yea haha. I was trying to come up with a witty response then Devo gave up the hr.....I agree. There is always a lovefest between Odor and Odor.
Haven't been there lately, but there was early in the season and last year when he was just an average player.
He was a better than average player last year. Yes, I suppose people wanted to believe he was a cornerstone type player. But now that he isn't people aren't just pretending he is, (or has the potential to be.)
Two of Britton, Wilson, Hand, or Rivero would make me very happy and probably a more impactful upgrade for the playoffs than a starter like Gray or Verlander (although they would be nice too).
He was average and they treated him like a core member going forward. If they have turned on him..it has been quick. However, even if they have turned on him, the ability to assess talent going forward was shown to be poor as they previously saw him as a core piece. It took them way too long this season to realize that they weren't going to compete with the Astros.
Machado/Britton/Castro for Bregman/KTuck/Whitley/Moran/Armenteros/and O's choice of Reed, PTuck, or JDDavis. With Machado, Moran & Bregman are redundant as I doubt either outhits Yuli through 2018. Also, adding another established offensive star hedges against regression next year for Marwin, Reddick, and Yuli who have yet to establish their breakout campaigns as their baseline or norms. We have tremendous young MLB and prospect depth at 3B, OF, and SP. This would leverage that depth and open our 17-18 window even further. We'd be left with Kemp, White, Kemmer, Fisher, & Teoscar out of Fresno as effectively bench/plug&play/trade bait options. It won't feel great if 2019 sees the O's trotting out Bregman/KTuck/Moran in their opening day lineup with Whitley toting the rubber in the opening series. Even more so if Machado/Britton leave for lucrative FA deals after 2018. But if we have 2 WS's by then I wouldn't even blink.
I'm assuming you are basing these assumptions on some crazy internet fans. those exist in every market. the guy had an 800 ops and hit 30+ home runs. So the FO took a shot. There was every reason to be optimistic going into this year. He didn't pan out and he is getting killed for it around here. This idea that they still unrealistically view him as being worth the money and all that is not true. At the end of last year he put up numbers that definitely warranted taking a shot on him, though.
Machado and Britton are controlled through 2018 (2 years of playoffs). I'm assuming that we would offer Q.O's to both barring significant deterioration in performance. So, it's not fun to think about, we likely walk away with 2 very high sandwich compensatory picks even if can't resign em - at worst. That's not going to replace KTuck and Whitley, fair enough, but in addition to improving our WS chances for the next 2 years we won't walk away empty handed even if both leave as FA's. I agree, it's a lot. But I do think it would make us the WS favorites for the next 2 years. That's the tipping/inflection point where I'm willing to gamble. If you believe we're already there, then giving up this much is a non-starter - I agree.
Smart, progressives teams no longer view the 9th inning as the *only* time to deploy high-end relievers. Utilizing Britton to get key outs in innings 6-8 - the EXACT way Cleveland used Miller last year so as to not upset Allen - has tremendous value and is not equivalent to being a "left handed specialist," a term I never used to describe Britton. Stop being purposefully obtuse; this isn't terribly difficult.
wow. here's another one for you: Sipp + Hoyt for Mike Trout. Makes total sense for Houston to pull the trigger.
It's not Twitter and even if it was you still have 137 characters left lol. I'm curious as to your rationale. Excessively mortgaging our future? Only incremental, or marginal, gains based on adding to our strength (offense) while ignoring the rotation? Think Machado has seen his best days? Think 2018 sees Bregman outperform him? Think there's no way we can resign him? Any of those would make great discussion points. Anything? Or you're just good with "No."? That's fine if so - my own preference is for a bit more substance. Machado has 1.5 yrs of control left. He didn't make Cameron's top 50 trade value this year as a result: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2017-trade-value-honorable-mentions/ Meanwhile, Bregman slides in at #38: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2017-trade-value-31-to-40/ Moreover, I'm not just deferring to Cameron or some subjective assessment of trade value. Hence, I didn't suggest Bregman/Whitley/Reed for Machado/Britton - a trade which pure statistical objectivity would endorse. You perpetually seek to lower your own floor-based bar. It's not even flattering to deceive anymore it's full on old-man troll mode. Troll someone who doesn't have 3 minutes to humiliate you. I've got 3 more btw..keep it comin...
I'm basing it on trips to Fort Worth talking to people. They were wrong on his future as well as team as a whole. The mantra I heard over and over again is that the Rangers know how to win. As such, Ranger fans not liking their best player is funny.
None of that matters. It was the perception of odor (who clearly isn't their best player), that you were a bit off on.
I don't disagree with any of that. However, the closer role still exists. So I am saying that if we get Britton, he returns to form, and he and Giles are both available for the ninth inning of a playoff game, Britton will pitch it. If he pitched the 8th the night before, because he had too, I get it, go with the next best option. I apologize for being obtuse, this just reminded my of my Giles talks with Nick, he brings out the worst in me =),
I'm starting to warm up to the idea of getting Gray. He has looked pretty good this season, and he's still young. As long as we don't have to give up a major package for him I wouldn't mind. It's unfortunate that we can't wait a bit longer to make that decision though. If you told me right now that Keuchel is going to be 100% fine and McCugh is healthy and serviceable I might not make a move. Keuchel, McCullers, Morton, Fiers, McCugh is a pretty decent rotation. Not to mention Peacock has been terrific. Looking ahead to the postseason: Would I feel supremely confident with Peacock or Fiers on the mound for a game 3? Unlikely. But they have both been great, and whatever adjustments they have made to their game has clearly paid dividends. Getting back to Gray... Giving up prospects is one thing, and certainly it depends on who is given up. However, including someone like Fiers in the deal (as some have suggested) seems pretty foolish to me. Is Gray a better pitcher? Certainly. I just can't see giving up on a guy that has completely turned his season around and has been as good as anybody over the past 2 months. TL;DR--I wouldn't mind getting Gray, but for the right price. We already have solid pitching depth.
With Fiers and Peacock pitching so good, I like our depth in the rotation. Fiers has really impressed me with his improvement. Both guys are building their starter stamina and making great strides. Maybe this isn't the year to go all in, if the value isn't there in the trade market. I'd support Luhnow not blinking if the price is unrealistic. We're not in panic mode, the Astros have a pretty big window of opportunity. I like Keutchel, McCullers, and Fiers as our top three guys. Morton would duke it out with McHughes for that 4th guy. And Peacock going to the bullpen would make the pen that much stronger (he's a valuable safety net for if the starter get in trouble early on). I even think Musgrove in the pen would be good, as he is usually pretty solid for 4 innings, it isn't until the 5th inning he get hit hard. But let's send Hoyt back to triple AAA, he's got to regain his form. And Sipp is very mediocre too, he is not the answer as the lefty specialist.
I am wrong about whether Ranger fans still have a love fest for Odor. It happened in the recent past and three months following their assessment, he sucked. So while my information is out of date, the fact that they had a love fest recently for Odor should disqualify the vocal Ranger fans as good at evaluating players in regards to future performance. Granted, I wouldn't trust vocal fans from most teams. What vocal Ranger fans say about Darvish should be disregarded whether it is good or bad.
