southsider2k5

Not to mention, why would McCann give up a year of free agency in that situation to sign an undermarket extension? James McCann will be a free agent. He will sign an impressive free agent deal to be a starting catcher and play 130 games somewhere else, because we can't offer that to him. Finally his numbers will regress to the norm once he isn't getting cherry picked to start for ideal match ups.

I really wonder with the changes in the international period, and the COVID situation, if one of those guys is going to be willing to undersign a deal up front for a chance to get into baseball quicker and maybe a wink agreement to move up the ladder faster.

And if you want to talk about something like contract negotiations or what not, there are PLENTY of people on staff for that. This is where Rick Hahn shines, and it sounds like he might have passed it off to Jeremy Haber too. We also have a load of lawyers, just like any organization does.

Not sure what part of a college education taught me how to evaluate baseball talent...

Some people are just to miserable too enjoy what is right in front of them.

Next lesson. Learn how a contract negotiation works

To add on to this. with 16 teams in the playoffs, and a 2 wins needed for a team to advance, I got on and explored the odds for the playoff teams to win it all. As of yesterday there were 6 of the 16 teams who were 25:1 or higher. I put money on all six. We saw a flukey regular season, and with an opening round best of 3, I see no reason why that won't continue over the next month. Call it a lottery ticket.

Of note on the Sox 2020 season. They would have made the playoffs this season, even with the 5 team recent historic playoff set up.

This will be his 6th start in 25 days. Plus four appearances as a PR. 1-SS 1-2B 4-3B

Really, just one.

And despite all of this, the Sox cut Fulmer, as have something like four other teams. It is almost as if the teams are looking at something past this season's WAR to decide how much a guy can help them.

At some point common sense about the relative ability levels of Ross Detwiler and Carlos Rodon has to come into play. No sane organization is going to banish the Carlos Rodon over a 9 era in two starts, and pretend that he is only going to be a 9 era pitcher going forward. This isn't OOTP. They need to look at how Rodon is throwing, how his stuff is progressing and then compare that to what you know you can expect from a mediocre journeyman in Ross Detwiler. Trying to compare them using JUST their stats from this season is laughable. If the team thinks they can get a vintage Rodon arm, or even something approaching it, you make the move to banish Detwiler every single time. The Sox are also the only ones who know how Rodon has looked while throwing in Schamburg and his other side work. They know what his velocities looked like, his movement, his health, and his stuff. Projecting his season stats into the ignorance of what he is actually doing is actual desperation.

"Wanted to", and actually believed are two very important distinctions here. I wanted the Sox to win 110, realistically I believed them to be a mid-80s level team, and having seen about 55 games so far, I honestly think that we would fall pretty close to that, maybe into the 86 or 87 range over 162 games. This team still needs to get starting pitching figured out to move to the higher level, as well as playing cleaner IQ baseball games. I do fully believe that if they figure out more starting depth, along with the baseball IQ part, the potential is there for a mid to high 90s type team a year or two down the road, but asking that of a team with still some decent holes in it is a big ask.

And for the record...

If I had to guess, Crochet starts 2020 in Winston Salem or Birmingham as a starter if there is a MiLB season next year. If not, he is in the Sox pen.

Carlos Rodon healthy is a MUCH better option than a healthy Detwiler or Cishek right now. Even a mostly healthy Rodon is a better option than those guys. Dragging 1980 into it for no good reason just shows it is about your feelings.

You can preach all you like, but Carlos Rodon was placed on the active roster and someone was designated for assignment to make room for him. It might hurt your feelings, but they didn't do that to NOT put him on the playoff roster, or to carry a dead roster spot. They would have never put him on the active roster if the plan was to not use him in the playoffs. Carlos Rodon WILL pitch in the playoffs.