Balta1701

QUOTE (KagakuOtoko @ Dec 21, 2016 -> 04:42 PM) Did anyone find out if he's actually tweeting or is it a staffer? Back during the campaign, all of the lunatic and white supremacist supporting tweets came from an Android while anything that was professional was coming from an iPhone. Basically he's got an Android and someone else on his staff has an iPhone.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Dec 21, 2016 -> 04:27 PM) I'd rather Nancy Reagan the Yankees offer since it will have to involve Torres and I don't want the stress of rooting for a cubs prospect because I still want them all to fail. Ugh. Please tell me this is an autocorrect fail?

QUOTE (Dunt @ Dec 21, 2016 -> 03:42 PM) No? But adding an ace in Q and cushioning the blow of losing Cutch/Meadows by acquiring Conforto makes sense to me. If the Pirates are willing to trade Meadows, then I would bet he's your Q centerpiece. If the Pirates aren't willing to trade Meadows, then I have to think that whatever they would get back for McCutchen would be a major piece of any deal to get Quintana, if they chose to move for Q (I do think they'd be less likely to make that move if they traded McCutchen, FWIW - they could put Meadows out there and hold on to see how their pitching staff develops).

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 21, 2016 -> 03:13 PM) Assuming Q gets traded, we'll only have one guy guaranteed a spot in our rotation in Rodon. Right now, the only near major league ready guys are Giolito, Lopez, & Fulmer. Once June comes along and if these guys prove they are ready, we'll make room for them. The next wave of guys (Kopech, Adams, Stephens) will be starting the year in AA and probably be ready for a shot at the big leagues until mid 2018 best case scenario. Even if the four guys I previously mentioned all stay healthy and are showing signs of becoming productive major league starters, which is unlikely IMO, we'd still have room for one of these AA arms to crack the rotation. And in the unlikely event we're overloaded with pitching, we can move some of these guys for a bat. I get what you're saying Balta, but I don't think our pitching depth in the upper minors is as overloaded as you think. I don't think it is overloaded yet...but I think it becomes overloaded if you add in one more MLB-ready guy right now.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 21, 2016 -> 03:26 PM) I agree with this. Between Rodon, Giolito, Lopez, Kopech, Fulmer, Hansen, Adams, & Stephens we have a lot of interesting arms, but only one of them is an established major league starter. While I would prefer to add some positional players, I'm not completely against getting another high upside arm in a Quintana deal. Ultimately with our blue chip assets we need to get back the most value possible regardless of position. I'm not against getting a high upside arm in a Quintana deal, but I am against getting one that would be MLB-ready in 2017 or 2018. While I agree you cannot have too much pitching, I believe that you can have too much pitching that arrives all at once. Having no role for one of these guys at the moment they were ready would be an extremely bad move - you'd be minimizing the utility of the talent you have, when the best way to rebuild is to maximize every asset you have. We're trying to develop these guys and that means we need to have slots open for them when they arrive. 5 young pitchers in the 2018 rotation is a good number. You give me a guy who will be in A-ball this year and I'm ok with that return, AA I'm much more questionable, AAA or big league ready and basically I would treat their value as being that of a reliever, because even if that pitcher doesn't wind up in the bullpen he'd push one of the guys we already acquired into the pen.

QUOTE (bighurt574 @ Dec 21, 2016 -> 01:18 PM) I'd target position prospects all things being equal, but if we really like some other pitcher, I don't see the issue. Besides failing and/or trades, it wouldn't be crazy if someone ended up in the bullpen too. Again yes someone could wind up in the bullpen...but you're not going to want to force someone there. That's the key here - you need playing time to see which guys will fail. If you traded Quintana for Taillon straight up, and that forced Kopech to the bullpen in 2018 because that's the only place where there are innings available, you traded Quintana to add a pitcher to your bullpen, which seems like a major failure. That knocks down the value of anyone who should be starting in the big leagues.

QUOTE (103 mph screwball @ Dec 21, 2016 -> 01:12 PM) I want position players as well. I don't think having a 6th young pitcher is unreasonable though. One of the 5 we have could regress or get injured. And if they don't, Rodon could be moved since he is a Boras client and will have more service time than the others. I want Meadows or no deal with Pirates. If the deal doesn't make the Pirates say ouch, it is not good enough. I would much rather keep Q and watch him pitch than settle for a lackluster return. Hell, don't forget we have Dunning down there already. It's not unreasonable to expect one of the 5 to fail, but I also don't think it's unreasonable to expect them all to need time in the bigs for that to shake out. I'll take a starter back, but they have to be 2+ years away or I'm going to undervalue them in my mind because we just flat out don't have room for them right now.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Dec 21, 2016 -> 01:04 PM) FWIW, Dan Szymborski just said he think Quintana should bring back Meadows AND Bell. I could see that being the heart of a Quintana trade and the value is fair...but Bell is such a good fit for the Pirates needs that I think they would work hard to get around that. That's why I looked down the list to Diaz + one of their other position players - add in a catcher and another piece somewhere and you make a deal that starts to look sensible for both sides.

