth trading for as part of the Cease package. If Thorpe goes down for TJS and Zavala has another rotten year, the GM flopped on trading a strong pitcher for nothing. That is 100% how it looks now, and we will still hear about those pitching gurus and the scouting geniuses when it keeps going on.

Why do the Padres get no blame for getting Chris Getz to give them a playoff caliber pitcher for nothing? Is this a joke? Because their GM is smarter than failed GM Chris Getz and Chris Getz is a failure while their GM is getting good players from that failure and taking advantage of Getz being a failure. By the way, Getz Failed. Failed, sucked, stank, put together a 121 loss team that he thought he improved with field generals, and failed.

Sox Claim Brandon Eisert, Designate Steven Wilson.

But will they be fired if Thorpe fails? Or if, for example, Steven Wilson is traded for so that he can be a future trade piece and he flops will anyone blame them? Or will we be in a thread about a pitcher who was supposed to be a solid addition to the point he was a trade piece, having people ignore how badly that pitcher performed, and still complimenting the pitching coaches despite the obvious failure that they’re deliberately ignoring?

Then he needs to be a ground ball pitcher. Mark Buehrle not only averaged 9.7 walks per 44 innings rather than 21, his ground ball rate was 45% for his career. Mark Buehrle had a dominant 2 seam fastball that put the ball on the ground at a rate well above the rest of the league and ground balls are outs. Thorpe doesn’t throw a 2 seamer and had a below average 36% ground ball rate last year. Thats extra fly balls and numerous extra home runs each season, on top of the extra 2 walks per game. This is a way to get outs, and Thorpe’s problems are too many walks and no way to generate outs above average. Unless you filter down to only 5 starts and rely on randomness to make them look better. Thorpe adding a two seamer as major pitch would have been a smart move for his career but we didn’t see that.

And 21 walks. This doesn’t work.

Yes, the Mariners offense was bad. They had the #2 ERA in baseball for their pitching staff and defense and missed the playoffs. There is only one other part to the game other than not giving up runs, and that is scoring runs. Which they were bad at.

Well there’s the racist chant congrats America at least that team lost.