davell

Big Papi in their pre-game ceremony today-"This is our [expletive] city!". Awesome moment, best use of F word in history of baseball.

Very possible. To me, the absolute best case scenario(although strength in numbers helos here) is between Sweeney, Borbon, and Sappelt-we've likely found a 5th OFer for next year. If any of them find a way to contribute as much as Valbuena does(again, not a true ringing endorsement) the poo fling has worked in some small way.

He's here to give us depth if we trade Soriano, DeJesus, or even Schierholtz or Hairston. He may be underneath Sweeney even, in our FO's eyes, just circumstances dictated he be added to the 40 man. If Brett doesn't show he's ready then Sweeney and Borbon at least conceivably, give us a semi-warm body to throw out there in the trainwreck of a second half.

Can someone please describe what Segura did?

What really sucks is there will be guys, probably Vogelbach, Johnson, maybe Candelario-that wind up missing on both ends after they've been promoted later in the season.

Gould has a high cap number? No clue honestly, because I can't see them cutting Gould, even if he does.

Welcome! Hope you give more insight on how the old regime did things versus what you may have heard about the new one.

Yeah, my guess is if Sappelt doesn't start hitting, he'll get sent down when Stewart comes back.

Borbon is probably better than Sappelt, but it doesn't make a lot of sense. It'd be kind of funny if Ransom got DFA'd already. Maybe Stewart gets pushed back up sooner? DeJesus trade? No idea, but kind of an interesting claim.

Can't be any of us. As many drafts as that dude evidently does, he couldn't possibly have time to argue with us over here too.

Rock needs to make a bit more contact. But he is a guy with a chance, big power, solid approach.

Candelario double, Rock walk, and Contreras 3 run shot. I think we're developing a legit C prospect.

Do you post on Twitter when you update this, by any chance? No but I can....u gonna follow me? Sure.

Promotion to Tennessee by mid-June? If not earlier. Alcantara walked his first PA tonight too.

Do you post on Twitter when you update this, by any chance?

Javy and Soler both singled first time up.

I think if they're pitching well, you have to look into dealing one or the other of Wood or Villanueva. Schierholtz/Hairston still makes an excellent platoon next year, even if we go get one of Choo or Ellsbury. Let Garza's pitching decide what to do with him. Trade Soriano if he brings back something useful and unload Marmol, if possible. I guess its worth looking into moving Barney, if we think Watkins can handle an everyday job in 2014. But I'd want back a very good return. He may be a guy thats got more value to us than what other teams would want to pay.

Its not like we haven't gone down these conversations a ton, but IF we did add both Darvish and Cespedes, even kept Aramis as well. We're not a playoff team in 2012. And it very likely would have seen us keep Marshall, because we would have wanted more sure things in the pen. Would Shark have even been given a true shot at the rotation? Because you would have had Dempster, Darvish, Volstad(Z deal happens anyway), possibly still Maholm, Wells, and Garza. You would have had Byrd as your 4th OFer(think DeJesus was going to be a Cub anyway) along with Reed, Baker, LaHair, and probably a vet backup C. In the end, it wasn't a playoff team, you'd have had a payroll of 140+, and you'd have entered the following(2012) offseason around 110 mill, needing a C, a SP or 2, some bullpen help, and some bench help. You wouldn't have had a protected pick in the draft this year and you wouldn't have the returns from the Marshall, Dempster, or Maholm deals. In my mind, unless you're able to afford taking our payroll up to, or above 160, you're not turning the roster I just gave, into a perennial playoff force. Look, it sucks we may head into 2014 with a lesser shot at making the playoffs than if we had gone the other route, but I'd gladly lay money those odds are reversed from 2015 forward, with the path they've chosen.

Excellentbpost, Kyle.(had to make sure you got at least a dig at Theo though lol). The 2011 offseason as lost opportunity? I can see that, but only when it comes to Darvish and Cespedes. An addition of Darvish would have likely lead to another higher profile move, in my mind. No idea what, but possibly a Headley trade? Just enlarge the Rizzo deal. But I think it would have centered around getting Darvish-I believe and agree with Theo about not buying the older high priced FA until you know you're a contender. Cespedes is the harder to forgive on, but even if we got him, I don't think any other major moves would have accompanied it. At least until this offseason, where I could have saw us go slightly harder at Annibal, maybe grab Bourn. But, in missing on those 2 guys, coupled with the fumblings of the renovations, it gave Ricketts an excuse to drop the baseball ops budget in a time it wasn't clear there was much to spend it on wisely anyway. A horrible season this year(still think we're a slightly under .500 team at ASB), though, will be interesting to watch unfold, from an attendance perspective. Theo says he's sticking to his plan, so my guess is next year will be around 110 mill as well, just with a slightly better team on paper.Instead of projecting 77-78 wins, I figure we'll be projecting 82-83.

I would prefer a deep threat, if they take a receiver of any sort, but I wouldn't discount adding Eifert in the 1st or Ertz in the 2nd. We definitely have flexibility to do most anything we want.

Well [expletive], Kyle, I agree with a very large part of that actually. My differences would be as follows: I think Theo was planning on coming in and spending 25-30 mill on the draft/IFA's last year. I do think he knew they wouldn't be all that competitive immediately and I don't think there was a true budget limitation heading into his first offseason. But he wasn't going to box himself in with guys over 30 either.Losing Darvish though,(no real blame from me on a blind bid) likely set things back anyway. Cespedes was a true mistake and no question he was affordable. But the system wasn't really in a good position to be dealt from, and after losing tax payer money and a lack of impact FA available, they decreased the budget for this past offseason. With money coming off anyway, it left them enough to fill out a relatively decent looking team on paper. My guess is Theo, in private, is very frustrated though. The new CBA kept him from building the system quickly and after a year long assessment, coupled with Ricketts needing to spend money elsewhere, bit his tongue and realized this may take a year longer than he thought. The holes they are leaving unaddressed though- Bullpen and bench mainly, I think they'd much rather find guys from within to handle most of those spots, even if it takes longer to identify who those players are.

Best case for Bruno is Pedroia, I guess. With his versatility, I could see a DeRosa type career for him, if things break VERY right, just not 100% right.

Just there visiting. No interest from Cubs, via just about everyone on Twitter.

There will be graduations, but also new guys from this draft. Plus other guys who will emerge from the middle. I'm not saying it can't happen, but he's already starting behind the 8-ball injured and as a guy who is far from the majors, there isn't going to be a rush to bump him quickly. It's no lock. True. Can't argue that. My hope is his polish plays up and it moves him quick.

Harold Reynolds today on OBP: "If you're scoring runs, I get it, otherwise, big deal!"