caulfield12

Just that the odds of Eaton's body holding up until 2019-2021 are 50/50 at best. His borderline reckless type of game just leaves too many possibilities for injuries. We saw it already with Rowand and how quickly he broke down in his 30's. Shane Victorino, another example, although not as close as Aaron. He's a lot more multi-dimensional than Pods as well, because of his arm and RF defense...once Pods lost his stolen base aggressiveness, he lost 50% of his value. And Eaton's had a lot more pop to his game than most expected, simply looking at him physically. That said, when he got "homer happy," it took him away from his infield hit/BB OBP mode, which arguably was even more valuable to disrupting the opposition.

Let's not forget Hickman from University of Iowa/Chicago Public...he has a lot of potential/ability too, if he can get past the injuries. At one point, he was looked at as a 2nd-3rd round draft pick, with some even looking at him as a late first rounder.

So, off the top of my head, we have Linebrink, Greg Walker/Scott Fletcher, AJ, Tyler Flowers, Bonifacio, Beckham, Danks all going to ATL after the Sox...who else?

But does Bregman really improve the team's future outlook? How? For this to work, you need to get TWO 3-4+ war players out of a trade (and obviously Moncada has the potential to put up bigger numbers than that)...you can't make 1/1 trades like the examples of Urias, Turner and Bregman and come out on top. It's a numbers game, quality/quantity. For every breakout star you get, you're going to have 10 Gordon Beckham's. Q is consistently putting up those WAR numbers. Imagine if you'd traded him for the likes of Carlos Quentin (after 2008), Puig after 2013, or Abreu after 2014. You'd be kicking yourself. And those are all players who put up MVP type numbers at the major league level, not unproven prospects. The ONLY way this would start to make some sense is if Bregman was going to be a Lindor or Seager level of impact player at SS. But can anyone state this with 100% confidence? Based on?

It feels like we're almost too fixated on the Astros, at the moment. Better to take a step back and take a deep breath. While the Sox have lost some of their "bluffing" leverage (we REALLY need Q to compete this year), they still don't have to trade him, in the sense that finances are close to an issue for the organization. We also know the pieces that come back in June/July are likely to be ones who won't or aren't impacting the major league roster in the heat of a pennant drive. Ideally, we'd be finding pieces that will give us the look/s of the 2014-15 Cubs where everyone in baseball could project what was coming...that gives us back some leverage in the broadcasting rights deal negotiations, which are still arguably even more important than the trade return for Quintana/Jones/Frazier/Robertson.

He's not going to end up in CF in all likelihood as he fills out...from the one game I saw him in person, he's definitely impressive and has the swagger of a first round draft pick, but that can erode very quickly in AA. Probably better off holding out for THE #1 piece in a deal they're targeting, unless that happens to really be Tucker despite his ETA and they can also jam Reed into the deal...so their scouts would have to make that determination. Early season injuries (or spring training) or trade deadline pressures will also provide the Sox leverage. Of course, he could get hurt in the WBC if you hold onto him, too.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Dec 12, 2016 -> 09:17 AM) Duffy is a flyball pitcher that gives up a lot of hard contact and saw his velocity decline this year as the season went on. It might actually be smart for the Royals to sell high on him. If his strikeout improvement doesn't hold he'll likely not be worth the price the Astros would need to get him. Quintana just makes too much sense. Pony up. Because he started the season as a reliever and then had to ramp up in the first six weeks. He went 155 ip (2014) to 145 in 2015 to almost 180 last season. Fatigue. He'll be fine, but KC won't give him away since he's their best starting pitcher right now. But yeah...KC plays much bigger than Minute Maid or whatever that stadium is called these days.

The link to Victor Diaz is wrong, too. Interesting to hear the names of the "brain trust" listed out in terms of all those actually diagnosing and discussing the videos. Do we have that kind of brain trust on the hitting side? Who are the Hasler and Richard 280ZX Dotson on the position players like Moncada and Basabe? What does Jeremy Haber do? Fabian's name came up...just curious about Haber's role, currently. Hostetler didn't address Spencer Adams when his name was brought up...was that more because Hostetler chose to rave about Stephens instead or is there something else there? Btw, Tumminia has a really cool non profit project related to teaching kids in poor countries about the game (supported by JR and MLB scouts)...pretty sure they've gone to Central America/Honduras, Kenya, India and China on mission trips, for lack of a better description. His daughter was a minor league GM and is married to former GM of the Red Sox Ben Cherington. Interesting sports-driven family.

