caulfield12

Giolito has already passed the point of no return in terms of staying. Cease and Kopech are the only remote possibilities left. They probably aren't even willing to go be Lucas half of $131 million... let alone $100. Jose Berrios was going to be in the same free class before the Twins gave up on signing him to prioritze Buxton and then Correa. Jose Berrios signed a 7 year / $131,000,000 contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, including a $5,000,000 signing bonus, $131,000,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $18,714,286. In 2023, Berrios will earn a base salary of $15,000,000, while carrying a total salary of $15,714,285.

But the veteran deals (Grandal/Keuchel/Lynn/Hendriks/Benintendi, etc.) basically were just as bad if not worse than Robert/Anderson/Moncada/Eloy. None of them have turned out well, except for Luis Robert at least not "costing" the Sox money or not paying off the $$$/fWAR return on investment. Someone will argue for Moncada (still), but it's hard to spin him as anything but a disappointment as the former #1 prospects in the entire sport.

Jason? Even Anderson simply said it was a faster baserunner and he was thinking too far ahead and rushed the throw...probably flashbacks to similar play/s or muscle memory. He did have ONE that worked out well this year, but at least 3-4 that turned into absolute disasters.

Then there would have had to be international bonus money tied to him...

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-power-rankings-2023-week-11 Marlins, meanwhile, jumped from 17th to 11th... Also, Dodgers fall to #6 and "just" 8 games over .500 and now 3 1/2 games behind the blazing DBacks...first time ahead of LA in a decade.

Reds at 31-35 and one of the most interesting teams in baseball over the Cardinals at 27-39 a pretty big shocker as well.

This recent stretch for 2-3 weeks might have gotten Hahn out of the headlight for a period of time (and all the positive vibes about Liam returning from cancer)...but the schedule for the next 2-3 weeks is going to quickly remind them they're a 14-18 games under .500 when all is said and done. Especially if they have ANY problem in the starting rotation and/or trade away Gio, Lynn, Clevinger, Kopech, etc. Then you've got a mini-controversy brewing with Tim Anderson, again.

Howry and Foulke? Nate Jones? Roberto "Bobby" Hernandez, lol?

Middleton.

Bummer comes on...Dodgers are going to get out of their slumo in a hurry.

That's the season.

Needs to be at least a 650-675 ops guy eventually.

Benintendi with two intentional walks in one series.

Former Pads' starter Lamet entering game at 16 2/3rds IP and 43 baserunners allowed. Poor Rockies.

65 pitches means they can at least get 5 innings out of Lucas. Would love to have the Marlins' catcher as the back up, who is so great at blocking pitches...assuming Sox go rebuild/retool with budget cuts.

Almost impossible to win with just three legit hitters on the entire team... all stacked 3-5. Have to feel for Grifol's limitations. That said, no intuitive sense about bullpen management like Ozzie once had at the beginning of his career.

Giolito and Bieber could both suffer the same fate of being very good but not great pitchers sacrificed to the budget or payroll gods "out of financial necessity." But, to be fair, Guardians' fans are showing up in the low 30000's each and every game recently...at least on weekends. Really tough call for GM in that particular market.

Just like the Dodgers ordered their rookie second baseman not to swing throughout the spring. Of course you have to have talent to make contact with two strikes if you get behind in the count like an Arraez or even "prime" Madrigal lol.

56 pitches for two innings no bueno. Still tied... but boy do starts like this end up taxing the bullpen.

Apparently nobody noticed his velocity was down almost 3-5 MPH on average... or just thought he was still ramping up from inactivity/leukemia. Had to have seen this one coming a mile away. Joins Benintendi and Lynn on the unmovable (without sending money back the other way) contracts list...unfortunately.

We definitely have a fair amount of bad contract Strasburgs... just not in the form of one miserable contract in the hundreds of millions. Are you arguing the WS-winning version? Because he's now almost 100% sunk cost. But at least the Sox will save money pushing Giolito and Anderson out. Pretty soon the team will be basically unrecognisable except for Robert and Cease/Kopech.

Balta?

https://sports.yahoo.com/it-took-reds-phenom-elly-de-la-cruz-5-games-to-go-full-pro-wrestler-030632597.html Elly de la Cruz bravely declares himself "fastest man in the world," lol. https://sports.yahoo.com/listen-to-yankees-announcer-john-sterling-getting-nailed-in-the-forehead-by-a-foul-ball-044323267.html

Carlos Perez being projected at 0.8, that's kind of a head scratcher. Also goes to show how little value we're getting out of the pen per dollar invested.

One of, if not the last remaining links to their contention window guys... Always seemed to get the most out of his ability.