caulfield12

Well, sure...the ONLY daunting part is actually signing Harper AND doing something the front office has perhaps done well twice in the last 15 years, the run-up to 2005 starting with Garcia and Contreras and then that offseason flurry of moves, as well as the cycle of adding Quentin, Alexei, Floyd and Danks before 2008 (followed up with Beckham and Viciedo fizzling). I’m not sure which is more improbable, probably the exact correct mixture of 4-5 veteran acquisitions from Tier B/C. This year, it would look something like Moustakas or Donaldson, Cruz, McCutcheon/Brantley/Adam Jones and two bullpen guys like Ottavino or Kelly and whichever closer becomes a last minute value play, probably Herrera, Britton or Allen. Of course, that’s adding something like $70-100 million in 2019 payroll in just a single offseason, if you factor Harper into the equation.

He’s gotten four...if you’re including Tim Anderson. That’s still only about half of what Cleveland has managed the last 4-5 years. The better question is which good contracts he’s handed out? Robertson and Abreu were the FA’s that turned out pretty well. Abreu is the only one that really provided anything resembling surplus value. The jury’s still out on Luis Robert, although most Sox fans would score that as a coup when you beat the Cardinals for a player they really want.

Let’s just hope he stays 100% healthy, puts up an 800ish ops in AA and is good enough to receive consideration for Charlotte or Chicago at the end of 2019. That would be a huge boost to the rebuild momentum.

Aren’t they still in Thailand busting up trafficking rings?

Which is why he’s so incredibly valuable on the trade market for those contending teams unwilling to commit $125 million to Corbin. If the asking price is too much for buyers, the Indians can easily pivot to Carrasco (2 years left) or Bauer (3 arb years).

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/cleveland-indians/corey-kluber-8504/ just to be clear, Kluber is under control for three more years, Carrasco two... Kluber's contract breaks down this way: $1 million in 2015, $4.5 million in 2016, $7.5 million in 2017, $10.5 million in 2018 and $13 million in 2019. Escalators in the contract can push the last guaranteed year as high as $17 million. The 2020 option is worth between $13.5 million and $17.5 million. The 2021 option is worth between $14 million and $18 million depending on escalators. It includes a $1 million buyout. The escalators in the option years are based on Kluber's Cy Young finishes.

In a dark/crowded movie theatre when the shooter has the element of surprise (and night-vision goggles) and those in their seats have the initial reaction to think the noise is probably related to the movie/another theatre? I would say the odds are not going to be in your favor, going up against a guy with an automatic weapon...unless you happen to be carrying similar firepower around with you everywhere you go.

Corbin's going to get double the amount that Shields got from the Padres, and likely almost double the biggest contracts ever issued in Sox history (Abreu/Danks).

So what do you do if you're the Indians? Trade both Ramirez and especially Lindor and you risk losing that fanbase forever...the only thing working in their favor right now is LeBron being gone, but even the Browns eventually are going to turn things around and soak up 75% of the attention in that town.

Here's a list of the 20 players with the most jersey sales in 2018: 1. Aaron Judge, Yankees 2. Jose Altuve, Astros 3. Javier Báez, Cubs 4. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers 5. Mookie Betts, Red Sox 6. Anthony Rizzo, Cubs 7. Kris Bryant, Cubs 8. Shohei Ohtani, Angels 9. Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees 10. Yadier Molina, Cardinals 11. Mike Trout, Angels 12. Buster Posey, Giants 13. Bryce Harper, Nationals 14. Freddie Freeman, Braves 15. Cody Bellinger, Dodgers 16. Andrew Benintendi, Red Sox 17. George Springer, Astros 18. Francisco Lindor, Indians 19. Carlos Correa, Astros 20. Ronald Acuna Jr., Braves Notice, only ONE pitcher. Sale didn't even make the list, neither did Machado. Obviously, part of it was the fact that the Orioles were the worst team in baseball, and most (sane) fans aren't going to invest in hundreds of dollars for a short-term rental player's jersey. In 2016 Q ratings, Chicago Cubs slugger Kris Bryant, who’s in his second season, scored highest among active players in appeal among sports fans, with a 25% mark. But his national recognition was 38%. Harper was more recognizable, at 53%, with 24% appeal, but Trout, his 25-year-old MVP cohort, checked in at 20% appeal. And all major leaguers lag behind Jeter’s 74% recognition and the 30% appeal of Ken Griffey Jr. and Cal Ripken Jr. In fairness, Harper, Trout, Bryant and their peers are swimming against a media current vastly different than the one that welcomed Jeter, Ortiz and Rodriguez.

