NEWS/RUMORS/AROUND MLB Thread (Oct 2016 - Feb 2017)

Bonds was a cancer but he could play, even before the meds.

Anyway, I think Puig is all but gone this off season.

I really wish we can retain Hill, but over paying is not something this FO does, and I think we would have to in order to overcome his desire to move out East.

Beyond that, we need a true lead off hitter, another SP, an 8th inning guy, keep Kenley, get power that can hit LHP.

Sounds like a total revamp.

 

All I care about are Kenley and Turner. I suppose Hill can stay as well.

 

I do and don't want Verlander. He's kinda old, but he gets to bang Kate Upton and was pretty good last year.

 

Just looking for general impressions.

Is the team as currently constituted, assuming everyone stays as-is, enough to win a World Series let alone get to a World Series?

My opinion is that because of two key issues: SP and long relief, we are not ready for prime time.

Yes clutch hitting and hitting LHP were problems, but in at least a couple of post season games, the offense produced enough runs to win, but the SP gave up 8 runs or more to make it sort of impossible.

So it's like a broken record. We need one or two top line SPs (depending on whether Hill stays). We need a battle tested BP with someone who can pitch two to three solid innings with a shutdown 8th inning guy. This was our weakness all post season.

Finally, on the offensive side, I really believe the younger guys will work on LHP situations and grow with that, but the lack of a high percentage lead off guy is causing a lack of opportunities to put pressure on guys like a Lester type.

Yes, easier said than done, but if you wanted to do things on the cheap without having to chase a bat like Cespedes, then that is where I would focus the cash.

 

I think they make legitimate offers to Turner and Kenley. I hope we sign both, but I'm not confident as fuck. I think Turner will get good offers but still be slightly under valued by other teams, so I like our chances with Turner. Kenley will get paid. The hole for us would be huge if he left, so hopefully that makes the FO push for him a little more.

Blanton will probably re-sign. He played himself out of a nice contract in the postseason, but our FO focuses on large sample sizes over small sample size so I think we will value him higher than others.

We won't re-sign Utley, he isn't versatile enough for a utility spot with our FO.

Hill is gone too, someone will overvalue him.

Anderson, Howell and Reddick, meh.

 

The interview was with Edgar Gonzales the Manager of team Mexico so he went to the source again you don't know he didn't talk to him in Spanish a day earlier nor do I. You're assuming and continue not to see it. At least he spoke English which you don't see with many many hispanic players. That is a clear indication of his willingness to learn which wasn't there earlier. Cannot believe you just dismissed the guy you welcomed and it does matter what he did because he was starting 70% of the time in the stretch run. So you think HE IS THE ONLY guy who may have had distractions prior to the playoffs in this day in age of multiple media outlets wanting your time???? Give me a break I'm done trying to explain myself. Not worth my time anymore.

 

i want JT and Kenley and Darth made a good point about maybe signing Longoria and moving JT to second
I think Utley would sign cheap enough and I would love his attitude and a LH bat off the bench if nothing else
Hendrick plays left unless his bat doesn't resurface and I guess Hill but kind of not into his blister scene
Don't see us making any big splash signings

 

I've already said he's made mistakes. Shouldn't that be enough for the thread? We'll see if the maturation continues which is what I have said for months. I guess you read my convo. Bottom line I'm saying NOBODY can read the minds of players.

 

Racist

 

Rigged

 

So, you want a dickey in your colon?

How niiiiiiiiice!!!!!!

 

I think we're all gonna be pissed

 

They are doing exactly what the Cubs did without the tanking, while unlike the Cubs, took over a roster overburdened with terrible contracts for guys with very little value, but ARE competing in the process and would again next year with a roster as is. I wouldn't attribute them not breaking the bank yet to a scenario where they never will for a guy. I think the first offseason was a wash, it's tough for any FO to come in and make a big impact (just look at the D'Backs and Padres for instance, do too much and you can fuck yourself). Yeah it stings that they did not nab either Scherzer or Lester, but I get why they weren't willing to go for a $300 mil payroll and two $200 mil pitchers when at the start of the season we were looking at a rotation of Kershaw, Greinke and Ryu. They filled in solid pieces around them and some broke(McCarthy) while one would have looked like a huge win(Anderson) if Ryu could have just stayed healthy. Nothing really else that offseason should make you think "cheap bastards" (remember, Miller turned down more money from LA). Kang would have been a huge score, buy yeah the KBO is a total crapshoot. Then they started a year+ long trend of spending wildly on Int'l free agents, this cost a huge chunk of the scouting department their jobs, btw. They also had to spend massive amounts of energy trying to fill the many cracks in the depth chart.

This last off season they tried and failed to sign Greinke which now looks like a huge win. David Price? Well he pitched like shit for months before gaining steam down the stretch and then got steamrolled in the playoffs, AGAIN! Brett Anderson fucked us royally by accepting the QO. I fully believe he signed knowing damn well he would not pass a physical otherwise the team was planning on making a big play for Rich Hill. They missed on Cueto, but nobody saw the season he had coming after looking nothing like the pitcher of old during basically the entirety of the 2015 season. In hindsight, that one sucks, but there was plenty of reason to be cautious. Also, he basically signed a 2 year deal unless something bad happens this year to him. The Kazmir deal looked smart, he was coming off a couple of good seasons and basically signed a one year contract unless something went wrong... which of course it did. Then once again, look at the big pitcher deals that happened and you realize that they didn't miss much. Chen was terrible and hurt, Kennedy was meh, Leake BAD, Samardzja was not good and Zimmermann was pretty terrible as well. The LF thing became a big issue during the season when everyone broke one way or another. There should have been optimism that a platoon in LF of Ethier/SVS/Kike/Thompson could have put up good numbers based on their splits, but literally every one of those guys fell apart. With the luxury of hindsight, Cespedes would have been a good play, but I can't honestly blame them for that with all the OF'ers we already had on the roster. The other guys we wanted? Gordon/Davis and Heyward all look like money poorly spent. The big play again was building the depth in the farm.

In hindsight, them staying away from the "big gotta have it deals" has somewhat worked out in Free Agency. Them trying to play it clever has both worked great (Utley, Blanton, Maeda, Anderson) and backfired (Kazmir, McCarthy and Anderson QO) with basically every one of their trades looking good. I seriously don't think it has been about them being cheap (shit they also spent $100 Mil on Int'l FA's), I feel it is them not fully believing a player will live up to some of the insane values they are getting. This team is already saddled with declining players and their big contracts (Crawford, Ethier, AGon, Guerrero, Arruebarruena). Would people on here really be mad if this was all about them not overburdening the roster with expensive temporary spot fillers, or have potentially $100+ million available for the winter of 2018 which is supposed to be the best batch of free agents the game may have ever seen? I think this offseason we see them break the bank for Kenley as everyone knows how valuable he is and Turner is a good possibility to come back. They'll make runs at Hill, Blanton and Utley, while also going after a surprise or two. The good thing about this offseason compared to prior ones is, for the first time in a long time, this organization has tremendous depth to deal from. They now have what looks like as 4 potential 1-2"s on the farm mixed with a glut of 3-4's, a bevy of good young OF's and a decent crop of catchers. For the first time, they can really deal. I think we see a very different offseason from this FO and the club should be much more dangerous looking going into 2017 than they were going into 2016.

 

Doesn't matter.
Look the other way, and simply carry on...