Bertz
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Everything posted by Bertz
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We should probably have a Hoskins thread, he seems very likely to happen
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BBTV has Morel and Brown for Glasnow and Brandon Lowe as more or less a perfect match.
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Morel is clearly too much for Glasnow. Something else of substance would be coming back this way. Lowe, a reliever, etc.
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I mean a year later you'd way prefer to have Swanson over the other three.
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Hoskins is a fantastic 2nd bat so I won't crap on him at all. Reallllly hoping the cold water on Soto was a "out of respect for Ohtani" sort of deal though. The problem is that, unless you buy that what Bellinger did last year was for real, there's just such a huge gap in bat quality after Soto. It's Ohtani/Soto who project to a 150 wRC+ and then a bunch of guys in the 115-120 range. No one in between unless Bregman or Alonso are available (and most indications are they are not really).
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Okay yeah it's done
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It's probably a comparable offense to last year (there's no Bellinger but you're replacing a lot of replacement level PAs with Jorge Polanco's ~115 wRC+). That pitching staff, assuming Taillon’s dong problems from last year aren't permanent, will absolutely horsefeathers people up. It is good and it is deep. Like 1908 said it sucks to not pull down a star, but realistically there's only 3 of those available this winter. The worst thing in the world IMO would be paying e.g. Bellinger star money just because you're feeling burned and impatient.
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If Jed doesn't pull down Ohtani, he ought to go after Soto. If he doesn't do that for whatever reason, I'd expect two solid bats and a pretty stellar group of pitchers brought in. Basically an offseason like this: - Trade for Glasnow - Trade for Jorge Polanco - Sign Imanaga - Sign Hoskins - Sign one of the high end relievers (Stephenson?) - Trade for another high end reliever (one of the Marlins lefties?) It's not nearly as fun as an Ohtani or Soto offseason but that team is very very strong
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He is right about just enough that you have to listen to him, but he trips on his horsefeathers in hilarious and embarrassing ways constantly. Similar to Bowden. Always listen to him about anything White Sox related though, he's clearly connected to Reinsdorf.
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Yeah this one feels about as inevitable as any move in a while.
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So the leads for all the teams that are in on Ohtani are conspicuously missing from Nashville, and it's been more or less confirmed he was in San Fran over the weekend? So are things basically just 2-3 days behind where we thought they were going to be on Thursday/Friday because people didn't account for the SFG meeting?
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I've never felt more confident than this moment
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Feels like Free Agency will sit still for as long as Ohtani takes, within reason. I don't think the trade market holds on much longer. A couple teams not really in on Ohtani like the Braves (I don't buy this AM's report) appear itchy to get things moving.
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Levine seems pretty convinced Glasnow happens this week at the meetings
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Anyone else noticing that a lot of the more off-the-wall stuff this winter is coming from Morosi? Like I'm not saying to give him the Bob treatment, he's earned more than that, but feels like it's been an especially quiet winter and he's sort of just saying stuff to fill space.
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The Braves are the only team in baseball that has more or less open financials. If they run a $300M+ payroll and still turn a profit oh boy is the next CBA gonna get ugly.
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I'd expect one or the other but not both to get some lengthy run in the bullpen. Brown was weeks, maybe days, away from joining the MLB pen this past year, so he feels more likely. Like TT mentioned he's in this awkward spot where Wicks and Assad are clearly more ready to take immediate MLB innings and Horton is the golden child and not far behind developmentally. Combined with a cap of probably 130ish innings this year and I don't think it takes a lot more adversity for the attitude to change to "Horsefeathers it let's put him in the pen and let him throw 100"
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Jed clearly doesn't have a problem with streaky hitters that play great defense, so I doubt he has any issue with Chapman. That said, there's only so many long term contracts a team can run and maintain the financial flexibility he so clearly values. Chapman, particularly given that he's tied to a QO, doesn't seem like a guy he'd use one of his 2-3 bullets on.
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The Mariners are quickly becoming one of those teams where you assume they'll make a pitcher they acquire better. Jackson Kowar is some grade A raw material for Dipoto to get his hands on. So this deal doesn't look great without that context but I dunno I think Jerry might be cooking
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I would think it'd be a Xander Bogaerts deal where he gets a silly long deal to reduce the AAV.
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I hope the Blue Jays/Ohtani stuff means they're out. At minimum I think it'd back up the idea that the wining & dining phase is done and we're just waiting for a decision?
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto to...the Dodgers? Really? Again?
Bertz replied to UMFan83's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
Slusser is the authority on Giants stuff -
Can we bring Valdez's 70% groundball rate back? The walks and strikeouts are moving in the right direction, so he's probably better tha he was a couple years ago, but he was way more fun when we was running freakish GB rates. But he'd be a huge add. Also feels more realistic for Houston to put on the market than Bregman. They've got decent pitching depth. Cost would be huge. Morel, their choice of Brown/Wicks, their choice of Alcantara/Caissie? I'd do it depending on what else Jed does. It'd also be something fun to pair with Glasnow in a no-Ohtani/no-Soto scenario. A rotation where Justin Steele is our 3rd starter would be one of the few ways to alleviate the sting of missing both those generational bata.
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The read I have is that whatever happened this weekend was the last bit of schmoozing. From here on I'd imagine it's Shohei sleeping on it and his agent nudging teams to improve their offers a bit more before committing.
