CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Yep afraid he'd accept it.

You keep him and you're paying his full season salary of $11.7M. Trade him at the deadline maybe u pay half that. I figure the draft pick compensation is equal value so equated it to nothing.

Hope and over confidence often lead to the same end.

I'm still waiting to see what the O's do with Santander. If the O's are going to truly operate along the line of the Rays they can't afford to hold a productive player and let him go for nothing. You would think he'll be traded by the deadline and they'll be facing the same problem with Hays and Mullins soon also. How that translates for opportunities for Cowser, 23,( LH), Kjerstad, 24, (LH), Beavers , 22 ,(LH), Bradfield ,22, (LH) and Stowers, 26, (LH) is anyone's guess. If Santander (SH) goes into the season and puts up a 2.0 WAR at the end of July and the O's are in a close race it will be difficult to remove him from the team . If they trade him before the season starts who gets the starts in RF to take his place ? All their top guys are LH and one of Cowser or Kjerstad will need to produce. They would certainly get shots before Stowers does. Will the O's hedge their bets a little bit by looking into someone like Adam Duvall, Michael Taylor, Randal Grichuk all RH hitters or Aaron Hicks ,a switchhitter, who is a better RHH than LHH ?

No idea how you can draw that conclusion since performance at MLB level by all players involved will decide that. But I suppose if Busch starts hitting right away you can claim you were right for a few years until the guys they gave up get a chance to play at the MLB level.

When trading Cease rumors with Dodgers was a hot topic and Busch was mentioned often, I never thought he would be the primary piece because of his fielding while Eloy and Vaughn were still there. Dodgers did well to rid themselves of him before he lost too much value. He had nowhere to go with them but the bat could play for teams not clogged at 1st and DH or willing to give him a legit shot. I guess we'll find out just how savage the bat really is with the Cubs.

I agree with everything you say except the 1st paragraph. I'm not entirely sure he threatened to quit because he was still in the minors in 2022. That was his 1st year in the minors and hadn't played in a while. Maybe you can convince me that was his reasoning by siting something that says what you said. I know there was some controversy with him in 2022 but I always thought it was about how long he stayed in A+. You make it sound like he thought he should be in the majors in his very 1st year in the minors after a long layoff.

Not the doc but interview with Brian Kenney about it.

Not sure why anyone should care about the BP right now and specifically having Crochet and Kopech in it. Also talking about keeping Cease shows that you are completely out of touch with what's happening with the Sox. There's no emphasis on winning at all. The current goal is to bring in impact young talent by trading Cease. Period. Starting pitchers are potentially worth more than relievers which is precisely why Kopech will be starting with the Sox and Crochet will be stretched out in Charlotte. Hiring Bannister and trying find a way to extract value from the Starting rotation and others so they can be traded because getting more talent into the organization is the main goal. This is a rebuild. That's what you do with rebuilds. There is zero chance they expect to compete. If by some miracle the Sox aren't more than 10 games under. 500 by the deadline that would actually be one of the best case scenarios, only because guys like Kopech, Fedde , Soroka, Moncada and Eloy might be doing well enough to be traded and continue turning over the roster and minors. Of those 5 guys I can practically guarantee 3 or 4 of them won't be here 1 year from today. No one cares about the BP right now except to have enough arms to cover the innings.

Surprised you hadn't since hasn't there been a recent documentary about Mike Veeck that spent some time talking about his ownership of the Miami Miracle?

Or sooner. If he puts up a monster 1st half this year, I'd be looking to trade him at the deadline. Can't screw around and wait for more injuries. A high performance healthy 1st half would mean he put up 1.5 years of good numbers and good health. Without going through his injury history my guess is prior to that he usually didn't play 3 months without getting hurt and missing significant time . And if he did it was never near his upside for very long.

He'll definitely look for 2 LHH if he can get them. There was something he said at his press conference that went pretty much unnoticed when asked about improving the offense. Getz said there was a "handedness issue" which I took to mean that they need more lefties among the position players.

They certainly won't start him in the Sox rotation without restrictions. That would zombie like level of stupid. Between Fedde, Soroka, Kopech, Flexen, Toussaint and Scholtens baring injury that's 6 starting pitchers or 5 and 1 long reliever. We haven't talked about how Davis Martin's innings will play out either. I think they have their hands full without throwing Crochet to the dogs at the MLB level and know that him burning any more of his service time is very wasteful. Of course Getz did say they expected him to pitch in 2024 for the Sox as a SP but that's either extremely optimistic given his innings and health issues or as you said pretty dumb .

I'm pretty sure the most innovative thing they are doing is collecting enough arms that already have enough innings on them and giving Bannister's pixie dust a chance to work enough to trade some of them. If you thought we saw bad after they dumped a lot of arms at the trade deadline last year you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Crochet will be in Charlotte. His 1st 10 appearances will probably be 2 innings max with a SP schedule of throwing. He could be skipped a few times especially early in year depending on weather and how his arm feels preparing for his SP role. It's going to be a very slow process. If he sees any time with the Sox as Getz forecasts it will be after the trade deadline when it's possible with a lot of luck that Fedde, Soroka ,Flexen and Kopech are all traded. Likely outcome is that only 1 or 2 of them is traded. Also likely outcome is that Crochet doesn't stay healthy enough to pitch at all in the 2nd half of the season.

Hader is next.

I agree . It can't hurt to now have The Sorcerer Supreme.

Oh I know you were being helpful and I appreciated it hence the smiling emoji. I don't usually follow the draft that much so Shirley's name although I've heard it many times before just wasn't coming to me. Hey I'm old . I post because I like to write to keep my mind sharp.However It doesn't always work .

Sometimes the brain freezes when applying the acronyms to certain topics and remembering the hierarchy doesn't jump to the forefront either. I would've just typed Shirley. ?

Give us your most recent info on Haber and why you're glad he's gone. Obviously Harold is glad he's gone but doesn't usually share his Intel but you do. I seem to recall your experiences with him or your sources experiences with him weren't good. Being Hahn's right hand man seems like it was only a matter of time before he'd be replaced by the new regime. I don't particular care that a paper pusher with a 24 year career with the Royals who Getz may admire for his hard work, dedication and skills was hired to continue doing that for the Sox. Some types you don't need an extensive search.

I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking What the or who the f*** is the SD ? Scouting Director ? If so who would that be ?

If he pitches closer to his 2022 numbers it will substanially increase. Better than 2023 nice increase. Similar to 2023 or worse hurts quite a bit. Usually a lot of teams need help at the trade deadline, some team doing better than expected, some doing worse needing a boost, injuries once ST starts , contenders looking for just that one piece to give them the upper hand. The whole RSN situation is giving teams excuses not to spend. How that's looking by the trade deadline ,IDK. Best case scenario he's closer to his '22 numbers and you get him for 2 more playoffs and still get your comp pick when he becomes a FA and you get peace of mind that he's wasn't trending down. You also now have to pay the piper because of he's a hotter property than ever. Worst case I don't even want to think about it.

Don't forget pitchers get hit by line drives all the time . They also have to field their position. Plenty of ways for misfortune to strike without an arm injury.

I think you make an important point here regarding Boras, Snell and Montgomery. If Getz is indeed waiting for Snell and Montgomery to come off the board before he thinks he'll get serious offers he has no reason to come off any perceived high asking price until then. If Boras drags this out I'm think Sox fans should be prepared for this to go beyond January . James Fox recently stated he expected Cease to be traded before the end of January. So I'm going to go on record just to say I disagree with James without benefits of insider knowledge. I really hope that James knows more than he's letting on and it does get done in January but there are still 2 Boras clients to be moved .

Swords