CrewFanBrewMan69

With the juiced ball, pitching quality, defense and some of the parks in AAA it’s really hard to take AAA production at face value last year. Nonetheless this is a perfectly fine depth signing.

This would make me mad to no end. It is crappy that the Cardinals have a chance to acquire two elite pieces two years in a row via trade. And the Cubs are crying poor. How are they going to take on that contract? The Cubs angle on it, from what I read from some of their blogs is incredibly unrealistic. It involves trading Bryant (probably to the Nats for Kieboom and some pitching prospects), trading Contreras, Heyward and prospects for Arenado (Rockies save like $160 million still) and then also trading at least 1 if not both of Chatwood and Quintana to net out the money. I don’t even know if that makes the Cubs better. Other than they get long term certainty with a star player at 3B where they only have that for 2 years with Bryant. That just all takes so much to come together I don’t see it.

Brewers get: 3B/SS Eduardo Escobar LHP Robbie Ray Diamondbacks get: SS Brice Turang OF Tristan Lutz https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/trades/trade-20791/ There’s no way that’s the trade in reality.

Unless we are giving up Hiura idk why they’d be remotely interested in moving him right now. He seems like a deadline addition at best, they seem to want and try and compete this year with the Bumgarner signing.

Calling Castellanos a train wreck defensively, but then calling for signing Cabrera is a pot calling the kettle black. Cabrera is an absolute terrible defender wherever you put him as well, and his athleticism is bad. Cabrera isn’t good there but he doesn’t kill you like Castellanos would. Cabrera’s worst year by DRS at 3B (-4) would be Castellanos best. Cabrera is a career .268/.331/.425 105 wRC+ hitter, Castellanos is .277/.326/.470 112 wRC+. They aren’t all that different of hitters, granted Cabrera is post prime age and NC is in his prime but both project to be pretty similar hitters next year and Cabrera is only going to take 1 year, NC 3-5 at a healthy AAV. Give me the cheaper guy for less year with the risk involved with NC at 3B, if he’s a disasters you are handcuffed.

Moustakas actually had a history of being an adequate fielder at another infield position though with the move to 2B. Castellanos was the worst in the league when he played. I think we’re also being jaded a bit by his hot 2 months with the Cubs. His bat isn’t that good, he’s a career 112 wRC+ hitter. I don’t think it’s worth potentially blowing up the defense for a bat that’s only that good.

There’s absolutely no way he can play 3B. The numbers on him or so bad there, the Tigers have been toiling away for a few years now and could’ve lived with him trying to figure it out there and they pulled the plug. I really don’t see him as a fit for our roster at this point now that Garcia was added and they seem to have 1B figured out. The only way I would really see adding him would be somehow moving Cain and then signing NC and putting Yelich in CF. Which that seems like an incredibly unlikely plan or realistic set of moves. If they were to sign Castellanos, I get the feeling they know what they could do with him on defense. Also, his career numbers are skewed by one outlandishly bad defensive season. That bat would look pretty superb in the lineup, that's for sure. He's never going to be a good defender anywhere, but I think with shifts and late game substitutions, they could make it work with him as the primary 3B. He played 3B from 2014-17, his DRS by year was -30 (lol), -9, -11, -14. His UZR’s were negative every year as well. That was when he was presumably more athletic and capable too, I just don’t see it even with the “well they will just shift” strategy. He was the worst defensive 3B in MLB by DRS from 14-17’. His best year, -9, would’ve ranked him as worst in MLB last year too. I just don’t see it, I like Asdrubal, Matt Duffy, or Brock Holt as 3B options to be involved in some sort of platoon/time share there for us.

There’s absolutely no way he can play 3B. The numbers on him or so bad there, the Tigers have been toiling away for a few years now and could’ve lived with him trying to figure it out there and they pulled the plug. I really don’t see him as a fit for our roster at this point now that Garcia was added and they seem to have 1B figured out. The only way I would really see adding him would be somehow moving Cain and then signing NC and putting Yelich in CF. Which that seems like an incredibly unlikely plan or realistic set of moves.

By most accounts he could’ve had the Giants or Mets jobs over the last year, doesn’t get much bigger market than that. You’d assume he got some feelers thrown out on him too that never got public by plenty larger teams. He’s not going anywhere for awhile, imo.

Yeah I’m guessing that was fabricated and that conversation never happened.... it’s incarcerated bob. The guy nails a ton of rumors. It wouldn’t surprise me if this one had legs. Would be interesting to find out who the “highly-rated” prospects were. He nails a ton because he throws a ton of crap against the wall. He’s bound to get some right when you can connect some dots with the information available out there now on social media.

