DMVol

Probably so....Santiago would still give you rotation depth, a better and younger version of Jerome Williams.....Based on last year, we certainly need at least 6 starters....Signing Vargas would have probably meant we pulled out of the Tanaka/Garza sweepstakes though......

I don't think Garza will do anything until the Tanaka situation is resolved...

I'm sure Pujols will be very agreeable to moving to DH...

I like the Trumbo trade, a lot....I thought, and still think, that the Bourjos/Freese trade was a stinker....We'll see where things end up but it's kind of been a roller coaster ride so far, at least for me....

Average pitchers don't have his hits to innings pitched ratio or strikeouts to innings pitched ratio, at least at his age...Try again....

Santiago's numbers look pretty impressive to me...how much better can you be than 224 career innings pitched with 192 hits and 218 K's? For a young guy, that looks pretty good....not sure why the Sox would give him up....

Maybe Jerry will be like Erv Santana....every other year....he was 0 for 2012 in the season (not quite true, letting Haren go was a good move and picking up DaLaRosa was a good move)....maybe 2013 will be a good offseason

One of them is right here....and I admit I was wrong....thought we'd get a middling return....nobody wins a trade on the day you make it but this one looks solid to me....I still think Bourjos to the Cards was a really bad deal but, we'll see on both of them...

Problen is they would want some pitching in any package for him...and we just don't have it....have to be a three team deal for that....

Any possibility of a match there? http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/12/indians-willing-to-listen-on-justin-masterson.html

If you believe the article, can't sign Garza w/out moving Howie or Trumbo...

if we're really as boxed in as the article says, sign Maholm (who isn't terrible) and maybe one more serviceable guy, then see where we are in June...DO NOT make (another) bad trade if the trade market is flat...

If the trade market is flat and Arte is serious about not spending, it's going to be a couple of starters like Maholm (we could do worse)....otherwise, my concern is that DiPoto, with his job on the line, panics and makes another bad trade...he's already made one stinker this offseason.

Why would you trade Bud Norris, for a marginal return, and then sign Scott Feldman? Odd....

^^^^This^^^^

I obviously don't know how things played out behind closed doors but if I could have signed Vargas to a 3 year deal at any point before or during the season, I would have been all over that, never letting him get to FAgency....don't know if he and his agent would have been agreeable to that but, given the dynamics of things---no minor league pitching close to ready in the system, thin available free agent pitching market----I would have tried (maybe we did but I don't think so, no indication we did)....if we could have signed Vargas and passed, we'll pay for it now, overpaying for whatever is out there...

No lost draft pick with Garza (traded mid-season)....Santana would cost a pick....

Never thought this was going to be an easy offseason....the "young, controllable pitching" plan just wasn't likely to happen, at least not with the guys we've put out there as trade chips.....either we overpay for mediocre and hope we guess right this year, unlike last year with Blanton, or break the bank for Tanaka....

???....not sure what one has to do with the other?

That was the thought last year when we signed Hamilton and then went dumpster diving for Hanson and Blanton....would hope the plan has changed for this year.....

That's always been the one thing that could really upgrade this team from the start of the offseason....I've never thought the "young, controlable pitching" wish list was very realistic....nobody is trading those guys, or at least not very often....we've already made one bad trade (at least in my opinion) so I'd like to sign Tanaka and call it a day....not give DiPoto a chance to make another bad trade....

Terrific stuff (Jepsen) always wins out...even if you can't stay healthy and can't throw a strike....

Not necessarily a joke...generally it's true...

I am fine with backing off from the Rockies (if that is indeed what happened) but I am still puzzled about why we didn't just back off the Bourjos deal....I know we want to move forward and make some moves but if you're just not getting what you want, change the plan, wait awhile. do anything other than making a bad deal...you can't undo a bad trade but you can wait for a good one....

Have to fix the posting issue first....Sounds like they are trying but it's not done yet...do you pull the trigger on a trade or FA signing while you're waiting on Tanaka? Dunno....