There was a point in 2019 where I thought Stephenson was breaking out as an elite reliever. I think his swinging strike % was pushing 20% for most of the season. Hoffman hasn't really ever shown promise like that. Seems like a weird trade for the Reds.
If a 5-win player is willing to sign here on something that makes sense financially, it's hard to argue that we shouldn't shuffle the pieces around to make it work. Danny Jansen has trade value. Kirk has significant trade value. Either can be used in a package to bring in a SP or OF.
I've loved AA's approach to the FA market in his Atlanta tenure. Ozuna, Donaldson, Keuchel, now Smyly and Morton, all on one year deals. Ended up wasting money on Hamels, but that's a lot of wins added with very little risk.
I'm a bit surprised they haven't removed Yamaguchi. Clearing the roster spot and taking the chance (however remote) that someone claims him seems like a no-brainer.
I think he was placed on the restricted list before the season, and the team has never reinstated him. He’s stuck in Venezuela or something.
What’s RDS?
I just don't see it quite the same way. Teams load up all the time and lose in the playoffs to teams that didn't make massive deadline additions (Clevinger this year). You can absolutely win without landing the biggest fish available at the deadline. Most WS winners are an example of this.
I do think your concerns might be alleviated a bit in the near future though. The Indians were absolutely very risk averse in Shapiro's time there, but we've already seen one major departure from that MO in Toronto, where they have access to more resource (the Ryu contract). I don't think we'll ever see this FO make a move analogous to Torres for a Chapman rental, but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see them dip into their farm and move good prospects if the 2021 or 2022 equivalent of Andrew Miller hit the market (elite reliever with 2.5 years of control). This isn't Cleveland, and the FO isn't necessarily going to approach winning in Toronto the same way they did in Cleveland.
I wonder if Cubs fans might have the opposite take and prefer a more cautious approach. Like, they'd very likely still have a WS title without Aroldis Chapman, but could still have Gleyber Torres. And probably would have been better off keeping Eloy Jimenez than acquiring Quintana to boost their chances at a repeat.
I actually really like the cautious approach. I think Toronto has a very good chance at winning a WS in the near future if payroll is competitive with the top spenders.
Do you think that would be true if Epstein had spent his career with Cleveland and a rebuilding Jays team and Shapiro with Boston and Chicago?
I wouldn't care at all if Ross Atkins were replaced, but I'm not sure there's anyone in baseball I'd fire Shapiro for.
Schilling is the only guy in baseball being held out of the HoF for no other reason than that the voters don't like him on a personal level. It's embarrassing for the sport.