he gone.

the quieter they are the bigger the move. Which, just give me a second baseman please.

I'm on Dipoto's side. You took on Graveman, he was hot, and you flipped him for a serviceable, young, controlled bat that never has really been given consistent at bats. They weren't, and still aren't winning that division. Sewald can step in and close right away. Seager has had some power this year, but very low BA. Toro can step in at 3rd base for years beyond this one and all they lost was what, 15-20 innings of Graveman? Also I wouldn't be shocked to see the Mariners go out and trade for a nice IF piece ala Turner or the likes. If not? I expect them to be very active in the offseason filling in via FA. That market is ready to spend and I think you'll see it ... 1b - Evan White, France 2b - moore/shed long SS - crawford 3b - Toro Cf - Kelenic Rf - kyle lewis Lf - julio rodriguez C - raleigh/torrens clearly they need some IF help. White is great defensively, so maybe you can live w him and hope his bat comes around. But moore/long/crawford probably don't get it done. seeing as there are a ton of SS as FA this offseason? I can see them nabbing one of them and then moving crawford to 2b. Then you have moore as a super sub. it's really not a bad team. it's a few veteran bats from being very, very good. pitching wise? They need help. gonzalez is #3. flexen is a serviceable #5. dunn is a #4 on a good team. he's got some nasty stuff. kinda a cease type guy in my mind. if he can harness it can be a front of rotation guy. kikuchi... gilbert .... nothing blows you away, but it's a solid team that is only a few guys away. trading graveman is a smart, calculated baseball move.

Oh man. This is the one. This is the one I'd back up the truck for. Jared Kelley, Burger, Sheets, Adolfo, ++? I have no idea the ask, but I'm pretty sure I'd do it. Turner could play 2b obviously, but even OF if you ever need/want an extremely talented OF in Turner, Robert, Engel combo late in a game or something. He's an incredible talent, and one, although costly, would really, really consider extending too. he'd demand a huge contract, but something like 5 years and 150. Just dreaming don't mind me or my takes on trade value or FA cost.

tthis turned out to be a valid take. burger looked really good. comfortable against how much time he was out, inconsistent at bats, etc. But at the end of the day he's been away for a long time, is young, and needs to work on some things. charlotte makes too much sense. let him go back to playin everyday. at the very least his trade value has gone up a bunch in the last month. Same with sheets. nice kid. looks better than expected. however, sending him down while he has options, and after his trade value increased? and to get at bats everyday? makes sense. allows to call up a beckham or lamb instead who has a bit better position flexibility.

also, it sure seems to me that the twins are about to tear it all down to the studs. this doesn't seem like a reshuffle as much as a complete teardown. They're even employing pairing up guys like Berrios and Rogers to increase a prospect return. That's very reminscent to Robertson/Kahnle/Frazier trade. This division is about to be a complete disaster over the next few years. Twins are going to be a disaster. Indians are currently toeing the line, but that offense is not good, nor does it seem to have anybody coming up through the system. They're discussing Jose Ramirez? Trade him and you might as well trade Bieber too. That means it's the Royals and Tigers as our competitors. Royals actually have been a bit aggressive and that team isn't half bad with some nice young arms in Lynch, Lacy, Kowar, Bubic, Singer, etc. They have a few nice bats like Witt Jr coming up as well. Mondesi is always a threat. That team might be our real compeitition especially if they spend a few bucks w new mgmnt. Tigers have always had a decent track record of pushing the pedal down and have Tork and Riley Greene coming. They have a nice nucleus of young arms & can see them spending in FA to shore up some positions. However both of those teams are at least 2 years from really being a threat.... going to be fun next 24 months.

Let the Padres keep trading. good for them. they're like a lottery winner who's going to be bankrupt in like 4 years at this pace. they're just emptying all their prospects for a run of 2-3 years. If I were them, I'd be a little more patient and try to be a perennial winner.

so many takes on this like: You can't move Vaughn to RF! He's doing well in LF and he's young and don't want to mess with him moving to another position! Or You can't put Vaughn at 3B! we have a 3b already, what's the point?! Meanwhile you have Vaughn already in LF which isn't his position ..... and Moncada has bounced all around the diamond before. I feel like as fans we underestimate that these guys can play the field relatively okay and its not a huge deal. it's not like theyre splitting the atom and while theyre AB and they're thinking about fielding RF v. LF and that it messes up their bat. To me, you put the best 9 men out there. so if that equals Vaughn at 3b and moncada at 2b? and engel in rf? then pull the trigger.

its certainly interesting, especially considering both teams are going for the same prize. I'd think it takes a whole bunch more then Cody, but who knows. They've got nate pearson still battling back who looks like he'll be assigned to the bullpen on his way back. But agreed, they need a few arms to really contend. My guess is they ship Marcus out to the NL. Somewhere like the Giants makes sense. Their whole IF is dealing with injuries from Longoria, Belt, Crawford, LaStella. Semien plugs a hole and a need pretty well there. Plus SF can take money on.

