Chicago White Sox

Of course and I called out that all the Royals hires as annoying and problematic in most cases. But Haber was a major problem and the last major remnant of the failed KW / Hahn regime. For a period of time I was greatly concerned that Getz was going to keep him around. His exit is a huge win and the fact they are splitting up his responsibilities is just as important. Would I prefer a non-Royal hire to fill this role? Of course, but this is one area where I think it’s much less of a issue.

Who is not going crazy? And there is a reason these guys are still available…because the market was on hold while the Yamamoto tour was going on. Boras is looking for a fuckton of money for these guys and is just finally getting started in terms of marketing them. I don’t how anyone can say without a straight face that this market for SP isn’t nuts simply because teams aren’t eager to hand Snell $200M+. Someone probably will once the desperation settles in and Boras will happily wait until camp starts if need be. This literally happens almost every year.

How are Getz & Barfield the “architects” of the s%*# show Royals? I already called out Gene Watson being a suspect hire if that’s who you are referring to. I can assure you that Wong had very little to do with designing the on-field product for the Royals if that’s what you are implying.

Also, the Dodgers literally went out and said “f*** waiting until the deadline, I’m going to give Yamamoto the biggest contract ever and give up real talent for a talented but fragile arm making significant money”. And the Dodgers can say “what if Gonsolin is healthy”, but I don’t think they’ll like the answer to that question ?

Are you suggesting there isn’t a major demand-supply imbalance for SP right now?

To Harold’s point, this is now a pure administrative role. While it’s still a little annoying they keep hiring Royals guys, the guy has a lot of experience and I’m not sure this is the one that bothers me (Gene Watson is more worrisome IMO). Regardless, this is more about Haber getting removed from the org that is exciting.

Under no circumstance do you accept a package with less than two 50 FV prospects. Personally, I’d be targeting a 55 FV, a 50 FV, and a 45 FV guy with some helium. Ultimately, we need at least one piece you feel really confident about or a high variance guy with superstar upside plus a really good second piece. Nothing about that ask is overly crazy or outlandish.

The Snell stuff is the best. Most “insiders” claim the Yankees aren’t overly excited about adding him at big dollars, but then you have Boras…I mean Heyman…come in and say they like him and feel he is very possible. Again, if it ain’t coming from Rosenthal or Passan, take anything leaked with a major grain of salt.

Yup, nothing overly surprising there. And it seems like an entirely fair ask.

In all honesty, this is a very exciting move. Haber appeared to have too much influence in too many departments, which is never a good thing when you are super lean in many of those areas. Hopefully beyond just allowing the amateur scouting group to do their thing with minimal interference, we also see certain functions (like analytics) beefed up substantially. Also, as a side note, Wong actually departed the Royals org in October “on his own accord”, so it’s possible this has been in the works for some time.

Would they not have kept Haber as a paper pusher? Isn’t the problem that you’ve hinted at for months that Jeremy was too involved in actual baseball operations? Obviously you would know better than us, but the way this is being presented was he wasn’t straight up fired even if the intention was to push him out of the org by greatly reducing his responsibilities.

Per Bob Nightengale: Jin Wong is currently the VP - Baseball Admin / Assistant GM. As the title & bio suggest, it sounds like Wong is being brought for a pure admin role. It appears that Haber’s reach into other areas (amateur scouting, analytics, etc.) will be parsed from this role and returned to the core owners of those functions. My guess is Haber wasn’t cool with the proposed decrease in responsibilities and that is why he is “expected to depart on his own”. While Wong is yet another Royal, he is obviously vastly experienced in this capacity and it’s far less egregious than signing more Grifol buddies.

As a peace offering, I will also stop posting at the Hangout. While I’ve tried to be respectful over there, it’s clear I’m not overly popular with a subset of their posters and I don’t need to create more animosity between the two boards.

Outside of Rosenthal & Passan, most leaks are coming from agents and GMs purposely trying to create misdirection in the media. Nightengale basically admitted that all these guys literally will report anything an agent will tell them with little to no secondary confirmations.

Pass on Pereria. If we’re taking a chance on a prospect with massive contact issues, I’m much rather role the dice on Jones given his background and insane potential.

Heyman gets spoon fed crap from agents left and right…Boras probably has direct access to Jon’s Twitter account and is using the Yankees to drive up the price for Snell & Montgomery

Probably because of the Counsell hire

There is zero chance Cashman doesn’t add another starter.

Man I hate Yankees fans. Fools being acting like Spencer Jones is a future Aaron Judge. Can’t wait to taste their salty tears when they give up him or Dominguez plus much much more.

For Verlander…got Acuna’s brother for Scherzer I believe.

100%. And James is our Tony. Doesn’t mean you always have to agree with him, but he’s not your average fan who will overrate all their prospects. And I read through most of Tony’s stuff and think he does a great job. But at the end of the day, we should all form our opinions through a variety of sources and that holds especially true when it comes to prospects.

I’m admittedly trolling some here with this proposal for the O’s. Realistically, I think a hot market price could theoretically push a Kjerstad centerpiece to a Mayo centerpiece. Not suggesting Elias would do that, but just saying what it might take if the Yankees were to theoretically offer up someone like Dominguez.

I just feel like you have to come away with one of their LH OFs whether Clifford or Gilbert.

Frobby - I have nothing but respect for you & your opinions and my “biased” statement is directed entirely at Role Tide. You are a greater poster and I’ve enjoyed having debates with you…haven’t meant to come off as aggressive and apologize if I did. As for the Just Baseball list, I am admittedly not as familiar with them so would need to dive through and form an opinion. I generally place the greatest value on Baseball America with Pipeline, Fangraphs, & Keith Law next in line.