ScruffytheJanitor

1/17/2020-- two weeks after his trade to the Dodgers.

700 Million Years, $20. Fixed again.

When you put it like this, it's kinda crazy to think that 10 years of Machado is costing the same as two years of this lineup.

Hmm. Maybe we SHOULD sign Machado. Something tells me he would have no problem telling Pujols to his face that he sucks.

With this little space to work with, I'd pick an event-- Baseball Strikes, Curt Flood, Alex Rodruiguez's insane first contract-- or talk about the recent trend toward massive TV deals for sports teams.

This would be an interesting way for teams to solve the current roster crunch. I've always thought they needed to expand rosters by at least one spot to accommodate the 12-13 man pitching staffs that are now standard-- which could be exaggerated if teams start moving toward having 6 starters. However, if your 12th pitcher is also your 4th outfielder, that can ease the roster crunch and allow teams to have a catcher, middle infielder, an outfielder AND a corner infielder on the bench.

Woah there, big dreamer.

I think it works in certain situations (injuries, double header, heavy bullpen workload) and may even work for 2-3 starts if you have a bevy of young guys that you can call up to help fill the roles. As a standard practice, i think it's dumb and unsustainable without having a BUNCH more roster spots.

To be fair to old Scott, he also got screwed here (though very slightly). He's not an NFL agent, so Kyler will be using other representation for that NFL deal.

I was expecting this to be a Keuchel, Harper, or Machado thing. Kimbrel doesn't seem like that great of a move, even if he'd make our pen rock solid. I actually expect Kimbrel to end up with the Padres, since they seem determined to blow their money on something.

The real issue is this: teams are figuring out that a contract to a 27 year-old veteran isn't a much better gamble than letting a rookie take over-- especially since the first choice leaves you in a hole for a decade when it doesn't pan out, while the second just leaves you a hole in your lineup for a year. If I am in the union, I want two big things in the next CBA: Players to hit free agency in five years (four for college draftees) to make players younger when they hit FA; To stop letting teams keep players in the minors just to squeeze an extra year out of them. In order to grease the wheels, I'd offer this olive branch: all long-term contracts include a team opt-out at five years--with players guaranteed to receive the prorated average value for those five years. Of course, the MLBPA will never offer this, because players unions always want to preserve the big-time players contracts while the middle tier gets screwed.

I'm pretty sure it's the Original Penis Enlargement Drug.

Just to look smart when this uber-negative scenario happens: the wheels fall off and we win 63 games. Ward, Rengifo, Cozart, Lucroy, Pujols/Bour, and Kole all turn out to be black holes offensively. Otahni misses time until mid-May and has a slow start, but still mashes once he gets going. Trout and Upton each miss time with a series of smaller injuries, leading to worse results than their lines would otherwise indicate. Cahill and Harvey only combine for 20 below-average starts before Harvey is traded for peanuts and Cahill is added to the DL. Despite solid performances by Skaggs and Heaney, once again we trot out a string of terrible back-end starters and have no real Ace. Buttrey and Robles show themselves as keepers, but Anderson gets the zipper by June and the bullpen falls apart. Forced to make a gamble, Michael Hermosillo takes over in RF has a hot week in June, then shows himself as a AAAA player over the next 200ABs. Cody Allen is tremendously mediocre but is still flipped for a sleeper prospect. The Angels finally call it done and trade Upton, Trop, and Deveaux to the Braves for Austin Riley at the deadline. Trout, Ohtani, Simmons, Skaggs, Heaney, Buttrey and Robles are all solid, but the rest of the team supplies so much negative value that the season is over well before the all-star break. The team rallies in August when Adell, Jam Jones, and Reily make their debut and crush it, and Canning/Suarez combine for a few shutouts. Pujols announces his retirement, and the Angels (with another great draft adding to a widely-recognized top 5 farm system) decide it's time to cash in some chips and build a contender.

