MiddleCoastBias

But it's happening live, so it's exciting! Until the foodies who read this site see this rumor and start putting it out on Twitter, and then it isn't fun anymore.

Haven't seen this posted elsewhere and thought it worth discussing. Tonight they'll be drawing the order for the 2023 draft lottery. Full info on the format can be found here - https://www.mlb.com/news/2023-mlb-draft-lottery-odds The Sox stand #15 right now (mired in mediocrity!) with 0.6% chance at the #1 overall pick. The first six picks will be denied determined by lottery and the remainder will go by winning percentage and postseason finishes.

"New" as if we weren't complaining about 3B for eleven consecutive years between Crede leaving and Moncada taking over. How quickly everyone forgets how big of a headache it was to find someone competent to replace the carousel of crap we trotted out there year after year. I'm in no rush to repeat that.

The pitch clock thing actually makes a lot of sense and will definitely be something I hadn't thought to watch. He looks gassed if an AB goes to like 6 pitches and then he needs a minute to recover walking around the mound. Great point, Dick

Coming into this off-season, I was looking at all of the top-tier SS on the free agent market (meaning a lot of teams needing to SIGN a SS) and I was thinking "wow, I'm glad we're not in that boat." And now I'm panicking because maybe we are, for some reason? I did not expect this.

Ooo I like this one, it's even better than the typical "there's a move that may or may not happen. I'm right if it does, but also it might fall apart." Now we get the generic "some people will like it, some will not." I swear, they should write horoscopes with the way everything is so "specifically" open-ended.

I think it was Cali that suggested trade Hendriks and have ReyLo close, and that gave me pause but worth considering. But I still think ReyLo is closer to being a closer now than he is to going back into the rotation.

More like the $100M+ question given how much starting pitchers cost now.

I'm assuming that it would've made sense to trade Vaughn before we let Abreu walk. Now we can't.

You make a lot of interesting points and a lot of things could go right with these moves, but my hangup is: ReyLo as our closer. Not to say he can't function as the closer, I just wonder if that's the move we make as a team trying to compete for the World Series? I get you don't know if a guy CAN close until you try him there, but that seems like a big risk to if we find out he CAN'T close. That's a move you make if you're a year or two from contention but a gamble play in what is supposed to be a contention year.

Tired: interesting that there are only two players (Eloy and Robert) with player-specific promos, don't want to risk advertising something for a player that might be traded. Wired: Sox confirm Hendriks and Giolito will be traded this off-season.

I'd be 100% in on this move. A lot of people are talking about other moves for bounce-back guys like Gallo (I don't understand that one) or Winker, but I would bet on Gleyber Torres being the player to most benefit from a change of scenery.

Gun to my head? Yes, but only for Benintendi (Conforto and Nimmo will be out of our price range. I'd rather take the bullet than Gallo.

This right here. I take it as a fun thought experiment and a way for seasonal authors and publications to stay relevant in the off-season, keep a conversation going. Purely entertainment. Why else is Vegas posting World Series odds on teams when they don't even know who will be on the roster? People are basically betting on favorite logos at this time of year and they're happy to take that money.

Agreed here. Guessing JR offered a token 1-year contract with the interest to play it year by year going forward, and Houston's 3-yr guarantee was too good to pass up.

Does that graphic list the second base depth chart as "No Garcia, please?" Incredible and I love it

Start the clock on when someone writes the first "Best Shape of His Life" puff piece this off-season, Grandal being the early favorite.

With everyone saying he's toast and physically can't play, what latitude does a team have to void a contract for health reasons or force IL stint and collect insurance to offset the salary? I wonder if this Murphy rumor is because the team knows his health is so bad that he physically can't play and they have a way to get out of the contract (without selling the farm).

Oh god the Dodgers are going to get Judge, aren't they. I would love me some Lux, though. I don't have trade option thoughts so I'll hang up and listen.

I don't know how his name is pronounced and I really don't care: I'm calling him Bernie Tosar.

*Obligatory "better than taking shots WITH Tony!" joke*

Interview from last year. At 5:40, he's asked about the Royals' identity and success with bunting. His reply - "at the end of the day, your team has to hit homers. You have to put the ball in the seats to win games. You need that timely 3-run HR." https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-7-pedro-grifol-kansas-city-royals-bench-coach/id1561838258?i=1000522536832

Some good, positive stuff in here. But the reference to him failing as a hitting coach was an interesting tidbit. Fire Frank and being in someone with a proven track record and it won't be a big deal, but something to follow.

Maaaybe, if you squint? The timing just seems off on that, like news of Grifol would've leaked if his decision was made before the Royals hired Quatraro.

And also sets up the actual manager to fail. Too much pressure when you have another powerful voice like Ozzie vying for attention or maybe not singing the same tune. That sounds like a disaster that no manager would want to take on.