caulfield12

Eddie Rosario is anything name that keeps getting bandied about. But with Soler, the defense is pretty much the equivalent of Vaughn/Sheets. Rosario isn't much better on that front, but is familiar with the AL Central, same with Soler. Pederson has the ability to at least play average to slightly above average RF and he fits the LH need, so there's that.

Sacks packed full of Seamen/Mariners. Where did the psoter go with that in their signature line?

I prefer either Ride or Die (2021 Japanese film) or "Win or Dye Trying."

That brings us to another typical San Diego sports gut punch. Because of MLB’s lockout, communications were required to go radio silent as the sides wrestled over a collective bargaining agreement. The fact team doctors could have visited Tatis after the accident because they are not officially team employees who would have violated lockout rules is stunning. (Kevin) Acee reported the team was assured by Tatis representatives the incident amounted to simple scrapes and bruises. You don’t send doctors to check on your $340 million investment anyway? If Tatis could have talked with the medical staff sooner, the recovery would be closer to the finish line than the beginning. “Definitely could be a different story, yeah,” Tatis said. Now, everyone will learn if Tatis can pivot to a level of maturity that matches his immense talents. Since arriving in the majors, Tatis has missed 99 games to injury in less than 2 1/2 seasons. That math translates to watching from the dugout for nearly 30 percent of his brief and spectacular career. Now, the Padres power is sapped for who knows how long. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sports-columnists/story/2022-03-14/san-diego-padres-shortstop-fernando-tatis-jr-wrist-surgery

It's hard to imagine being "happy" at this point. If you include Graveman, it's not terrible/abysmal, I suppose one could argue. If Kelly was 100% healthy and Kopech had been ramped up along with Crochet in 2021 a bit more, there would be more reasons for optimism. Or if the farm system wasn't ranked 30th in all of MLB. But could anyone let's say have thrown out Josh Harrison as a replacement for Madrigal and not been laughed off the board? It's still like we are still flailing around with Eaton and Mazara out there as "viable" plans. Whatever's replacing Rodon/Madrigal...along with Kimbrel's soaking up any of the previously unprecedented financial flexibility that quickly disappeared, all credible/valid reasons for concern.

Wasn't it something similar with Dunn's family in 2012?

Ummm...not the same thing, at all. Especially with how long Colas has been out of action and how generally disappointing Cespedes has been...it would be better to play Mazara or even Adolfo in RF.

Send $7-9 million to get rid of Keuchel, compound the misallocation by turning around and giving it to Greinke. Get 'er done, Mater.

Well except he dislikes every thing about Chicago and the White Sox. Then again, getting a borderline Hot pitcher 3-4 years past their expiration date is too much of an opportunity to pass up.

Don't forget Lynn, Hendricks and Kimbrel.

TA7 joined the Board of Directors for LaRussa's animal charity?

If we just keeping signing more of these reclamation projects for $3 million, then one will have to be 2021 Carlos Rodon and not Erwin Santana, Felipe Paulino or Derek Holland. Unfortunately, it might take ten of those guys to equal Carlos’ fWAR last season. Might as well just go for it with Crochet…and throw all injury concerns to the wind.

Doubt we’ve sold any season tickets based on those moves so far…and Kimbrel remaining on the roster as set-up man is equally dubious, not to mention blocking further spending. If they really had any guts, they’d start Kimbrel as closer to prove he can actually do that job before trading him, but you can rest assured that will never happen, so his trade value still will be somewhat down simply do that lingering question mark about where he is psychologically.

Hahn’s legacy is already in trouble if there’s no advance out of the divisional round…and not being strong enough to stand up to JR on LaRussa. Name the last time “one of the best GM’s in the game” was forced to hire someone as manager he was 100% opposed to and still remained in his job. His legacy for now is losing this offseason. But who knows, the Sox usually fare poorly when he’s credited with winning the offseason.

Supposedly because they were unwilling to add Nick Castellanos…the rumor about why Jeter ditched the Marlins.

