ChiSox59

This. There is legitimate upside in holding Cease until July. Of course there is always risk any pitcher goes down with elbow or shoulder injury, but if he bounces back to a Cy candidate, you're getting better offers in July than you're getting now, even with 15-20 less starts of control.

Isn't BAL going to have a serious 40/26 man crunch in the next 18 months? They can't just hoard all these guys forever.

Again, doesn't really matter but Bradish career ERA+ is 110, and Grayson's is 97. So if that's the measure, not sure there is much support for that claim. Cease's ERA+ past three seasons is 131. That seems like a better measuring stick, which includes both a Cy Young runner-up season in 22, and season where most went wrong in 23.

Nice post. I think most here would agree that Kjerstad/Cowser + Ortiz is a good baseline package. I think the supporting pieces will need to be better than bottom end top 30 types. Like half the league will be in the bidding for Cease, so its gonna hurt. Not that it really matters, I don't think there are too many non-O's people that would take Bradish or Rodriguez in the 2024 season over Cease (putting aside contract, control, etc.). Rodriquez is obviously a wonderful young SP any team would love to have and Bradish had a huge 2023, but that is a major leap to expect those guys to be better than Cease in 2024 (especially with the same defense behind them).

Just give the job to Jirschele in that scenario. It’d be Montoyo tho

I kinda like “More work to do”

Says the biggest meatball of them all. Amazing. Who gives a s%*# if he had options? The Sox literally have like 3 big league relievers at this point. If he sucks, DFA him in May. It’s the same exact situation with Dievi Garcia. Post hype SP prospects with tons of cheap control are the exact type of guys the Sox should be trying in the pen in what appears to be a lost season. 75% of the time they turn into nothing, but that is how you find legit controllable pen pieces on the cheap. I dont pretend to know more about Pitino than the Sox, so I am sure they had their reasons but there are at least 3 other guys in the 40 man with clearly less talent that you’d think would have come first. That said, it’s not like this is a big loss. Were talking about the very back of the 40 man divisions on one of the worst rosters in the game. it’s just a curious move.

I am not saying he's the answer to anything. But he was a curious choice to DFA (I mean, Sammy Peralta is on the 40 man - that man was batting practice). Patino just seemed like a great guy to give an extended try out to in the pen in 2024.

Patino claimed by the Padres. Dumb move.

I mean, don't get me wrong, there is a fair share of trash. But a lot of it has been recently acquired. I think we're pretty much down to Deivi Garcia, Sammy Peralta, Lane Ramsey, Carlos Perez, and Zach Remillard as legitimate DFA candidates. I just listed of 5 guys - but its not very hard to squint and see each of those guys playing a role on the 2024 club - especially the relivers, and even Perez as the third catcher. Guessing Peralta and Remillard are next on the chopping block.

Then they can pay $175 for a mid rotation starter in Jordan Montgomery , or continue to lack the pitching necessary to advance in the playoffs. The latter worked out great for them in 2023!

How many of those guys need 40 man protection?

He's really dying on the hill.

Right!? They keep Holliday, Cowser, Mayo, Basallo, Norby and their entire MLB roster intact. Its a big ask - to be fair - but you gotta give to get, and at some point the O's have to trade some of these dudes before the 40 man crunch. That is why I am not moving Cease to any other team until the O's blink or another team vastly overpays.

There's a decent chance any prospect busts. Moncada was the consensus best prospect in the game, and Eloy a can't miss top 3-5 guy. Not all prospects turn into superstars. No other club is beating that package, realistically. And we all know the O's need a guy like Cease more than the Dodgers or Braves. I also don't really see any similarities between Eloy and Kjerstad.

Kjerstad, Ortiz, Povich and Beavers is my ask and I am not budging.

That isn't a haul. Sox will almost certainly get two top 100 prospects, plus another solid piece (back end top 10 of a solid system), and lottery ticket.

Somewhere, Balta is in shambles.

Literally 20 of the 30 teams aren't players for top tier FAs. Baseball's system is broken. Its a game where you can't really buy a championship because well - baseball. Any major league team can win a 3, 5, 7 game series against any other team. But you can certainly buy yourself a much higher likelihood of a playoff bid. Its super lame seeing the same 5 teams acquire all the elite FAs with the other 5 occasionally nabbing one.

Puke. Patino is a guy I wanted to give an extended try out in the pen in 2024. Anyone know off hand if Patino has been outrighted before? Guessing not based on the pedigree.

More the merrier for sure. I do feel like Getz would prefer closer to the majors guys, tho.

I meant payroll isn't an issue in the sense that I don't think $125M is a hard, cannot pass limit. The Sox payroll has been in the $180-$200M range the last few seasons. JR obviously wants to cut payroll, but I don't think the current payroll of like $118M is the max. That's all I mean by say the say are not at their limit.

I don't really expect the Sox to sign a FA SP. Not because of strict budget limit (like $125M is a hard limit and Getz cannot possibly go over that in any circumstance), but because they're not really trying to win in 24 and doing a fairly hard reset. Then again, I would NOT (fixing typo) be shocked if they did sign a stop gap SP. I am not really sure what their plan is at this point. Being limited to the 10th overall pick really negates the benefit of being god awful.

I dig it. I'd also be calling the Giants to try to get Joey Bart a change of scenery. They just signed Murphy relegating him likely off the MLB roster. He's been awful in the majors and probably is a bust at this point, but that's the type of guy we should be trying out.

I tend to agree, but a Joey Ortiz acquisition could change that.