John_Havok

I’d love to land Clase, but yeah…not straight up for Kirk. Kirk, Orelvis plus another legit asset or assets for Ramirez and Clase….yup.

Exactly. Seems like some think that Donaldson is some anchor preventing the team from being able to compete and win games. Honestly, his contract may have been negative value this year, but depending on WAR vs dollars and where that is this year, it’s not some sinkhole. He could actually provide positive contract value next season and it would not be a surprise, and to me it’s actually quite likely. He’s not some degraded asset desperately needing to be offloaded. Grichuk was .5 WAR for 10 million, Donaldson was 2.2 for double that. Neither of those is tremendous, but for some to act like trading these two for each other makes sense and would be equal value is not reflective of reality. Donaldson still helps you win games, he just costs more money to do it. Grichuk is far worse of an asset

You've done some fine leg work here, but Im wondering why our bench is steaming pile of slap hitting junk? I like the defensive utility, but I'd like to see some thump on the bench as well. Maybe tweak your plan to include some power on the bench and see how it looks. Also, not a fan of your 2b situation. That would likely need some more thought as well. Also, who are the depth starters when injury strikes?

yeah, defense does fluctuate a little based on # of defensive chances and other factors. Point being, he's not a black hole and I dont think it's reasonable to look straight at his 2.2 fWAR season and expect that is his new norm. in the short Season before he put up 1 fWAR in 100 PAs. Checking his batted ball metrics he is top 3-10 in a ton of meaningful categories, like avg Exit velocity, barells per AB, hard hit rate etc. HIs bat is still lethal.

2-4 WAR player at 25 per year for the next 2 years (assuming the 8M buyout for 2024 is done) is hardly an albatross. Yeah, I can see why Minnesota isn't hyped about spending that kind of money on him, given their current situation, but they're not gonna be so eager to move Donaldson that they take pennies on the dollar. Donaldson killed baseballs this year and was pretty much at his career norms in K and walk rates. Oddly, his WAR was down due to a bad defensive year which I would be skeptical that he just drops off a cliff in that way. Donaldson could easily be a 4-5 WAR player next season. Would I love to get rid of Grichuk and pick up Donaldson? Of course, but thinking it would be a 1 for 1 swap is ludicrous.

I'd love to hear what the minnesota GM would say if that offer came though his phone. He'd probably hang up before the sentence was even finished.

He was born in raised in California, and there's always been rumblings that he would prefer to play for a west coast team as a result. If rumours are to be believed, then if the money and length of contract are similar, he'd likely choose a west coast destination.

Nice! St. Louis can f*** off

4.5 hours and still in the 9th….wtf baseball

TO be fair, I honestly don't think Ray or Berrios are playoff winning teams #1's either, so... it seems my bar for playoff team pitching a slightly higher than some.

Well, he's still under contract for 2022, so ... as of now, yeah of course he's coming back. If they announce an extension... may Allah save us.

If Stroman is a team's #2, they aren't winning jack.

You can firmly put me in the camp of not caring about optics. Just saying it is a reality that the FO needs to deal with

It would definitely be optically terrible for the franchise to watch a Cy Young finalist (possible winner) and a guy whos going to get MVP votes walk, but at the same time, you cant just givem a blank check. There's enough history for both of them for any front office to be wary of signing either of them to big money, long term deals. Semien is probably the better bet to be closer to his 2021 performance going forward but that's probably true of all position players vs pitchers in general. Ray is basically a 2 pitch starter and somehow makes it work. Would it really surprise anyone to see Ray lose his command and be terrible next year? Would it really surprise anyone for Semien have 20 HR next year rather than 45? Not really. To me Semien is the safer bet because he still has that 20HR, excellent defense floor. He's still probably a 3-4 WAR player without 40+ HR. But Ray could be even more amazing if he developed the change to be average to compliment the Fastball and slider. His curve could still be a show me pitch that he uses 2-5 times a game just for something different.

Stroman is a good #4, if he would accept that instead of preening around the world like he's the best pitcher on earth, he'd be better off. Sure, sign him to replace Matz and that would be fine, but if he thinks he needs to lead the staff like a hero and be paid like an ace, he's just delusional. There's confidence, and then there's delusion and I think Stroman crossed that line some time ago. Like we get it, you're short, you think you have to tell the world every time you open your mouth how hard it is for short people to excel in sports and how everytime something bad happens it only makes you come back stronger. So cliche. Be original, not some little/big man headcase.

Agreed that Espinal looks pretty good, but we’re still talking about very small datasets at the mlb level overall. Even for him to be an above average hitter he has to rely his babip being really high since very few of his batted balls will ever leave play. Is it possible? Sure. I wouldn’t necessarily count on it. His ceiling is just relatively low without any real game power. His K rate was halved this year, walk rate went up. Positive signs. I like Espinal a lot for what he is, but for him to be a truly positive regular he has to have Elite defence and run a consistently high babip. That’s a tough ask. Defence can also fluctuate season to season due to a variety of factors. I’m not saying it’s impossible, he did this year. I just don’t know that I’d be willing to bet that it continues. At worst though he’s a legit super utility guy that can pinch run and play multiple defensive IF positions that won’t embarrass himself with the bat. But his floor and ceiling aren’t that far apart. As for him being a low cost Chapman replacement…I don’t think a highly analytical team like Oakland will be seeing him that way. Maybe the Pirates would….

A 20 inning game between these two teams would still going on in December.

Al-Qaeda.

League average hitter with elite D at 3b still plays. He can hit 7th or something. It’s not a bad option but there’s no way I’d be offering any of our truly top prospects for him.

I don’t necessarily agree. Marginal upgrades are quite valuable on an already high win projected team. The question is where you get the marginal upgrades from and how much you pay for them.

He's Aaron Judge minus 70 pounds. I hope he sticks around for a long time because he makes baseballs cry.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/controversial-mlb-umpire-joe-west-to-retire-after-breaking-record-for-most-games-193844024.html REJOICE!!!!

I think the hate gets thrown around alot in the media and it's not that bad, but both sides have to present their sides as being unyielding and demanding and try to paint the other side as evil due to optics and making sure each represented party feels like they are actually fighting rather than just negotiating over cocktails. I hope there's no lockout. Already losing the opportunity to watch Vlad and Bo etc over the past 2 partial seasons has been torturous and losing out on more of that while their service time clicks away is a piss off.

I think the biggest thing that will make this offseason the most painful in recent memory is the CBA negotiations. Teams will be very hesitant to start signing bigger name players when they don't know what the luxury tax or potential salary floor is going to look like. We could be in for the looooooooooooooooooooooong offseason with regards to signing of FAs.

Yeah, cant remember if it was this thread or another, but... 3 years, 120 million wouldn't even be that crazy when you think of Gerrit Cole's AAV at 36 million. Sure he's a few years younger, but Scherzer still hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. I would think if I'm Scherzer's agent, my starting AAV is 37 million per season and then let the teams who are willing to pay that fight over how many years they want to guarantee, or how much higher in AAV they are willing to go. Best combo from the team he wants to sign with will win.