jay87shot

Any chance we could off load Yeli for 2 years of Sale? Could we make a bigger package and include Devers or maybe Verdugo. Yeli, Urias, Lauer, 2 prospects (Black, Rodriguez (p)) for Sale and Devers. The Sox get the solid starters and 2 decent prospects and we get out of the end of Yeli's contract, get a high potential starter and amazing potential 4 man playoff rotation, as well as a year of a top end 3B. Yeli, Lauer, 1 prospect (Black) for Sale and Verdugo. We don't really need Verdugo but I would think there would be some security there getting a vet back.

I always thought that there should be a way that you could keep Burnes and Woody on a 5 day schedule and then the other 4 on a 6 day schedule. I would guess you would occasionally need to piggyback your 5/6 starters in that scenerio when there are multiple days off, and occasionally the 5th 6th man would get 7 or 8 days and maybe need a bullpen appearance. That way we would sneak in around 10 more starts for our big guns and keep the backend fresh and help the pen with some load.

Agreed, they could use a stable 4/5 starter but have alot of good potential arms. They added some nice under the radar pen options. I thought that a guy like Houser or Lauer would be a perfect add for them if we wanted to add a low cost vet like Wade Miley or Danny Duffy.

We really haven't put a ton of resources/draft position into catcher. It seems like we draft a ton of catchers in the 4th-10th range. The success rates in those rounds aren't great add in a more difficult position and I expect less. I think we did fail miserably with Jacob Nottingham, he seemed to have a lot of upward momentum and was trash when we got him. We seemed to be doing well with Mario but the lost 2020 season wrecked his momentum.

I like this both ways. The Jay's were probably looking for the best player they could get for Moreno or Jensen. Varsho had a 5 WAR season in essentially his 2nd year. He can be a 3rd catcher and Gold Glove RF, with good power and some speed. Gurriel is an average player, he doesn't walk and plays an average LF. So the J's get a 3ish WAR improving in the OF for a blocked C and save some money in the process. For the D backs they get a potential huge upgrade at catcher and an OF who works well with the 3 other left handed young OF.

I wouldnt mind Mitchell for Rogers straight up but I wouldn't add to it. What worries me is that Rogers wasn' great even get in 4 AAA starts last year. Maybe Mitchell to Texas for Owen White, Texas has Leiter, Porter, and Rocker as future arms so White would be a great get.

They still have Canha 1 year+ option, Nimmo 8 years, and Marte 3 years. Not much pt for Baty in the OF unless there are injuries. It does make sense to move him but you lose some value turning a good defense 3rd baseman into a meh LF. They should probably just trade him to us for a couple young prospects.

3 team deal We get Baty and Carrasco O' get Lauer Mets get Cionel Perez and Logan Henderson. We take on Carrascos 15 mill and have him to replace Lauer. In player value we only give up Henderson. O's turn a 7th inning reliever into a solid starter. Mets save a bunch in $(not that they care) get a high end reliever and a solid prospect for Baty.

Brett Baty, Drew Smith, Mark Vientos and Simon Juan for Devin Williams??? We get a 3rd baseman, solid reliever, 1st/3rd base/LF option, and a high end wild card. I really am not a big fan of trading Williams after getting Contreras. However we could maybe turn Urias into another reliever and get close to making up for it. Say Urias and Brosseau to KC for Scott Barlow and a prospect? Maybe just some younger prospects and we take back some $. Baty and Escobar for Tyler Black and Carlos Rodriguez (P). We take on 10 million and give up two good prospects to get an extremely good one. Mets save cash and get 2 pieces who could help in a couple years. I like this option better. What about Pete Alonso/Jeff McNeil, Brett Baty, and David Peterson (plus a prospect) for Burnes and Rowdy/Urias granted there is probably no way Alonso or McNeil would be on the market, Alonso/McNeil/Lindor/Correa is probably the best infield in the league (maybe best in last 20 years or so).

No to Escobar, however this should make Brett Baty expendable. I wouldnt mind taking a little $ to get Brett Baty and lessen prospects.

