caulfield12

Fine, the White Sox don’t buy closers at peak value. Robertson should have taught them that lesson...and even that was an aberration from there normal modus operandi. Not to mention it would be an acknowledgement of the draft strategy the past 3-4 years of taking collegiate relievers being a failure.

He was great the first half...but so was Colome. Pretty close to zero chance Reinsdorf’s going to pay to have two $10+ million closers on the roster. If he gets a QO, he’s definitely not leaving for the Sox...and, finally, closers with a proven historical background over 5+ years of succeeding at that job are always going to be volatile acquisitions. Can we actually trust our MLB scouting, particularly coming from the pitching-friendly NL West to the AL? Seems like a classic overpay possibility. The San Francisco Giants lone All-Star representative this season, closer Will Smith emerged as one of baseball’s most dominant bullpen arms during the first half. The 30-year-old 23-for-23 on save chances before the All-Star break, posting a brilliant 1.98 ERA and 0.80 WHIP. His numbers were far more ordinary after the break with a 3.72 ERA and 11 saves in 15 chances, but it was nonetheless an extremely successful season for the southpaw. Unless Aroldis Chapman decides to opt-out of his contract with the New York Yankees, Smith stands to be the best late-inning arm on the market this winter, along with Houston Astros setup man Will Harris. Will the Giants front office extend him a qualifying offer?

I can’t imagine JR will okay that much for Will Smith. Don’t think the Mets aren’t going to be desperate to sell low on Nimmo unless they believe he will never stay healthy. Can’t see paying Hamels that much either. Rich Hill or Miley would be much cheaper...and it seems pretty likely Hamels would be likely to regress back in the AL again. Not ready to count on Collins either...would rather add a veteran like a Smoak, Moreland or Adams for insurance.

You must want a 77 win team, too.

Last offseason, everyone announced the death of the Indians...and it didn't happen. Bauer didn't even have close to his typical season, they had a number of injuries and non-performance from Jose Ramirez for half the season, and yet still, they ended up with 93 victories. They're not just going to disappear. Reyes is going to put up huge numbers in the AL, despite his being a black hole defensively.

Last offseason, everyone announced the death of the Indians...and it didn't happen. Bauer didn't even have close to his typical season, they had a number of injuries and non-performance from Jose Ramirez for half the season, and yet still, they ended up with 93 victories. They're not just going to disappear. Reyes is going to put up huge numbers in the AL, despite his being a black hole defensively.

If he’s so bad, then why would we not ask for some money coming back or just dump a spare reliever or two on them? I mean, it’s not like every veteran is doomed to not make any meaningful contributions. For example, Lowrie, Kendrick and Zobrist all had really solid seasons in their mid 30s and beyond...to name a few.

For two expensive years of Schwarber, yikes...there are plenty of similar bats you can just buy.

We're just being realistic. Fine, Grandal, Betts, Moustakas, Wheeler, Keuchel/R.Hill/Miley and another RH reliever. That won't cost much. Practically a guaranteed AL Central title. Only $170-185 million, right? No problem.

2013

Well, yeah...you can argue Dickerson, Avi, Puig, Calhoun, Nimmo or Polanco TIL you’re blue in the face, but there aren’t any guarantees attached to anyone. Coming from an AL career, the risk is somewhat mitigated...and he can at least handle the position competently. Marisnick would be another, cheaper option to acquire for filling the spot one season. And really improve the defense markedly.

Looks like another blowout with 4-0 lead in the first and Cole on the mound at home. In the end, Astros/Yankees is probably better for promoting the sport of baseball...but TB taking down Boston (regular season), Houston and NY would have been an amazing story of front office and managerial ingenuity if you look at that roster.

Logically, the Astros need to trade/dump Josh Reddick to open up a spot for Kyle Tucker.

From recent Vince Duber article at nbcsportschicago “He's a quality bat in Japan, but he's really not the elite bat," Allen said. "The whole question is how much of his power is going to play in the United States, and the big question is how is he going to adapt to seeing 100-mile-an-hour fastballs, which he hasn't seen regularly because very, very few pitchers in Japan throw that hard. And he's 27 years old. So it's like taking a guy who's basically played college-level ball most of his life and suddenly at 27 he's in the major leagues. "(Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei) Ohtani was a bit of an outlier. There are hitters who are that good in Japan. Tsutsugo is not quite one of them. He is relatively adaptable. In other words, I expect him to make some adjustments to MLB, I expect him to find some solutions to MLB. But I also don't see him getting a guaranteed contract. "He's flexibile, adaptable, good leader, good teammate. But if you're looking at the skills, I don't think he's going to blow anybody away with his skills. "My guess is he'll agree to a minor league contract, he'll get a camp invite and that he'll win a major league job out of camp because he's just a really useful guy to have. But nobody's going to be throwing guaranteed money at him. If they do, I would be surprised."

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27813181/philadelphia-phillies-fire-manager-gabe-kapler Showalter supposedly in consideration for Philly, Kapler to SFG? Weird, since Zaidi and Kapler are pretty much on opposing sides in the analytics department.

Geoff Blum...Willie Harris.

Rodon honestly could go either way depending on how he looks the last two months of 2020. They won’t cut him at $4.5 million, though.

Who should be San Diego’s next manager? 6% Rod Barajas (71 votes) 18% Bruce Bochy (220 votes) 43% Joe Maddon (529 votes) 13% Joe Girardi (166 votes) 4% Mark Loretta (54 votes) 3% Brad Ausmus (35 votes) 9% "Other" (116 votes) 4% Mike Scioscia (53 votes) 1244 votes total Vote Now

Odds for next KC manager... Mike Matheny +200 Raul Ibanez +300 Carlos Beltran +400 Pedro Grifol +600 Dale Sveum +700 Bob Geren +800 Tony Pena Jr. +900 Joe Maddon +1200 Joe Girardi +1200

How interested are you right now?’ Attendance, changing fandom and the health of Major League Baseball https://theathletic.com/1266088/2019/10/10/how-interested-are-you-right-now-attendance-changing-fandom-and-the-health-of-major-league-baseball/?source=dailyemail

If we didn’t have Vaughn coming up soon...Schwarber has just two more expensive arbitration years left.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27810837/dave-roberts-own-dodgers-disaster Passan and pretty much every media member going after Roberts...Plaschke did the same in LA Times.

Grandal, Avi/Dickerson, Moustakas, flier on Gennett....paired with Wheeler, a RH bullpen arm and older (30+) but decent veteran starter on a 2-3 year or 2+option seems to make a lot of sense and doesn’t come close to $150-160 million payroll mark. You have lots of options there for DH, two guys for the RF spot who won’t break the budget...upside/flip/recovery candidates in Dickerson and Gennett, left handedness for Lillian, lots of quality veteran leadership.

Rodon is one pretty obvious cut if he struggles mightily in his return next year. Lopez might or might not still be in the picture, or he could be moved to closer, replacing Colome (sure, fairly unlikely.) I don’t see adding Rendon, a $30+ million long-term frontline starting pitcher or Grandal...although Grandal AND JDM AND one starter at least seems possible. It’s hard also to believe they’re going to add two pitchers making over $15 million, for that matter. A Wheeler AND R.Hill/Hamels/Miley/Wacha combination seems to be another way they’d go, based on past history, Ozuna and Rendon are just going up in price at this point...the Eeovaldi Effect. Same with Stras.

If they used Maeda to start the 8th or Jansen instead of Kelly, arguably a much different result.