floplag

Sure, its possible, but hes had so many chances to do so to date and hasnt. Ill be pleasantly surprised and happy to be wrong. We always seem to find ways to rationalize not making moves, im not looking at one off season, im looking at the body of work over the last 3-5. Every conceivable part we could have needed has been out there, and weve chosen to go in other directions or weren't willing to go where it was necessary to go to get it done. Business, took priority over baseball. I do not expect our payroll to ever go over current levels, we will not go into the tax or even approach it. There is clearly some reason this number of about 180 (AAV) works for Arte and going above it doesnt.

It truly needs a third options, win with him, but the real question is if thats realistic. Is there a reality in which Moreno will go down that road payroll wise. I personally dont think he will. IF these are my only choices i choose the team winning no matter the roster or names on it.

He isnt afraid to trade him, he didnt want to lose the gate receipts. Thats all any of this is to him. He came in with such fire and hope but at this point hes lost me 100%. Im finding it hard to even watch this club right now with what hes done to it. Some of you may be happy just getting some occasional Trout/Ohtani highlights in losses, im not.

it doesnt matter, he didnt make the decisions...

business first/money second/a whole bunch of other stuff like land purchases and whatnot/more stuff we dont know about/baseball somewhere way down the list.

If this is true, im legit pissed. He thinks people will pay to watch a couple good guys with a bunch of minor leaguers night after night? I wont buy crap in terms of ticket,.s merch, nothing if this is even remotely true. He basically tanked he clubs future for short term revenue. What a disgrace.

With all possible respect, this irrelevant. We are/were well under the tax as was, the tax, is moot, Arte isnt going to go that high. Assume a cap of about where we are, its not going up. Unless or until Arte proves me wrong after how many years now of dancing this dance, this is what i believe. Now, that having been said the Upton/Iglesias/Thor money freed up will cover Ohtani if he decides to sign, and leave a little for upgrades, but nothing significant. If youre expecting a Turner/Correa/Judge ot top SP type of FA signing, youre in for disappointment.

This is what we all want, but its just not going to happen. Its dependent on Arte going into lux tax payroll levels and hes just not going to do that. How do you retool this team without spending on FA right now to be remotely competitive over the next 2-3 years? counting on kids hasnt exactly worked for us so i hope thats not the answer.

Pretty much sums up my feelings... he came in with a lot of promises, and hasnt delivered on any of them. Oh sure he spent some, as an investment that hes reaping returns on, but the product on the field has gotten worse, and worse, and worse. Hes had ample opportunities to make the splash he said he wanted to make, to make a run at owning the LA market, and hes punted, every single time. Hes burned the managers and GMs like mad as if they were the problem, when all he needed was a mirror. Yeah, im pissed, i think i have every right to be, he has treated this rooster like a personal baseball card collection and is simply incapable or not interested in building an actual winning franchise.

This is a great deal for both teams. Nats were not going to sign Soto and got an absolute haul, Hosmer aside, but i guess you still need to field a team after all This is what makes the hot stove great. Im sitting here imagining the haul we could get if we were actually smart enough to take advantage, we could legit do the bulk of a rebuild in one trade. We have the golden ticket in the perfect time and place. But were just not that smart as an organization.

Where have you been the last 3+ years? That promise went away long ago.

Im not talking about one player, im talking about the team. Even if you do extend him, we still have multiple needs... are you going to just wait for the kids? How has that worked out so far?

Wait, you still think Arte is going to break the bank? how cute...

i think a lot of this team has just stopped caring... there is no urgency, not intensity, nothing, from anyone not named Ohtani.

God i wish i believed this, i truly do.

Then were fools. Headline should read" Moreno decides revenue more important than winning".

The Mariners set the bar, it has to be more than what they paid so the idea of someone's top 4 prospects that was scoffed at is now very much realistic. Based on this is truly believe we would be fools not to take advantage. The Padres are said to be making a run, that conversation has to start with Abrams, Campusano, Gore, and maybe one of their top OF like Hassel. Solves a lot of problems... It isnt what i want, but as ive said it comes down to what Arte intends in the future. F hes willing to pay Ohtanio, and IF hes willing to go into luxury tax levels to build about him... then thats what we should do, but history suggests thats not going to happen so... this is the only other logical move.

Well all the talk about him staying in CF seems moot, is there really any option now but to move to the corner to pretest the back?

Well that telling in the worst way about how the league see the franchise...

Ill believe this team intends to contend, when ownership makes the moves to prove it... till then, nope, not buying into that one again. Weve been saying this for years now, and we end up with egg on the face. At this point i believe only that Arte will do what it takes to keep the revenue flowing, and nothing more.

This is exactly the issue, we keep feeding the Arte revenue train no matter what he does. OMG i get to watch Trout... lose again. and Ohtani, oh they lost. Were the problem, we dont hold him accountable. We keep giving him 3M gate and fawning over a couple guys while the team is a train wreck.

This No the name in the blank doesnt matter at this point.

Honestly, right now, none. Trout was different, they could still sell the intent to win, at this point thats moot. Trout probably pissed himself if were being real. Money wont be the factor for Ohtani, he will get larger offers from others, just as so many other players have, and he has all thetoptions in thew world now with the universal DH. WE are lucky that didnt happen sooner or we never get him. Arte had so many chances to fix this club, and simply isnt going to do it. Enjoy it while yuou can guys, he wont be here long term.

That is the path the chose though... there is no other solution to win right now. You dont develop a farm over night, heck he havent over 5-10 years now. It isnt that he hasnt spent, ive never said that, but what he hasnt done is spend to the level that will matter. He spent on guaranteed return on investment in Trout and Ohtan i, and when he had the balls to face the media he always siad he would spend on the right guys... well apprently that came with a side note, those that would generater revenue, not wins. That payroll is half on three guys, one of which isnt even playing for us anymore. Top 10 payroll isnt getting it done unless you hit lightning in a bottle on the kids, and were not. Not drafting mid pack every year or worse. And im sorry but the farm ranking disagree with your statement, were not in the bottom third, were in the bottom 3 per some. The far mis not better. Yes its graduated a lot but so had everyone elses that moved ahead of us. The only short tertm fix is to do exactly as you say, throw more at it, do what the Mets have done for example and eat the tax a couple years if you have to. Otherwise its 500 ball and Arte cashing checks. Either way it seems that time has passed, it was never going to happen, this is simply who/what we are. Its no mytsery why Arte hasbent spoken to the media in the last few years, this was his plan, it had nothing to do with winning.

No im sorry, thats self inflicted in my opinion. They could have been good enough at almost any point in recent years had ownership valued more than revenue. In the last 5 years weve seen too many teams actually make the playoffs that we could have been better than had ownership fuflilled its promoses of the past. Willing to over spend for the right guy, willing to do whatever it takes... in the end, all hes done is invent is 2 high priced guys that generated revenue and done absolutely nothing to help around them even with ample opportunities. The farm has gone backwars with eqaul enthusiasm. We have only one out, the same one weve hade for years, and its the one thing ownership refuses to do. Mets ownership came into an eqaully dire situation, knew what it would take, and got it done, with one of our former GMs Arte fired i might add. This was always what it was going to take, to bust the budget for a few years to buy time... Arte has chosen not to do so, he put that revenue and the budget over winning, all i a time when he was trying to buy billions in land so forgive me if i think 50 millions is pennings to the man in the grand scheme.