bearkatag15 said:

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I could get used to seeing this

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Lunhow needs a splash get.

But what will we do with White if we bring him?

I hope Lunhow has something up his sleeve. I trust him, but damn. Everyone seems to be reloading except us.

Thoughts on Jose Bautista as a cheap free agent for DH

astros4545 said:

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Thoughts on Jose Bautista as a cheap free agent for DH

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He's gotta learn a right hook before we do that

astros4545 said:

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Thoughts on Jose Bautista as a cheap free agent for DH

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Could he even outhit Tyler White? Last year says no.

Buy low candidate?

Damn man, gonna miss Chuck. Dude was as down to Earth as they come and seemed like a legitimately good dude. Glad he's making some decent coin on his last contract. I love analytics and am down for making smart, EV+ moves, but at some point, you've got to figure out the quantitative value of the 'glue guys'. Losing Marwin, Dallas, Charlie, Gattis, McCann, Sipp and whoever else absolutely is going to result in some sort of chemistry hit.

That being said, I understand Luhnow's side. The goal is to maximize on short-term, value deals with soon-to-be depreciating assets while holding over for in-house prospects. I'm just hoping the core of this team is as solid, chemistry-wise as they appear to be and that Luhnow is understanding of how much Springer means to the locker room. I'm praying George can stay healthy and swing a clean bat this season, so he ends up being a cleae long-term guy next free agency.

Dirty Mike and the Boys said:

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Losing Marwin, Dallas, Charlie, Gattis, McCann, Sipp and whoever else absolutely is going to result in some sort of chemistry hit.

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I think you're overvaluing the chemistry aspect. Not all of these players get along as well as we think. Remember when everyone said adding Osuna was a gonna throw the chemistry off and it was a bad move? Plus not all these guys get along with each like we think they do. When it comes down to playing ball they all wanna win and put personal issues aside and play. I think chemistry in baseball isn't as important as basketball and football where you need to know at all times what the guy next to you is gonna do.

I think moreso than chemistry is the production that we've lost from those guys. That's 370 innings and 27 wins gone from the starting 5. That's 1,085 ABs, 48 HRs, and 169 RBIs gone from the lineup. That's 38.2 IP of 1.86 ERA pitching lost from the BP.

Luhnow has added a couple pieces but so far that production isn't being replaced. Offseason is not close to being over and there are options out there, but it's getting to the point where it's gonna be harder and harder to find guys to replace that production.

That's what worries me...Just simply replacing the amount of production this team has lost.

Tyler White has a better shot at winning the MVP than Harper signing in Houston.

What hurts most?

Losing Dallas, CFM, or Marwinning?

I vote Charlie and for me it's not even close

Farmer1906 said:

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What hurts most?

Losing Dallas, CFM, or Marwinning?

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If speaking solely of 2019, what about LMJ also? Tough decision...

Farmer1906 said:

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Tyler White has a better shot at winning the MVP than Harper signing in Houston.

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So Tyler White wins the MVP in 2019!

Farmer1906 said:

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What hurts most?

Losing Dallas, CFM, or Marwinning?

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I will miss Keuchel's innings eating ability. I will always remember his 2015 Cy Young season. I will not miss watching him give up 5 runs in the first inning, then blame it on bad luck.

I will miss Morton's sheer dominance when he was locating his pitches. I will always remember him getting the last 12 outs of game 7. I will not miss his lack of durability.

I will miss Marwin's versatility and general clutchness. I will always remember his World Series saving home run in the ninth inning of game 2. I will not how awful he looked at the plate for most of 2018.

Don't know if posted already but seeing rumblings this AM of Harper to ChiSox.

I'm not that concerned by the plate production we lost from 2018. Marwin was average at best for much of the season. He was a far cry from 2017 Marwin. McCann was virtually non-existent when he wasn't on the DL. And outside of a good month, Gattis provided terrible offense from the DH spot. He was so bad that Tyler White stole the job from him.

Sipp had a good season after two bad ones, but now we get Osuna and Presley for an entire season. I think that will help offset the loss of Sipp and potential move of McHugh to the rotation. I think we have good arms in the system that can help eat innings in the pen. I feel better about the late innings with our pen than I have in years.

It's the rotation right now that is the biggest concern for me. I think McHugh more than offsets McCullers and his proneness to injuries and struggles. Now what do you do with the other two spots?

Here's the report generating that talk

James and Whitley unless we sign someone else.

It's always possible that the market for Keuchel never develops and we can bring him back on a 1 year deal. He is still a quality pitcher.

Yeah that's a fair assessment and mine was just from an in total here's what we have leaving. I don't think individually we'll miss McCann and Gattis but when it's all looked at big picture kinda gives me sticker shock.

But yes I have the same concern about the rotation.

In general I think it's safe to say that as of right now this team is worse off than it was when the season ended. And that to me a bit concerning. Not jump off the cliff fire Luhnow concerning but more of a make me wonder what the plan is concerning.

JABQ04 said:

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Don't know if posted already but seeing rumblings this AM of Harper to ChiSox.

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That seems crazy. Are they already ready to transition from actively tanking to being a contender? They lost 100 games last season, can't imagine they are ready to contend even in the weak AL Central.

Let's not forget the Chirinos and Diaz additions. Combine their seasons from last year and you've already replaced the production we got last year from McCann and Marwin. I really think we just need one more bat and one more starter to be pretty on par with last year. And depending on who those guys are, we could take a step forward.

We aren't done making moves. It's just who and when at this point.

I would be interested in hearing the reason (other than $) that he would be leaning towards the White Sox. Possible Boras is just trying to drive up the bidding or make other teams nervous?

I still think we'll sign/trade for another proven innings eater starter, but if we don't, I kinda think McHugh will be penciled in at No. 3, James will get first crack at No. 4 and Valdez, Perez and Peacock will battle it out for 5.

I think Whitley will start at triple A and we'll limit his innings so he can stay fresh for the stretch run, then bring him up sometime after the Super Two deadline.

WES2006AG said:

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JABQ04 said:

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Don't know if posted already but seeing rumblings this AM of Harper to ChiSox.

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That seems crazy. Are they already ready to transition from actively tanking to being a contender? They lost 100 games last season, can't imagine they are ready to contend even in the weak AL Central.

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Agreed. If long term plan is one of Harper's strong considerations, what about the long term plan of hitting between Altuve and Bregman? That seems like a nice long term plan to me.

And the GD Yankees are putting together a pretty decent staff.

Severino
Sabathia
Paxton
Happ
Tanaka

Ag_07 said:

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And the GD Yankees are putting together a pretty decent staff.

Severino
Sabathia
Paxton
Happ
Tanaka

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That's a filthy regular season staff.

In the playoffs, I think I would like Verlander or Cole over any of them.... (except Paxton if he keeps owning our souls)

On a positive note, we're now limited to seeing Paxton at most twice during the regular season and once or twice in the playoffs.