IF Eppler actually believes that Trout won't sign an extension, I would take the following steps: 1) Talk to Arte and the accountants and put together your final, huge offer (which they should be doing anyway). 2) Meet with Trout and get final verification that Trout is wishy washy. 3) Make my final offer and give him a deadline to accept (March 1?) 4) If he still says no, put him on the block. Get the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies to bid against one another. You can't risk letting him go for nothing. I doubt this is the case, though. If Trout wanted out, we'd all know it by now. These whispers feel like conjecture or Boras playing games.

It doesn't really surprise me. There was a good 4 year window where there just wasn't very many good short stops coming up through the minors. A few of those that did get through (Dee Gordon or heck, even Justin Upton if I remember right) moved off the position and many others (Grant Green) flamed out. Seriously; go back and check the 2004-2008 MLB drafts, and you won't find many decent short stops-- it's basically Brandon Crawford and Cozart, and they were both 31 last year.

I don't think this deal would work because I don't know why they wouldn't just sign Moustakas-- or try to go younger/cheaper for whatever they get back from the Meyers trade. I'd love it if it happened, but I sincerely doubt the Padres have any interest.

Maybe I am just burned from last year, but I'd almost rather keep most of the pitchers and add in Thaiss or Jam Jones - Especially since I don't think they would take such a mid-level package for MadBum -- even in his walk year.

There would have to be a prospect or two thrown in here. Maybe something like Calhoun + jesus Castillo? I am half afraid we'd have to give up something like Thaiss n a deal like this.

The way I see it, we are four dependable players away from . We need one sure-fire bull pen option (such as they are), a solid mid-rotation arm that can give us 200 innings with an under 4 ERA, and two more bats that we can depend on being above average producers. Basically, we need (at minimum) Brendan Donnelly, a good-year Ervin Santana, a Howie Kenrick, and an Adam Kennedy. Some of those may be on the roster. Cozart and Calhoun could totally rebound and be average or better at the plat. Either one of our new pitchers could stay healthy and give us 190-ish innings of solid production. We have enough live arms in the bullpen that any one of them could be a dominant end-of-game option. In fact, I think it's likely that one or two of those things happening is pretty good. The odds of all four of those things happening are slim. This is why names like Marwin Gonzales, Mike Moustakas, Cody Allen, and Gio Gonzales are interesting. Not because they are top-of-the line answers, but because any one of them would be a pretty-good shot at filling one of the roles we need filling.

I actually don't think that price is beyond the pale for the Yankees. They already don't have a need for half those players-- honestly, Torres and Severino would be the only players they would really miss from next year's team-- and none of them even come close to coming close to Trout's level. The other major thing is that it's always. a single 9 WAR and three replacement-level players is worth 10 x what four 3 WAR players are because of the opportunity cost (considering a "roster spot" to be the cost). Among the many obvious reasons it is true is that it's much easier to improve on below-average players than it is to improve on 4 solid players. The Yankees would easily replace those losses from FA and their farm system if needed. So yeah, you bet the Yankees would be willing to do that deal. Trout/Judge/Stanton with a really good bullpen, 6 average teammates and an OK rotation would be a juggernaut, and the Yanks would still have time to upgrade their rotation AND their infield if needed. I mean, if you are going to get Trout, you might as well get Keuchel too, right?

If Trout tells the Angels that he is going to move on, I'd target the Yankees or Phillies. From the Yanks, I'd offer Gelyber Torres, Louis Severino, Clint Fraizer, Albert Abreu, and Aaron Hicks for Trout and Cozart. From the Phils, I'd demand Nola, Hoskins, and Hernandez. I would then offer Manny Machado 10 Years, 365 Million with an opt-out after four years. This would probably be a pretty decent team, and we'd get four years of Machado and then let someone else have him for his decline. I assume the Angels like their chances at getting Trout extended, since we haven't heard anything about his being moved.

Yikes, these takes are hot. Basically this is a decent shot at upside that is probably 4 million more than we'd like.

Team should move to Nashville. There are no other teams in the midsouth besides Atlanta, and Nashville is just exploding right now. Given how much Nasvillians love the Predators, I have no doubt that the first sign of success would lead to a pretty strong following.

So we sign him for next year, then trade him before Trout's extension kicks in?