Eminor3rd

I’d be shocked if the Cubs gave up Happ like that. But also that Heyward contract still has some length to it. Yeah, we have the payroll, but it won’t help us if we don’t save enough of it to get actual good players when we need them. If you could actually get Happ then sure, but otherwise, if we’re willing to be inefficient with the big payroll gap to get better, I think I’d rather spend that Heyward money overpaying Machado by enough to get him here.

I’m going to guess you have no idea who he is.

Ah, it seems “So is no one falling on the sword for 2018?” has fallen off the first page.

Wow this dude is still playing baseball?

I think you’re right on here, but I think that the Phillies are in the exact same boat with the exact same motivation, except closer to contention. So now it becomes more than just “spend higher than the market,” it becomes “spend higher than the other guy who is ready to spend higher than the market.” I believe this front office is ready to throw real, big money at this rebuild. I believe they’re ready to step up to the plate with the NY/LA teams on pieces they really want. But I don’t know if I believe they’re ready to outspend Middleton, at this juncture, when he’s essentially trying to play the same game.

There was speculation posted from some tweet a few posts back.

If the Philles WERE out on Machado (I don’t think they are), it would drastically increase our chances of signing him, IMO.

Wait what? His health has been great since 2017? The guy who missed a third of the 2018 season and just had offseason knee surgery?

I worry especially about Keuchel because he already sits in the low 90s and is heavily contact reliant. I guess that might mean that he’s already good at pitching to contact and can get by with diminished stuff, but I can also see it mean that when he throws 88 and loses some bite on the breaking stuff that he will just be relentlessly shelled.

That list made me nauseous.

I was referring to our posters here as the accountants. Sorry, forgot green.

Yep. White Sox accountants come out of the woodwork again. FWIW, szymborksi mentioned recently that the White Sox heavily outsource their quantitative analysis. So maybe we should remember that we don’t know anything.

Chavis, the guy who Spent half of last season suspended for PEDs? Yeah, much better role model for our young players.

This FIRE stuff probably makes a ton of sense for you, then. It’s like the meta game of work. Minimize time, maximize output. Youll figure it out man. You’re obviously smart. Stay determined. And be proud of what you accomplish in light of your extra challenges. They aren’t fair, but you’re doing it and that’s awesome.

My point wasn’t that there’s is a specific path to follow, my point is that there’s a difference between being stuck and simply not being willing to take the risk to make a change. Everyone’s circumstances are unique. I read the article you sent. I respect the challenges you face. There IS a path for you to take (you described it) should you choose to take it. I’m not saying you should, I’m just making a distinction that most people don’t think to make. Which is what feels like CAN’T is often actually WON’T, and there are probably good reasons for the WON’T, but you can choose to disregard them if you want. I’ll never forget a moment I had with my piano professor in college. I hadn’t declared a major yet and was stressed about it, but was doing a music minor. I asked him, essentially, how he decided to go for music full time, given how hard it is to make a reasonable living with that degree. He laughed and said something like, “it was never a choice. I’m a piano player and I’ve just been figuring out how to make it in the world.” That was the day I knew I wasn’t gonna be a music major, because I was asking the wrong questions. If you want to be a software developer, you can BE a software developer. How you’ll make a living as a software developer is a related but different challenge you’ll have to deal with. If you’re just concerned about making a comfortable living though, then accept that as a higher priority and be comfortable and confident in your decision to do something else.

PM'd

For sure, now's the time to be creative. Depth and specialization are in. Yeah, we need to grow some stars, but we had those before -- we were missing the depth that the good teams have.

Yeah great guy but we don’t want to be the ones to win that bidding war at this point. The Braves and Rays have farms as strong as ours and have way more incentive to win now.

I don’t mind this at all. The ship on him being a productive enough hitter to start for a contender has probably sailed. If he can eat 25-30 innings a year on days where he starts at first, it makes his roster spot a lot more useful.

Right, but GMs that acquire relievers are generally acquiring them for the next two to three months. Anything after that is gravy.

I think if you wake up and realize you hate your job but are too far down the road to realistically change it, this sounds like a better alternative to perpetual misery and/or suicide. However, I think in the vast majority of situations, you also have the option of changing your career, even though it doesn’t SEEM like it. Try this, though: list all the reasons you “can’t afford” to make a radical career change, then look at that list and honestly count how many of those reasons are actually achievable through sacrifices (not unlike the FIRE methods in the article). Most likely, the option is open to you if you’re simply willing to make the necessary sacrifices. Which, you may not be willing to make. But it’s an option.

Schedule a day when you’re both available to knock some of it out

Great article. Happy for him but I think our pitchers would really benefit from a high-end defender, even if he couldn’t hit at all. Unfortunately Narvaez seems to be the opposite.

Haha

No one except ron thinks he’s the problem.