QUOTE (2005thxfrthmmrs @ Dec 21, 2016 -> 01:56 PM) LOL. I'd be happy to get Meadows, Bell and Keller for Q. If we throw in Jones we get Glasnow? Sign me up! Honestly, I like Glasnow...but with what the White Sox have already done I'd be really iffy about taking back another front line starting pitcher. Even if Quintana is moved, like it or not there are only so many innings to go around with these guys. Rodon, Fulmer, Kopech, Lopez, and Giolito is a set of 5 guys who, by mid-2018 at the latest, are all going to be needing big league innings in the rotation to establish themselves and to either sink/swim. Add in the fact that we're already holding Shields and he needs innings also, and man we are close to not having enough innings for the guys we have. Yes that's a good problem to have because guys do fail, but you also still expect some guys to rise up from lower levels during that time period also. Basically, if you trade for Glasnow, I think it puts you in a position where you have to trade one of the other starters within a year, and I don't like being forced to trade young guys to create playing time. Being forced to trade one of those guys undermines the reason for trading them. Add in Glasnow and suddenly I start switching from "it's ok, we need pitching" to "stop acquiring pitchers!"

QUOTE (BrianAnderson @ Dec 21, 2016 -> 01:14 PM) Whereabouts in Houston are you living? Lived down there myself a stint. Have some suggestions if you need any. Myself, and this is just looking at the top 30 prospect list (something I've been doing a lot lately) I would rather do a deal with the Bucs or Astros than the Yanks or other teams being whispered about. If I'm the Sox? Meadows and Bell are looking real good. That Catching "prospect" is 26 which gives me some pause. He may be decent, but if you're that old generally you have figured it out by now. The Astros still have the pieces but are being stubborn. I like Reed and a few of their guys, but I for one would rather have hitting prospects rather than more pitching ... and as another poster said I think Meadows is really a Bregman in a way. Maybe a poor man's Bregman, but hard to tell this early in either career. I'm in College Station (Aggieland) and thus about 1.5 hour drive from downtown Houston. If I'm still here next September I get the Sox for a 3 game series at whatever Minute Maid park is called for now. I've said since Sale was traded that I can't fathom how the Astros would make the moves they made and go into this season with this rotation. They made strong, short term moves to upgrade their lineup. They won't give up Bregman fine...they have an all star laden infield, they have guys like Gurriel who could be moved to 1b, they absolutely need reliable starting pitching and they have the non-Bregman talent available to get it. On paper they're as good as the Rangers and Texas outperformed in 1 run games last year which you can't expect them to repeat, but on paper I'm looking at the Indians vs. Red Sox ALCS and thinking that series looks epic. The Astros have to change that dynamic.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Dec 21, 2016 -> 12:40 PM) So, Balta, I know you're second (first?) team is the Bucs. What do you see as a fair trade for both sides? I see you included Bell in your lineup above, so I assume you think he's not going to be part of the package. I would not say that my Second team was the Bucs, I just happened to live there for 2 years. I'm starting to get to know the Astros this year. If I were in their GMs shoes, I would headline it with Meadows. I don't think they'll get the return for McCutchen they need, if he had a recovery year he's great for that franchise anyway, and Bell and their young pitchers are a perfect fit for their current needs. Meadows, Elias Diaz (the White Sox need catching depth and the Pirates have Cervelli signed), and I don't know anything about Mitch Keller but him or Brault would make a strong top 3 package that the Pirates could part with, without doing any damage to their big league roster now or in the next 3 years.

QUOTE (flavum @ Dec 21, 2016 -> 12:26 PM) The whole point of trading McCutchen is to make room for Meadows soon. I just don't think he's in the conversation. The Pirates would move on to other possibilities. Until the Pirates actually trade McCutchen, Meadows is a trade option also. One of the problems with any setup I see here is that this is one of those "lots of moving parts" deals. Generally when I see things like "move 2 stars in a 3 way trade" I start thinking it isn't going to happen because it's so complex, everything needs to match and it rarely does. The Pirates might be willing to move Cutch, but teams might not pay MVP caliber prices for him coming off an inexplicably terrible season. If teams don't pay that price they might not move him. If they don't move him they don't have a space for Meadows. Just lots of things to work through by that franchise.