If you're the Indians, you simply HAVE to be prioritizing Lindor and Jose Ramirez contracts down the line...and trying to determine which 1 or 2 starting pitchers (Bauer/Carrasco/Clevinger) you might be willing to extend, knowing some of those starting pitching contracts don't exactly work out well, and also not sure what to make of Bauer's unorthodox workout regimen. Encarnacion, Kluber and Kipnis represent $50 million of payroll. That's a lot for a small market like CLE, with limited broadcasting rights revenues. They're going to have to be creative with some of their more desirable (but expensive) players like Yan Gomes...maybe package him with Encarnacion to clear payroll? Kluber has options for 2020/21 and Carrasco for 2020, so there's certainly a compelling reason to trade ONE of those two, let's say, Kluber to the Yankees. Kipnis would seem to be an impossible player to move, they're going to have to wait for a potential rebound in 2019. If they can re-inject some young prospects into their organization to replace Mejia (Hand trade) and replenish the everyday line-up, that's probably a risk they're going to have to take if they can't carry those two top-line salaries.

Watch the Indians trade Kluber and then announce twin signings of Harper and Kimbrel with opt outs after 3 years on Harper and 2 on Kimbrel...

So much for hiring ex Marines to guard schools/churches/synagogues/theatres/stadiums...reboot that idea, especially since we have so much common agreement on mental health issues in this country.

Reinsdorf’s smart enough to know Harper is the one player in baseball who really gives him the leverage is get another $20-30 million per year on that new t.v. rights deal. Nobody else does it. (He also knows the consequences if he ends up on the Northside.) At any rate, they can’t even have a .500ish team this year without spending $80-100 million on this year’s payroll, so Harper becomes the most logical “all in” play to signal Sox fans this time is finally different. It’s really quite simple. (Then Puig joins in 2020, playoffs guaranteed. Just kidding. Was hoping for another shot from KYle about how bad an outfield of Jimenez, Harper and Gold Glove and Clemente-esque Puig in CF would be...but but but the POWER. Then Jimenez moves to DH, Robert moves into CF, World Series practically guaranteed.)

Who else would it be? Our commissioner would argue not Mike Trout. Definitely not Kershaw. After that signing, we’d have a thread 50 pages long dissecting why it wouldn’t work. In all likelihood, it comes down to scouting. The odds on Machado/Harper/Arenado aren’t much better than 1/4th or 1/3. In all likelihood, we have to find another Carlos Quentin who is playing with someone else right now . Of course, the REALLY hard part is separating a Marcell Ozuna from Christian Yelich. Imagine that Yelich ended up in StL instead.

I guess the point being that Corbin would be similar to the Lester move to the Cubs, except we didn’t have two handfuls of surefire position prospects already contributing or in the upper levels of the pipeline. At best, there are Jimenez, Robert, Madrigal that are LIKELY regulars, and we all know the question marks about the latter two. You can probably squint real hard and add Collins and one of the four remaining outfield prospects to those three. As far as who could be traded for Gray, it’s impossible to know...and it’s probably a midseason move to me in 2019, because the Rockies want to give him one more chance, just like we definitely don’t want to sell low on Dunning, Hansen, Burger, Sheets, either. Trading Cease for him is too risky for both teams, and Narvaez and a pitcher with tons of question marks is too light still. Thanks to the poster who listed those pitching deals. 3/8 or even 4/8 seems to be better than I would have expected, but with the Sox...we expect to be on the wrong side of that equation more often than not. That said, the Sox preferred target zone/range of $50-75 million or even three year deals in the $30-50 million range seems to be more realistic on the veteran pitching front.

I guess the better question now is what would it actually take to see a change? Sandy Hook? Las Vegas? They couldn’t even get the bump stocks. After Parkland, momentum seemed to shift again with the kids involved, but it eventually dissipates until the next incident (Nelson was very visible on this issue in FL and lost his Senate spot). It seems ages ago already since the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, which became more about anti-Semitism than guns. Part of it is this 24 hour news cycle that has become even more compressed since 2015 and Trump’s daily tweeting bombardment. At any rate, if this guy had a Glock and not an automatic rifle and still killed an experienced officer...someone will argue that the police should be even more heavily armed. Yet arming everyone to the teeth, instead of serving as a deterrent, seems to be setting everyone at hair’s trigger, instead. The cynic within believes not even migrant women and children being gunned down at the border by civilians in mass numbers would move the meter. In fact, it actually might lead to even more migrant shootings within the US as more and more individuals feel empowered to start playing ICE officer/interrogator. And that doesn’t even account for this “war against the media” that can only accelerate so far without tragic consequences.

