25 Comments

Sale to the braves for grissom, dont understand the red sox plans but then again i dont understand ours either lol

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Ben should see if Boston would be interested in Ro, Ortiz or Priester for Rafaela and Blaze Jordan.

Gets us a good fielding CF and a halfway decent 1st base prospect.

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Jordan sounds like a DH.

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Dec 30, 2023·edited Dec 30, 2023

Scouting reports say he has good soft hands, his range is questionable to stay at 3rd. Good hands is the vital part for first.

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He’s a 3B about as much as Torkelson is. I certainly wouldn’t prioritize a R/R 1B at best prospect, unless he absolutely mashes. And Jordan, while a good hitter, doesn’t fit that profile.

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I'd rather target Basallo for one of the 3 pitchers but he'll probably cost a lot more.

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Yeah he’d cost Keller or something in that vein.

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He's the second piece, Rafaela is the headliner. He's the throw in and would still be the best 1st base prospect in the pirates system.

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Moisturize, that’s the key to soft hands......I mean I heard....

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Sale at $10m would have been a decent bet

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Related, giolito's 2/39 feels pricy but that seems to be the price this offseason.

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Frankie Montas signed a one-year deal with the Reds. But Ben got a mocha latte, so the Pirates are remaining active.

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Ben already traded Montas once.

Must know whats wrong with him

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Yeah, he makes money.

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He is making too much money considering he had shoulder issues all last season. If he was totally sound the yanks would have made a bigger effort to bring him back.

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All FAs make too much money. Marvin Miller was ecstatic when the owners insisted that only a limited number of players become FAs each year because he knew it would create an inflated market. If you refuse to pay “too much money,” you’re not signing FAs. Teams understand this and participate in the market anyway because they’re determined to win. The Pirates aren’t.

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Dec 31, 2023·edited Dec 31, 2023

Difference in overpaying when the pitcher was reasonably healthy the prior season. $16 million for a guy that could not pitch through a shoulder issue is a pretty big risk.

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You don’t get a risk-free guy for one year. Welcome to the FA market.

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You beat me to it.

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Ben while drinking his mocha latte on the phone with Bob, "Yeah Bob, I saw the Reds just signed Montas. He's getting over $15 million for 1 year."

Bob's replies, "Your the man Ben, I was just thinking with my heart, thanks for keeping my head on straight. "

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Not usually a fan of promoting a player that really hasn't earned it. With his age and the lack of a 1st base prospect in Altoona, might be a good idea to be aggressive in his placement. Maybe something clicks probably won't but until there's a better option I'd start him in Altoona and see if he sinks or swims.

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MiL promotions shouldn’t be about “rewards” anyway. They should be about getting the right players to the bigs. Sightler is 24. If he can’t adjust pretty quickly to AA, he’s not going to be a big leaguer. In that case, they’ll have found out and he can transition to being an org guy. If he comes through, great, he’s a sleeper who worked out.

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Yep

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Was super high on this guy, even though I knew he was too old for Brandenton, was shocked at how poorly he did in Hi A. Not writing him off yet, but is smell like an org guy at best to me.

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