turnin' two

If this year is as disastrous as last year, I wonder if at some point they want to evaluate him as a bullpen piece. Maybe for an inning at a time, the velocity can come back at least a bit.

Yeah. Just terrible. Your heart goes out to them and their families. Also the Sox should bring Eloy back from the DR today.

Are you referring to the one single time Miami was briefly an NBA destination, then they quickly weren't?

1) I completely agree. But while I am not Corbin's biggest fan, I don't think that applies to him. He would be a solid number 2/3 on any team. And if you are getting a SP on the market you are going to overpay. That's the game. And while I wouldn't pursue him with vigor, I understand why some want to do that. I think the only OF I would pursue is Harper. I get the love for and the need for Pollock, but the injury history scares me. 2) Here, I think it depends. You certainly don't trade to fill a hole on the 2019 roster, but if it fills a hole in 19-20-21, well that is a little bit different story. 3) Again, I agree. Cleveland's rotation, right now, is about as good as you will find. Kluber, Bauer, Carrasco, Clevenger are a monstrous 1-2-3-4. But if you remove Bauer or Kluber, well then it looks completely different.

Yes. This. They are already losing several key players. Losing someone like Kluber or Bauer could really hurt, depending on what they got back, but it seems like robbing Peter to pay Paul at the very best.

How many rotations are good 5 deep? Plus you would have Cease on the horizon, possibly even next season. Every bullpen has holes. Even the great ones. This is an area where I feel pretty confident the Sox can fill it in house. Burdi will hopefully be in the mix at some point as well. Ruiz, Bummer, Medeiros, Stephens and -- gulp--- Fulmer could all make contributions. Trading Dunning would hurt, and realistically, Bumgarner doesn't make sense for the Sox because they aren't in a one year desperate to win situation, I was playing like a one year situation because I wanted to be a stickler for a one-off scenario like southsider. But anyways, trading those guys, well, it can be done without crippling the system. Rutherford is what, 4th -- 7th on the minor league OF depth chart, depending on your view (personally I like him and would have him on the higher end of that). Dunning looks like he will be solid, but he is a pitcher that had an elbow issue problem and hasn't pitched above AA. That isn't depleting the system. Dunning would hurt though, and I would try my best to make it someone else. I may personally prefer to trade Madrigal than Dunning actually, but I'm a pitching guy. I am actually very curious to see what happens to Greinke. I think if a team is willing to pick up 25 mil per year on him, then it wouldn't take that much prospect-wise, but who knows. Let's say that they trade Rutherford, Dunning and Collins. That doesn't seem like it sets you back very much. You'd still have your top level hitters, and pitchers. Collins would hurt as his OBP is a rare tool, as his a catcher, but that is a question in itself. They wouldn't exactly be broke long term. Bumgarner is a one year deal. He moves on, Kopech comes in. Greinke's money is gone after 3 years. Moose would probably be 2-3 years. The only real long term commitment would be Harper. And I think most would be ok with that. The thing about having all the minor league depth, is that, the plan at least, should be those guys filling those holes. Hamilton, Burdi, Burr, Fry, Frare, Johnson and more to fill the bullpen. Kopech, and Cease at the top of the rotation. Robert, Basabe or Gonzalez in CF. Again, I know this isn't realistic at all. That isn't the point. More to the point, is that if the Sox want to be competitive in 2020, they need to make some strides this season. Because while it is unrealistic to expect a 30 game improvement this season, when they can spend and there are elite talent free agents, it is just as crazy to think they will make the jump next year, when there aren't the same talents available. This also doesn't account for guys that could make the leap. Maybe one or more of Moncada, Anderson, Lopez or Palka makes a leap next year. Maybe they won't. But even if they get marginally better, it makes a difference. I just don't see the point in being completely hopeless. Maybe it is being realistic, but why shout other people down for having hope? That just seems stupid.

Has anyone penciled them in? I haven't seen it. Seems like you are just looking for a fight, again.

100,000,000? 35 for Harper, 15 for Moustakas, trade for Greinke and 25 of his freight, trade for Bumgarner, sign Allen or Herrera Moncada-Harper-Abreu - Moustakas-Eloy- Palka -Anderson-Castillo - CF. Ok, not a perfect lineup, is it better than the Indians? Maybe. Better than the A's or Rays? I'd say so. Bumgarner -Greinke- Rodon - Lopez - whoever. Better than the Indians? Don't know. Really depends on what they do. I'd feel good about that group though. Colome- Allen -Jones- Fry- Hamilton - Burr- Minaya etc... Not a perfect pen, and they are volatile, but that is at least competitive. Better than the Indians? Probably. They have Hand, and well they lost most of their other impact guys. Not that they should do this...... But it would be really competitive. You can't look at this in a bubble. The AL Central is soft. Really soft. Cleveland won the fewest games it has since 2015 last season. They are on the decline. They may trade one of their elite SPs. They have lost their weapon of a bullpen. They have lost their All Star catcher. They lost an everyday OFer that put up an .830 OPS. Kipnis looked mostly done last year. Edwin has his worst season since 2011, and is on the wrong side of the curve. Lindor and Ramirez are cornerstones. Studs. All-stars. But they can't do it alone. There is no juggernaut in the AL Central. No Red Sox or Yankees. No Astros. There are wins to be had against Detroit, Minnesota and KC. I don't get why other people's optimism irritates you so much.

That seems inaccurate.

I'd take Leake if they threw in Kelenic.

I would say the primary reason is, well, Jerry Dipoto.

Didn't they also mention that the Sox were a complete wild card and could end up signing pretty much anyone on the list? Am I remembering this correctly?

3/3

I too, believe that this is the case.

This is not exactly true. His OPS by month : .610/.648/.516/1.056/.613/.526 His worst months weren't even with the Brewers. He just has one insanely hot month that skewed his numbers (that featured 0 walks, for our OBP friends). On the whole, it was a pretty miserable year for him.

He fell apart in the 2nd half, but yeah, he's worth a shot.

I don't want anything to do with the guy whose decision making process has led to him killing people.

Way to be all over this by the way.

Not even sure he counts as a catcher at all after that.

There is the expected move, I hope they have a better plan to fill his spot than Nicky.

I don't know. This doesn't feel like a move with any gravitas to me.

7 in 68 IP. In case you weren't familiar... baseballreference.com

Huh? His very worst ratio for a year is basically 1/9.

Or they could have Castillo and some other random backup catcher for a year getting ready for Seby or Collins.

Hah! I like Narvaez, but Colome could have a bigger impact, and could be a good trade piece midseason or later as well.