The Jays are an interesting team. Trading Semien probably helps their long term process without really throwing away this year. I wonder if that was what the Dickerson acquisition was about ... just move Lourdes to 2b, opens up an OF slot for Dickerson. Springer is back, they still have Grichuk and Teoscar ... can pretty easily move people around and not miss Marcus a ton. They also have Austin Martin who is a polished bat, albeit young who could slot in. They really need arms though, so my guess is if they trade Marcus it's for MLB level arms who can slot into that bullpen or rotation right away or very soon. Ala Joe Kelly to the Twins from the Rays. Not sure have anybody who fits that profile, or who we'd be willing to trade.

That is fun. I love upgrading just via our own players. I personally can see Sheets going down to AAA. Might as well bring back Lamb and let him play for his life. Sheets has options, so makes sense to use them when at at the end of the day there's not a whole ton of difference between their profiles. Sheets can go back to having consistent everyday AB's and working on a few things and stay ready. Lamb comes back and crushes? Then you wait an extra few weeks until September. If not? Cut him. Robert returns will be the interesting one, but agree a phantom IL stint should do the trick. (not sure 40 man numbers). But basically if you can pull a phantom IL stint, then you can kick the can down the road for September roster expansion.

The sox have been giving a lot more time off to Stoney this year. I like when they bring in a Beckham or Thomas. would really enjoy them working Hawk into that rotation as well. Or even a 3 man booth. Totally agree that it'd be fun to have him in the booth maybe one series a month or so.

announcements from the sox would help haha. guessing it's part of the plan too, slowly getting him into action. Does anybody know is it 20 "games" or 20 days for a rehab?

all new team names always sound silly, this one is no different. That said, i think in 5 years it will still sound silly. Have a feeling some of this decision was driven by the "IANS" at the end of both Guardians and Indians ... that they kind of sound the same. Which, if part of the reason seems shortsighted. But what do i know? I too wouldve gone with Spiders ... or really anything else.

I’m guessing the return will be quite low, to the point it woulda been like a … sheets? Or rutherford + Lopez type return. I think we’ll say, that’s all? Just a hunch. (and I get sheets is looking good, but he’s likely a 3-5 year player, nice bench type piece)

This goes back To my feelings on Cruz in the trade thread earlier… sometimes, even if not a need, it’s good to play a little defense. That makes the rays lineup a lot more dangerous come playoffs.

Quite the rollercoaster. To get to the top after 10 years and perform relatively well, just to disappear into nothing has to be hard. But pretty, pretty immature to throw a tantrum and demand a trade when you're Yermin Mercedes. It's short sighted not only for his chance this year with the Sox, but overall for his career. I'd guess that NL DH isn't that far off, and if so, he probably has a shot to be a AAAA player for the next 3-4 years. He really should be working on his catching and 1b if he wants another shot. Get it's mentally tough, but he's done it for 10 years, needs to grind for another year or two and he'll get additional shots somewhere across the league. Not a good look for Yermin.

That last breakout is nice. I didn't feel like thinking that much through it. 2b is much more of a need for sure. Leury also shouldn't be that important to the team, but here we are. i don't expect cruz, but would still welcome him. I'd be more than okay sending down both Burger/Sheets and bringing in Cruz/Frazier/etc. burger and sheets are nice to haves, but also types of guys that i'm okay with trading to get us where we need to go over the next few years. if they're casualties? sucks, but thats the business were in right now.

I don't disagree it's not a point of need. But there's a few angles on this ... a) playing defense. Twins are going to trade him because they're not resigning him next year. So Cruz is going to the A's, Rays, etc. I don't know about you, but I don't want to face Cruz in the playoffs. b) We've seen it a bit with Burger in a few AB's lately. Throwing low and away seems to be getting to him. We saw it with Yermin. We'll undoubtedly see it with Sheets too. Pitchers at hte MLB level adjust and it's up to the players to readjust. Maybe Burger and Sheets do. Maybe they don't. I overall prefer Cruz and his track record of Sheets, Burger, Hamilton, etc. etc. c) when you're a team like the Sox, probably a top 4 favorite to win it all, you get greedy. you have to. you don't necessarily "need" cruz, but i'd be hard pressed to see how adding him doesn't make us a better team. So at that point it becomes a cost benefit analysis. What's the cost to acquire him v. maybe bringing in an Adam Frazier, Story, Marte, etc. and whats the cost if Cruz goes to a direct competitor?

Agreement here. Surprised at the negativity in this thread over NELSON CRUZ. Weird sentiment. Maybe because of the guy who is reporting it? But overall if the price is right and the Twins are willing to trade to division foe? I don't really see the downside of having a Nelson Cruz in our lineup. Speed ... but outside of that, don't see the downside. In that outfield scenario you are really counting on Robert to play Superman, but could be worse. Hell, I know we are giving DH spots to Seby and Collins only because of injuries and that Eloy and Robert and Grandal coming back takes away those opportunities, but if you're asking me if I'd rather have Sheets, Burger, or Cruz on my bench? I'd go Cruz all day. A bit of a station to station in terms of speed ... kinda reminiscent of Paulie - AJ - Thome - Dye .... 3 singles in a row, strikeout, GIDP and 0 runs, but still wouldn't hate seeing Cruz up in a playoff AB.