All these predictions really pussyfoot around and play the safe ground. Just look at the sb totals. Yeli and Mitchell should both be around 30+ with the new rules, hitting leadoff all year, and a full year (mitchell). I do like looking these over but they predict to much (triples really) and don't take risks. A few notes 1)no way Huira gets 250 pa 2) I don't think there enough OF starts unless Huira starts are LF. 3)Winker is not going to play enough defense to be worth -12 runs 4) Yeli isn't going to lead the team in rbi, leadoff all the way. 5) Our leading hitter will hit over .250, with no shift, young guys, and additions we should improve our team ba more than this. 6) Contreras will be better than there projections, I can see some regression in a category or 2 but not in every aspect of the game. 7)Frelich, Weimer, and Miller will have more than 300 combined pa's. I expect Miller to be the Peterson role over Toro, and at least one our young OF option will get a much longer look than 150 abs.

We could always trade Rowdy or Winker. I doubt a guy like Vinny would be traded, basically a 1/1 k/bb ratio is crazy now days. He, Witt, and Melendez is an interesting young core with a vet like Perez to lead them.

3 team trade (Arnold's new thing) We get Yandy Diaz, Red Sox get Eric Lauer, Ray's get Blaze Jordan, Shane Drohan, Logan Henderson Trade Rowdy and Russ Smith to Marlins for Dax Fulton Sign Danny Duffy 1/6 with incentive to 12 Sign Aroldis Chapman 1/12 incentive to 15 Frelich/Weimer and Turang come up around May to save year of control send down Perkins and Toro/Brosseau/Miller 1)LF Yeli 2)1B Diaz 3)DH Winker 4)C Contreras 5)SS Adames 6)CF Mitchell 7) 3B Urias 8)RF Taylor 9)2B Miller/Toro/Brosseau Rotation= Burnes, Woody, Peralta, Duffy, Houser, Ashby Pen=Williams, Chapman, Bush, Cousins, Payames, Milner, Strez/Guerra/Varland/Junk/Perguaro/etc. You could trade Winker instead of Rowdy but I would guess we would get very little in return. Fulton would be a good get and could be a good option layer in the year. Duffy and Ashby piggy back to start the year and then go 6 man rotation after a few times through the rotation. C: William Contreras ($0.70M) 1B: Yandy Diaz ($5.30M) 2B: Abraham Toro ($1.40M) 3B: Luis Urias ($4.30M) SS: Willy Adames ($9.20M) LF: Christian Yelich ($26.00M) CF: Garrett Mitchell ($0.70M) DH: Jesse Winker ($8.25M) Bench OF: Blake Perkins ($0.70M) Utility: Owen Miller ($.7M) Utility: Mike Brosseau ($1M) Backup C: Victor Caratini ($2.80M) RP: Joel Payamas ($.7M) 2B: Kolten Wong (trade to Seattle) ($1.75M) RF: Taylor ($0.70M) SP1: Corbin Burnes ($11.40M) SP2: Brandon Woodruff ($11.00M) SP3: Freddy Peralta ($3.50M) SP4: Danny Duffy ($6M) SP5: Adrian Hauser ($3.60M) CL: Devin Williams ($3.20M) RP: Aroldis Chapman ($12M) RP: Matt Bush ($2.00M) RP: Jake Cousins ($.7M) RP: Hoby Milner ($1.10M) RP: Aaron Ashby ($1.00M) RP: Guerra/Strez/Varland ($.7M) Payroll is 7.38% under budget

Some random thoughts/questions/ideas 1)With Dansby to the Cubs do you think the Willy calls might heat up? I know Arnold said they aren't trading the big 3, however it wouldn't be surprising to see the Braves, Dodgers, Red Sox, Angels, or Twins get desperate and make us an offer we couldn't refuse. Maybe the same thing for Burnes since all the good starters are signed. 2) Would any teams take a couple of our 40 man roster guys that seem blocked/redundant for a prospect. I live in Michigan and think there are a bunch of guys the Tigers should try and get from us (Keston, Brosseau, pen depth, Hauser, Small). I would think they A's, Royals, Red Sox, Rockies, Dbacks, Pirates, Marlins, Reds, etc could vulture a guy that wouldn't hurt us and we would gain a roster spot. 3) Why not just cut a guy like Trevor Kelley, Jason Alexander, Jon Singleton, or Tyson Miller. I can't see them making the od roster. Is it just for injury reasons. 4) Alot has been made about improving 3rd however improving 1st might seem more meaningful. Rowdy had a -1.4 defensive WAR last year. By trading Winker or Rowdy we could save some money and then improve the roster. Basically I am falling for a Yandy Diaz trade and think he would fit our team as a 1B perfectly. 5) With the relief market being crazy right now, we are smart to wait it out. However I think adding a vet late inning arm (preferably a lefty) is our biggest need. Matt Moore, Michael Fulmer, Andrew Chafin, Chapman, Kimbrel Brad Hand, Corey Knebel, Zach Britton, Ken Giles, Alex Reyes, Chad Green, and Mychal Givens could all be possible depending on your opinion on them (and price/years). Maybe a starter to convert to relief like Archer, Duffy, Fujinama would work as well.

