greginpsca

I believe the 2002 team was just trying to be competitve. They had a $55 mil payroll, and a  mediocre starting pitching staff. The bullpen had Percival, and a bunch of clean peanuts[ Weber, Donnelley,etc.]    Spezio was the 1baseman, a journeyman if there ever was one. I can't think of any org at that time that would want to build a championship quality team with David Eckstein as the SS.  Just goes to show what can happen when guys play to their career average or better. Starting pitchers threw just good enough to get to the 5-6 innings. Rarely did opponents score after the 5-6 innings. That team played good enough defense, and had an offense primed for late innings comebacks.  I know that team was unique, but it shows how you don't have to be a big spender to win.

I don't know other organizations prospects at all, but i would be ok with trading to get a AAA prospect who is MLB ready to play LF. Sort of a Calhoun type player who is flying under the radar or blocked.

He was never a DBacks or Rockies player

He wasn't left off the M's 40 man, he hit his six year minor-league free agency. It seems pretty rare that any player who makes it to minor league free agency remains with the original organization. As to why Baltimore didn't add them to their 40? Probably because he was just signed as a minor league FA, and BAL probably assumed that since they managed to sign him that way, no one would be looking at him seriously for the Rule 5.
 
My guess is when he got popped with the 50-game PED suspension he dropped off their radar quite a bit, and then was further overlooked by the seemingly endless supply of 1B/LF types the Mariners had last year.
 
He will have to remain on the 25-man all season like Featherston, but I think I read Eppler indicated that both Choi and Guerra are here more as immediate depth options, not long-term prospects, and if they weren't filling their roles the organization would waive them.

If you can get Frazier for two years (maybe sign him to extension during the 2017 season (if not trade him for prospects) as he has a club option for '17, then you can sign that Korean to play LF. He bats lefthanded, has a good OBP and moderate power like Heyward/Gordon. 
 
Thoughts?

Don't the Angels have like 5 openings on their 40-man roster? These are simply just to fill things out

Why are we so much higher on Upton than Gordon? Gordon is a better defender and has better on-base skills. Granted he's older, but he will also be cheaper. He also hits from the left side, which we desperately need in our lineup.

like it!  now get upton and phillips
 
and sick lineup:
 
3B Escobar
2B Phillips
CF Trout
1B Pujols
LF Upton
RF Calhoun
DH Cron
C Perez
SS Simmons

Freese is gone, IMO. Gio might be as well. I wouldn't be surprised if we roll with Escobar at 2b, Kubitza/Cowart at 3b and hit the FA market for LH and RP.

If we get nobody on that list, i would go Revere. Even before Parra.

I made this same proposal a couple days ago. To do this tho, the reds pretty much would be forced to take cj in order to make the money work to stay under the tax. Phillips would be a huge upgrade at 2b. Not a big fan of Bruce, but he would be much better than what we had last year in lf, upgrade at 2positions. Two holes filled. Then find another sp and a rp.

I'm waffling over the number of games I attend next season.

I'm not a fan of trading Santiago but if we can fill a hole at second base and shed $5-7M in payroll then ...
'you got to do ... what you got to do'

Straight up swap- Fielder for the remaining money on Hamiltons contract.

i disagree.
his 290+ average, 340 obp, steals and baserunning would play pretty well in our lineup.

I think the Dodgers should now trade Puig to the D'backs. Grienke should feel more at home then.

aybar and howie were great here, and always underrated by the fans. I think part of it was because they came on the tail end of a solid decade of us rolling out capable players. So because they werent salmons, or GAs, or glaus etc, they were never (IMO) as exciting to the fans. But they both had extremely solid careers here, and we had one of the most stable middle infields in baseball for a good run. Not to mention they both teplaced very solid fan favorite players.

Gordon has been an absolutely fantastic and underrated player for a while now. With that said, age is the biggest concern. His defense dropped off last year, although he still ranked as a plus defender(7 defensive runs saved, 6.9 UZR), which is a big part of his game. If he's that type of defender for the contract, great. If he continues to decline, then you have an issue. 
 
But he's actually a very good hitter too. His wRC+ has been 122 or higher in 4 of the last 5 years. That's not just an above average hitter. That's one of the 25-30 best hitters in the game. His .377 OBP last year was near the top of leader boards. 
 
Steamer projects him to be a 3.5 WAR player in 2016. If you shave a half win off each following year, it looks like:
 
2016: 3.5 WAR
2017: 3 WAR
2018: 2.5 WAR
2019: 2 WAR
2020: 1.5 WAR
 
If he gets you 12.5 WAR over those 5 years, he's worth 100 million dollars(according to the market value from Fangraphs). Most contract estimations have him around a 5/100 type deal. Gordon may actually have the best chance to give the best value out of any of the outfielders, even with the age concerns. 

I don't get the dislike for Gordon. Good OBP, great defense, good power, and will require a shorter and less expensive commitment than some of the other options.

Van slyke might have been right about Grienke wanting Puig gone.

How in the heck is Hanley Ramirez at 22 million a year that'll likely hit .260 and 15 HR better than Cron at the league minimum that'll likely hit .270 and 25 HR?

This might move the Sox up to the #3 spot in the division instead of last.

Incoming trade in 24 hours or less.

Revere, Revere, Revere... Please. 

Hanley is to the Sox, what Vernon Wells was to the Angels.