Jose Abreu

For the record, I don't think he gets called up this year either, but now there are a ton of people who understandably believe that Hahn already said it's not happening. There were about 5-6 reporters who were live tweeting that Hahn talk and Fegan is the only one who reported anything remotely similar to "Robert will not be promoted in 2019".

Yeah, I remember this. From what I remember, Fegan (from The Athletic) took this quote and basically paraphrased it as "Rick Hahn says Luis Robert will not be promoted in 2019". Unless he had a private session with Hahn that no other reporter had access to, Hahn didn't really say anything along those lines. That's my one gripe with Fegan, he often misconstrues quotes to align with his own preconceived notions, which is especially annoying when we have so few beat writers that publish similar stuff.

Even if he is on the market, the price would probably be enormous. He's an MVP-caliber player with 3.5 years of control left

He just got called up to MLB

Benyamin "Bustyamin" Bailey 0-2 with 2 strikeouts. Never expect to see that when I check those box scores

This, and also he's a horrible clubhouse fit for this team in particular, IMO. I feel like he'd clash with Anderson and some of the other young guys due to his "respect the game" mentality. That said, if Martin Maldonado can be traded to the Cubs and (so far) avoid drama with Contreras/Baez, I guess anything can happen

Your 140 years of data is meaningless when exit velocities are believed to be at an all-time high now. Pretending that the risk now is equal to the risk in 1880 is disingenuous.

When?

1. Russell isn't making that much money, not nearly enough where they need to move his contract for salary purposes 2. It's a little weird that you were complaining about Tim Anderson in another thread and wanting to trade him because you're "tired of his bullshit", but you want to trade for the garbage that is Addison Russell... even if the purpose is to DFA him, that's still pretty strange

Abreu

Correct, but I don't believe it fell through due to us not meeting their price.

For 2 years of him, the rumored cost was one of Bummer/Fry (Fry was thought to be more valuable at the time), Fulmer, Bush, and I think Laz Rivera? Since we'd be trading for just 1 year of him, I definitely don't think Bummer would need to be included, at least not without more coming back. Extending him is where I understand there being concern, but I don't think he'd cost that much to acquire

They don't even need to be controllable, IMO. In this climate especially, I can easily see us trading for one and then extending him soon after. It's probably one of the best ways to allocate some of this money given the weak FA crop. It would not shock me to see one of the players you mentioned, or someone like Joc Pederson, end up as our long-term RF

I still think they trade Joc this offseason. Maybe not to us, but somewhere. Their outfield is pretty stacked and now that Pollock is back healthy, they're struggling to get ABs for both Joc and Verdugo since they get Bellinger in the lineup every day.

That's basically what I'm saying. But having fewer holes to fill, in my opinion, actually does mean they are going to be better at filling them, simply because they'll have more money to do so and won't need to dumpster dive. Even if our current core + 4-5 or so free agents still isn't a good enough team, I still have a lot of faith in the non-Robert/Madrigal type of prospects in our system, plus the recent influx of intriguing talent in the DSL and Rookie Leagues

Re: bold, the point is that you don't have to add that anymore because they, ideally, rebuilt while knowing that their young, cheap core would be supplemented by non-garbage players. It isn't like the 2009-2016 go for it years because our young core has a lot more depth. Back then, it was always 4-6 players. For 2020 and beyond, it looks closer to a dozen.

All we know is that they have to spend. Even if the most negative of posters will disagree, they aren't going to maintain some of the lowest inflation-adjusted payrolls in modern franchise history with the clock ticking on many of the core pieces. That said, I don't see them spending on a "big fish", but that doesn't mean they'll have to settle for bargain bin types either.

Yeah he's not what he was right when he came up but I interpreted "aging poorly" as a steady decline throughout the years. Instead I see a guy who I am confident in pegging as a ~2 WAR player for the next few years

Who was that player?

How is Puig aging poorly? Save for his rookie year, he has been pretty steady

Hunter Schryver to AAA Tyler Johnson to AA Johan Cruz to A+ Jacob Lindgren to A+

Doesn't have as much value nor control as you'd think. Bummer, Colome, Steele Walker, and Bryce Bush would work from a value standpoint IMO. Most of it comes from Bummer of course

Not only is Trout on track to be the greatest baseball player ever, but he also is controlled for 11 full seasons at a cheap rate relative to his production. Why people would talk themselves out of choosing him is something I cannot understand

I definitely thinks that those 6 top the Royals' group, and re: Cordell, I knew I was forgetting someone. Throw him in, let him DH! I know James Beard has received an "85" speed grade but I think that Robert's 65 speed grade is completely wrong. Robert will very likely be the fastest player in all of MLB once he's promoted, so I'm not entirely sure that Beard is truly faster. I'd be curious to see their sprint speeds compared, or just to watch them race. What you said is correct, I just personally think that Robert is much, much faster than the scouting grades suggest. But yeah, throw Beard in the mix too. Do this lineup in 2023 and just get rid of the Tilson and Engel types