What the White Sox have done this offseason is pretty smart, none of these contracts are big enough to significantly restrict their flexibility in the years to come. But they have to make up ~20 wins on the Indians and ~30 on the Twins. Not easy, but they have probably done enough to get over .500 and make things interesting. Which seems to be the intention. Way better than throwing $30+ million at Machado. They gave out their two biggest contracts in franchise history this offseason, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re relatively tied down for a few years here. Reinsdorf has never really spent. I still think this team isn’t all that good, but the worst division in MLB they can have some things break their way and be in it or they play to their true talent +/- and end up in the 70s or low 80s of wins.

So the O's give up one of the better players in baseball and get a big contract in Lowrie, Smith who has had one good year, and Gimenez who was very mediocre at AA. Once again the Brewers make out like bandits and the other teams get screwed. The Mets could make a better deal just dealing for Hader one on one. Trey Mancini is one of the better players in MLB? What? He’s a nice player but I wouldn’t say he’s one of the best. He’s arguably the 3rd best player in this trade behind Hader and McNeil.

His defense is literally some of the worst in the league, it’s going to kill his value. He also doesn’t really walk and is injury prone. He pretty much has to hit .280+ and hit 40+ HRs to carry value because he does nothing else. His ceiling is probably something like the year Soler just had and that wasn’t even 4 WAR and with a BB rate Eloy hasn’t put up since A ball. Plus if the ball stays juiced the power isn’t all that valuable. Lol, Jimenez is all of 23 and you act like he's Pujols running around out there...basing Jimenez's ceiling off 3/4 of his rookie year in MLB is pretty shortsighted. Ask every mlb GM if they could replace one of their starting corner OF's or DH with jimenez, and you may be able to count the teams who dont instantly say yes on one hand. He hurt himself doing routine tasks in the OF last year, he’s not really an OF’er. That bat isn’t that special, I’m sure a lot of teams would take him while he makes no money. I’d be fine having him on the Brewers until he got expensive. But look at the win values of DH/bad corner OF’ers over the years, it’s hard to get to 4-5+ wins for that profile and his bat isn’t “that” good. As mentioned he doesn’t really walk, he Ks at a decent rate, he’s gonna have to sustain a high BA/BABIP and hit 40+ HRs to be even a 2-3 win guy. JD Martinez hit .304/.383/.557 36 HRs with double the walk rate and about 1/3rd fewer Ks than Eloy last year and was only worth 3.2 WAR.

Keuchel would be the Cubs 4th or 5th best SP, so no? The Cubs also probably have 5 of the top 6 or 7 position players between the teams, including the best in Bryant. The pitching floor seems much safer too. I don’t see it unless all this young pitching comes together that’s been hurt or under performed to date. With Hamels gone, I don't even know who the Cubs 5th starter is. Chatwood? Jharel Cotton? Darvish is fragile, will be 33 next year, and led the league in HR's given up last year. Lester will be 36 and has had a FIP >4.00 each of the last three years. Right now Giolito is the best pitcher on either team, I'd put Keuchel on par with Quintana, then you have Hendricks/Lester/?? versus Kopesch/Cease/Gonzalez/Rodon. Moncada had an OPS equal to Bryant last year, Anderson had a higher OPS than Baez, and Jimenez is the best OF on either team (keep in mind he was only 22 last year and could easily get better). Then add Grandal, and I think it's a lot closer than you think. Yeah idk who their 5th starter is. But I’d take Hendricks, Darvish and Quintana all over Keuchel and it’s probably a coin flip between him and Lester to me. So to me he’d be the Cubs 4/5th starter. Hendricks is the best pitcher on either team, IMO, Darvish was one of the best pitchers in MLB in the second half. I’d think one and maybe both is better than Giloito this year. Schwarber is better than Eloy, IMO, or at least are both in that 2-3 win range and the Cubs can live with that since Schwarber is like their 4-5th best player and the White Sox NEED Eloy to be a 4-5+ win star and that’s hard with his profile. Anderson isn’t better than Báez as long as Anderson isn’t BABIP’ing like .400 and Bryant is better than Moncada. Steamer projects all that for this year too. Just think this White Sox team is really faulty, they don’t really have a star on offense other than Grandal. It’s a bunch of 2-3 win players most likely. The pitching is a complete crap shoot, look at the Mets from 2014-2019, it likely doesn’t come together between injuries or just having pitchers not turn out to be good.

