caulfield12

If only they had this kind of starting pitching depth in 2003/10/12 etc. But yeah most baseball fans love the hitting side more than the pitching aspect. KW's whole philosophy was essentially giving Sox fans 7-11 games with lots of fireworks going off. Emminently preferable to what we will see the next couple of years out of the offense.

We will likely never know what NYY Rangers and Giants were offering. Just that Baltimore was always going to be light unless the Padres trade him for even more this mid season if they're stuck around .500 again.

Burger Watch 2 lol...

2 1/2 to go is where SD moved on Soto...that's certainly a possibility. Next offseason doesn't feel realistic if he's a near MVP caliber player at that point. Hard to put up those type of numbers with current projected Sox lineups as well.

Who would rather have Duran Porter Leiter? It's not like Texas was going to deal one of their two most coveted Young outfielders unless Cease was leading the AL Cy Young race at the halfway mark of the season...maybe not even then for Langford.

As long as they draft a college player with higher ceiling and plus tools for a change...doubt they will go against past form and take one of the 2-3 prep position prospects that will be under consideration just months from now.

Iriarte with lowest floor and highest ceiling ... lots sleeping on him.

Boyer, Our Chuck and Merkin retweeted?

All five Central teams lined up #19-25 lol. You would never figure out the near hopeless one going by this.

PetCo and a really strong defense behind him will work wonders...

Might as well throw in their blocked young catcher as well...Basallo.

"That's a slightly painful trade, probably because I heard the (good) Cease news before I heard (the bad) who we gave up. Thorpe, Iriarte, Wilson, and Zavala. Thorpe is the tough one. BUT.......we get Cease for two years, and our front four will match up with anyone. The Padres are a better team in 2024 than they were an hour ago." go to gaslampball.com for Padres' fan reactions

Not adding Head or DeVrieze tips it slightly to the Padres' side. Then again...who knows, maybe Wilson shocks the world, but SD has tons of questions across the bullpen and wouldn't have included him if they liked his upside all that much. Reunited with Tim Hill.

Tatis Machado Bogaerts Kim Campusano Cronenworth is fine...it's the other three spots at the bottom. All depends on how quickly Merrill adjusts.

Had to get payroll under $200 million after Seidler died. Too much downside risk attached to that salary.

Thorpe definitely ahead of Quero...and Nastrini.

https://twitter.com/ProspectsLive/status/1768074190521860563?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet

This is where all that international spending is paying off again...we are cornering the market on Venezuela. Bring back Ozzie lol. https://www.prospectslive.com/scoutingreports/samuel-zavala EVALUATOR: MATT THOMPSON Age: 16 yr Height: 6-1 Weight: 178 lbs Hits/Throws: L/L Acquired: 2020 IFA RuleV: 2025 Overall: Padres signed the 6'2", 180 pound Zavala out of Venezuela for $1.2 million. Zavala is a left-handed hitter with a future up the middle projection due to his strong defensive traits. It's a contact over power offensive skill set, but the power should come as he gets stronger. He's one of the younger players in the class but also has one of the better swings, taking advantage of his quick hands. OFP: 35 Risk: Extreme

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JR will never spend for it again in FA.

Wilson would obviously just be a throw-in for the 2024 bullpen to help hold the fort down in the Lambert spot...

DIllon Head or DeVrieze 50/50 one of the remaining 3 names... Iriarte as the #8 in their system should be just off the 100 mark...as DeVrieze as the #1 international signing was listed as #99 in some of the update lists, so think 100-115/20ish range for Iriarte. And Balta certainly didn't predict FIVE players going for Cease, either. All depends on these other three names, though. Likely pushes the White Sox system to the #12-15ish range, in all likelihood.

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/padres/jairo-iriarte-683568 The Padres were limited to handing out $300,000 max bonuses for the 2018-19 international signing period, and yet signed Iriarte for only a quarter of that at $75,000 out of Venezuela. Over the last five years, he’s developed into one of the top arms in the entire system, first becoming a starter for Single-A Lake Elsinore in 2022 and then breaking out even more last season with a 3.49 ERA and 128 strikeouts in 90 1/3 innings between High-A Fort Wayne and Double-A San Antonio. San Diego moved Iriarte into relief when he first reached the Texas League to prepare for a potential MLB role but extended him back out to 70-plus-pitch outings in September. On pure stuff, it isn’t hard to see why San Diego would have considered using Iriarte out of the MLB bullpen. His fastball sat mid-90s and touched 98 mph in Double-A, and the heater showed good ride and run with the 6-foot-2 right-hander looking like he was effortlessly hitting the high arm-side corner consistently. His sharp low-80s slider can dive to the opposite end of the zone, moving away from righties and backfooting lefties, while a low-90s changeup doesn’t necessarily have great separation but does have the fade needed to run away from opposite-side bats. Iriarte doesn’t necessarily control those darting pitches well, however, especially the breaker and cambio/change-up, and Double-A hitters laid off the stuff outside the zone, leading to a career-high 13.5 percent walk rate at the higher level. The righty’s best route remains in a starting role, given the ceiling his swing-and-miss arsenal provides, but if walks keep piling up, he could flip back to relief where he can still get batters from both boxes out.

Iriarte a $75,000 sign out of Venezuela... Jairo Iriarte, RHP 22-year-old Jairo Iriarte enters this season as MLB.com’s #8 prospect in the Padres farm system. The right-hander began the 2023 campaign with Fort Wayne before being transferred to San Antonio on July 14th. In 27 combined outings (21 starts), Iriarte went 3-4 with a 3.49 ERA. He struck out 128 batters across 90.1 innings of work last season.

Second Juan Soto trade keeps recirculating in different directions...