caulfield12

1922 Since 1922, Major League Baseball (MLB) has been exempt from antitrust law. While other professional sport leagues have a few antitrust exemptions, none of them are exempt to the degree that professional baseball is. It was actually challenged in 1953 and then again in the last 2-3 years, to little avail.

Devenski? Chris "Ranger" Rongey?

The odds of Lynn at his age repeating a 2.7ish ERA season are quite low, just like we saw with Keuchel last season. To replace Giolito's value, you're going to have to spend the equivalent of a Wheeler contract in FA to replace him...and the FA market for next season is pretty abysmal. Not to mention the fact that adding on even more salary for a "star" FA pitcher is going to leave the payroll tied up for the next 3-5 seasons, meaning you HAVE to be right. The Cubs were in a similar position when they added Darvish and Chatwood to get them over the top. That completely backfired, although Darvish eventually recovered (along with Kimbrel) and returned trade value, those years with them were largely wasted/"lost" ones. When's the last time that a team in the heart of their competitive window (with a Top 5 MLB payroll, not a small market club) traded one of their best pitchers one year before FA????? The Rays were trying to do it with Glasnow, but that's because he is expected to miss all or most of 2022 and a team acquiring him will try to do the same as the Padres with Garrett Richards where he rehabbed with them for most of one year...and bet on their being some type of synergy or chemistry.

I believe the majority of moderators defended that trade (at least in the beginning) because 1) it's not their nature, at least most of them, to be OVERTLY anti-Hahn and 2) the polarizing nature of Nick Madrigal as a player. There was at least a belief in the philosophy of creating a "super pen," if executed correctly, with the right pieces to fit together. Perry Minasian (Angels GM) was on the radio program pre-game this afternoon arguing essentially for the same plan Rick Hahn is attempting (or WAS) with their bullpen, and especially the fact that starters were averaging 5 1/3 IP in 2021 and it was expected to be under 5 the first half of this season. Of course, was Hahn "playing 4-D chess" knowing that the lockout would break the way it did, leading to an abbreviated spring training? If he was, and had 3 offers of ANY kind out there for Kimbrel, he should have taken the best one before the value of Kimbrel dropped even further or he got injured. (Arguably he's NOW worth more if he didn't pitch the entire season due to an injury and the Sox instead took the insurance payout, compared to having to recoup that money via another organization taking on his salary or partial salary in this case via the trade market.) https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/08/the-angels-need-more-than-just-new-pitchers-to-improve-their-pitching-staff.html https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33538122/los-angeles-angels-adding-archie-bradley-ryan-tepera-bullpen For example, they re-upped Raisel Iglesias, and signed Ryan Tepera and Archie Bradley, along with Aaron Loup...so a very similar offseason to the White Sox and also a Top 5-10 payroll team adopting a similar Hahn-ish philosophy. Bradley is eager to team up with Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani to provide part of what the Halos have lacked for years. "When you look at what they've added, you really start to turn your head," Bradley said. Tepera joins the Angels after spending last year with the Cubs and the White Sox. Bradley and Tepera were among the top free-agent relievers available, and the Angels made good on Minasian's desire to bolster a bullpen that has let down this franchise repeatedly for years. Los Angeles' relievers were 24th in the majors with a 4.59 ERA last season. Minasian added standout reliever Aaron Loup before the lockout, and he also re-signed closer Raisel Iglesias to a four-year, $58 million contract after his outstanding performance in 2021.

AJ Pierzynski and a 2005 WS. We also traded Eduardo Escobar to obtain him, lol. Then rejected him for Cesar Hernandez. Then rejected him again for Josh Harrison and Leury Garcia. In all seriousness, he's gone. That was Rodon. The closest is probably the young Cuban Vera, if you believe all the hype around him. And throwing those sliders with so much torque ended up being the death of Liriano and almost destroyed Rodon's career.

