35thstreetswarm

I'm good. We don't need a potential All-Star at every slot in the lineup. Let's address pitching.

That's a good way to shorten our window dramatically and increase the chance we'll see a "what went wrong" article about the Sox in a couple years.

Yes, agreed--if we must trade prospects for SP at all, which I hope we don't unless it's a bargain deal.

It is everything, really. So is that a list of the pitchers you'd like to see on the team most to least (regardless of expected cost in terms of prospect return), or a list factoring in what is in your head as the likely acquisition cost?

Yep

Just so we’re clear, the season we keep labeling “WC” was just a loss in a play-in game. Doesn’t really count for much. Averaging wins doesn’t really tell the whole story of their contention trajectory, either. They had three years of contention. 2018 they were an afterthought that looked dead the second half and it was no surprise they went out with a whimper in the play-in. By 2019 it was clear it was over. Not saying a WS and two NLCS isn’t impressive. But let’s not pretend the Cubs have been some kind of six-year juggernaut.

Thoughts of the Phillies keep me up at night, because they’re the reminder that none of this is guaranteed to work (a fact the author finds refreshing, but which scares the bejeezus out of me). The answer to “how did it happen” seems to be “dunno, it just kind of did”, which does not bring me much comfort.

If we MUST trade for pitching, which would be disappointing, I would wish for some package for Darvish that wouldn't include Kopech or Vaughn.

Yep. He has also sucked in the playoffs (but SSS). I hope the Sox sign him because I believe he's the only solid top to mid-rotation guy available as a free-agent, which is the only way we should be acquiring much-needed pitching right now. But I think some of the love for him is overblown, frankly. I don't think he's a top-5 guy, or that he deserves to be paid like one. He's also a douche. Ahhh, I'm so tortured!

No he sure isn't. He has one insane 7-WAR season and a handful of 1 WAR seasons. He had a 4.29 ERA in 2019. I get that he's young and cost-controlled and has huge upside, but so does Kopech, and I'm really nervous that one year from now we wouldn't trade Kopech for Snell straight up.

I don’t think there’s much to unlock. They’d just walk through the open door into the room full of treasure

Joc is perfect for us; really all we need on the offensive side. This team is so dynamic, and with so many realistic paths to improvement through internal development or smart personnel moves down the line. I'd love to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Crochet above Kopech already? Seems like similar profile but shorter track record (and obviously no injury...yet...which could be viewed as a negative). I'd have to think that would piss MK off. Hope he comes back strong and dominates this year.

Springer is a luxury with this lineup. If you want to preemptively cry about something at this bright moment in the team’s history, at least move it to the Bauer thread.

I don't think you'd find many Twins fans who wouldn't trade a bunch of gut-punch playoff losses to the Yankees for our one ring.

You know what they say, "don't fight the hypo." The poster cut it off at 2019 to make a rhetorical point about success sans championship being more satisfying than championship with fewer "successful" seasons overall. You might not like the way he set up the argument, but that's kind of a different point.

No, I suspect that's why he compared the Cubs run to the Dodgers through 2019, not 2020. The Dodgers didn't win a ring in that window.

I suspect the argument is that the cumulative joy of having been "in it" throughout multiple seasons adds up to more than the joy of winning it all one time. Don't agree, but that's it. Nobody would argue that, in a single season, it's more fun to lose early in the playoffs than win it all.

...but the question was backward-looking, not forward looking. The original post said, even in retrospect, he'd take the sustained success with no titles over sporadic success with a ring.

Apparently DH'd in 80 out of 130 games last season, his first after a major knee injury. Seems to raise defensive questions similar to the Castellanos's/Ozunas of the world.

No way for me - flags fly forever. I take no joy looking back on seasons where my team got close but lost. I can summon pure joy from memories of the 2005 title run now and for the rest of my life. Now if we're talking about approaches going forward, I totally agree that sustained success is the way to go, rather than cashing in all chips for a short window. But that's because I think it's the best way to maximize the chance for a ring.

Exactly. This is a Sale-like return. If I trade Vaughn AND Kopech (and I don't want to), PLUS MORE, I better be getting a DeGrom caliber pitcher in return.

I think the issue may be that it's f***ing crazy, with all due respect. I'm not worried about how big of a question mark Tampa thinks Kopech is. This would be a massive overpay.

Man, Sox Twitter is full of arguments this week in response to that graphic from MLBtv suggesting Vaughn + Kopech + Stiever (yes, that's our #1 hitting prospect, #1 pitching prospect, PLUS another MLB-ready arm) for Snell...with the majority seeming to like it! Makes me happy to spend my time here with you folks.

Well that's...good, I guess? But what about the tweet itself? Hoping it's about the coaching staff, but seems a little ominous.