caulfield12

Except Los Angeles…

Royals had four years, precisely. 2013-2016. 2017 already well on their way to a tear down. For every Elias or Hahn that waits due to ownership for favorable market conditions to eventually somehow favor them, a SD will jump in and take away a Machado, or the Phillies with Harper and Wheeler. The ONLY time this worked in FA for the Sox was when only COL needed a 1B, so they got Abreu before 2014 in a two team race…and then the Cuban Connection was enough to push Robert from St. Louis to Chicago despite actually being outbid by a historically much better franchise. Who picks Baltimore over roughly 23-25 big league markets? Maybe the National Aquarium…or USS Constitution.

He is clearly more Altuve/Biggio than Madrigal according to all O’s fans… Let them persist in their delusions. Let them try to thread the needle just like the Rays do nearly every single year…moving out those vets with 2-3 years remaining on their big league contracts. Let Bieber get hurt again while costing CLE significant payroll space…or Glasnow. Or Snell following in the footsteps of Rodon/Cortes, etc.

Montgomery is definitely worth more now. Flaherty has/had been declining for roughly three years…and still has a relatively high value because of the lack of quality AND affordable pitching. With half the trams in baseball hamstring financially by RSN revenue generation uncertainty…Cease is worth a ton. He’s the difference between SD competing and missing out on another wild card, where anything can and dud happen in 2020 and 2022.

Odds are it will end up at 0-3 or 3-5 fWAR or something like that with a brand new pitching regime in place…and especially with an above average defensive team versus bottom 3-5 in the entire sport.

Especially with the writing increasingly on the wall about an accompanying Luis Robert trade as well.

Let’s take this improved defensive team out for a spin and see what happens. However, odds are at least 2-3 and even 3-5 critical starters will get injured in spring training, when teams are much more desperate than mid January to make moves. And Dylan Cease is one of the most disciplined pitchers in baseball in terms of his mental and physical workout routines.

Nobody in a million years would have thought Adam Eaton would net Giolito, Lopez AND Dunning based off of one really successful season accompanied with a position change to RF from center and massive jump in assists. What would that equivalent be from the Orioles’ system today? It only takes ONE GM out of 28 to crack. One. And Getz has a lot more job security than virtually EVERY GM in baseball due to JR.

Wuhan, Hubei, China High pollution/smog/haze numbers today though. 68°Hi RealFeel® 70° RealFeel Shade™ 66° Partly sunny and pleasantly warm; air quality will be very unhealthy Max UV Index3 Moderate WindENE 4 mph Wind Gusts8 mph Probability of Precipitation25% Probability of Thunderstorms0% Precipitation0.00 in

Also Kopech Crochet Santos Leasure, etc. Can’t hardly get any worse than the pit they’re in right now. Worth noting Phillips’ defense has been trending downhill across three seasons and 30 the borderline for speed based players. Not the Royal and Ray we remember. Offense similar to Adam Engel in 2022-23. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/michael-a-taylor/11489/stats?position=OF Michael A. Taylor could dramatically improve pitching lines.

And a top 30 player in all of baseball over the span of 3 and 4 consecutive years. Much better better than Montas and Severino. Benintendi got $75 million at a similar age for one solid 2.8 fear supported partly by the Yankees' offense in that 2022 season...and ignoring the 2 1/2 seasons right before that when he basically fell off a cliff.

No way he gets less than Jean Segura at that age. "Segura will earn $6.5 million in 2023 and $8.5 million in 2024, and his contract includes a $10 million club option with a $2 million buyout for 2025. Segura, 32, spent the previous four seasons playing against the Marlins as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies."

Why you want him: Well, not because of 2023. The two-time All-Star and 2019 AL batting champion labored through a miserable campaign while dealing with injuries and whatever general malaise has befallen the Chicago White Sox. It’s difficult to fathom the hitting talent that logged four consecutive seasons with a .300 average or better vanished, but it is reasonable to think Anderson might be approaching a defensive shift to second base. Still, some team is going to take a shot on a hitter at an up-the-middle spot who ranked among the 30 most valuable position players between 2019 and 2022. What it will take to get him: Anderson is a candidate for a one-year pillow contract. Those tend to guarantee something between $10 million and the qualifying offer number. Yahoo.com/sports Let's see if Anderson gets more than $13 million...they already paid the $1 million buyout.

All those great character guys rubbing off. Royals’ milk and cookies guys. No porn. No alcohol. Must join FCA to be a part of the one and true Brotherhood.

He’s now known as Jose. And not related to Franco/3B.

What is the Top Ten this year? Stroud there? Tua? Mahomes? Jackson? Allen? Purdy?

Miguel Cleto is still out there. Somewhere in the world.

Dodgers Ohtani/Yamamoto Show will be #2 except for Memorial Labor Day July 4th and whatever sponsorship giveaways they can scrounge up somehow...

The White Sox odds of identifying Cole Ragans as the prospect coming back?

The Rays discovered Phillips was non-viable as an everyday starter something like 7-8 years ago...

We will see with Joyce, right? If his results coming out of Tenn are any different?

That all makes sense...if they continue to WANT to be a feeder team for the O's and the rest of MLB (fwiw, Pirates will start ascending now as well with their farm suddenly alive)...when they probably are in a position to out compete with them in terms of financial resources. ADD ADD ADD. Plus NYM are down. Basically have to worry about the Braves and Phillies, which is no small mountain to overcome but last year was at least forward progress for them.

Not even the White Sox are going to be that tone deaf as to start someone like this in RF. Or Sheets. Or Getz will already start out the year with the dogs baying at his heels....and sacrificing Grifol alone will hardly quell the discontent swirling in the fanbase.

The barbarian hordes are back at the gates if Cease goes into the regular season as OD starter and somehow manages to get hurt. 100% feels like we are are relying on starting pitchers going down on expected/predicted playoff teams to get a deal done now.

Who is Miami willing to trade other than Luzardo? Eury Perez and Alcantara have to be off limits for quite obvious reasons...