I was thinking similar recently with Turang in AAA and Frelich as well. I could see us going Miller, Toro, and Brosseau at 2B (or 3B and Urias 2B). The more is think about it, it makes sense to get an extra year out of them. If we keep Frelich in AAA FOR a month+ until we get that extra year we can go Taylor in RF, Mitchell CF, Perkins 4th OF and still have Winker as a 5th OF when needed (and not in game DH).

Owen Miller is a decent get, he does seem a bit redundant with Toro, Hiura, and Brosseau. It is nice that he (and Toro I believe) have options. Someone brought up that he improves on the utility spot because he can play short but I would guess that he won't play much short because if Willy is out, Turang would go to SS. My only complaint is that he hasn't played OF, it would be nice if one of the 4 semi utility/bench options could play OF as a 5th guy. However if Mitchell and Frelich both make the team I guess Winker would be the 5th OF and have your utility guy play OF not needed. I do think that we are undervaluing Huira a bit, I know we are just sick of seeing the potential and just frustrated he can't lay off bad pitches. Altough Huira and Brosseau are basically the same player for our team, sub par defenders who can platoon at 1st/2nd and be decent bats/ pinch hitter vs. lefties (Brosseau can play 3rd but really wouldn't unless Urias is hut). Without watching them Miller and Toro seem to have the same value as well platoon option at 2nd maybe some time at 3rd or 1st and a bench bat. My guess is that we trade Keston if we can and then Toro and Miller compete for the last bench spot and maybe 2nd base reps if Turang doesn't look great in camp (which I doubt).

Urias is passable to slightly above average at 3rd however he isn't shiny, I don't mean by size but by baseball attributes. He has been worth mostly positive defensive grades at 3rd but doesn't have a big arm (I am guessing his range holds his numbers up) or wow the die hard who watches every game, by todays standards he has at best average power, he isn't fast, and he takes walks but his average/contact tool which was his calling card as a prospect hasn't developed. Urias is a solid all-around player but as I watched last year he never felt like an indispensable part of our team/ a long term building block. I do wonder how he was worth 3.1 WAR in 2022 and 3.1 WAR in 2021, where I feel like he was a much better player in 2021 and played more (maybe because he played a lot of SS in 2021). There really isn't an available option that case can be made for on the free agent market upgrade other than Turner because he can hit 3-5 in the order. There are some trade potential players that could be upgrades but all those players would have flaws. I know this post is a bit wishy-washy but to me I don't think that Urias at 3B is a weakness, it just at no point is a place you can point to and say 3rd base is locked down and a strength.

Any chance the Jays would trade Matt Chapman, he has 1 year left and the have Santiago Espinal, Whit Merrifield, and Cavan Biggio for 2B (and to cover 3rd). I know the Jays are looking for offense upgrades and trading Chapman doesn't make a ton of sense unless you know you aren't going to resign him. I wouldn't give up anyhing huge but Urias/Lauer and a mid level prospect for 1 year Chapman seem reasonable.

I would be OK with starting Taylor in right and getting the prospects feet wet and after 3-4 weeks handing things over. However I agree that Taylor is plus 4th OF and below average starter (at least for a playoff team). I have really felt like a team like the Tigers, A's, or Royals should be all over Taylor as a starter and we could net a decent relief arm for him but apparently not. The D-backs are looking to sell high on Varsho, he was a 5 WAR player last year and they know that is a bit of an overstep for a guy with a low ba/obp. With the 4 young OF they have he is the only tradable one (not trading Carroll) who will bring back high end pieces. My guess is that they want a package that rivals Murphy (without the 3rd team).

