SoxBlanco

I respect that opinion. I’m just not high on Kikuchi, and Rodon’s health scares me. Perhaps I’m too high on Bassitt, but I have been very impressed watching him the past few seasons. I think he would really improve the rotation and would make a difference for this team in the playoffs.

This has nothing to do with what you said. Sure, it means a lot when deciding whether or not to make the acquisition, but I was simply responding to your comment that what Oakland has to offer isn’t much better than what we can get in free agency. This has everything to do with what you said, and I don’t agree. I would easily take Bassitt over both of them.

I would easily take Bassitt over any of the free agents still available.

I'd be absolutely shocked if we didn't trade Kimbrel. He's as good as gone.

A is Conforto, B is Bryant, and C is Castellanos. And I'm taking Conforto all day.

Player A has to be Conforto, but I don't think B is Castellanos.

Bryant an option if we don’t convert on those guys? Or is he too expensive?

If that happens, I think we’ll make a push for Castellanos or Bryant.

More of an established vet. I think Chris Bassitt is a possibility.

If there were good ones available, then yes. But I think a trade for a SP makes more sense.

And now the Bears just traded Mack. This is going to be a crazy/fun weekend of sports.

This thread is about to blow up. HELL. YES.

What percentage of the 1200 need to vote yes?

The pre-arb gap is down to $125M. So will the players now counter with an offer that starts at $60M and increases by $5M per year?

So the MLB wants $200M over five years for pre-arb, and the players want $375. Split the difference, and you are at $287.5M. Start it at $50M in year one, and increase by $5M each year (50+55+60+65+70 = 300). That would lean a little more toward the players in terms of total dollars, but it would be much closer to what the MLB wants for an initial amount.

Because if they offer that a month ago, there’s no way the Union takes it knowing they still have time to make the offer better for them. And at that point, the “meet in the middle” number is much higher. There’s just no way either side would be motivated to give any ground to other side until they absolutely have to.

Exactly. I guarantee everyone here would have gone apeshit if we didn't acquire an impact bullpen piece at the deadline. Hell, everyone was already complaining about Hahn not making any moves right before we made this move.

Ok, so they should just say, "Hey MLB, we really don't want an international draft. But if you raise the pre-arb pool to $55/$60 million, then you can keep the international draft." (Yes, I do realize it's not that simple)

I think you are still confusing bonuses with salaries.

I just feel like the WC1 is better than the third division winner a lot of the time and just happen to play in the same division as the top division winner. It would also completely eliminate travel from those first series and speed up the process (which then means one less day the top two division winners have to sit and wait).

Yeah, I would let division winner 3 and WC1 play all three games at home.

I would guess the top two division winners get a bye. Third best division winner plays WC3, and WC1 plays WC2 (probably a 3 game series).

I actually wasn’t referring to the footing on dirt/grass at all. I just found it humorous that you thought a baseball was easier to control when it’s wet from rain. It seemed ridiculous to me, so I was comparing it to something else that would sound ridiculous.

What do those signs say that janitors put up after mopping the floor? Do they say "Cautious: Slippery when wet"? Or do they say "Cautious: Very difficult to control your footing once this floor completely dries"?

Probably similar to what it took to get Lance Lynn.