To be a great organization, you need to hit in FA around 60% of the time. Our rate is LUCKY to be 30%, if you go through all the Hahn FA contracts starting all the way back with Jeff Keppinger. It might even be as low as 20-25%. If they were to take that approach, they simply can't do it with Hahn or KW yet again. They need a completely fresh perspective from outside the organization. We saw what happened when Hahn tried to compete on the fly from 2013-2016, the bad trades and bad signings, despite "winning" a couple of off-seasons according to the prognosticators and pundits. You need to win with a younger or youngish/cost-controlled core...before they get too expensive or hit free agency. Buying at the top of the market, especially competing with the likes of Cohen and dealing with the Scott Borases of the world of the world is a recipe for 3rd-5th place finishes in even the AL Central. The only players with massive trade value right now are Luis Robert, Tim Anderson, Giolito and Cease...I guess Vaughn would probably be 5th on any list. Some would argue Moncada, but it would have to be a large market team that could afford his future $23.8 and $25 million salaries. Jimenez is limited by his injury history and lack of a competent defensive position. But simply trading all those veteran deals like Hendriks, Lynn, Grandal, etc., is barely going to get you much more than salary relief. It's certainly not going to provide a young core of future stars like Sale/Eaton/Quintana provided back in 2016 and 2017.

And another tanking season to let Rodon at #3 go without a QO/compensation pick.

To get the so-called fireballer instead of the finesse guy. I remember Zobrist in particular torching Koch, or was it Carl Crawford? Someone on the Rays hit a game winning homer in the Trop Dome.

Poppy Sox hijacked your account, pal/bro?

That darned trade has now cost us roughly $20 million in payroll flexibility...between Kimbrel and Harrison's salaries, minus Madrigal and Heuer. (Can't remember whether Cesar Hernandez had a small buyout or not.) Or just about the exact amount Conforto was projected to receive...

That ship has definitely sailed...unless Hahn is now GMing based on fan sentiment and Score callers' rants.

What would a "figurative" Communist/Socialist be?

If Madrigal becomes a consistent 3-4 fWAR player for the Cubs over the next 5 years, it will definitely be Kimbrel...

We'll also be hearing a lot of "sunk costs" this summer in reference to Keuchel and Kimbrel, the K&K Boys. That might even ruin my positive youthful memories of K&K Hardware back in Bettendorf, lol. They sponsored Mustang or Bronco League teams every summer.

What is your position on JR losing the team? A bridge still way too far, lol? There's too much religious and Nazi irony flying around the world today (including from members of our own Congress), to the point it's losing any remaining shock value.

Profar or CJ Abrams.

Seems about 5-10x more likely for athletes in close proximity, just from clubhouse alone. Especially football, hockey and basketball.

There's also no way in hell Giolito will undervalue himself and provide a hometown discount, either. It's different negotiating with players who are creating generational wealth for their family the very first time and largely desire security. Giolito is in a different place.

He made something like $15-18 million with the White Sox. On the free agent market, just last season's fWAR from Rodon would blow that out of the water. Of course, we all feel he underachieved, but they also didn't have the right coaches to get the most out of his talent, either.

We forgot to include the Indians…who managed to play us evenly last year with the #30 payroll. Emmanuel Clase is the #4 closer, internally developed, shockingly.

Throwing hard already but not 100% effectively…

$6-8 million now going the other way…if not $10 million. They might as well start casting the Silver Slugger Award for Nick Madrigal…because the law of terrible trades is they never entirely go away. Might as well force him to pitch well enough during the regular season he recovers to 75 cents or 80 cents on the dollar in trade value.

Maybe the Japanese or Korean leagues would overpay the Sox for a future HoFer?

Tyler Danish pitching for BOS against Minny, third appearance already this spring. Blast from the past.

Here’s a trade… Kimbrel and Adolfo for either Caratini or Jorge Alfaro…Padres have four catchers including Nola and Campusano. Money would go to SD if they gave up Caratini instead of Alfaro. Alfaro and Adolfo out of options, but both could be carried on MLB rosters the first month while at 28. And that would at least improve the backup catching spot and finally offload Kimbrel’s $16 million. Then again, they might want to hold onto Collins’ LH bat for yet another year, just because…