caulfield12

This year is a contention one if everything goes right (or goes wrong for the Twins and Indians.) They can’t put all their chips in quite yet though...if you rush too much, you end up with contracts you didn’t even need if you would have been a bit more patient. Not signing Machado worked out fine, it remains to be seen between Keuchel, Wheeler, Bumgarner and Ryu. Micker Adolfo, for example, might be the most talented prospect after Robert, but has never been able to stay healthy. Rutherford could be part of a platoon. The point is that if you keep spending $10-15 million on every single possible hole, there won’t be as much flexibility remaining next offseason or with signing our own homegrown players to extensions. EE over Collins is one thing...for a year or two. A four year contract for a defensively limited corner outfielder or DH is another matter altogether. That’s why the market for Ozuna, Castellanos and even Puig is taking so long to develop.

Probably something to do with the Ja Morant dunk attempt on Love...NCAA or NBA, etc. Not about a Sox signing.

Joe Crede as well...but not an FA. A-Rod’s huge deal, almost twenty year ago now. Not sure who represented Tanaka and Astoria Hunter, to name a few more.

Which is the exact same reason they’re trying to block the a Dodgers from getting Lindor...using their minor league riches. Then, Tatis would shift to 2B or CF, depending on whether they want him or Profar at second. CF would be safer, relatively...and would give him a chance to use his arm more than second. But it might also cause him to lose focus, not being as involved in everything as he was last year at SS. Machado, Lindor and Tatis from left to right would be crazy, though. Just don’t think the Padres are willing to part with Gore. That’s the sticking point. Not even for two full years of Lindor.

So the Rangers made discount moves when they brought in Minor and Lynn. And they saved a ton of money, which they then reallocated on their roster. Yet they were worth 10.7 fWAR last year. If you overpay through FA for every position on the field, a mid market team will invariably run into payroll constraints. Or you can simply argue they never should have committed to Abreu past 2020. They arguably overpaid Abreu...you can argue that as well. But you have to take into consideration the consequences of overpaying Castellanos and forcing him into RF instead of DH or 1B. What happens when you need that money for starting pitching, relievers or extending your own young players like Robert, Moncada and Madrigal? Of they don’t get Robert or Moncada to sign extensions, we can all argue that giving Abreu three years was a huge mistake if the wheels come off his offensive performance in 2021 or 22. Heck, even next year, although nobody is arguing Vaughn is ready for the big leagues this year, not yet.

And Paddack as well.

But this is also likely peak Castellanos. If they hadn’t already blocked DH with Abreu in 2021-22, many would agree with you. Betts, Springer and even Pederson will be more expensive next year, and our young RF prospects are far from a certainty to make an impact. Adolfo and Rutherford are probably the two most promising at this point.

The problem is that Bauer, Stroman, Ray and Paxton are the four biggest names next year. That’s not exactly a murderer’s row of high-end pitching, although all of them have demonstrated flashes of greatness in recent years, Bauer in particular. That said, everyone in baseball is aware of his eccentric, to put it nicely, personality. On the plus side, if Francona can’t handle you...it depresses your asking price considerably. But all of these guys are just as risky, if not more so, than Zack Wheeler.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28366269/mets-reliever-dellin-betances-agree-one-year-deal One year, $10.5 million for Betances to Mets Wouldn’t have made sense to Sox without a club or incentives based option for 2021. Apparently he preferred to stay in NYC and keep his options open for the following season if he recaptures his form.

Bob was also spotted in the entourage of Social Influencers in Saudi Arabia... In all seriousness, shocked that Lillian isn’t backing a left handed hitter. McCann doesn’t have to traded unless we get the exact piece we want (bullpen or young RH outfielder) we want. It’s that simple. We don’t have to give up on Collins, either. Look how long it took before Tyler Flowers became a legit big leaguer with the Braves. Catchers usually mature in their late 20s as capable receivers and game callers. It’s not an overnight process. Better to hold onto our embarrassment of riches and force another team to make an overpay if one of their top guys go down.

I suppose one could draw comparisons between Rust Belt/Heartland economies and California/Silicon Valley/Seattle. Texas is more or less the anomaly in the middle...and the Astros have never been a “Western” team, per se. Other than the Cubs, Cardinals (still more like a mid-market due to t.v. contract) and Tigers under Ilitch, none of those teams in flyover territory operate or have succeeded like large market teams. Yet the Rockies (cutting back), DBacks, Padres, Mariners, Giants and Angels all are running bigger budgets than the majority of Central teams.

