caulfield12

Winning teams is more important for AA and AAA compared to the lower levels...but the key point is promotions/marketing and market. Also, getting legit exciting prospects to watch...at least 3-5 on a team. Getting out of the minor league baseball ownership game is more about the $100+ millionaire class replacing the $5-10 million relatively "mom and pop" type of operations.

It's the complete unwillingness to consider competing (Royals killing everyone in spending) and yet stubborness to admit they have no other choice but to undertake an arduous rebuild that lacks all the advantages of the 2016-19 attempt.

The Padres didn't need Bogaerts...Preller simply got frustrated he missed out on his very top targets and ended up settling. Poor roster construction.

Penix Jr. stock sinking. McCarthy neutral.

Monaco was perceived as one of the favorites weeks ago but must have gotten low balled and nobody likes broadcasting a terrible team. Plus they won't give him the same flexibility they were unwilling to extend to Benetti. Or maybe Brooks would just to be spiteful...

$29.5 million total for a fringe All Star level player not particularly known for his defense? They can barely handle paying Benintendi $15 million...certainly Moncada will be out the door too with his option looking to soak up 25% of team salary. No way that will happen.

Nor should they...unless the prospect return is bordering on great. Would rather flip Benintendi back for Yoshida.

Shocked no MI talk. Statistically, feels like the Wolverines should have much more of a lead. If it holds to form...Washington defense will wear down in second. Penix going to have to pull a rabbit out of the hat.

And a former White Sox to boot, lol...doesn't that count for anything anymore?

Except this year the Royals so far are outstanding the entire AL East in free agency...partly in anticipation of building a bridge of competition to their new downtown facility coming to fruition.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/10-predictions-rest-2024-mlb-112110146.html Now seeing predictions Cease won’t move until the trade deadline. Going for the Jose Quintana FIP rollercoaster…at least that one ended well. The bullet point about the Royals outspending the AL East is hilarious…

Fabian has been there forever. It's just hard to imagine someone who has been part of the instututional memory forever being part of yet another reboot on the analytics side. Then again, you have JR loyalty and Brooks and Fabian with their ND connections, right? Farmer was part of that as well, in?his own?way. Paddy is going to be an interesting case. Has been on a long dry run ever since Luis Robert, Jr. Not hearing anything about Cuban Connections any longer, especially with the bloom off the Colas rose. Norge Vera, too. Janish has to be there was Director Player of Development...just haven't seen his name nearly as much as Barfield and Bannister this offseason. Janish makes six with Royals connections, by the way. https://www.mlb.com/player/paul-janish-457926

No Nolan Ryan, but you can have Steve Stone back for your guy who got suspended for telling the truth…that the Orioles hadn’t played the Rays particularly well.

Getz Barfield Gene Watson/Wong Shirley Bannister That's the core of your brain trust now. Four with Royals' ties somewhere along the chain...five if you count Nick Hostetler to Dayton Moore through the Braves/Royals...which started with John Schuerholz originally.

https://www.mlb.com/news/royals-assistant-general-manager-jin-wong-part-ways "He has had a major role in the negotiations of multi-year player contracts for the Royals, including Lorenzo Cain, Alex Gordon, Mike Moustakas, Danny Duffy and most recently Salvador Perez, who signed a four-year extension for a franchise-record $82 million in 2021. The Athletic was the first to report Wong’s departure from the Royals, but it's not clear exactly why Wong left. His absence leaves a big hole for general manager J.J. Picollo to fill in Kansas City's front office. Wong came to the Royals in 2000 as a scouting operations coordinator, advanced in the front office to manager of scouting operations and then made his way into baseball operations. He stayed on when former president of baseball operations Dayton Moore was hired in Kansas City in 2006 and has been a crucial part of the Royals’ front office for more than two decades." He's exactly taking over Haber's role. If anything, he will be even MORE important...along with Josh Barfield.

If the price comes down under Edwin Diaz...$85-99 million.

