Grant77

Good start

If it were my choice, I'd stretch him out as a starter and place him in the bullpen in August, much like we did with Sanchez this year. Get him ~150 innings and he's good to go in 2017.

I don't buy it. That comparison is completely bogus. The Phillies traded away all of their young talent and were left with a shell of aging veterans and no farm system. None of their top 10 position players were under the age of 28 and the young one was John Mayberry Jr. On the pitching side, Vance Worley was basically the only cheap young talent on the entire roster. They were paying a combined 32 million to Placido Polanco, Pig f***er McGee, Joe Blanton, and Ty Wigginton and had a total payroll of 172 million. We, on the other hand, have several young position players to complement the veterans and a relative wealth of talented young pitching. We also have a farm system in the top half of the league and a front office with a superb drafting track record. All of this isn't to say that we shouldn't be careful, but ignoring the opportunity we have in the next couple of years with the current core would be pretty damned stupid. As they age and their contracts expire, we'll just be getting into the real salaries for our current youngsters and I'm very confident that we'll have a top 5 farm system, provided they aren't traded away.

Completely hypothetical and done quickly so don't criticize: 2017/2018: C- Martin (20) 1B- Colabello/Tellez (maybe JB) 2B- Travis/Goins 3B- Donaldson (20) SS- Tulo (20) LF- Pompey CF- Pillar RF- Bautista/Alford (20) DH- Encarnacion (20) SP 1- Stroman SP 2- Shark/Zimmermann (15) SP 3- Hutchison (5) SP 4- Sanchez/Osuna SP 5- Greene There's about 126 mil for the lineup and bench and leaves a reasonable 15 mil for the bullpen and depth. That's not a perfect roster mind you, but I don't expect EE to get 20 mil and I also expect payroll to rise.

That's the cost of contention. A team with those five bats is the top hitting team in the league and an instant contender. We're also flush with inexpensive young talent like Travis, Stroman, Pillar, Osuna, Sanchez and Pompey, none of whom will make any real money for the next 3+ seasons.

I think there is. Payrolls were 137 and 138 million respectively in the past 2 seasons, let's assume they keep it the same. 20- Tulo 15- Martin 14- Bautista 12- Dickey 12- Donaldson 10- Encarnacion 6.7- Revere 3.4- Cecil 2.6- Hutchison 2- Smoak Total: 97.7 million I understand that there will be raises to Martin and Donaldson in 2017 and that we need to add a pitcher, but we have an awful lot of flexibility in the payroll even without any increases.

That's the most foolish thing we could do in my opinion. There is a place for them in the lineup, there is a place for them in the payroll, and they aren't needed as trade fodder.

Lol, 3 games don't decide that. We're unequivocally a better team, that's not even a question, we're just not playing well. That's the playoffs for you.

I disagree with this. Bench coaches watch tapes of this kind of stuff in order to gather info for the players. If you get a cerebral player like Jose on second, he's going to figure it out sometimes. They don't make things THAT complicated for the pitcher or the catcher would get crossed up a lot more often than you see. All that being said, it's totally within the rules and the Royals fault. I'm quite certain that they were doing it to Price.

Donaldson says he 'just likes it' in an interview.

It's about damn time.

Cueto is good hittin'

Liberals also dominated the election when we won in 1993 (Bloq was second nationally, lol).

GOOOOOOOOOOOIIIINNNNSSSSSSSsssssssss

Don't WE lead the league in comebacks?

They were definitely stealing signs, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Guess I don't know much. There's now 6 inches of snow in Sault Ste. Marie and more coming. Winter is upon us!

It wasn't a strike

Haha that's brutal. Although, I have nothing against Kansas. They don't even have a ballclub.

I'm 100% sure that most of it is stuff we don't have access to.

The voice of Jerry Howarth always makes me feel better about the game.

http://player.sportsnet590.ca/

I'd still start Rios because of Dyson's career 50 wRC+ against lefties, but I understand your point as well.

You didn't say that. If that's what you meant then I agree.

No.