Banny should be figuring out how a local eating establishment could give Seager diarrhea for 6 months vs loading the bases for him.

Ha! With the way he's pitched lately, may as well unload him too.

Edited**

Should've been a strike out

Bush got squeezed in the lead off walk as well.

****ing umps suck ass in this series.

gigem1223 said:

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Priorities for me in the offseason

1. Ohtani
2. Cashner
3. Sign right handed OF (Lorenzo Cain please)
4. Unload Choo
5. Sign back of the rotation starter

My hopeful line up:

RF - DD
CF - Cain
LF - Calhoun
3B - Gallo/ Beltre
SS - Andrus
2B - Odor
1B - Mazara/ Gallo
C- Chirinos
DH- Beltre/ Gallo/ Mazara

Rotation:

Otahni
Cashner
Perez
Mendez
Jurado or Free agent signing

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Some thoughts.

Ohtani hasn't really pitched this year. I don't think you write him in for 2018. He will need to adjust. Also, don't they pitch once per week, in Japan? Pitching every 5th day will wear on him. He won't go deep into the season, I would think.

I like the idea of Cashner. He underlying numbers show he may not remain as good as he has been, but I like what he brings.

Don't forget Ronald Guzman. I think Mendez has the inside for the 5th rotation spot. Don't forget AJG.
Hamels - Perez - AJG

All that you mentioned. Not sure if ABD is of interest (Long relief?). Nick Martinez is still a mystery.

Is there a role for Rua or Robinson? Trade?

jtstanley4621 said:

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I'm at the point where I'm fully expecting us not to make the playoffs. It sucks, but it is what it is. I think the way we've performed in this mariners series is a pretty good indication of why we're not a playoff team.

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Twins win again.........pretty much get the fork out now

I was really looking forward to the possibility of intermittently checking the score on my phone at work for the first five innings of a wild card loss to the Yankees at 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon in a few weeks.

Not enough blue stars

Have to improve the bullpen performance; 20 blown saves is unacceptable

I'd be all for signing Cashner. I think at best he's a 2-3 starter, and at worst he's an above average end of the rotation starter. Lately he's been easily our best pitcher. I think he's earned an extension.

jtstanley4621 said:

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I'd be all for signing Cashner. I think at best he's a 2-3 starter, and at worst he's an above average end of the rotation starter. Lately he's been easily our best pitcher. I think he's earned an extension.

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What kinda terms would you expect and what do you think he might get on the market?

Just my thought... I wonder if JD is waiting after the Rule V to make a move. We have a ton of Rule V guys.

It could be Cashner wanting to hit the FA market to see what he can get.

ABATTBQ87 said:

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Have to improve the bullpen performance; 20 blown saves is unacceptable

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True.

However, that can be a bit of a crap shoot, as we saw this year. I agree you update every chance you get.

If you look at 7 BP guys.

Next year we have:
Claudio (25-L-serf): 64 GP, 76.0 IP, 2.72 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 6.04 K/9
Bush (31-R-serf): 51 GP, 48.1 IP, 3.35 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 10.06 K/9
Keona Kela (24-R-A1 in 2018): 34 GP, 34.1 IP, 2.36 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 12.06 K/9
Diekman (30-L-FA after 2018):
Leclerc (23-R-serf): 45 GP, 44.0 IP, 4.09 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 11.45 K/9
Barnette (33-R-FA after 2022): 45 GP, 53.2 IP, 4.70 WHIP, 1.34 ERA, 9.22 K/9
========
Minor league options:
Ric Rod
Espino
Gardewine
YoMen
Sadzeck

My analysis...
Bush and Kela could both be Closers. There was talk of both.
Claudio is a gimme, no? Not normal for a Lefty closer, so, IMO, you have an 8th & 9th Inning guys.
Diekman's sample is too small coming back from injury, but there is no reason to think he won't be #4. So, 2 R and 2 L.

Leclerc is very promising. His K/9 is 23rd in AL w/40+IP. You gotta keep him.

That leaves 2 spots. Barnette? Ric Rod? Sadzeck is in AA and just converted from a SP to a RP. He may not be a 2018 option. I'm not sure his future (SP/RP) but he is Rule V eligible and will likely be on the 40. YoMen is really a SP still, at this point. He is already on the 40.

We could keep/resign Grilli. A grandpa in the BP can't hurt. Is he done?

Certainly needs to be considered. I think this is the tail. If we spend big on SP and eating contracts, we'll rely on internal options. If we fail to address SP and our OF/RHB situation, we could spend big and get a RP.

My preference would be to keep what we have from a RP. Maybe add 1 7th inning guy externally, if necessary. Then, during the season, we can dump the worst guy like Jeffress, and get someone then.

Cashner will want at least a 3 year deal.

With what the free agent SP market looks like this off-season, he is going to be an overpay.

But right now Texas has a weak-#2/strong-#3 (Hamels) and a weak-#3/decent-#4 (Perez) for a 2018 rotation...

Texas will have a lot of money to spend - but a whole lot of holes to fill.

Something else that should be addressed...

Addressing that basically comes down to Odor.

