davell

Are you quoting somebody? I think that was Rosenthal

I had soured on Vizcaino and the slots we dealt were useless to us and were going to waste anyway. Ambivalent here, LaStella is fine on the return and I wonder if he's just parked here on his way elsewhere this offseason.

Pretty good. For those haven't listened, they basically say you could take our top 12 out and still have as good or better of a system as the Angels do.

Badler said on Twitter all the Cubs or Rangers had to do was offer him enough to sign during their signing period. He mentioned it casually and didn't mention it was against the rules. Plus, there's not a time limit-he can sign whenever he wants(once he's eligible. On a side note, if some of you aren't aware, being an IFA that falls under the bonus caps.....He's not eligible to sign a major league deal. Meaning if he's getting 30-40 mill, it's all coming as a signing bonus. And that means its a one time outlay of 60-80 mill in one fell swoop for a team.

Love Zimmermann, but I really hope we can do this with Alcantara, Almora, and stuff. Don't want to lose Javy or Russell here, but I'd understand.

One, I don't think that Arizona is expecting the world out of a return trade-wise for him. They may very well just be trying to get out from under his contract. My honest guess is a Wood for Montero swap is close to value. And considering Martin is likely to get 5/75 or 5/85 somewhere, I'm definitely OK in giving up Wood if it means taking on 3/40 of Montero versus 5/85 or so on Martin.

why aren't you seeing it happen in one offseason? i don't get it. Because we're not the only team in baseball unfortunately.

And if Masterson doesn't get fixed, you've thrown away a season trying to fix a 3/4 guy for what reason exactly? Yeah, I'm not really intersted in 1-year deals. Shouldn't be trying to fix a guy and sell him off anymore. And the Cubs already have enough guys to "fix". Turner, Doubront, and Straily are still works in progress. And it's not like they need to save a spot for next year for anyone. CJ still hasn't thrown 120 innings. Johnson has had his injuries and control issues too. Black doesn't have huge upside that you have to save a spot for in 2016. I'm obviously not advocating flipping anyone. I'm just trying to be realistic. I DO expect us to get one TOR type this offseason. But I suspect we're likely to get one next offseason as well. Which is why I'm thinking a one year deal guy makes sense-immediately replaceable. I get that maybe the one year guy doesn't work out. But that's why you have depth and it'd still give us time to trade for a guy at the deadline anyway. I'd love to add two longterm TOR types now, but I don't see it happening in one offseason. And I'd rather have a one year guy who has the same general upside of the McCarthy's or Liriano's out there, but on a much shorter term.deal to where it'd give us the payroll to add another impact guy later. If we tie 40 mill up in Lester and one of Liriano or McCarthy for a while, coupled with other moves-I'm not sold we'd be able to throw another 20-25 mill per year at another guy the following season. Because I'm not sure how far our payroll will move pre-TV deal. As for Masterson himself-use anyone else. If his velo dip isn't explainable then I don't want him. If it is, then he's got great one year potential.

I'm thinking Bosio has a solid chance at fixing Mesterson(turning him back into serviceable). I'd take anyone on a one year deal that can be had at that, that can then put up decent numbers for a 3/4. I'm not going to go out and say my ideal offseason is signing Lester AND Scherzer, because as much as I'd love it, I just don't see it happening. I guess the best outcome I can see pitching-wise for us and its still super slim, is to sign Lester early. Then get Shields on a 4 year deal if he really did love playing for Maddon, later in the offseason.

I'm far from comfy on giving Liriano or McCarthy deals anywhere near that. My ideal offseason would be Lester at whatever(6-150 and I don't blink, I'd go higher if needed), Masterson on a one year deal, trade Travis Wood for Montero, trade EJax for Upton with Braves eating some salary, and sign Andrew Miller to a 4/28 type deal.(I think he'll get at least that) Following offseason replace Masterson with Price, Shark, Zimmermann, or another TOR type available at that time.

You shut your lying mouth. Personally, my dream offseason involves Maeda + Liriano on the SP front, not sure if Liriano getting a QO has changed my mind on the latter. Why do you like Maeda so much?

If I'm signing a qualified guy and losing my 2nd round pick, I want to sign a second qualified guy as well then. Losing your second and third doesn't hurt if you've added two big talents to the roster.(and no, Im not saying 2nd and 3rds are that valuable anyway, just would rather get two impact guys now) I think the worst offseason we wind up with is something like Hammel, Masterson, Montero, and Aoki. And if that's what we DID wind up with, my guess is we still enter the year projected around .500 and buy at the deadline.

Maeda isn't even likely to be as good as Hammel, McCarthy or other mid rotation types out there right now. There's no reason at all to pass on elite talent for a guy like him. And there's no reason at this point to pass on Lester for Price or any other option like that either. We're talented enough to win now with a few added pieces. We have the money and we now have the assets as well to amp things up a ton.

The daily minor league threads here will tell you just about everything that one of Arguello's minor league recap posts will. Eh, obviously I love our minor league threads, but he does go to plenty of games, talks to scouts, that kind of stuff. I'm not saying I like his stuff more than ours, but it does quite often have some info that we don't necessarily have access to otherwise.

I honestly like Arguello's minor league stuff. It's the best we've got outside of the national guys. Loxas is the one I wonder why I'm still following. As if his stuff isn't cringe-worthy enough, he's hired a bunch of guys that are legitimately awful to write for him and he retweets their stuff multiple times a day. I guess I hate follow him just to see him whine when he half ass mentions a rumor, part of it comes true months later, and he rants on not getting proper credit for it. But whatever you do, don't read the imbiciles writing for him.

http://js.mlblogs.com/2014/11/04/angels-cubas-baldoquin-come-to-terms-on-a-deal/ Wow. 8 mill for a guy that I'm not even remembering to be a big name. Guess he impressed the hell out of someone though.

I think this damn near cements the fact that Alcantara is going to be our Zobrist moving forward. As for why Russell wasn't included, Im guessing its because he's not expected to contribute a ton in the majors this year.

No I don't EXPECT this, but if we added Lester, Masterson, Martin, Aoki, and Andrew Miller to this team....I'm guessing it puts us around 85-88 win expectancy?

Anything interesting in the BA piece on Vogelbach? Title seemed encouraging as far as finding trade suitors.

In no way, shape, or form should Mooney be listed with those clowns.

Maddon on the dress code: "If you think it makes you look hot-wear it."

World Series odds just went from 50/1 to 20/1 after the Maddon PC.

That was great. Not much else to say.

Julie DiCaro ‏@JulieDiCaro · 56s56 seconds ago "Don't ever permit the pressure to exceed the pleasure. That's on the top of my lineup card every night." ---Maddon

Why would you not want want top accept that challenge? In this city? With this ballpark? With these players?" -- Maddon