QUOTE (Buehrlesque @ Dec 21, 2016 -> 12:20 PM) Why are some people saying Meadows is unrealistic? The Red Sox just traded the top prospect in the game. The A's traded a top 15 guy for a year and a half of Jeff Samardzija. The Royals traded a top 10 guy for James Shields! Need we mention the Shelby Miller deal? If you want a top arm like Quintana, Meadows is not unrealistic at all. It would be silly for him NOT to be part of the package. Q for Meadows, Bell plus lower-level guys is where the conversation starts for me. The Pirates may put themselves in a position where they don't want to move Meadows and they probably have the ability to get it done without him, but they need to get a strong return for McCutchen to make that work. Bell is almost a better fit for their needs than Meadows, they have roles for all of their top prospects other than Meadows right now, but they aren't going to get him for nothing. Meadows cashed in for Quintana makes sense (probably more sense than Bell), McCutchen moved and Meadows/Marte taking his spot makes sense also, but the latter is obviosuly more complicated because whatever they get for Cutch would have to line up with what the White Sox would take for Q.

41 is a President who looks far better in hindsight. You may take that as an insult to 43 as much as you want, it was meant that way.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 21, 2016 -> 11:08 AM) This is the part I dont see. They are probably gonna be looking up at the Cubs and Cardinals for the foreseeable future. So, I gotta come in and defend the Pirates here. This is a team that won 98 games in 2015 and deserved to. If McCutchen is still able to put up all star numbers, this is a team with a number of strengths. In the OF, you've got 3 plus bats and at least 2 plus defenders - Marte is a borderline all star every year, McCutchen has won MVP awards, Polanco is 24, has gotten better every year, and had an above average bat last year. If his power develops as he ages he'll be an all star, so there's 3 borderline all stars and a guy who has been an MVP. That OF on paper is competitive for best in baseball. Their IF isn't filled with stars like their OF is, but Kang, Harrison, Freese, and Mercer are all 1-3 WAR players in a normal year. Decent defense, decent bats, fills in a fairly deep lineup when you have those 3 big OF bats. 1b has been a weak spot for them for years now, but Josh Bell pencils into that role nicely right now. Catcher - Cervelli again, not an all star, but a good strong catcher and handles a staff well. Their pitching rotation - Gerrit Cole is a legit number 1 starter, follow that by Taillon, Glasnow, and Kuhl and you have a young, strong, cheap starting rotation to pair with him. Bullpen has been a strength for years, and they've had an excellent record of both developing pitchers and of pulling out reclamation projects. What happened to them last year? Well first of all their pitching rotation got hurt and fell apart. Cole hit the DL, Liriano was terrible, that took a rotation that was near the top of the NL in 2015 down towards the bottom last year. They had to play a lot of rookies, the rookies have talent but you can only get so far with that young of a rotation. On top of that, McCutchen fell apart - that's the difference between being in the WC race and out of it right there, you don't replace an MVP who has a terrible year. With the young pitching they have, the only reason why that team can't be competitive with the Cubs and Cardinals again is if the same things happened this year. If McCutchen's career is really finished, then they're not competitive unless they trade him, and if Cole can't stay healthy then that does what Sale being hurt would have done to us - destroys them. That's a strong roster if a few things go well. Adding in Quintana could be a really good fit - if they're worried about injuries then add in the most reliable pitcher you can find into that #2 slot and you've made that rotation into as good of a rotation on paper as there is in that division, and if you could do it without subtracting Bell or anyone from the big league rotation by using Meadows as the key piece, then the baseball logic works. That doesn't guarantee they'll beat the Cubs, they need Cole to be healthy and McCutchen to be MVP caliber again to do that, but they would be a strong roster on paper and that's a good place to be. There are other ways to make that work if they got a full return for McCutchen also, so there's a good match on paper for that franchise.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 20, 2016 -> 02:39 PM) As of today, the Yankees are right at the estimated payroll luxury tax line for 2017. If they shuffled dollars around right way, they will be under it for this next season. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NY...-salaries.shtml It sure looks to me like they're a likely bet to still be over the 2017 tax, and honestly if they cared about the tax in 2017 they wouldn't have signed Chapman for that kind of money or especially added Holliday on a 1 year deal (when the hell did that happen?). I've thought that the Yankees would try to get out of the multi-year penalty before and they've still been willing to pay it so I'm hesitant to truly say this is what they'll do...but that $130 million committed in 2018 leaves them a huge amount of room underneath it then. They could add 2 major pieces next offseason and still have room under the tax level. If they're ever actually going to try to get out from the multiyear penalty, that's the year that they'll do it.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 20, 2016 -> 03:06 PM) Thanks, this is what I was going to write. Yanks clearly have Harper earmarked for 18 and as such want to get under "repeat offender" tax before then. Quintana allows them to be competitive while not raising money. If ever there was a case to take on salary, this would be it (Headley). There were compelling reasons why Q put teams like the Astros over the top, but the Yankees are a compelling team because of Qs contract. This is also largely what pinstripe alley argues. Ooh, taking on Headley to make this happen would be a very smart move if the Yankees were going to give up both top 50 guys in addition to the 4 pack. The White Sox take on payroll, it's worth a huge amount to the Yankees, they can go after Arrieta next summer more freely afterwards. I might even throw in our Frazier for them if that would help, he's a short term commit that doesn't push up their '18 payroll either.

