MiddleCoastBias

*puts on tinfoil hat and races over to that prospects thread where Weems was rated to see who was suggesting he was named so he would be moved*

I think it was Joel Sherman last week that said this might happen and threw Seattle out as an option to land Realmuto. Seems kind of off the wall to me but could be another one of those "sign Robbie Cano"-kickstart the program moves.

Big fan of Matt Davidson's career renaissance, huh? Assuming you meant Robertson, I agree - I hope this is where they go big and spend what they need to to get Hendriks. Would love to have him anchor our pen.

Few hours old, might be in another thread, but reputable source:

Joc AND Dahl? On the surface that seems duplicative, but I can see that as the rolling RF/LF/DH move with Eloy, Engel, and Vaughn when he comes up. Kind of mix them all in there - doesn't block Vaughn but gives us flexibility at DH at the corner OF spots. I can be sold on this.

For anyone else like me that either doesn't like Lynn or didn't want to move Dunning and is looking for a reason to accept or even like the trade, let's look at what some of our opponents have to say about it: Twins Reddit - "A) fuck. Good trade for the WS and they addressed a huge need for a reasonable cost" Texas fans - "We got a pitcher with a history of recent TJS. What else is new?I Ihope this pans out." "His value spiked a bit last year, too, which is a mild concern. Sox are selling high." "White Sox look so good right now except for their manager." "To be fair, we don't know exactly what the white sox gave up yet. And I just don’t think the league was ever going to value Lynn as an ace." "Sox fans melting down they gave up six years of Dunning for one year of a MORP. I love the internet." BONUS nod for the fanboys: "I am a tiny bit devastated we didn’t wrangle Yermin from them."

With McCann as good as gone and less need to work his bat into the order as DH and no longer carrying 3 catchers on the roster, I can definitely see this musical chairs working to replace McCann's and EE's at bats. And hey, Schwarber can serve as our emergency catcher (if Tim Anderson doesn't have something to say about it).

I was going to float this as an idea/question. Like I wonder if they would keep the same length of season on the calendar but trim the schedule to 140 games or less, gives everyone more off days that can be used to make up games.

Re: the Wheeler stuff, any word on if he had a no trade clause or list? Feel like it would be pretty awkward to be traded here a year after his family publicly said no to Chicago and turned down a higher offer. Not that he would necessarily have us on his NTC list, just got me thinking of that and the first awkward conversation he would have.

I still like the idea someone threw out a month ago about targeting Joe Musgrove from the Pirates. They seem to be in shambles and might take a package of lower level guys to develop as well.

I like the idea of going after both Sanchez and Tauchman, but I question if the Yankees will target a 2B even with losing LeMahieu. I can see them moving Gleybar over full-time and going after a big SS. I think they've got question marks at pitching and need to replace bodies in Tanaka and Paxton. I'd be interested in a Stiever++ package, curious what else they would be interested in.

Including Colome. Would be brutal to lose him to the Twins

I've heard it's a wood bat league too. Any other details out there, like location? As an adopted Masshole, I really enjoy the Cape Cod League and the mystique it has out here. It's a huge deal for those communities (and players, families, etc) in the summer. MLB creating a competing league that they themselves own just screams of an unfortunate cash grab to me.

I agree on all counts, and also think adding Gio to the list of studs that needs to be replaced means holding onto Kelley and Crochet as long as possible.

Weren't you also arguing that this is what happened to the cubs when they traded away the next wave? Kelley maturing in 3-4 years is EXACTLY why I want to keep him (and Crochet) to step in to be effective once Keuchel et al are old/gone. Having high-ceiling arms in the farm to act as the next wave is exactly the kind of prospect I want to keep.

Couple Springer with that Portillos potential Gray trade of Madrigal, Johnson, and Heuer from the off-season targets thread, sign me upppp. I like Madrigal and I'm in no hurry to ship him out, but for this move hell yes. As others have said, there are other 2Bs out (a host were mentioned in the Madrigal for Darvish trades).

I love and agree with everything in this post, well said. I bolded the "at what the price would likely be" because I think that's the most important. I would *love* to get Snell, but I think what they ask for and what I'm willing to give up are too far apart

I'm a little jealous of Mets fans right now. Oh, to have an owner that actually likes your team and fanbase.

Alas, "the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long."

Ah, plausible deniability! "Simon didn't say..."

I know we go through this every year, but isn't the joke/hope that we'll make a big splash the day before Thanksgiving? I know the Thome/Rowand trade was that Wednesday and I feel like there have been a host of others (maybe Dye?) Anyway, I say we sign Springer on Wednesday ?

Haven't you lost and welched on like 7 ban bets at this point? They'll welcome you.

So you're telling me that these owners have lied to me and that they DON'T lose money every year?? ?

This may be very naive, but I've never understood ownership structure and their motivation. Say JR owns a plurality but not a majority, so there are a bunch of other owners out there. We *only* hear JR's name out of all of the owners, and he's THE defacto owner popularly. Everyone assumes he makes the decisions and it's his team. I've been led to believe (rightly or wrongly) than owning a baseball team is also not a money-making venture after all of these owners cry poor. Why would minority owners want to own a portion of the team if they don't get a say in team decisions, don't get their name out there as the owner, and supposedly lose money or make very little? I know the easy answers are "power, clout, bragging rights, because they can", etc., but it just always surprises me that people want to throw around tens of millions of dollars for...... reasons.

I said it in another thread maybe a month ago, but I maintain the way to lock up Springer early in the process and avoid getting outbid is to get creative with player and/or team options. Think one (or two!) options on a 4 or 5 year deal. Gives him the certainty of getting paid now when the 2021 outlook and post-CBA world are very much in flux, and gives him an option to bail if he plays himself into a more favorable market in the coming years. Same goes for someone like Bauer (who likes betting on himself anyway). I think we see more creative contracts this off-season and hope we're leading the charge.