TJseven7

Aria moves to second before Manny does. Machado has been filling in at SS for the past few seasons in Baltimore with Hardy getting hurt. Machado is the better SS (of he/ Hardy/ Arcia) and if playing SS full time, he is easily in top 5 of all baseball (if not higher). Glove/ Bat/ Range. Machado has it all. If thats the case... and I had no idea machado was that level of defender at SS (3b yes) then that's the type of middle IF stearns would PAY! If we traded for him and locked him up as he's crazy young I'd be all for this. Machado ss diaz or huira 2b is what titles are built on. If any of our OF prospects can defend cf well and hit well I trust platoons and thames types to fill out the rest. You load up at SS 2B and CF and the rest of the offense is easy. Thats the only way I want Machado and yes I know hes looking at 25+/7 minimum.

I'd be way more comfortable with Machado at 2b (if he can play it) or shaw moving to 1st and moving Thames. However, its not the first place he's been linked to mke and I don't know the cost but he carried baltimore for weeks after a real bad start last year. He wins games with his offense. He's a stud no doubt.

Mia asking him if he wants to stay according to a SI site

I can't express how badly I want Yelich on this team. Rf...Phillips/broxton Cf...Yelich/broxton Lf... Braun/Yelich Man trade santana to Oak or Manaea, Braun to SF for balls, Get Yelich at Fire Sale prices and I'd soo happy. Just a dream but soo happy. Hell while dreaming... Yelich in, no brinson or phillips out. Build it around Ray.

I was (and still am) hoping for the exact opposite. If this is what Swarzy and Shaw are getting, would love to see what Stearns could get back in a Knebel trade. Probably not the sexy thing to do, but I agree. You know... last year was way more fun than I expected... i could stomach a down year. Hard to imagine the cubs and cards sucking again.

27/3 rumored for McGee is my favorite one so far but still 1 mil per more than I wanted.

Hope they gave up a ton cuz he's a monster. We get Yelich?

Shaw hard pass... want to see the numbers on Mcgee.

I don't buy the reactionary stuff 1 bit. Reactionary guys overpay. We brought in thames vogt walker jeffress swarzak for next to nothing. He's a scrooge. He kicks all tires, lots of rumors swirl but he's setting his price and waits for a yes. Since he's a scrooge most offers get topped so he waits some more. I don't mind this but its not entertaining. Shaw zero interest. Swarzak at 14/2 I'd be content and mildly nervous. McGee burns. That's all well and good until we don't properly stock the bullpen. We should be targeting at least one higher end reliever. Beyond that, if Stearns wants to wait and see how the market plays out, that might make sense. I feel like he's playing a bit of a dangerous game right now, and might not end up getting any of the high end relievers we need. Need according to??? He's trying to sell high on santana and that would torpedo this offense. We only need one if he agrees with you that we are sitting at a window of opportunity right now. He could still be back building. Knebel hughes (60 ip fa) Added hader jeffress (stay) swarzak (out 29ip) Barnes torres drake scahill marinez feliz peralta Knebel and a full season of hader jeffress is already arguably better than we had last year.

I don't see Swarzak's deal as an overpay. That's the market. Stearns shying away from paying the market price for a guy who had expressed interest in returning is troubling. Market price holds zero value. Value is god.

I don't buy the reactionary stuff 1 bit. Reactionary guys overpay. We brought in thames vogt walker jeffress swarzak for next to nothing. He's a scrooge. He kicks all tires, lots of rumors swirl but he's setting his price and waits for a yes. Since he's a scrooge most offers get topped so he waits some more. I don't mind this but its not entertaining. Shaw zero interest. Swarzak at 14/2 I'd be content and mildly nervous. McGee burns.

Not that it would help us this year but I like the 2 mil 8 mil 10 mil total 2 year deal the twins gave Pineda.

If TH is picking up on the sense that mke is spinning out santana at a sell high point most gms probably will as well. I get the gripes about his defense but he's also a plus arm LF in reality. Brauns cemented there or he'd be there this year. His bat plays there though. Id assume stearns is trying to get ahead of the arby price spike because I dont see santana declining. He ks heavy but he's walked at every level and the obp isn't a mirage. Nor the power. Would be a huge set back to the offense if we did trade him and the thought that we are trying to makes me think stearns doesn't see 2017 as an opening window but more the fact that he's collecting talent well. More signs towards a low $$$ investment short term filled scratch and dent offseason. Im ok with that as long as it means we give shots to the mlb or AAAA 2b and arms we need to figure out.

And Nova wouldn't have to pitch to shaw so his era would drop. Isnt it nova that shaw absolutely destroys? Harrison feels like a brewer killer so get him out of pitt.