Sure, but every team in baseball does it. He still has to work on K rate, swinging at off speed pitches out of zone and improving walk rate. He went through three levels last year. It’s not like they had him parked at AA or AAA for for a full season delaying his major league debut. Just the fact a player went through three teams on one minor league season of 140ish games invalidates any possible argument. And Leury arguably was better than replacement level. It wouldn’t be shocking for a Robert to have an OPS in the mid to low 700s at all.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/24/us/jeremy-roenick-suspension-spt-trnd/index.html Jeremy Roenick makes front page of CNN, probably not how he imagined it happening...joking about threesome with Kathryn Tappen

???

Yep, love that show. One of the better plot twists for a series finale in a long time. Seasons 2/3 weren’t as good, but really liked tone and pace of last 3-4 episodes. Will have to rewatch it, all four seasons together, maybe 2-3 years from now.

But isn't Nick Castellanos just a better version of Melky Cabrera from 5 years ago...certainly not an "elite" hitter? And even more troubling, you're giving away so much defensively with both him and Jimenez in the same outfield. At least we're not Twins' fans? Wouldn't that be even more infuriating, they've seemingly given up making more than incremental improvements as they've lost 17 consecutive playoff games and fans don't believe they can ever get past the Yankees or the Astros. Other than Harper, Machado, Strasburg, Cole and Rendon...there weren't these types of players on the market the last two off-seasons. Would we be better off today with either Harper or Machado? Maybe that means Robert, Moncada or Giolito can't be retained. There's always a tradeoff. Opportunity cost.

Definitely not Castellanos. But someone like EE or Puig, if their price comes down to the $8-10 million range. Dickerson...if they aren't sure on Collins, or even Brett Gardner. There are options for just 2020 that make this a much better offense without doing much of anything beyond stunting Zack's offensive development at the major league level. If we're training him to be the back-up to Grandal for the contention window, he needs to be playing the field (also 1B to add versatility) nearly every day in Charlotte.

Good to know. I pretty much ignored the last 6 weeks of White Sox baseball. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=186069 He also played SS in community college and U-Mass Lowell (123 more games of ONLY shortstop.) No need for another utility infielder, or having Madrigal try to play SS at the big league level.

You just hit on yet another concern here...if they change the baseballs again, we're MUCH better off relying on the proven power of an Encarnacion over the more suspect power increase from Castellanos, if you look at his historical numbers. If you look closely into launch angle and flight path, he has always been more of a doubles/gap hitter than a 30+ homer guy.

The problem is we're probably looking at peak Castellanos...and paying a premium price, when we can't be sure if will settle in at somewhere between Cubs' Castellanos and Billy Butler at his peak. Perhaps it's just human nature to be at least a little skeptical of players that hit their peak the year before getting a huge payday in free agency. That outcome (Butler-esque, but at least able to play in the outfield) is still much more likely than him becoming another JD Martinez.

Now the board has gone too far back to drinking the Kool Aid. We need to find a happy medium until they prove they can at least put together a contender in reality and not just on paper. Everything certainly looks and feels much better than a year ago, no argument about that. There's finally real optimism and a light at the end of a long tunnel of midnight black.

Hunter Pence put up surprisingly good numbers last year... repeatable, is the question.

They’ll platoon Mazara and Leury and have him also back up Robert. The problem is we don’t really have anyone for 3B/SS if Leury’s primarily a OFer. You might be right about Engel, unless they go out and sign a utility guy to replace Yolmer. Can Mendick at least play 3B? Can’t imagine him at SS.

Sign EE, put him in charge of our Dominican Academy when he retires. One year and an option...that covers for Abreu, Vaughn and Collins, but also lets us escape quickly if he quickly declines this season. Better to have too many good hitters than not enough...can always trade the excess. This makes much more sense than locking in Castellanos for four years. Hold back that money for internal extensions or Stroman/Bauer/Ray/Paxton next year.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/10/mlb-free-agent-relievers.html https://africa.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28321315/sizing-relief-pitcher-market-far-where-go-here Talks about how Chris Martin deal set the market, 3 batter rule, some decent options on market still