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/partial-list-winne...-011954352.html Golden Globe nominations...

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/china-flies-nucle...&yptr=yahoo Can a president-elect declare war on Twitter before he's even been sworn in? Can't wait to see how Trump responds to being called a child. http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/12/politics/chi...tion/index.html

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 11, 2016 -> 11:41 PM) Cmon. I am an American. I wouldn't vote for Trump, but now that he's in, I hope my wallet expands. I mean I don't think it will; he probably will be a disaster, but I can hope. I'm not rooting for his failure, that's for sure. It's kind of rude of you to suggest I'd move to Russia. I am an American through and through. I love our military and love this country. Yes I despise Hillary. I'm human and she rubs me the wrong way. Sorry I don't follow all issues. The election is over. Forgive me for taking a break from politics. Yes I despise Hillary. Yes I think Trump is evil one percenter. Yes I love Bernie. So shoot me. Haven't watched much political stuff at all since the election was over. Not following all the headlines regarding Trump/Hillary/Bernie. I showed Obama respect. I even voted for him and I'm Republican. Rather than look up Duterte to respond I'll continue to tell you I haven't studied this issue. If he's a brutal dictator no I don't like him. If Trump invited him here ... I told you I don't like Trump. If he invites a dictator who kills people to the USA, perhaps we should try to impeach Trump. No killer should be invited here. Look I responded to the guy who said "crooked Donnie" cause I thought I almost got banned for saying Crooked Hilly. But I guess I was almost banned for just being generally a dick not that one post. I wouldn't mind if Trump got impeached, even if the electoral college refuses to put him in. I'd take McCain as a compromise pick. I don't know how that works, who gets voted in if the electoral college refuses to put in Trump. I'd assume it's not Hillary by law. Pence would become president, then Paul Ryan would be next in the line of succession. You can't just choose someone else.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/11/opinions/tru...nney/index.html Guest article written by Republican Congresswoman Tenney about Trump's possible China policies

QUOTE (daggins @ Dec 11, 2016 -> 09:58 PM) I love the idea of signing Mr Handsome, Colby Rasmus. He seems like a good bet to bounce back and have a decent year. He'll never strike out less than ~30% but he can field and has some power. Good candidate to flip. He might not want to play for Nadir Sox though. I think Q does end up going to Houston, although I could see the Cardinals being strong bidders. I think once Turner signs with the Dodgers, Dombrowski and Hahn hook up again to send Frazier to Boston. Robertson goes to the Nats I think. Not sure what his market looks like. CF Tilson RF Coats/Avi LF Rasmus DH Melky 1B Abreu 3B Lawrie SS Anderson 2B C. Sanchez C Hanigan or trade IF Saladino OF May or Engel C Narvaez Rodon Gonzalez Shields Covey Holland or trade Jones Jennings Putnam Petricka Brian Clark Ynoa Minaya/Kahnle That should be good for 60 wins or so, accounting for any deadline moves. I think you mean Holland as a reliever, if Robertson is gone?

I'd go $5-7 million for a Carter or Alvarez, but would rather spend that money on someone like Rasmus that could competently play the field. Would also like to firm up that outfield by making sure Cabrera and Avi Garcia don't undermine the confidence of the young pitching staff too much. Not sure they would consider Austin Jackson again, but someone similar. With Tilson, we just don't know much about where his hamstring injury is right now...whether it's going to be fine or he'll lose a step or two, which would dent his value to the Sox defensively.

It seems "surplus value" calculators are pretty hard to utilize unless that prospect's in AA or AAA...and, even then, if you were to go back over the last 20-30 years of BA Top 100 lists and see how many of those prospects lived up to their original "surplus value" calculations, it would be WAY OFF if you compared projections and reality. It might give you some type of rough estimation at the time of the trade (who won, who lost the deal, from an immediate/instant reaction standpoint)...

