thxfrthmmrs

Sign both for RF and DH. All. the. Japanese. Hahn.

We need LHH period, not just slugger types. The bigger need is someone who could lead off and get on base (his OBP is .375 with a .208 BA for pete's sake). Nimmo fits all those criteria and plays all 3 OF positions. I don't see what's not to like if we could buy low on him.

Betts is a universally better player and you'd get him for a full season rather than 2 1/2 months. It's gonna cost you.

I thought about Merrfield as well but their ask will start with Madrigal if not Robert. I personally have Nimmo as target #1 in the trade market for RF, but even him won’t come cheap.

The point is getting someone who could also play the field rather than a traditional DH, plus he’s a LH bat and could handle 2B if Madrigal needs more time or struggles out of the gate. I also couldn’t imagine a scenario where he doesn’t play 1B over Abreu once Madrigal is settled. If we get JDM he’d almost certainly DH, keeping Abreu at 1B. I’d be interested to see who Jose could do at DH not having to worry about the field as much. All in all, Moose will be a nice fit for his likely reasonable contract.

He took a bad hop on a grounder recently but was otherwise healthy all year. Far cry from someone who is breaking down physically and couldn’t only play a position unless it’s emergency. His versatility and LH bat fits our needs and is within our price range (though he’s a Boras guy). I do not advocate playing him there long term, but play him there for month or so until Madrigal gets call up. At that point shift him to 1B and have Abreu DH.

Because?

We have scoffed at Moustakas in seasons past but I think he looks like a fine option for now. LH bat, and could fill in at 2B until Madrigal gets the call. For the $5M he's likely getting in Arb, I'm would be fine to let Yolmer go or see what I could get for him on the trade market, Mendick is ready for the backup IF spot and Leury could also play all IF spots in a pinch. I'd rather spend the Yolmer money on an RP arm.

I don't see Abreu leaving and JDM would be too costly of an upgrade at DH. That said, I'd rather sign Moustakas to 2/$30M, play him across 1B/2B/3B and shift Abreu to DH. Use the remaining money for Cole, or 2 mid rotation SPs in the Wheeler/Odorizzi/Keuchel tier.

Rodgers passed for 70 yards and 0 TDS in the 1st, 3rd and 4th quarter combined. I love cherry picking stats to write your narrative.

Jesus - it was only the first game on the season, NFL opener with no preseason reps. The hot takes are insane. I still remember all the crap Parkman said about Trub early last season and had to eat a big fat crow at the end.

Wouldn’t surprised me if Robert suffered a mysterious case of food poisoning during the last week of spring training and has to take a week off to recover. Hey LuBob, don’t let Rick Hahn take you out to dinner.

Fair point on injury but he’s a lefty bat and is still a .240/15/20 player this season and could give you 3 WAR by just being even a below average offensive player. Maybe the injury concerns and the increasing salary would knock the asking price down a notch or two.

Reading up on potential players on the block it seems like Kevin Kiermaier could be available with his contract becoming more expensive. He will cost a fortune prospect wise but him and Robert manning the OF would be awesome to watch.

Going for but low guys is my #1 preference, otherwise even in house guys like Mendick (who takes over the utility spot and left Leury play RF) or Cordell would even be preferred over the $5-7M I’d need to spend on Gordon, and then spend that money on an RP.

I am not a fan of signing a career LF to play RF, and Gordon is a flat out downgrade from an in house option in Leury.

If Sox are adding $60M+ in payroll next year you best hope they don’t waste that money and not make the playoffs because they have Alex freaking Gordon as their starting RF. He’s among the worst option for that spot. Heck I’d take Leury over him there. If a better option is available via trade I’ll will entertain it.

That team won’t be good enough offensively to mask the rookie struggles for Robert and Madrigal and Gordon’s nonexistent bat.

The strategy of casting bad players who shouldn’t be starters as starters hadn’t work out for us from 07-19.

I had him 4/4 in preference in that group, but would still take him over Leury, Gordon or Calhoun etc. I don’t think it takes a lot to get him either, but still have some untapped potential in that bat.

He isn’t a bad player, just isn’t a good enough starter on a team looking to contend.

2018: Haniger 4.6 fWAR, Nimmo 4.5 fWAR, Piscotty 3.0 fWAR, Polanco 2.5 fWAR, with Haniger probably the most available out of the bunch. I think they’d all be better options than a 36 year old Gordon who hasn’t played more than a handful of RF in his entire career (or forcing Eloy there).

I don’t think anyone is opposed to signing a middle of the bat, and upgrading RF, but they aren’t likely the same player. You have to sign one, along with signing pitching, then filling other holes through the trade market.

Out of the 4 names I mentioned, 3 of those are cost controlled for at least next 3- 4 years, and even Polanco is a reasonable contract himself. I also think to shoot for 50% of a top 5-10 prospect being an average player (meaning average starter) is too high. If we line up all the other pieces and are ready to compete next year, I don’t want us not willing to deal a Rutherford or Gonzalez of the world and settling for Gordon be the reason we came up short.

1B is the position we could use a stop gap with Vaughn being the 1B of the future. I just don’t see we have any RF that are can’t miss guys long term. LuGon, Blake, Adolfo and Walker don’t scream cant miss guys to me. The idea of going the trade market is we could save of the FA money in other positions, e.g. pitching. If we have enough money to spend and get a quality RF (which I don’t think Gordon is), then I wouldn’t mind.