Well, maybe CNN will have nothing better to do if they boycott the White House after the Acosta banning. 13 dead now...I think everyone is so tired of politics that we have to hope he has no obvious affiliation either way. Emotions are still pretty raw from two weeks ago. I can just imagine if he had any ties to Central America or Mexico, yikes. As it stands there’s supposed to be an announcement today or Fri about making asylum cases at the border next to impossible for one to file. Authorities have not identified any victims inside the bar or the gunman, but a law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case, described the shooter as a 29-year-old man armed with a Glock .45 handgun and a “smoke device.” The shooter drove his mother’s car to the bar and did not say anything before opening fire, the official said. latimes.com

I would have said this same exact thing about Mark Buehrle, John Danks, Jose Contreras...in the past. You look at your payroll and all of a sudden, you’re the Seattle Mariners and stuck in no man’s land again.

And what if that fails and Arenado re-signs with Colorado? Then you have to go ahead and add Donaldson/Moustakas, Nelson Cruz, McCutcheon/Adam Jones and at least two veteran bullpen guys for this to make any sense. We still don’t have a clue what the Indians will actually do, either. At any rate, to answer your question, there was a domino effect with LaRoche, Robertson and Cabrera, but those were still Tier 2 guys...not the cream of the crop. Same with Frazier or Samardzija. They’re playing in a totally different ballpark right now with the names being bandied about. Unless you had 20/20 hindsight, the odds of hitting a top tier free agent pitcher over the last decade and being completely satisfied with that contract can’t be better than 15% odds...who actually believes we are going to buck those odds, and why?

Generally, you don’t trade your two high affordable and in their prime high quality lefties for an older and definitely more expensive version...so now we’re putting Corbin in the same category as Darvish, Tanaka and Ohtani...that he’s guaranteed to be the ace and anchor the rotation for the next five years? That was always the ONLY prior justification provided by Hahn for potentially spending $125 million on a pitcher. Well, we don’t need THAT exact pitcher for another one or two years...which means the risk is even higher of an injury before 2021. If we were already going adding Harper/Machado...THEN adding Corbin on top, you could see the logic of it. But there needs to be a superstar position player to even start dreaming of being competitive the next two seasons. Seriously, we sign Corbin and maybe get 159 extra season tickets sold. He doesn’t move the meter...not nearly as much as JD Martinez/Cain/Yelich moves do. Pitching is way too volatile. Look at the supposed boy genius Epstein with Darvish and Chatwood.

It equally makes no sense to overspend on a pitcher who is definitely not an ace, is switching from the NL to the AL and nothing resembling a pitcher’s park...and expect anything but typical Sox free agency results. Its idiotic. You want pitchers? Go out and trade guys for Gray that have three years in their prime at much more affordable prices. We have been down this road before. Big name free agent acquisition blows up in their face...there’s no payroll flexibility to go beyond $125-135 million, team ends up treading water or going backwards. There’s just no way in hell they are going to add $80-100 million to the payroll in one offseason. Even if the Indians traded Kluber, they’re going to get major leaguers or AA/AAA prospects that are going to get playing time as rookies. Unless you can guarantee 3/5ths of the Indians rotation going down to injury, we’re not within striking distance. It’s one thing to add Harper or Machado one or two years early. It’s quite another to overpay on the FA pitching market. I mean, we couldn’t even survive the John Danks contract blowing up, and that’s half of what Corbin’s going to get. Let the contending teams overpay.

Should have kept Sale or Quintana if the plan was to replace them with a lesser but almost equally expensive version of Jon Lester (circa 2014).

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/multiple-people-injured-reported-shooting-california-bar-085504878--abc-news-topstories.html Gunman is apparently among the dead...took place near Pepperdine University, first officer to respond shot and killed, students apparently involved, line dancing/ country bar https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/california-shooting-intl/index.html

Trading Hansen, Burger and Sheets when their values are at a nadir is the definition of going against buy low/sell high. Conversely, we’re overvaluing Narvaez if we think the Rockies would even consider dealing him for Narvaez. They’d ask for 2 of Burger/Hansen/Dunning and Narvaez to start out with. If it was just one of those three prospects and Narvaez, it might still be too light.