caulfield12

Well, if Sheets, Burger and Vaughn each got hurt?

Cespedes REALLY likes to swing the bat. Yermin had a single to left, Cespedes caught looking on an inside heater and Romy popped up with runners on second and third to end the inning.

Never believed that was realistic. More about showing off his versatility and relative agility for that size. Trade positioning.

Zach McKinstry for Kimbrel and $2-4 million makes some sense. Unless we are super confident in Harrison or Leury, there needs to be a better option than Romy or Mendick IMO. I guess Micker Adolfo has already been awarded RF, with Vaughn at DH/1B and Sheets/Burger traded for starting pitching…fwiw, Cespedes looks pretty sharp out there in center, granted only one play. Maybe it’s the lack of good jumps and routes by the majority of our outfielders last year.

Darvish, Chatwood and Kimbrel not performing to expectations didn't help much either.

What is Paxton's status?

Twins, Tigers and even Royals fans have reasons to be optimistic about this season. It feels like this is the last season we are more looking ahead to the future instead of retrospectively ruing what mighta/coulda/shoulda been if things were executed properly…and likely with a different manager. All we can do is wait and see how it all plays out. I guess the other factor is Kimbrel lingering over this team…sort of feels like the team needs to make a decision relatively soon or be stuck in a kind of suspended limbo because the last thing we need is a “what do we do with Kimbrel now?” debate hanging over the first half of the season when it was so easily avoidable.

Reasonable goals for every MLB team Twins: Make last season forever forgotten The Twins have acted in the exact opposite fashion of a team that just lost 89 games, but this is what you want from your team: To act like a bad season is a fluke, rather than a reason to start over. The Twins have obviously done the former: You don’t bring in Carlos Correa -- not to mention Gary Sánchez and Sonny Gray -- just to get back to .500. The Twins are trying to win the division. They’ve put themselves in a place to have a chance. White Sox: Get off the playoff series schneid Last year’s postseason was an undeniable disappointment: The White Sox were out of that Astros series before most realized they were even in it. For all the positive moves they’ve made, for all the strength they’ve shown in this division, the Sox still haven’t won a postseason series since the 2005 World Series. Suffice it to say, it’s time. A top-two seed is a reasonable goal, but that won’t mean anything if they don’t finally advance. https://www.mlb.com/news/2022-goals-for-each-mlb-team?partnerId=zh-20220321-566303-mlb-1-A&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20220321-566303-mlb-1-A&bt_ee=aQmGtbYtXjg8nOiB23kUdtgewRv%2BB454SGeKnNqLAZutwpzni%2FGY7bBZYraU1JgJ&bt_ts=1647869134779

So what to do? Join Ron’s idle threats of deserting the Sox for the Northsiders? Ask for an alert that will tell us to return to the board or Sox baseball in general after a Kimbrel trade is consummated?

They might be better than the Pirates, Orioles and D-Backs (although we supposedly made a run at Bumgarner, too.) Rockies, too.

I really doubt they are considering a rookie catcher as back-up…if they are, it would more than likely be Carlos Perez, who is a personal favorite of TLR’s.

Adolfo, sure, showcasing him to get something back in trade, perhaps…Burger and Cespedes need to be playing everyday in the minors.

Leury, Collins, Engel…we don’t really have a fifth outfielder now. Could be Romy, Adolfo (out of options, but highly unlikely), Zavala, Mendick…more than likely this player is currently on another team right now, a late spring training cut. Also depends on how many pitchers they want to keep in the bullpen early season, 13?

Big Ten sucks. Men’s and women’s. Hard to have to root for Michigan/Howard and Purdue. Stings even more to see where both Iowa State teams are now.

Zavala was even worse in his limited time…

They’re DOA. Montas and/or Manaea gone sooner or later. Laureano, too. They might be able to finish ahead of the Rangers…but doubtful. Astros, Mariners, Angels, Rangers, A’s

You’re not getting a Top 50-60 prospect in baseball even if you ate all Kimbrel’s salary. Why would OAK possibly need him? Just to turn around and try to flip him again, leverage his upside? Teams in the position of OAK always want to be acquiring prospects. If we (the Sox) had added someone like Kimbrel from 2017-2018, most would have thought it was all a bit crazy…

This was written up before the Pederson deal, so they essentially have six outfielders and will look to trade at least 1.

Just goes to show you how different the Rays' philosophy is. Of course, part of it's about playing 81 games per year on turf, plus TOR. Meadows is a clear 4th best defensive outfielder for them...on the White Sox, #2 with a bullet. I don't think they can trade him, because you just can't rely on Margot offensively. He's the DH, but also the next starting outfielder that can handle multiple positions.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/austin-meadows/15672/stats?position=DH/OF If you look at Meadows, there's such year to year variation in fWAR...explained by injuries, sure somewhat. Trading for Kiermaier 2-3 years too late just creates another issue. (The only way he'd really be needed would be a Robert injury/defensive replacement.) If they were to start Kiermaier, you can't justify sending Vaughn to the minors for his lack of offense. LF Randy Arozarena (R) SS Wander Franco (S) 2B Brandon Lowe (L) 3B Yandy Díaz (R) DH Austin Meadows (L) RF Manuel Margot (R) 1B Ji-Man Choi (L) C Mike Zunino (R) CF Kevin Kiermaier (L) Which means the closest thing to a match is Brett Phillips as a lefty hitter...because you're not going to get one of their starters for Kimbrel. But you already have Leury and Harrison on the roster. Just not seeing it. There's no way in hell they're trading Francisco Mejia (back-up) for Kimbrel. The best I can come up with is Sheets and Kimbrel (and $3-5 million to lower his cost to TB) for Austin Meadows. No way I'm giving up Vaughn as part of that deal. Of course, they'd have to believe in Sheets as a strong-side platoon, like the White Sox (apparently) do.

I think Hahn pretty much HAS to get a piece back, even if it's a Tier C prospect that we never hear from again...because just sending $3-5 million to get his deal off the books is an unmitigated disaster from the standpoint it froze our spending at the end of Free Agency. At least, it's currently perceived that way, so any post-deal spin really doesn't matter unless it involves Conforto (or a LEGIT pitcher that's in that $12-15 million range, not another Velasquez) on the 2022 roster.

Sandy Alomar as player/manager in the Don Kessinger role...

Nevertheless, the front office is committed to adding another right-handed-hitting outfielder to the mix. Kris Bryant, Seiya Suzuki, and Nicholas Catsellanos all fit that description. The Giants have been connected to Suzuki early and often this offseason. As currently constructed, the Giants have two right-handed-hitting outfielders in Darin Ruf and Austin Slater with three lefties including Mike Yastrzemski, LaMonte Wade Jr., and Steven Duggar. Giants manager Gabe Kapler has been aggressive in playing the platoon matchups, and that will likely continue, especially in the outfield. https://aroundthefoghorn.com/posts/projecting-the-2022-sf-giants-lineup-01fv7y5dhb6b#slideshow-top-bar-_8lflvtx4z

Not having the urgency to secure home field until the final 2-3 weeks, along with burning out Rodon the first four months of the season...they definitely wouldn't have treated him like that were he until team control for 2022.

You would think they would have a better plan than waiting on late spring training cuts...