Balta1701

Maldonado, Dejong, Lopez, and RF_x are going to be in their everyday lineup most of the year. If anything, they've actually downgraded on power and OBP this year from the worst OBP team in baseball last year. There's just no way they are a top 10 offense set up like this, 99th percentile or not. Who is actually going to score runs?

What are the odds that he stays fully healthy as a reliever and gives them 60 outings this year to build some trade value as a reliever? If the chances of him getting hurt while trying to stretch out as a starter are 33%, and the chances of him getting hurt as a reliever are 25%, just to put example numbers on it - having success as a starter would make him way more valuable in a trade next year than if he was a reliever only. So maybe you raise the chances of injury a little bit, but you create a potential strong reward, and Crochet is totally cool with it since a successful starter might make $100 million+ and a successful reliever might make $20 million. And, if he does get hurt again as a starter, you still have 2 more years where you can move him back to the bullpen if it doesn't work. This is just a smart risk. It should have been the goal last year, to start stretching him out, but Rick Hahn was terrible.

Who cares if they don't turn out well? If most are a fiasco, it's fine, we clear out Moncada's and Eloy's contracts, no long term commitments, and there's space for Montgomery to step in next year. At least that's a starting point where we haven't made things worse. If one or two guys turn out decent, then hopefully we've manufactured a guy or two who can be traded at the deadline, that's literally all that really matters here. For Crochet, decent chance they've screwed him up so much that it won't matter either way, but if he's off to a good start as a starter in 2025 that could have some real trade value. So, try to get him over 100 innings this year, see how he does, there's not a big loss if he doesn't work out like this. Since 2024 is a lost year anyway, if he puts up an ERA of 6 in his last 30 innings, who cares as long as he doesn't get hurt?

that's the job of the other Royal they just signed.

This is 100% the right idea. He's already arb-eligible, so only 3 years of control remaining. The best you're going to get from him if you don't try this is a reliever for a couple years. If he hurts himself doing this - oh darn you lost the trade return for an oft-injured reliever in 2025? Not a big loss.

Paul DeJong was a -0.5 rWAR SS last year and 0.3 fWAR. That's not convincing that he'd be positive next year.

Rick Hahn:

So, Ortiz = Yolmer?

I did not realize he had a player option, so excellent catch on that.

And there has been some forgiveness. He is able to get broadcasting gigs, including in the Cincinnati area. I have no problem with that, although if I were in the Cincinnati area I probably would chose not to subscribe to that service based on him being employed there. This is fundamentally different from being entitled to a big league broadcasting job and a 7 figure salary.

Who are you counting as busts? I went back to Manning's draft and found 3 clear busts: Tim Couch, David Carr, Jamarcus Russell (and frankly I always believed that Carr was a bust because of his situation). There's several iffy guys: Sam Bradford, Jamies Winston, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Trevor Lawrence, but many of them have had long careers and are at least decent QBs. I have to include either Alex Smith, Jared Goff, or Bryce Young to get to 9.

Please note that it was described that Thom Brennaman would "Never be able to get a job again". These would be jobs that he has gotten. If smaller businesses wish to hire him as an experienced broadcaster, that is their choice. I doubt that Chatterbox Sports, broadcasting high school games in Cincinnati, represents a billion dollar business.

I don't see a salary for Haniger in '26, but B-R does show that his 2025 salary of $15.5 million is a team option, which SF has now dumped as well. Altogether then, they're taking on Ray at $35 million for the next 2 years.

He can absolutely get a job, just not as a big league baseball team's broadcaster. There are 30 of those jobs available. They are the most prominent public representatives of the team. The White Sox just let a guy go because the owner didn't like how he chewed. There are far more than 30 qualified broadcasters in the world. He is not entitled to one just because that was what he did previously. You are totally allowed, as a public facing business, to evaluate a guy who has made this level of mistake and hold that against him when evaluating him. There are hundreds of professional people coming from broadcast schools with sports experience who do not have these kinds of public statements on their records. There are hundreds of former players who may have an interest at getting into broadcasting. Find one.

If that's why they made the move - this is exactly what I was saying the Bears can't do with Eberflus next year. You can't draft a QB and then fire the coach if he still can't beat the Packers next year.

And it would be inappropriate for a broadcaster to make one of those jokes as well. And totally appropriate to have him lose his job and no longer work in the industry if he chose to do so on air.

Mike Vrabel out in Tennessee. I'm generally surprised by that one.

The other team that should absolutely be in on Fields is Pittsburgh.

With the QB market as it looks to me I absolutely think the Bears should be able to get a 2nd rounder for Fields (possibly a future 2nd?) and I do think Justin Fields is likely starting on opening day next year barring injury. A first seems like a stretch to me given his contract timing, but maybe a 2nd and a player could be a possible thing? Maybe a conditional first in '25?

No, specifically 2024. If Eberflus is retained, this is a potential problem - you draft a #1 QB, that QB struggles a tiny bit and has like 15 INTs or something totally reasonable for a first year QB, but that's enough to keep you at 7 wins, out of the playoffs, and maybe even slightly worse than this year. Do you fire Eberflus at that time for not making the playoffs in 2024? I think this is something you should be confident about at the time you make the QB and draft pick decision. If you retain Eberflus and draft the QB, you need to know that the team's record isn't the only thing you're evaluating him for in 2024 and be confident in how to move forward even if fans are angry at the end of the year if you miss the playoffs again. By 2025, you absolutely expect your second year QB drafted #1 to be taking major steps forward and if that isn't happening then you will be making changes with the coaching staff. Not even a question at that point.

That's literally what I said, that a young QB might make it impossible for them to make the playoffs even if they've done everything else right, then you said "No they should be on a good path to make the playoffs happen".

And if their #1 pick QB struggles as a rookie it's fine, bench him? Or are you playing Fields for the year and leaving him on the bench that way?

I would very much expect the Bears to keep this up in the air through April, because of the game I played last night. It is entirely possible that some team in this draft could decide to do something stupid and give up a Herschel Walker package (8 draft picks, 3 firsts/3 seconds, a couple players) for Williams. The Browns, for example, gave up 3 first round picks for DeShaun Watson while he was suspended and then signed him to a fully guaranteed deal. In a league where a team will do that for Watson, what might they do for a QB with a rookie contract? While it isn't guaranteed that a team will do this, there is no reason to commit to what they're doing this year until they have everyone's "last ditch, post-free-agency" trade offers available.

So their QB struggles but you still think they should be able to make the playoffs because otherwise the same people are there? Naw.

This is going to be the case whether they keep Eberflus or go with someone else - Regardless of the team around them, it is common for a rookie QB to have some bad games, even a bad season, then take a step forward in year 2. If the Bears draft Williams, the standard for success and for evaluating the coaching staff in 2024 can't be "did they make the playoffs". They could very well do everything right next year, be on a path to a #1 seed in 2025, and drop to 5 or 6 wins with two losses to the Packers next year if their QB has some growing pains or gets hurt for a part of the year.