This is out of the JR playbook…no sixth year for position players in their thirties, not unlike the White Sox still not daring to give another five year contract to a pitcher after Danks. (Noted they did make an exception for Konerko and even Contreras to a lesser extent after 2005.) But that’s what happens when you negotiate with bottom-line corporations and not “real” people with emotions invested in maintaining ongoing successful relationships.

“According to ESPN's Buster Olney, the expectation around the league is that Freeman will sign elsewhere after he and the Braves were unable to come to an agreement before the lockout began. The Braves reportedly offered Freeman a five-year, $135 million deal, and the first baseman is keen on getting a sixth year.” “The presumption among a lot of rival executives last year was that Freeman and the Braves would eventually work out a deal. But Freeman was not among the stars who signed a pre-lockout contract -- even after the Braves won the World Series and the franchise operated with the championship glow (and cash injection). So the industry view has shifted; there is a growing belief that Freeman will land somewhere outside of Atlanta because of the standoff in his negotiations. The Braves offered $135 million over five years, sources say, and Freeman is looking for a six-year deal. "I think [the Braves] will move quickly to settle on an alternative and move on to get past the conversation," one official said. Maybe that's a deal for Oakland's Matt Olson. Maybe they'll sign Anthony Rizzo. But the Freeman negotiations became a competition, and as one agent said, you never want to do that. Freeman would be a perfect fit for just about any lineup, especially with the universal designated hitter likely to be used in the National League in 2022. Even a team with an established first baseman could envision Freeman splitting time between DH and first base.” https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/02/22/freddie-freeman-braves-free-agency-mlb-lockout

We should blame this on Manfred, too, haha…like Tyler Glasnow and the spider-tack controversy. Baseball remains the one sport that does a worse job promoting their stars in this modern media age (see Trout) than in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Somehow MLB is increasingly regional, whereas the NFL and NBA are increasingly national/international. (Of course, one part of this is the relatively limited financial potential and some ongoing safety/security concerns of the Caribbean/Central/South America and the far-removed nature of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.)

Who’s to say they don’t…losing one GM and seemingly not even missing a beat despite what happened to their pitching staff, Ozuna and Acuna, Jr., last year.

Shades of Aaron Rowand…minus being one of the faces of MLB at the time. Hard to say he’ll even learn eventually, it’s just the way some top athletes are programmed, to push themselves to the limits in every aspect of life, like Michael Jordan with his golfing and especially gambling. Obviously different types of risk there.

They’re both head-scratchers without having access to inside information from the Braves and White Sox. That said, they’re not tremendously far apart in value despite Rodon having only two solid seasons and Freeman being nearly on a HoF path. Everyone knows Rodon has the talent/potential to be one of the 3-5 best pitchers in baseball. Freeman has been one of the 3-5 best NL players, period, so there has to be something that everyone is missing because it makes almost no sense on the surface.

That’s what happens when a corporation gets involved in the decision-making process…although it’s still shocking in this era of prospect overvaluing to see that much talent go out the door. Perhaps their difficult to repeat success rearranging an entire outfield on the fly is going to their heads.

Just doesn’t make any sense, unless they’re expecting a massive drop-off soon…just like the White Sox with Rodon, you usually give the benefit of the doubt to the team letting that player go. (For example, Goldschmidt in AZ another similar name that comes to mind, nobody was/is in the Pujols category when he left St. Louis with that massive deal.)

There’s no star available in RF. Suzuki has even more questions surrounding him…than Conforto…and that’s despite Ohtani now being the universally-acknowledged second massive impact Japanese position player after Ichiro (some would also argue Hideki Matsui, but he wasn’t nearly the athlete.)

Yet we avoided Eduardo Escobar like he had the plague. Pitchers in the same sentence with nerve damage never exactly a reassuring thing. Now really feeling they will keep Kimbrel on the roster, assuming a war of attrition the first 2-3 months of the season due to an abbreviated spring training will ensue.