I would still rather release Trevor Kelley or Tyson Miller, sign and keep JP on the 40 man until the season starts and then add him to the 60 day DL. We can easily pick up a Trevor Kelley quality arm once the season starts and the 40 man spot opens up (or promote someone who had a camp invite or Frelich).

Narveaz and Caratini are to similar to make much difference. I would say if you can sign Omar to a 3-4 million dollar deal and get a mid-level prospect for Caratini this does make sense. However I would guess Narveaz get around the 1/6 that Zunino just got and Caratini gets almost nothing in a trade, so pass because Omar isn't worth the 3ish million extra.

I would DH Contrares against lefties if we had a reasonable emergency catcher, I doubt we would keep 3 catchers so he could DH some. That way his leg can stay fresher and we can keep his bat in the lineup more. A guy like Willians Astudillo would be interesting as a 3rd catcher who can play elsewhere, his bat obviously hasn't been good enough to make the roster but someone who could spell Caratini and play other spots. Daulton Varsho and Austin Barnes are the only other guys who can catch and play other positions that I can come up with off the top of my head.

Turner would be nice but I am starting to think a team is going to give him around 15 million. His bat would fit in perfect but he only started 59 games at 3rd last year. He is still a decent defender but with Winker at DH, I worry about him holding up for 130 or so games at 3rd. Cueto or Ross Stripling would be nice adds to the rotation but again with the strong years they had last year my guess is they can get a multi year deal over 10 milly. Manaea got 2/25 and both of those guys were light years better. Lugo is a hot name because teams want him to start, with the money some second tier relievers have gotten I'd say Lugo gets 2/16 minimum. I still really hope we could pry Yandy Diaz from Tampa and move him to 1st, then I guess we would move Rowdy or Winker. Possible add a young 3rd baseman who is mlb ready and blocked, I am getting more and more interested in Rafi Devers just for the year or maybe hang with Urias and trade for Devers at the deadline. Boston has done nothing and looks like a broken team. Trade Tyler Black, Carlos Rodriguez (P), and Russ Smith for Yandy Diaz (I am feeling so good I'd check on Glasnow) Trade Urias, Lauer, Payames, and a lotto prospect say Daniel Guillarte for Devers Trade Winker for a prospect Sign Stripling 2/24 and Aroldis Chapman 1/12 Yeli, Diaz, Devers, Contreras, Rowdy, Willy, Mitchell, Turang, Frelich Bench)Caratini, Toro, Taylor, Brosseau Burnes, Woody, Peralta, Stripling, Hauser, Ashby Williams, Chapman, Bush, Cousins, Guerra, Milner, Strez/Peguro/Junk/Topa/Varland

Turner is the only one that is an upgrade IMO. My guess is that there could be a good trade out there. After the Contreras deal I expect. Tyler Black and Ethan Small for Rafi Devers. In reality, maybe Yandy Diaz, his defense is poor and he fit ls better at 1st probably. There are a bunch of 3B mlb ready prospects who could be upgrades. He is an idea in which Chaim Bloom might get mutanied (that makes a little sense). We get Sale and Devers for Yeli, Urias, Lauer, and a reliever/Tyler Black. We get out of Yeli for only 2 of Sale, get a year of Devers without giving up a big prospect. The Yeli savings allows us to re-sign Woody and Adames. The Red Sox would get 4 impact players and could really improve there team for 1 year of Devers who it doesn't appear will resign and some long term money to Yeli.

Great point, A' could have swapped him to half a dozen teams for twice what we gave up prospect value wise (and no extra piece for us). Ruiz for Jansen would have been possible to me. We got a younger, cheaper, more controllable player who should fit into our Adames lead core really well. Also if our catching team works their defensive magic he could easily be a 5+ WAR player. I can't find the Quero quote of what to do with him. That is easy, if he does well this year and next bring him up around halfway through 2024 or so. Contreras should be able to DH A bunch (he did last year). Then in 2025 you have a decision to make if Quero shows out.