From what I can gather people wildly vary on what they call an ace. Archer has ace stuff, ace Ks, ace innings, mediocre era. I'd expect him to be a filthy post season guy. That being said he falls into the David Price on his big deal camp for me. He's a horse who eats innings but the era doesn't wow you. Being a small market team I like non-flashy 4era guys with upside. Problem with archer is he is super flashy. Davies doesn't move the needle... but he's sub 4 and damn near 200 ip. Anderson was targeted to be the same dude and his era went from that range to stellar. Nelson is that guy, and they fixed him and got him into the mid 3 range. Burnes Ortiz Woodruff. We have a type. Guys who pitch beyond their raw talent. Multiple offerings... inning eaters. That's what I want. 4era guys who come cheap because they get overlooked due to a lack of flash... who have upside as pitchers. Who floor around 4 era... but can put together a season and find the low 3s. But I also want a wicked flashy pen than can slam the door because without that we wont be long for the playoffs. Knebel hader williams fperalta could be the start of a lot of flash. Kodi could end up a wicked loogey as well. Suter as a long...Barnes who knows, jeffress who knows, houser who knows , but there's a chance in a year or 2... with as little as 1 additions this pen could be KC WS good. Put that behind 5 arms sub 4 who just roll out quality start after quality start and you allow the team to streak good and you don't slump very long. I'd be thrilled if anderson burnes ortiz nelson hader fperalta became an ace ace. But I dont think as a small market you can/should 1 pay for one, or sell the farm for 1. Cheap talent is the lifeblood. Cycling out low control talent for prospects is the only way to stay in the hunt. It's incredibly difficult to do. It seems to be stearns objective. He's gotta be special to pull it off and so far he's proven he deserves our patience. Baseball mattered all season and the team had a lot of holes. That's a very impressive start.

Our 4 last year was some suter, mostly garza and first taste of the bigs woodruff Our 5 last year was peralta guerra espino and a bit of garza. If he comes for little by way of prospects this is a no brainer. Call him a 5 all you want but he's a 4era guy with upside. Flip possible if he has a strong contract year. Stop gap to nelson burnes. Still leaves a spot to sort out suter guerra wilkerson. Anderson davies corbin woodruff is solid. We miss nelson but the back end of the rotation would struggle to be worse.

Always liked him

If we dont add 2 starters and 2 relievers I'll be pretty irritated if he isn't in our pen to start the season. I'd rather him than drake because we use drake poorly. I think he gets a shot and I think Houser is right behind him. Anderson davies woodruff Knebel hader jeffress barnes 2 starters and 3 relievers from FA trade or suter jungemann guerra wilkerson williams houser. If stearns doesn't push in now (and I really dont expect him to) its another growth year and that makes it a year where we sort out those 6 names before we hopefully add nelson and burnes into the rotation and Fperalta into the pen. When all is said and done I expect williams and barnes to be battling for 5th or 6th option behind knebel hader jeffress and an addition who slots into the 8th inning. We seem to like adding guys who didn't get their chance elsewhere. I'd find it unlikely that williams never gets a shot here. I'm expecting a lot of talks and little action from Stearns. I dont expect a big money addition at pitcher. I dont expect a big money reliever. I expect some trades that sell extras, where he wins the trade and I expect some bargain signings with upside. Buy low trades. If that's the way this plays out Williams gets his shot now and he should.

Absolutely a guy a big market would love to plug a hole at 1b with. Great player... but I dont see how we can afford 14-18 mil at 1b when we adequately fill it with a 6 mil platoon. Like the guy but we need pitching.

Btw... am I the only one who looks at swazak and goes, yeah had a great year but uh he's been very bad prior to that. I would have him on the wish list of adds but quite a ways lower than I hope to go.

Brinson, multiple places think his instincts in center are mediocre and multiple places think his start in the majors is going to be very bumpy and require a lot of little adjustments to reach his potential. I worry hes carlos gomez all over again... where you plug him in and wait and wait and wait for him to "get it."

I disagree. The team does not have the starting pitching depth to justify keeping what is probably their most talented arm in the pen. Having Hader in the pen isn't going to matter if you don't have the starters to get to him. If they acquire a couple good starters, then you can make the argument that Hader should stay in the pen. Can you have 1 dominating pitch and nothing else and truly be the most talented? He has the biggest upside but if he doesn't develop his secondary stuff to get some strikes out of it he's not going to be more valuable in the rotation than he is in the pen. I dont think his issues allow him to be a productive starter as is and I dont think those issues require him to start to improve. So I'm with the other guy that sees no reason for him to start yet. He could come out this year and dominate. His secondary stuff could become useful and his pitches per inning could drop in his work in the pen and if that happens... next year he's gets a rotation slot. But a fastball, as nasty as his is, is still not enough to start and go 6-7ip.

I hear you on the phi rebuild but that was us last year and we didn't buy pen pieces. Oh wait feliz if you want to count that.

Would prefer cishek at that price. More consistent track record... not as old. Phi buying trade chips, annoying. I'd also love Jake Mcgee. He's been knocked down a peg by coors and his numbers outside there are awesome. Knebel cishek hader mcgee jeffress suter With 1 spot for barnes getting 1st crack, williams 2nd, houser 3rd, then giving it to Fperalta if they all stumble before august. It's about all you can ask for in a pen. Post season knebel cishek hader mcgee fperalta could be deadly.

While I'm at it... can someone please explain why arrieta is projected at 100/5... lynn at 58/4 and cobb 48/4. 2 coming off 1 year after a lost year. All pitched similar innings. Numbers are extremely similar if you dont look back at arrieta's moster year. He's not the name or have stuff as nasty but the results are very similar so if we do buy 1 why wouldn't cobb be the target? Think i answered it... home road splits make him look hr prone. But why would he allow 60 more hits on the road? Fewer road innings for the career. 15 more hr on the road. Attributed to big home park. Why the 60+ more hits?