bighurt574

We've still managed to scratch out a lot of runs but losing some of your best HR hitters for various stretches sure takes a toll. A lot of the replacements are getting some timely hits but they're not bashing the ball out of the park a ton.

For a guy who is supposed to be a future cornerstone, you have to let Vaughn keep getting AB's against righties. Platooning him isn't a long-term solution. If he's still struggling as we near the playoffs, then you do something for the short term.

did we bring in Buehrle for the occasion?

That was Ayo against Michigan State, and he was back in a week with a mask.

If Carlos can look half that good all year we're in great shape. And so is he, he's pitching for a lot of money, potentially.

Not sure he really needs it. If he's pitching decently it's a no brainer to pick up.

Yep. And someone could easily figure out the "present value" of those deferred payments. Using a quick calculator I found online using a 6% interest rate, it appears to be around $11M. So it's basically a $4M decision on whether the exercise the option.

So they're basically certain to pick up the 4th year option as long as his arm doesn't fall off. The only cost is whatever the time value of the money works out to be by paying up front instead of deferring it. I'm sure someone could run those numbers. Maybe $3-4M?

Attendance is weak in April anyway. Start on time and hopefully there's a critical mass of folks vaccinated by the summer.

I’d almost be tempted to reverse the order there.

While a trade seems unlikely, being “a game apart” in the division standings this year doesn’t mean much. With the expanded playoffs, both teams are pretty close to locks to make the playoffs anyway. Next year might be another story.

With so many guys testing positive it's nuts if the rest aren't isolated for a week or two.

In addition to giving out a few bad contracts, Theo bet on the wrong youngsters, it seems -- trading away Torres and Eloy while keeping Russell, Happ, Schwarber, etc.

Sort of crazy that Boston, his current team, is +2000.

The only way Kopech was in the 75-100 range is if you use the outdated pre-2016 rankings, a full season before the trade. By the time he was part of the Sale deal, Kopech had boosted his stock and was 32/10/36 on the pre-2017 (not 2018) rankings that came out shortly thereafter.

No, it wasn't. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=kopech000mic

Heading into the 2017 season, Kopech was #32 in BA, #16 in MLB Pipeline, and #36 in BP. And Moncada was one of the top prospects in baseball. Madrigal and to some extent Vaughn are also far more polarizing.

I guess anything is arguable, but no.

Part of the reason you just take the best player available in the draft is b/c of their trade value, so it's really one in the same. I guess folks can disagree about whether Vaughn was the best player available or just taken for positional need, but I tend to think both factors lined up pretty well for us there.

Maybe, maybe not. I don't think we were the only ones who would have taken him #3 in the draft. Find another org that valued him similarly and see if there's a match, if we're actually looking to make a major trade. Personally, I'd move Madrigal before Vaughn.

I haven't canvassed for options, but if Vaughn doesn't have significantly more trade value at the moment than Rutherford did when we acquired him (when the bloom had already come off a bit, after going later in the first round in the first place), we're in trouble.

Rankings aside, it sort of depends how the other org views Vaughn, doesn't it? Rutherford may have been highly ranked at the time of the Kahnle trade but he was also having a pretty underwhelming season at A ball.

It's not hard to see Collins as a piece of a trade package for a RFer. I have to think combining him with a Dunning or Stiever could net you someone pretty decent (while likely not Benintendi unless we take a bad contract back too).

I'm sure we asked but there was no way we were getting Devers as a third piece. That would have been a crazy package, at the time too, not even in hindsight.

Yep. This year's crop is about as good an opportunity as you're going to get with an ace or two on the market and a bunch of other interesting options.