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Post by burythehammer on Jan 16, 2015 11:56:59 GMT -5
I liked Rosenthal a lot more before he started giving opinions.
Who did he want us to trade Xander for again, Cliff Lee? Yikes.
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Post by burythehammer on Jan 16, 2015 11:52:58 GMT -5
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Post by burythehammer on Jan 15, 2015 15:56:58 GMT -5
I think we will end up with him if our evaluation of him exceeds everyone else's. The teams we're talking about are rich, but they're smart too. Farhadi himself alludes to not going past their evaluation of his talent in terms of a bid. My guess is the same goes for NY and us.
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Post by burythehammer on Jan 14, 2015 13:54:15 GMT -5
Sounds like the Dodgers are going to jump into the Moncada bidding (if and when he is cleared). Jim Bowden @jimbowden_ESPN The most interesting bidding war this off-season won't be Lester, or Scherzer but rather Cuban INF Yoan Moncada with #Dodgers #Yankees Jesse Sanchez @jessesanchezmlb Source: #Dodgers aggressively pursued Yoan Lopez but came up short. Will now shift attention to OF Yoan Moncada. Expect a private workout. Interesting that Bowden specifically says "this offseason." I take everything he says with a Prince Fielder sized grain of salt but I wonder if that was intentional or just Cafardo-style ignorance.
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Post by burythehammer on Jan 5, 2015 19:58:21 GMT -5
I realize that if talent is available you make the move despite the position he plays. That said, it would seem other teams have more of a need for Moncada, particularly the Yankees with their hole at 2B relying on rooks. With 3B and 2B in good hands for the next three to five years, there would seem to be nowhere for Moncada to play if he is ML ready in a year or so. Can he play another position? Panda has made it clear he signed here to play third. Moving him to first after Napoli's contract could be problematic. I still go hard after Yoan and worry about the consequences later. If there's one thing these past six months have shown us it's that the Red Sox aren't afraid to have a surplus at a certain position.
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Post by burythehammer on Jan 4, 2015 21:15:31 GMT -5
Not to get too off topic here but if it's true that the Yankees could spend 500m and turn a profit, and in reality they don't even spend half that amount, only further proves that they have a budget, just like everyone else. "Technically we could spend this" and "This is the amount we have determined makes financial sense for us" are two completely different things.
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Post by burythehammer on Jan 4, 2015 5:49:18 GMT -5
It wasn't "wonky." As always, it's a matter of which methodology you prefer. If you think his fWAR was wonky you should think fWAR for all pitchers is wonky.
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Post by burythehammer on Jan 4, 2015 5:43:32 GMT -5
July two guys "sign" verbals all the time. I can assure you the Espinoza, Acosta, Devers were "signed" well before July 2. In Espinoza's case he didn't even go to the MLB showcase. Moncada is a higher profile guy so it may be different but teams know how to deal with verbals and how to proceed. Not saying it's going to happen but it's an option and I think it shouldn't be discounted. This is completely different. Those guys make verbal agreements because they CAN'T sign before July 2nd. If you went to one of those kids on July 2nd and said "Hey wait a couple months and we'll pay you X amount" when they have similar offers from other teams on the table do you think they'd wait? But since you bring it up, we saw with the Yankees last year how much these "verbal agreements" are really worth when something happens to the player/he regresses significantly.
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Post by burythehammer on Jan 3, 2015 12:48:19 GMT -5
My question is how enforceable are these "verbal agreements." What if he blows out his knee while training (or something worse, god forbid) in the ensuing time? There's no way the Cubs are still obligated to sign him. He's screwed. So if I'm Moncada and I can sign with the Yankees for 35m today, or verbally agree with the Cubs to sign for 40m two months from now, that'll take some guts to wait. We're not talking about an MLB player who's already made enough money in his career to live comfortably for a long time, we're talking about a kid from a poor country who very likely doesn't come from much. The risk is far greater.
Now, if it's 50m vs 35m, that's a different story. But I think it would require a "blow everyone away" type offer like that for the Cubs to land him. Again, assuming he's unblocked before, say, the middle of May.