Red Sox are looking to sell...so they can buy (see Mariners/Padres) Despite their reported interest in Imanaga, the Red Sox have also expressed interest in trading away either closer Kenley Jansen or outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida. Both players were signed by the Red Sox last offseason. This seems to be an anticipatory move by the Red Sox, who need to free up some cap space in order to sign free agent Teoscar Hernandez, who has been linked to Boston since the middle of December. Jansen, 36, still has some value. He was an All-Star in 2023, and although his 3.63 ERA was his highest since 2019, he still provided a solid season outside of rough months in May and September. Yoshida, on the other hand, is still owed a lot of money, and is coming off a season where he posted just 1.4 rWAR. Yoshida could obviously improve, but he was a horrendous fielder and not nearly good enough with the bat (109 OPS+) to warrant other teams spending considerable prospect capital. https://www.yahoo.com/sports/latest-mlb-rumors-imanaga-hernandez-225628143.html Seriously underestimated how bad Yoshida would be in LF in front of the Green Monster, as he was a really solid hitter for most of the season. Seem to remember his fWAR being much closer to 2 for majority of season, it was definitely better than Benintendi's if I'm remembering correctly. Not that this decision would have won the GM any awards or accolades, with Devers equally bad at 3B as well. Foolish Baseball @FoolishBB · Follow I can wrap my head around the Red Sox trading Yoshida. What I can’t wrap my head around is teams wanting to offer actual prospect value without Boston eating money. He could improve, and WAR isn’t everything, but what org is tripping over themselves to pay a 1 WAR DH $18mm/year?

Forgot about the Raiders' situation with O'Connell...unsettled at best and likely moving on. Penix would seem to be more interesting to Denver/Payton. Not sure about Nix or McCarthy.

Seems too obvious. Seattle is another unsettled position now with Geno Smith and the way the season ended up disappointingly to so many frustrated fans there. TB stabilized under Mayfield, who has certainly earned another year down there. Arizona decision process on Kyler Murray can end up going either way. Jets to spend 1 year as understudy to Matt Rodgers? Of course then Rodgers would want one more season if things went "pretty well" meaning a playoff appearance or at least .500 finish. Pats? Redskins? Saints? Can't move on from Carr for one more year without a huge cap hit.

The biggest surprise here is that we were only behind about 70% of the league, as opposed to 90-95%. It certainly feels as of today that it's only the A's, Rockies and Pirates, and two of those three at least have much nicer/newer stadiums (A's will have a totally new facility) and the other has some of the most strangely faithful and undemanding fans in baseball if you look at their overall franchise direction and lack of results/performance since 2007 on the field. But especially Kris Bryant and getting rid of Arenado, for example. Fan favorite Blackmon on his last legs. Bud Black a solid manager but hardly more than average/decent. Could have just as easily have imagined Jeff Passan doing a guest podcast performance with Rockies, PIrates or Mariners fans and saying almost the exact same things.

Was Haber really in a position to overrule Shirley/Hahn/KW??? From what we know about him, his idea of scouting was almost completely from a statistical/analytics standpoint and almost nothing about passing the so-called Grady Fuson "eye test" from Moneyball...you never heard about Haber getting out on the road and doing anything resembling scouting or talent evaluation in person.

Surely a lot of those guys like Votto are in the midst of weighing similar retirement decisions. Martinez, Turner, Belt, Solano, Santana, Vogelbach, Cron, etc., all getting up there in age. At best 1-2 seasons left for most of them. Like Carpenter/Cruz a year ago. Brantley has had so many injuries...and made a lot of money, all things considered. You can be sure he's one of those guys who is thinking mostly about quality of life in retirement and being able to enjoy being able to play with his kids from a physical standpoint. Will always remember Michael for his father and being a terrible thorn in the side of the White Sox as the quintessential professional hitter for the Indians/Guardians when he was in the prime of his career.

There's really no point to hold onto Eloy, unless it's purely for offensive (and defensive on those occasions when inserted) entertainment value/provide a bit of legit protection to Luis Robert and hope for a rebound season so they can shave some savings off his contract and get at least one Tier B/C prospect back.

Free agents: 1. Rhys Hoskins, 2. J.D. Martinez, 3. Jorge Soler, 4. Justin Turner, 5. Joc Pederson, 6. Brandon Belt, 7. Michael Brantley, 8. Donovan Solano, 9. Carlos Santana, 10. Daniel Vogelbach, 11. C.J. Cron, 12. Garrett Cooper, 13. Joey Votto (We can also list Bellinger here, although he's more valuable as an outfielder than a first baseman.) Dave Schoenfield/ESPN.com FA List

You mean JR style cost-cutting management where the goal is to finish in second ... except that historic franchise basically has no excuses for not basically printing money, with the main issue relatively smaller stadium capacity/luxury box revenue.