What's the asking price for Pedro Alvarez right now, or did he already sign? Wonder if there's any interest in a Chris Carter reunion? Lefties, generally, have more value from a hitting perspective. I don't know if they can "time" it to sell high on Robertson in June/July and then give the closer's job to Jones and have him increase his value the 2nd half of the season or into next early next year as Burdi perhaps works into that position (depending on how the starting experiment goes) by mid-season 2018. Guess it depends on how strongly they believe in Jones' ability as a closer...if they can leverage that for even a higher return or if he's better suited to his 7th/8th inning set-up role. Then you also have to consider the "value" of shaving $6-8 million more off the remaining money owed to Robertson by trading him now.

The irony is that dictators (even in a democracy like the Phils) usually start out with huge popularity and almost all of the people behind them...so, despite viewing the drug killings/vigilante-ism from a Western perspective, that doesn't mean that there isn't a large majority supporting the strong man approach to the problem. That said, Leni Robredo (VP, she's from another party, as the Pres/VP aren't elected together, she narrowly beat Marcos' son) has resigned from the position and is trying to lead an opposition party against Duterte, but she's already being attacked for being a high society/social climber/1%er and not really connected to the needs of everyday people, either. People want action...not talk. Something concrete (see Trump/Carrier/union negotiations) or at least the perception that someone is fighting for THEM.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Dec 11, 2016 -> 06:59 PM) You know that screams Kenny. Calling PTAC....3, 2, 1 It's intellectually not quite honest to just attribute all the bad moves by a team to one official and the "good" moves to another. Sure, before last week, you had Eaton for Santiago, the Sale/Q/Eaton extensions (didn't reinvent the wheel, but good job) and then Abreu (was that Paddy/KW or Hahn). Unless you're blaming KW for every single veteran brought in since Adam Dunn in 2011 and you believe Hahn had no voice/say that whole time even though his salary was the highest (supposedly) for any Assistant GM in the game...let's also not forget that Hahn was the name all over the press with the Cabrera, Robertson and LaRoche signings. Did KW put a gun to his head? Or Jeff Keppinger?

Not sure what to make of that previous comment. Sing Street, Elle (that's DEFINITELY not a date movie!)...would love to see them get Best Picture nominations, Sing Street might have an outside shot but they usually prefer to go with movies like Sully or Arrival that had better box office #'s/public recognition unless the critical appreciation is just about impossible to overlook. Loving is another movie in that category. It seems LA LA Land and Moonlight for sure will be there, despite Moonlight's lack of visibility. Another fascinating movie was The Invitation, which came out much earlier in the year and has been mostly forgotten.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/10/will-amazon...&yptr=yahoo Will Amazon Go replace jobs? "I don't think we can stop it," author says.

If Anderson can continue to play that type of defense, it's worth 2-2.5 war alone. On the list of Sox problems, he's not in the Top Ten.

http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/...yone-is-smarter Winning is harder when everyone is smarter...teams like Red Sox, Nationals and M's have to go bold

http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/...r-jose-quintana Put this here because more and more articles are coming out theorizing the White Sox could compete theoretically as early as this season...by keeping Quintana.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/karl-rove-critic...-171151385.html Karl Rove rips Trump for Boeing comments.... Trump posted his initial tweet about Boeing just after a story featuring the company's CEO was published. In the Chicago Tribune article, CEO Dennis Muilenburg expressed concerns about Trump's trade policies.

After reading the Baumann piece, I think we shouldn't forget or fall asleep on Dunning, Adams, Danish, Stephens, Guerrero, etc. Think back to 2000. Three finesse pitchers in Buehrle, Fogg and Garland succeeded. You could add Bradford as well. Almost all of the power arms busted or got injured. In the classes preceding that, you had Sirotka, Snyder and Parque. We always fall in love with the guys who throw in the high 90's with ace potential, but the Sox have done better with Q and Danks types. Sale is the only truly dominant lockdown starter they've developed in ages.