caulfield12

BARF

Well then we're splitting hairs on the definition for truly competing because wild card at best implies competing still. 2012 and 2022 Sox were competitive but ultimately fell short and they were .500 plus teams or close to it at least. And that competitiveness is only based on being ensconced in the very worst division in baseball.

Seem to remember getting eviscerated for mentioning how many games TA and Moncada missed...another season added on to the back of the baseball cards, the overall trends are now that much clearer.

Jesus' "manger" arguably worth $40 million according to nationwide sports marketing campaign the last couple of years... If anything, salarywise, baseball was well behind soccer and NFL and NBA because it's the so-called least complicated or glamorous sport. Joe Maddon kind of broke that mold as a celebrity manager and marketing draw in his own right.

Still don't see who's going to watch over Robert. If anything he will feel more entitled and emboldened as the clear remaining franchise player. It's borderline ridiculous that they would theoretically have to bring in Salvy Perez just to "lead him" since he seems to be pretty passive in general...enough that he couldn't identify a former Blue Jays manager in his own clubhouse for half a season. Seems to pretty much march to the beat of his own drum/mer. Vaughn or Cease are the leaders now? Definitely not Benintendi by his body language all season.

In Silicon Valley shouldn't the same dynamic have existed for the A's...some overconfident/narcissistic Elon Musk type who believes he possesses the ability to walk on water and/or sign Ohtani?

You can't possibly be serious about competing with either Santos or Lopez as your closer...

Well...Adolis Garcia and Arozarena almost provided two separate WS winners on their own.

https://www.mlb.com/news/manager-rumors-and-candidates "It appears we are down to a final three. According to MLB Network insider Jon Paul Morosi, those candidates include Padres senior advisor Mike Shildt (former StL manager controversially pushed out) and bench coach Ryan Flaherty as well as Angels infield coach Benji Gil." Has to be the last managerial hire Preller ever gets in SD.

Chances of going to playoffs likely much higher at midseason trade in theory unless it was starting off with the Dodgers...who aren't exactly a sure thing these days, either. (Especially if Ohtani ended up in SF.) Braves, Orioles, Rangers, Astros, Phillies, etc. Especially since Sox playoff odds less than 1% already.

At least he was exceptional at fielding...which is far better than being bad at everything. Heck, those Gatorade showers were at least memorable. Best self-produced Latin American prospect in decades...at least non Cubans-wise.

Lucas Love all based upon 2024 Friends & Family coaching staff combination miraculously outdueling money/years??? To pitch for the worst team in baseball? A Top 15-20 FA (at worst) in this market still?

Like Iowa FB fans as they win 2023 Big10 West but lose to Michigan or OSU 61-0 in the Championship Game and then have to face 2024 USC UCLA Washington Oregon…with coaching/managing equivalent of TLR in Ferentz still running 2002 jailbreak screen offense with an immobile pocket-based QB.

Now you’ve only got roughly 8-10 remaining major moves/decisions they have to hit exactly right…like 2004-05. And then all major prospects hitting the ground running without any setbacks…Vaughn being a 2+ fWAR 1B, etc. Quero has to be 2-3 fWAR, Montgomery 4-5 fWAR, Brayan Ramos 1.5-2.0 fWAR, Schultz 3.0+ fWAR. Eder or Nastrini has to stick in the rotation. Crochet has to stay healthy/productive for once. On and on.

Sounds like another bad Benintendi deal if you pick the wrong version equivalent of let’s say 2022-23 Michael Conforto…

It’s basically only enjoying Luis Robert Jr. and/or hoping he avoids another career-threatening injury before he can be traded for optimal value at some point this year or next. Which will just piss off about 2/3rd’s or 75% of the remaining fanbase in the first place due to collective overall skepticism.

2025 pretty sure. Same as Kopech.

Manaea’s velocity is shot and he would get destroyed at GRF compared to that massive outfield in SF working to his favor at night especially with the marine layer. Just doesn’t have enough differentiation in pitches as stuff has deteriorated badly over the last 2-3 seasons. Think Keuchel’s final contract Sox in levels of ineptitude bad. Or Derek Holland.

$135-155 million seems much more realistic…especially with Cease, Jimenez and Moncada (plus offset or subsidy financially of around 50% or more) trades all increasingly likely in the next calendar year.

Let’s say we had Michael Wacha off his 2023 season…the problem is not even going to be realized until later that his value from Year 1 and then that second year option doesn’t exactly lend itself to slam dunk overwhelming value in trade. The only thing that will make sense for Tier B veteran players outperforming their deals is going to be second year options that are quite expensive…in that $14-16 million range, like an Andrew Heaney as well. So now you’re left due to contract risk in Tier B of the pitching market mining for nuggets almost exclusively in Tier C/D. Which means you probably are only going to get 1 huge surprise to the upside…2 if you’re very very fortunate out of let’s say five starters and relievers you’re paying between $6-9 million or so. Out of $50 million in Year 1 FA spending, which might already be the upper band limit on what they spend for 2024 in FA.

If Severino's getting $12 million after last year they're doomed...

The biggest issue is simply getting players to hold their own and put up a 1-2 fWAR. At least to look like they actually belong in the big leagues. A lot of posters seem to be penciling Ramos in at 3rd base for future infields. Hard to really have faith in any of those names after how bad Colas crashed and burned after being gifted a glide path to the starting RF position. Wasn't Getz the one most responsible for signing off on their big league readiness? Unless he simply didn't push back and went along with the big league front office egos/agendas... Ultimately, it's far easier to recognize the ones who won't make it than the ones who will stick. Pushing Lee, for example, into a position he clearly wasn't ready for...did him a disservice.

Or Soto...

Probably had this move ready behind the scenes/unofficial "wink wink" for months and months.

That works quite well on a winning team...not so much on last year's Cardinals or White Sox. He kinda wore out his welcome in SD and NY, but that's a common theme throughout his career. Not sure he's the right leader for a 90-105 loss team. Plus he's a lot older than you'd think.