I think they’re ridiculously overrated. Eloy is capped at a 2-3 win player at best with the defense and doesn’t really walk, Robert is more likely Brinson 2.0 than the player he’s hyped to be, Tim Anderson has as many years at .1 WAR as he does over 2.1, Abreu and Grandal are aging and Abreu just isn’t that good, ownership doesn’t really spend as the Grandal and Keuchel deals are like the largest contracts they’ve ever given out, more times than not young pitchers break and don’t pan out as prospects and it’s rare to sequence them all out being good at the same time, etc. There’s a path to being plenty good and have optimism, I just don’t buy it. I'd bet my life savings that you are wrong on jimenez...dude hit 30+ bombs as a rookie in 122 games, played through extended stretches with nagging hip and shoulder ailments when he wasn't on the DL. There are surely overrated pieces to the white sox roster, but Jimenez is not one of them. If he's healthy he's already a 40hr, 900+ OPS player. Even with below average defense that's 4-5 WAR player. His defense is literally some of the worst in the league, it’s going to kill his value. He also doesn’t really walk, struck out at a descent rate (27% or so) and is injury prone. He pretty much has to hit .280+ (which with his profile he’s probably no a high BABIP guy) and hit 40+ HRs to carry value because he does nothing else. His ceiling is probably something like the year Soler just had and that wasn’t even 4 WAR and Soler had a BB rate Eloy hasn’t put up since A ball. Plus if the ball stays juiced the power isn’t all that valuable. These bad fielder/DH guys just rarely carry all that much value, like Nelson Cruz has more years in the 1s than he does at 4+.

I think they’re ridiculously overrated. Eloy is capped at a 2-3 win player at best with the defense and doesn’t really walk, Robert is more likely Brinson 2.0 than the player he’s hyped to be, Tim Anderson has as many years at .1 WAR as he does over 2.1, Abreu and Grandal are aging and Abreu just isn’t that good, ownership doesn’t really spend as the Grandal and Keuchel deals are like the largest contracts they’ve ever given out, more times than not young pitchers break and don’t pan out as prospects and it’s rare to sequence them all out being good at the same time, etc. There’s a path to being plenty good and have optimism, I just don’t buy it.

I think they’re ridiculously overrated. Eloy is capped at a 2-3 win player at best with the defense and doesn’t really walk, Robert is more likely Brinson 2.0 than the player he’s hyped to be, Tim Anderson has as many years at .1 WAR as he does over 2.1, Abreu and Grandal are aging and Abreu just isn’t that good, ownership doesn’t really spend as the Grandal and Keuchel deals are like the largest contracts they’ve ever given out, more times than not young pitchers break and don’t pan out as prospects and it’s rare to sequence them all out being good at the same time, etc. There’s a path to being plenty good and have optimism, I just don’t buy it.

Keuchel would be the Cubs 4th or 5th best SP, so no? The Cubs also probably have 5 of the top 6 or 7 position players between the teams, including the best in Bryant. The pitching floor seems much safer too. I don’t see it unless all this young pitching comes together that’s been hurt or under performed to date.

Keuchel would be the Cubs 4th or 5th best SP, so no? The Cubs also probably have 5 of the top 6 or 7 position players between the teams, including the best in Bryant. The pitching floor seems much safer too. I don’t see it unless all this young pitching comes together that’s been hurt or under performed to date.

Sure sounds like the Cubs are going to make some pretty drastic moves (trading Bryant, Contreras, amongst other things) that will almost certainly make them worse next year. So that’s good for us.

No idea what the plan is, but whatever it is we need to add like 12 guys capable of playing MLB baseball next year. Half of which (maybe more) need to be capable of starting in some capacity.

Lindor, McKay, Glasnow, and Snell are all guys I’d move him for.

They want to move Kingery back to the infield and 2B, I think. Then have Brohm coming up for 3B.

Jose Abreu isn't even that good either. I am still trying to figure out how he won a Silver Slugger in 2018. Abreu had an outstanding year. 2019: .284/.330 - 33 HRs -123 RBIs. 21 teams got 34 or more HRs out of 1B last year and 17 teams got OBPs of .330 or more. This is a horrible deal, it’s not that hard to find Abreu’s production at 1B. Especially when the guy is 33/34 already.

The part you’re leaving out though is Darvish was seemingly acknowledging that the video clip was indeed related to his quotes in an Los Angeles Times article from earlier today. Here is the screenshot of the part of the article where he is presumably talking about the Brewers... Got it. Still doesn’t seem like it should be a thing but it’s November and nothing is going on. All for some (likely friendly) jabs between guys.