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Post by burythehammer on Jan 3, 2015 12:10:54 GMT -5
"Moncada could command a $20 million signing bonus, which would mean an expenditure of $40 million for the Red Sox, including the tax."From the Projo article linked above by jmei. I'll believe an 80 signing bonus or even 40 when I see it. By 80m I just mean total expenditures. Technically he'd only get 40m in that scenario but that's irrelevant from the team's perspective. I also don't see any way the Cubs can sign him unless they offer way more than everyone else. That's assuming he gets cleared before June. If I'm Moncada there's no chance I'm waiting even a month to sign a life changing contract when I can sign one right now.
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Post by burythehammer on Jan 3, 2015 7:23:49 GMT -5
I also think Iglesias would get more than six million in today's international/Cuban market. And I could see Margot getting somewhere in the area of 20m if he was a FA. When you consider how highly rated Moncada is it's not that big a leap to see 80m.
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Post by burythehammer on Dec 23, 2014 18:59:54 GMT -5
That's awesome. Good for him.
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Post by burythehammer on Dec 23, 2014 11:54:30 GMT -5
The draft money penalty for going over slot becomes exactly zero because the penalty doesn't slide to the second rounder like the free agent signing does. Is this true?
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Post by burythehammer on Dec 10, 2014 10:37:49 GMT -5
Yeah, 7/200 is insane. And those projections aren't for Hamels in the AL and in Fenway. I'm not sure he's worth Henry Owens alone let alone Owens+.
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Post by burythehammer on Dec 10, 2014 10:30:15 GMT -5
The front office now cannot say' "we lost Lester, but we stuck to our principles of not offering long term contracts to pitchers over 30". I'll let you in on a little secret: that was never a principle. It was a narrative.
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Post by burythehammer on Dec 3, 2014 10:52:49 GMT -5
And both radio stations are already talking about it like it's fact. It's a brave new world....
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Post by burythehammer on Dec 1, 2014 6:46:23 GMT -5
I take back what I said about that Wesley kid, by the way. He's just tweeting out vague and/or completely obvious things now that basically can't be "wrong" like a baseball version of Ms. Cleo.
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Post by burythehammer on Nov 27, 2014 8:41:11 GMT -5
The kid's not a fraud, he just hasn't learned how to couch his rumors properly. Heyman and Rosenthal throw out plenty of crap that doesn't stick, but they know not to use certain words (imminent, very close, done deal etc) until they're 100% sure.
I'll bet anyone here 10 bucks this kid breaks another story this off-season.
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Post by burythehammer on Nov 24, 2014 11:55:40 GMT -5
Stop.
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Post by burythehammer on Nov 19, 2014 21:24:19 GMT -5
Man. He makes Denney look like a choir boy.
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Post by burythehammer on Nov 17, 2014 10:08:36 GMT -5
And he'll still get more than any American amateur in history.
If it's known that he's paying 50% to Cuba wouldn't OFAC, uh, frown upon that?
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Post by burythehammer on Nov 14, 2014 17:18:27 GMT -5
Does anyone still think it's a coincidence that both us and NYY chose to blow past our pool limit this year. I mean if there's a Yoan Moncada in 2015 or 16 we're out of luck but still, I think they saw this coming.
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Post by burythehammer on Nov 14, 2014 15:18:12 GMT -5
Latest "news" is another win for us (and NYY). Apparently teams already have verbal agreements in place for the top 2015 guys and would have to renege and risk pissing their contacts off in order to sign Moncada (assuming he's unblocked this period).
Of course we have no major agreements in place since we can't sign major guys anyway, so this puts us in a better position than other teams even further .
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Post by burythehammer on Nov 13, 2014 18:14:14 GMT -5
Completely agree that our current prospects are irrelevant, from both his and our perspective. But from our perspective, does this at all affect how we approach the 3B market this winter? I'm guessing not since it could be months before he's even unblocked by OFAC, and of course he's still a prospect and could always turn out to a bust, but handing out a six year deal to Hanley or Pablo essentially blocks Moncada at what appear to be his two most valuable positions (not even including CF where he'd also be blocked).
Again, I'm not saying this should prevent us from going all out for Moncada, I'm wondering if it makes us less likely to give out a long-term deal to a FA 3B.
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Post by burythehammer on Nov 13, 2014 7:05:38 GMT -5
According to Passan, after speaking to GMS/execs, Moncada is expected to get about 30-40m (which means 60-80m in reality). I have to think that number will go up between now and when he signs.
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