Timmy U

I am not convinced that the next 2 years of Marwin Gonzalez are going to be better than the next 2 years of Jose Rondon. And not because I think Rondon is all that good.

Ha ha, in another thread I said that Ivan Nova is an example of the White Sox thinking 5 years behind rather than 5 years ahead. This is more of it. Imagine if they won't bring up Dylan Cease or Dane Dunning cuz they're giving the innings to Ivan Nova and Ervin Santana. This isn't a rebuild, it's turning trash into treasures.

He also won the NL home run crown and played Gold Glove caliber defense. Maybe, but Keith Law wrote before the trade that he had scouts telling him that, we’re he eligible for the draft, Tatis would go 1-1. Everyone knew he was a significant prospect, but they valued their mirage of a hot start, James Shields past, and salary relief over future production. The decision making in this trade encapsulates everything wrong with the Sox management’s thinking over the last ten years. They prefer past production that Kenny saw on TV five years ago to production five years from now. Hence, Ivan Nova and Jon Jay.

Just keep Yonder below 550 PA’s and I don’t care. Jay will be gone by August 1. Basabe’s injury probably means Jay and Engel have jobs for the vast majority of the season. Gonzalez is my dark horse to force a change.

They've also been extremely unlucky/too good in September. With those records, they've picked first zero times, second zero times. They've even sucked at sucking.

This might be the most depressing post of the year. Reading that is about a cheery as reading my own obit.

I’ll miss everybody who leaves, but I want to watch Eloy and the other young guys when they arrive. Frankly, I am still way madder about Tatis than Manny anyhow. I agree with all the other posters that watching Alonso and especially Jay while they waste roster spots for a year is going to suck.

They are two very different hitters. Moncada’s strength in the minors was he took a lot of pitches and was very good on balls away, with pop and speed. Problem is maybe he takes too many pitches and has holes especially just inside out of the strike zone. Eloy is way more aggressive with fewer/no glaring holes, but he doesn’t walk all that much. Nothing similar about them at all, really.

I agree. 9 years until he signs, 275 million page thread.

Man, I wish I had your confidence. To me, he is a player to watch because, if he is all bat to ball grounders — no walks, no power, then he is barely a major league regular let alone a guy you take with a top 5 pick. Fingers crossed.

I’d add Amado Nunez to that. Kenny is going to be interesting.

I guarantee the Mets are not involved. They're still paying for their owner's Madoff mistake. NYC prices for a mid-tier payroll. League should have made them sell.

Well, yeah, but I used to live in California and the issue there is that property taxes were capped an insanely low level in the seventies, so, to make of for it, their income tax is very high. In Illinois, it’s the reverse. Solution: don’t buy property in Illinois. No way to avoid Cali’s income tax.

No worries. Nolan is only going to be there because, with all the pitchers in camp, you need a lot of catchers and minor league guys don't show up right away. Nolan's an org guy in all probability, so don't read too much into this.

Sadly, the one I remember taking forever was the Shields trade. It was rumored for like week. There was enough time before the trade for Keith Law to write a whole column advising the White Sox not to do it. In that column, a scout said, if he were eligible, He Who Shall Not Be Named would be 1-1 in the draft. So, some trades are rumored for a while and still happen. I also would not put Bush in this trade.

Didn’t they get Bregman with the pick they got for not signing Aiken? That worked out pretty well.

Well done, but that’s Macbeth. Hie, get thee to a nunnery!

I was strongly anti-Madrigal. (I hope I am wrong.). I wanted Kelenic. Therefore, the Mets trade really puzzled me. My deepest fear is that Madrigal may maximize the skill set of and be the absolute best version of Darwin Barney. But, with golf ball they use these days and his bat to ball skills, maybe he’s a 15 homer guy.

Interesting lineup. Gotta say, though, if Robert isn’t up in 2020, something has gone seriously wrong.

Not me. Doesn’t strike anyone out. Big contract for a non TOS, seems like huge potential for a lefty James Shields signing and we probably would not be lucky enough to get another team to bail us out of it the way Rick and Kenny bailed out the Padres.

The AA outfield situation is interesting. Here's a reason to move Basabe to AAA: Charlotte's a much, much better place to hit. So while Basabe will be seeing a lot of breaking stuff and people pitching him backwards more, he'd at least be rewarded when he did hit the ball hard. Results in Birmingham sometimes don't reflect how well a guy's swinging it. That said, Robert, Basabe, Gonzalez, and Adolfo are the key guys here. Pick what's best for them and fill guys like Booker in as needed.

I think I have reached a point where I dislike the Ricketts family more than I dislike the Cubs. I call that maturity.

Steele Walker has nothing to do with Call. He’s not the reason the Sox thought Call was expendable. Call’s behind Luis Robert, Luis Alexander Basabe, and Luis Gonzalez both offensively and defensively in CF. And that’s just the guys named Luis. If you add in everyone else, Call was going to struggle to find AB’s in AA. That said, I think he has a decent chance to play in the majors and is a nice pick up on a salary dump for Cleveland.

Huh, I always heard the Ryno in that case was Prince Fielder. https://247sports.com/mlb/tigers/Board/103351/Contents/A-Rumor-Ill-Print-about-Prince-Fielders-Wife-Avasail-Garcia-70637487/

Good point. It also reminds me of the Shields trade. The only reason you trade your top 2 prospects for a reliever is cuz you think you're going to win now. No one thinks the Mets are going to win now except the Mets' front office. If they win the division, probably a good trade. If they don't, it's a potential disaster like the Shields trade. I'm thinking closer to the second outcome than the first.