Napoli won't be back.

free_mhayden said:

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Addressing that basically comes down to Odor.

Napoli won't be back.

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Gomez will likely not be back, as well:

Gallo - 171 SO/128 GP: 1.33 SO/GP
Napoli - 161 SO/123 GP: 1.31 SO/GP
Gomez - 121 SO/99 GP: 1.22 SO/GP
Odor - 143 SO/145 GP: 0.99 SO/GP
Choo - 121 SO/134 GP: 0.90 SO/GP
Chirinos - 67 SO/78 GP: 0.86 SO/GP

IMO, It is a deeper issue than just Odor and Napoli.

Disagree. I mean, I'd love to have our strikeout #'s be down... but we're 3rd in runs scored. Take Napoli out of the lineup and replace him with an average contact guy and our strikeouts would rank in the middle of the pack in the AL.

C) Chirinos
1B) Gallo
2B) Odor
SS) Andrus
3B) Beltre
CF) DeShields
LF) Calhoun
RF) Mazara
DH) Choo


That's a pretty bad outfield defense, but production-wise assuming no significant injuries that would likely be a Top 5 run producing offense coming in at around $70m.

Bullpen of Claudio, Barnette, Diekman, Bush, Kela with ABD and NMart as spot-starter/cleanup.

Rotation you can get by with:

#2) Hamels
#4) Perez
#5) Hope you can fill in-house

at $30m.

So roughly $60m to go out and find a #1 and #3 starter.

Otahni and Cashner.

I would love to get Cain too. Fills a huge defensive hole in the outfield and also gives us a much needed right handed bat.

I'd be fine with Otani, but at this point we're looking at probably 10% chance of landing him so we probably need to look towards someone more attainable.

Talk on the radio this morning that the lack of FA action in the offseason and at the trade deadline, and "cheap" contracts for Napoli and Cashner, and not going after Desmond and keeping the "cheaper" Gomez, not trying for Encarnacion, etc. With that in mind, could they be hoarding money in order to be able to get Otani?

I'd rather pony up the money for Darvish than try and make a play for Otani.

With the way international signing rules work now, every team can afford to sign Otani (if he comes over this summer). No money hoarding needed (aside from acquiring international pool money, but that has very little to do with a team's payroll). Otani will almost undoubtedly sign with the team that he wants to play for, not the one that can offer the most pool money.

Yeah, this isn't the old Darvish posting rules where you can put up an unlimited ****pile of $$$ to win the bid for his rights and then pay whatever is necessary to sign him. For a few reasons (inlcuding Otani's age), all teams will be limited to a relatively low amount of international pool dough. Otani will mostly just pick where he wants to play as the $$$ on the table should he fairly similar

MooreTrucker said:

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Talk on the radio this morning that the lack of FA action in the offseason and at the trade deadline, and "cheap" contracts for Napoli and Cashner, and not going after Desmond and keeping the "cheaper" Gomez, not trying for Encarnacion, etc. With that in mind, could they be hoarding money in order to be able to get Otani?

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I don't think it is specifically for Otani, more that they didn't want to have a couple of aging contracts on the books if the team played poorly and Darvish walked.

I think the Napoli signing so late was what told us that this was a "we're gonna keep the powder dry and see what we have this year" type of year.

The other big part will be who promises to allow him to hit.

I'm curious as to how much of Choo's contract the Rangers would have to eat to simply give him away. Eating half of it means the receiving team is getting him for 3 years at $10MM/year. And that's for a 35-year old DH on the decline. Would eating 75% do it? Maybe not, since he likely only has one productive year left.

I believe if O signs before July, the Pool money available is fairly direct. NYY and Tex have the most money. Sea may be an option, as well. Singing have been made and teams can offer what they have left plus acquire. IIRC, that is ~$4M for Tex and NYY, in the AL. All others are below about $1.5M. So, he CAN get measurably more from some. Where something like NYY might play games is "sponsorships."

There are all sorts of games that can be played. All it takes is a handshake agreement regarding the second contract.

While I'd love to think that JD and company scouting this kid for so long gives us an edge, I just don't find it likely he signs with Texas over playing for the Yankees.

I'd be surprised if we got Ohtani or Darvish.

I'm thinking it's gonna be Hamels, Cash, Perez, another 2-3 offseason acquisition, and who knows the 5th.

Early thoughts in Calhoun?

Huell Babineaux said:

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I'd be surprised if we got Ohtani or Darvish.

I'm thinking it's gonna be Hamels, Cash, Perez, another 2-3 offseason acquisition, and who knows the 5th.

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I pretty much agree. I bet Ohtani goes to the Yankees unfortunately.

Huell Babineaux said:

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Early thoughts in Calhoun?

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Only watched that first game. Think the kid is going to be a great hitter. Defensively, I don't think he is going to be much worse than the hacks we have out there now.

Am I the only one watching/listening?

I'm watching. The bullpen is just so awful. Very little confidence in us holding any kind of lead

I'm staring to lose faith in Mendez. He's had a rough year to say the least

Christ. I'm done. Just horrendous. Don't wanna see Chron's derpy face trotting the bases