caulfield12

Arguably DH if you don’t believe in Zack Collins...

Philly just let Maikel Franco and Cesar Hernandez go...fwiw, Arrieta in last year of his deal. Also in hot pursuit of DiDi Gregorious. Its going to really suck if we have to deal with Boras on Ryu...fwiw, Bumgarner is represented by The Legacy Agency. Right now, Boras controls the top #1-2, #4, #6. Hamels and Wheeler are the other two without Boras Corp representation. https://theathletic.com/945374/2019/04/25/rosenthal-has-agent-scott-boras-failed-to-adapt-assessing-his-winners-and-losers-in-free-agency/

It remains to be seen if the Wheeler bidding will play out the way that it did for left-hander Patrick Corbin last winter. Some teams, including the Yankees, expressed a willingness to offer deals of five years, but were reluctant to offer a sixth year -- and Washington separated itself from the pack by dangling a six-year, $140 million contract. There seems to be a group of teams prepared to offer Wheeler five-year deals. https://tv5.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28222913/sources-phillies-seen-top-bidder-zack-wheeler

They will have beaten the Sox for Harper, Realmuto and Wheeler if he turns out to be right...

Harry Caray is still alive! Or at least Will Ferrell.

https://nypost.com/2019/12/03/zack-wheeler-ready-to-break-the-bank-with-bidding-war-nearly-over/ Time frame the next 2-3 days to the end of next week's Winter Meetings. White Sox, Reds, Twins, Rangers specifically mentioned. $100 million offer described as "in the right ballpark."

Salud!

Doubtful the Dodgers would even consider Colome for Pederson straight up. Half of the point in trading him is wiping out $8-9 million in payroll obligations for a better, more complete player (like a Rendon.)

Anything beyond 2023/24 takes you into uncharted territory simply because of Moncada, Giolito and Anderson already cycling through (unless/until you sign them to extensions.) They're not going to commit to much beyond that projected three year contention window. There's also ANOTHER critical factor, which is that the new broadcasting rights deal only covers 2020-2024, and then is up for re-negotiations again. To me, that makes it highly unlikely they're going to make a commitment of six years to ANY pitcher (even Strasburg/Cole.)

Six years guaranteed feels like a non-starter...for the White Sox, at least. Then you have to hope to turn around quickly and HOPE to keep Ryu at 3 and $60ish million.

It only takes ONE team moving to 6 (guaranteed or "reasonable" incentive to guarantee it) and the White Sox would be out of it (based on past evidence)...unless they're completely changing their philosophy of FA pitching contracts for the first time in recent memory.

Unless you're paying him "only" $50-60 million to be a full-time DH, which pretty much makes no sense with Abreu probably having to move over there in 2021/22 for Vaughn. Better to just sign EE for one year and reassess Abreu, Collins/Grandal/McCann next offseason.

Why, if we base it on the Machado negotiations last year? Or 100% believe that blowing everyone away early like Grandal is the new S.O.P.?

At $15 million? What about for a two year commitment? I saw someone forecasting 2/$25, that seems really light coming off the season he had last year...with Gibson at 3/$30 already. If we put too much money into starting pitching, what do we do if the back end of the bullpen falls apart? There's already $20 million invested in Colome and Herrera... Hamels seems like he would sign that deal only to go back to Philly, if he really enjoyed his time there.

Odds are that the ship has sailed on a Castellanos signing...and a Wheeler deal would put the final fork in it. You can, of course, argue the merits of Castellanos AND Ryu vs. Wheeler.

You don't/can't trade any significant assets for Pederson unless you at LEAST have one of the front-line (top 7 FA's signed and in the fold.) You PROBABLY need to get one of Wheeler/Ryu/Bumgarner to justify pushing even more cash/trade chips into the all-in for 2020 ante. The Dodgers have no reason to be desperate to offload him THIS week or next, the deal will still be there for the White Sox to circle back around on.

Yep, if you get Wheeler, you need to sign a one-year guy for the back-end at $8-12 million (Hamels will be way too expensive). You have to add one more solid RH reliever...although somehow I have a feeling it will be the likes of Hunter Strickland or Treinen, the rebound names everyone's kicking the tires on. With the pen, unless you're paying elite talent (and I'm not convinced that Betances is worth that money coming off an injury, and Hudson's had two TJ's already)....maybe two veterans at $4-6 million is a better approach. Herrera was just a terrible miscalculation, who never should have been necessary in the first place had our farm system been more productive with all the collegiate relievers or converted starters we were targeting over two draft cycles. That basically leaves DH and the lingering questions about Collins' ability to get 60-70% of the total at-bats there against RHP. Or how much you want to rely on Leury, vs. Calhoun/Pederson, et al.

Votto contract is really weighing them down...and Suarez is going to be getting increasingly expensive. Didn't they sign him to an extension recently?

Well, if they can't get anything they want in return...pretty much have no choice but to hold. And it's not like they have a bunch of high-rising outfielders at the A-level that are pushing them from below...in fact, one could argue that piling up massive numbers at Charlotte could be the best thing for some of them, confidence-wise and trade-value wise. The Dodgers used to do this all the time with their top prospects putting up huge Albuquerque numbers, only to disappoint in the big leagues...but that was more of an 80's and 90's trend.

Choose the top 2, probably Walker and Adolfo...and dump the rest of them at 30 cents on the dollar. Let Rutherford turn into Ryan Sweeney, Jr., in another organization.

Todd Frazier too, was a similar move...albeit he had one additional year of control, if I remember correctly. But there's a long list of Sox players who weren't much in our system...guys like Jose Martinez (or who were constantly injured) or even Eduardo Escobar, who have gone on to have quite productive major league careers. Under KW, we were also able to find undervalued assets like de Aza, Humber, Thornton, Jenks, Sergio Santos, and usually get something positive out of them...it seems that we haven't really found one of those guys like the Dodgers/Astros/Cardinals seem to come up with every year, FOR AGES. We had Palka, I guess, in 2018. Fry, who defied the odds despite two TJ surgeries and being a failed starter. Bummer. Narvaez, although someone was just attempting to trade away Colome for another rental in Joc. Not much of a track record for the better part of three plus years of rebuilding. We recycled through a never-ending series of outfielders and 1B/DH types...and still don't have a DH and RF.

Gonzalez would be another obvious choice...as the highest hopes remain for Adolfo, Walker and hanging on to Rutherford one more year seems prudent since his trade value is already depressed. That said, not sure why the Dodgers would want either of those two outfielders. Perhaps Buehler has convinced them he sees something in his former Vandy teammate that’s fixable.

Sign that they’re going to sign TWO FA pitchers, but not necessarily Wheeler...that’s another interpretation.

That makes no sense, unless they were coordinating everything (one completely silent, the other too talkative)...why would you sit there and allow important negotiations to be leaked unless it served the best interests of the deal (pressuring the team holding a trade asset or player/agent) to make it actually come to fruition? When has Hahn ever turned down an opportunity to speak...but actually said something substantive? And wouldn’t the entire national sports media figure this “strategy” out and start going to Stone, Merkin, Benetti, Haber and other plugged-in sources? So, ultimately...we’re supposed to buy that Kenny’s just running around “going rogue,” after what transpired last year? That just strains credulity.

For extending his contract after next year?