caulfield12

We've been saying all off season long, shore up SS, if you're going to do ANYTHING... But of course, we find a guy who just happens to play the two positions with the most depth on the roster in 2B and 3B. Now we don't know for sure if it's quality depth or not, but one would have to imagine at least two of Montgomery/Vargas/Ramos/Gonzalez/Meidroth/Baldwin would be able to handle 2B and 3B. If we go along with the theory that Vargas is slotted as the DH (and not a defined position), with Tauchman starting in RF and Baldwin at SS and Sosa at 2B...just let the kids play!!! If we've already given up on Fletcher and Colas for RF, fine. But at least find a legit CF candidate for when you eventually trade Robert. Don't suddenly act surprised and shift Fletcher there when his best position (and the only one where he has a positive asset/value) is RF. Some are already suggesting that Rojas should get some play at 1B. Why, why, why, when his biggest asset is being an above average field at third and second? Why are we paying Vaughn $6 million or whatever it is and already trying to replace him with a hitter lacking much if any offensive upside?

Well, we did just finish 26th in fWAR, and that's looking even bleaker now if you subtracted Crochet from the equation. Without him, the rest of the team was at 3.9, and a good part of that was Fedde. Fwiw, the altitude-challenged Rockies were 30th in MLB at 3.8.

They were 14-15 games over .500 at one point in early May, but I seem to remember a collapse against Texas and the bottom quickly falling out. When Shields was acquired, they were already starting to slide in the wrong direction. Of course, unless you were a big fan of the often-injured Erik Johnson or simply upset that JR and KW were once again favoring cash savings (Padres' subsidy) on Shields over protecting/preserving your prospect stash...because only Keith Law/Preller were on the Tatis trail at this point. And Shields had been bombed for something like 9-11 runs in a single game (in his previous start) and the owner at the time (Moores) was basically forcing his GM's hand in terms of dumping him on the market for whatever he could get, so the GM obviously had very little leverage to work with at that point.

For once it would be nice if he started off his first month in the 240's or 250's before rallying..

Meanwhile, the Tigers are going to give Skubal $250-300 million...

So we get ND PSU in Miami and OSU basically at Texas...not that it will matter if the Buckeyes keep playing like their last two games.

When can we reasonably expect all these exciting prospects to amount to a competitive team? 2027? 2028?

Yes we wasted roughly $30 million on a boatload of crap like Maldonado and Nicky Lopez. Pham and DeJong were the only decent moves. Pillar and Grossman were meh.

He was simply cheap compared to Bummer, okay, Brebbia then...

What is this fascination with players in their 30s? Did having all those vets like Banks, Wilson and Tim Hill last year help much in the overall scheme of things? Just let the young hitters and pitchers play...

Aaron Combs, RHP, 8th Round Combs is another pitcher who gets a lot of vert from a low slot. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb in saying the White Sox draft philosophy revolved around this principle. It’s a great shape fastball with below-average velocity at 92, getting huge ride and arm-side run. He also showed a sinker with slightly less ride and more run, and he may keep both pitches going forward. His curveball is a huge pitch with tons of movement and spin, at around 2900 rpm. It’s probably not a major league pitch, but the feel to spin is there, so you’re getting a potentially plus fastball, and the raw clay to build a couple of breaking balls. Combs is a very intriguing arm. baseballamerica.com Plus he's from the University of Tennessee, so clearly the next Crochet in waiting, lol.

32 homer pace if he played a normal season, but the crazy thing about 2023 Tatis is that he put up a 5.5 bWAR (despite that much lower .770 ops) because of how many outfield assists he piled up and his defensive runs saved, much like Eaton in RF in 2016...

And Baldwin wasn't on anyone's radar screen a year ago. Ofc, our #15 first rounder wasn't on the verge of non-prospect status, either (although he too was likeliest to end up at 2B, eventually, due to his lack of carrying physical tools in terms of range/arm.)

Nicky Lopez reminiscent even in that extra $300k. Only 1-2 million off without the Naperville or whatever local connections. Or was that Nick Massey?

This where you need KW...Jenks Sergio Santos Matt Thornton Jesse Crain Damaso Marte.

But imagine if it was Michigan/OSU Part 2?...hopefully they get at least ND to break up the Big Ten/SEC juggernaut. The money men must have been scared to death ASU was going to crash their party.

You're already forgetting Slater and Tauchman...so 3/12=25%.

Calls are even coming in for the versatile Scholtens.

To be fair he had a 959 career ops heading into 2023...he had over one full season off and was going through a position change to RF. 770 ops with Gold Glove defense is still pretty valuable, and the best player on the roster last year for the Sox...but there's no doubt JR was never going to give him anything approaching $170 million as an extension, let alone $340.

If they really had any degree of confidence in those Steamer projections for their young prospects...no reason to make this move. Or they simply don't believe they have a single above average defender at any of those infield positions, either. This is more about avoiding being the worst team in baseball history again... rather than building for the future.

Meidroth Well Vargas and Rojas sound almost interchangeanle as names at least. Hopefully Amaya was never given serious consideration as a starter at anywhere but Charlotte.

Christmas bonuses, Mortimer!

Except Soroka wasn't going to make the Braves' roster...but the sure, all things considered, we guaranteed his services and salary for 2024, which worked out quite well for him getting even more from Washington for next season. Maybe in AAA he doesn't get noticed or puts up Charlotte-inflated numbers. Now his family's financial future is much more secure.

Nick Lopez's veteran leadership and local connections were worth millions in marketing tie ins.

Soroka signed a decent enough package with WAS that he should have been worth more than Clevinger at the deadline...ofc, Flexen didn't go anywhere, either.