SoxBlanco

This is the short write-up from Passan from ESPN.

Yeah, this isn't new news. James told us that in this very thread back on Wednesday. I got excited when I saw a bunch of new posts in this thread. Oh well.

This is exactly the issue. Spot on.

But when I suggested Joc Pederson as a good option, you said, "Enough of this. My goodness. We're trying to win." You then later said that you wouldn't be celebrating a Joc bargain bin signing (if it were to happen), and said that it would be an "awful move".

The point is that you pegged Bauer as a bona fide ace and Lynn as an “ace” who has only had one good season, when in reality, they are very similar. Even if you only focus on the last three years when Bauer has really taken a step forward, their WARs are 11.6 and 11.1. Not as big of a gap as you made it sound. People can use stats to paint any picture they want to help fit a narrative. One could say Bauer has had only ONE full season with an ERA under 4, and it’d be crazy to pay somebody like that close to $30M per year. Or if you don’t like ERA, you could say that Bauer has had only ONE season with a WAR above 3.3. And I’m not trying to say I wouldn’t want Bauer. I would love to sign him. But Lynn is a great addition, and I can at least understand the hesitancy to sign somebody like Bauer to a huge contract.

Jack, I love you man, but this is an awful take. Just terrible.

I would have been definitely fine with that, but I don’t think he would sign on for that when he can go elsewhere and get more guaranteed playing time.

Anybody who thinks a player should have spoken up mid season has no sense of reality. It was hard enough for ONE player to speak up after the fact. Nobody is ratting out their teammates in the middle of a championship run, and staying quiet doesn’t make them in the wrong.

Good stuff. I think you nailed where things stand and what it would take. Probably a crazy thought, but any chance McCann’s departure scares Giolito a little bit, making it more likely for him to pull the trigger on an extension? If he thinks there’s a chance he might regress a little bit, this could be the perfect time for an extension.

Remember last offseason when the majority here said Abreu had no business hitting 3rd, and they were worried that Renteria would keep him there all year? Point being, if Eaton is hitting .300 with a .375 OBP, then TLR can put him at the top of the lineup for all I care. If he struggles a bit, then TLR will slide him down to the 8 or 9 spot. I don’t think anybody needs to worry about lineup construction at this point. Guys will be slotted based on how they’re hitting.

Yeah, I get that. I’m just way more comfortable with Eaton as our starting RF than Dahl. But I totally understand the concerns. If we were hypothetically only given two options for our starting RF, and the options were Dahl for $3M or Eaton for $7M, I’m taking Eaton without hesitation.

Would you guys have been ok with that deal with Dahl being our starting RF? And if not, then Dahl isn’t taking that deal with us when he can take the same deal with another team and actually start.

I feel like all of a sudden, we're gonna hear that we signed Colome. Kind of like how we were hearing Pederson was our next target and then bam, Eaton was signed.

I believe he’s referring to Luis Gonzalez.

Agreed. That’s why I’m so confused by his negative defensive numbers. It wasn’t just all the times he threw somebody out. The eye test told me he was solid out there, and much better than how he looked in CF. I can’t imagine he is bad out there now, but I admittedly haven’t watched him much at all in the last few years.

Does anybody know specifically why he has declined defensively? Has his range declined? Weak arm? Dropping balls out there? I just can’t imagine he’s that bad out there, but that’s what the numbers are saying. Can anybody who has actually watched him shed some light?

Well that’s great news. Thanks for the info. You hearing anything on the Hendriks front?

Didn’t people say similar things about Abreu before last year? He was getting older, not as good offensively, and becoming worse as a defender. And he’s two years older than Eaton. I’m not saying that as proof that Eaton will be good. I just think it’s very possible he has a solid season. Being surrounded by a good offense and a team that’s winning tends to bring the best out in a player, especially for a guy like with a winner’s mentality like Eaton.

The 75% is probably a bit high, but I'm just optimistic. I don't expect weird knee, ankle, or finger injuries to occur. Guys who are inured often with hamstring/groin type of injuries scare me a lot more than a guy like Eaton.

Due to the possibility of Engel starting against lefties, the 150 number is probably unlikely. But if you're just asking about staying healthy in general for the full season with at most one 10-day stint on the injured list, I'd give it about a 75% chance. But I'm admittedly more optimistic when it comes to injuries, especially in baseball for non-pitchers.

That's the million dollar question. I'm not sure what's best. You either suck it up and rotate Collins, Grandal, Eloy, etc. at DH for a couple weeks. Or you sign another big bat and keep Vaughn down for a while. Personally, I want Vaughn up as soon as possible.

You are going to REALLY hate the Madrigal/Eaton combo in our lineup.

Neither do I. I also don't think knocking the ball out of the park is the gospel of determining the value of baseball players.

I don't see why he can't play that many games (other than possibly being part of a platoon). He just played 151 in 2019. I think the "always injured" narrative is a little overblown. I would easily take that bet if anything between 0-2 is a wash, over 2 is a win, and under 0 is a loss.

And Eaton is a left handed bat who gets on base at a higher clip than Pederson. We have guys who can knock the ball out of the park. Eaton will generate runs. Pederson would have also. Why does it matter how that happens exactly? Do you think Pederson would have a higher WAR?