I believe this is correct. pro-rated league minimum MLB salary during his time up, and then i believe there is a 40 man salary for AAA. Like I think there's a difference if you're on the 40 man and in the minors vs. just in AAA. Could be wrong. I had a few friends who were AAAA players & we'd always try to figure out how much they were making. I think it turned out to be close to like $150k in AAA. Regardless. as someone earlier pointed out... this isn't a 1:1 causation. there's a reason teams have sports psychologists on the payroll. imagine if at your job you were in a constant battle for the job, it was all public, you had to take questions everyday about your performance, your salary was known, etc. etc. It's not easy. Let's just say you were in construction and you weren't doing the job well enough and they demote you publicly, and then your friend takes over your spot. You have to be a strong, strong willed individual to do something like that for 10 years in the minors and then on an even bigger stage. Just my pure guess - I do think that TLR/3-0 count incident probably hurt him and probably had to do some with his downfall. Like 20% maybe. Baseball and golf are big mental sports. But the main culprit was that he didn't adjust when pitchers adjusted. he's crushing the ball down in AAA again and If i had to take a guess he was told something like get your stuff/swing figured out down in AAA and we'll get you back up here. He has, and he did, but in the meantime Burger, Sheets, etc. have run with the opportunity and bring more to the table so he's sitting in AAA blocked from a spot, Eloy coming back too .... Grandal is out and they have Seby who couldn't hit a softball at backup C, they trade for another Catcher ... It has to be beyond demoralizing to wait 10 years, get to the big leagues, become a cult hero, and then disappear into oblivion & know evne if youre hitting .400 in AAA that you're not coming back up. We can all sit around on our keyboards and say "well then he should be focused 110% on working on his catching" or "he needs to suck it up". But were not in his shoes. We dont know what the sox told him. also, just based on his post ... i know it wasn't the best english, but it did sound pretty guilty ... like he was trying to admit something that may be coming out. So that's my guess.. there's probably some smoke and fire to come out and there's no spot for him.

i'd give up a ton for him. burger and sheets and lopez. goodbye in a heartbeat. merrifield would be a 3 year guy with us and fills so many holes and very underrated in my opinion.

Zevala being on a major league roster would beg to differ haha.

legally, i believe he'll be fine. public court? He already was mostly hated, this just cements it. Career wise? He probably should've signed that long term contract instead of getting cute with it. He's got enough talent that a team will sign him, but I have a feeling it may be another year to year situation and closer to that $10-15mm range. Who knows - so much can change, but just don't see teams lining up.

be as you are. the whole response there is wrought with some pretty heavy implied tones towards my response, mostly that I am unsympathetic i guess? My angle is not one that is unsympathetic, more so, i dont get why people continue to try and get frustrated on things out of their control. Covid life is not stopping anytime soon. The view should be a pragmatic one. There will be variants. Some will be worse than others. Some will be protected by first vaccines, some will not. There will be booster shots. The only reason the government is shying away from the Pfizer booster is again, to save face That's an overreaching theme. Its hard to steer a large ship forward. The government continues to try and toe the line like they did with masks and lockdowns, however it's tough. I think they fear that if they say a booster is needed that those without a vaccine are even more unlikely to get a vaccine. That said, we're at the point of stragglers. Those who wanted it, got it. You may convince on the fringes here out, but I find it very unlikely that they're doing anybody any good by not moving forward with the booster. i have a feeling they'll let some time pass, really ratchet up the delta talk in the media, and poof! boosters will be recommmended. This will take time to burn out. Lots of time. Again, you're talking global economy. When you're talking countries like Nigeria where 0.7% of the population is vaccinated? There's way too many of those countries. There are so many underdeveloped countries and those will continue to spread the virus and mutations of the virus. Rinse and repeat, there will be a cocktail of new vaccines that protect better against some variants and those will be recommended. The rest is weighing the positives and negatives of any policy or decision. Those should generally be left up to the individual in my opinion. So in your case it seems as if you'd like to be cautious. And that's fine and your call. If you feel the risk of travel is too great, then you should be free to operate within your own guidelines. In general the part of the government is to steer the conversation to the best outcome. That may mean mask mandates again. I think you'd be hard pressed to shut down things again though. With where the country is in regards to vaccine and herd immunity (especially vaccines among the elderly) I think the upside/downside of where were at as a country probably leans towards keeping everything running. That may not be true for all countries, but for ours, I'd guess that's the path.

yes, both are true. numbers continue to roll in. 95% protection against delta a few weeks ago, now closer to 2/3rds. Theres actually science behind getting both moderna and pfizer to protect better against the delta variant. Regardless, both of those statements are true that i said. You're generally protected from the delta variant with the vaccine. most likely outcome is a slight fever and minimal side effects. it's going to be this.. even if you look at highly vaccinated countries - variants will continue to exist because of a global economy. delta didn't start in the US. nor will the next variants... they'll continue to develop in other parts of the world and make their way through the entire globe.