QUOTE (FT35 @ Dec 20, 2016 -> 02:56 PM) Right...this may be the time to pounce to make sure they have him for 18...17 is just the "get acclimated" year. I could see that. Until proven otherwise, 2018 seems like the year the Yankees would like to be "under" the luxury tax level if they're ever going to do so. I'm not sure if they're serious about actually doing that, but even with Chapman under contract they have a bunch of space available next offseason without hitting that line. The motivation for going for Quintana now would be: Give team a chance in 2017 and 2018 Do so without adding a large payroll boost in 2018 where new payroll would still be hit by the tax penalty Do so without removing team's payroll flexibility in 2018 when they want to start playing the FA market but without crossing the tax line. They'd be doing this because they'd think they have a shot at the Wild Card in 2017, and I'm not sure they'd be wrong based on their 2016 experience. They'd be grabbing Quintana specifically because he could help them make a run at that without damaging what they need to do to make Harper affordable.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Dec 20, 2016 -> 01:30 PM) The front three of Boston's rotation is solid but after that, the fourth and fifth spots are very shaky. Pomeranz and Rodriguez were not very good last year and both put up Danks type numbers. As for Dombrowski not pillaging the farm even more, I refer you to the Detroit Tigers. I think it's possible Boston could have interest though I am not counting on it. It would be a slick move by Dombrowski to make his team even better while cock-blocking the Yanks from improving their rotation. Win win for Boston. Oh well, it was just a thought. What happened to Steven Wright? The Knuckleballer? He put up an ERA in the 3s last year. Yeah he's not going to be my #1 starter, but Wright and Sale back to back sounds like literally the worst thing I can think of that you could do to an opposing lineup. As a #5 that seems pretty darn ok.

$13.5 million payroll drop, probably knocks them below the luxury tax penalty line at least for now.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 20, 2016 -> 08:57 AM) On the other hand, you might get stuck with guys like Rasmus, Alvarez or Carter (at $6-10 million) and not be able to unload them (or that they will be exposed to zero lineup protection if we trade Abreu, Frazier and Cabrera)...a number of posters have argued that we overpaid for Holland, but at least he and Miggy and Shields can help mentor the younger pitching prospects. The obvious problem is that (for now) we don't have enough position prospects who merit MLB playing time in 2017. Great. I have zero issue being stuck with a bad player making $10 million. We've had several each of the past few years. The difference here would be - if we're stuck with a bad player for $10 million it doesn't cost us a division title shot when we have to put them on the field. We're in a position where we have money available but just started accumulating decent talent. Anything that turns money into future talent is a potentially solid investment. If the Phillies wanted to give us a player to pay Ryan Howard's salary for a year, fine. If the Tigers wanted to give us a player to clear Anibal Sanchez, I'm listening.

QUOTE (Con te Giolito @ Dec 20, 2016 -> 10:55 AM) I made a pretty long post about why the Yankees interest in Quintana makes too much sense, I don't want to repeat myself. I doubt the first time Hahn and Cashman touched base on Q was yesterday, so the timing of that report from Morosi is interesting. You could have included a link to the post, I tried to find it and couldn't.

QUOTE (NCsoxfan @ Dec 19, 2016 -> 12:08 AM) With good returns for both Sale and Eaton, I'm not expecting Hahn to force the issue with Q who has longer control and less injury risk (in theory). Market could change a lot by July with other suitors (not to mention new prospects emerge). No way Hahn capitulates and takes a low ball Houston offer. Patience. I still cannot believe that Houston would do everything else they've done this offseason, watch Boston get Sale, and then say "we've done enough" when a pitcher like Quintana is sitting there waiting for them and their rotation is that questionable.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Dec 18, 2016 -> 07:03 PM) Cespedes watch 2015? Cespedes watch 2015? 383,271 views on that thread. Interestingly ended right next to the LaRoche thread, which on its own has 121,333.

This was the best round of football this season.