Hot Stove

Overall, Friedman's moves are accomplishing a brilliant makeover of the team. Still, he's human, and he WAY overpaid for Kendrick and signed McCArthy for 2 years more than he should have with better options still on the market. I don't think he's "done" but reports are circling that he's done with "major" stuff. Will believe it when I see it.

In other news, the Reds made out like bandits in the trading of Simon to Detroit for 2 nifty prospects. The Reds didn't get nearly as much in the trade of Latos to Miami but Latos is experiencing a drastic velocity decline. They are correct to employ an overall rebuild strategy in what is becoming a monstrous division. Hopefully they don't make the mistake of re-signing Cueto. Deal him for maximum value, now or at the trade deadline but don't resign.

The Red Sox have had an inefficient off-season spending wise but they are a dramatically improved team. Two big bats and three mid rotation starters brought onto a team with lots of young talent.

The Tigers made out very well in the Cespedes trade, a win win trade tilted towards them because of the relative scarcity of corner OF's compared to starting pitchers.

It's been a great offseason so far intrigue wise. The Shields bidding is about to get ugly.

Greene as a pitcher will carry higher risk than Gregorious but undeniably has higher upside given his 2014 Yankee performance.

We know Didi can handle the bigs.

You really love contradicting yourself, TN. In the quotes above, you make it clear upside is based on major league performance, and "handling it in the bigs" trumps prospect potential. You tried to use that "logic" to unsuccessfully criticize AZ's haul on the Gregorius trade. Now, however, you're saying LA overpaid by sending Heaney, who hasn't handled it in the bigs, for Kendrick who has.

It looks like you value prospects' potential upside after all, and "handling it in the bigs" isn't that important to you. So, your criticism of AZ's Gregorius trade was incorrect and hypocritical.

Instead, they ranked 7th and 5th respectively in Detroit's farm system which is regarded by BA and other evaluation systems as pretty lousy. So in reality they are far worse than 63 and 77% dice rolls to amount to anything in MLB.

In other news, the Reds made out like bandits in the trading of Simon to Detroit for 2 nifty prospects.

So, you've gone from slagging Detroit's farm system to praising two of their "nifty prospects." Your hypocrisy has no end. You actually slagged Leyba, who was Detroit's #5 prospect, but now you're calling Crawford--who didn't even make the top ten--"nifty." You're making AZ's return on the Gregorius trade look better with every post...

Ervin Santana's AAV of 13.5m is about right, but 4 years plus an easy vesting 5th year option is too long. Particularly on a team like the Twins, who need to save money for later rather than spending money now.

They weren't going to get a free agent starter of Santana's quality and market appeal without a 4-year contract, and spending for four years down the road is spending for later. Nolasco and Correia were busts last year, May showed he isn't ready, and Meyer probably isn't. So, they needed another starter and got a solid one without breaking the bank.

As to the Latos trade, the Blue Jays "white flag" trade just keeps benefiting the Marlins, as Desclafani was a footnote in the jays deal and has fetched them a young potential #3 starter.

Finally, the Red Sox just keep re-tooling, adding Miley for Webster and De La Rosa, and Masterson who should be a solid back-of-the-rotation guy. Cherington is really starting to shine after getting out from under Theo's shadow.

I like De La Rosa a LOT!

De La Rosa does have potential, as does Webster. However, the Red Sox needed a lefty starter to balance out their righty-weighted starting staff. And you don't get a quality left-handed starter like Wade Miley for nothing. So, it's a solid trade for both teams.

Sox have picked up 3 mid-rotation starters...I'd feel a whole lot better if they could land a #1 like Shields or Scherzer. Miley's nothing special, and I worry about ho-hum lefties in Fenway. Hopefully he can continue his upward k-trend.

Masterson is coming off a horrendous season, but Ive always liked him. Hopefully last year was a fluke.

Porcello is still young but a k-rate below 6 might be a concern.

I think de la rosa will be better than all 3, so Im bummed to see him go.

Hoping Bucholz can bounce back to form, and doesn't got on the DL because a strong wind injures him....guy can't stay healthy for anything.

Realllllllly hope we have 1 or 2 big deals left though to make me comfortable....

Miley is a 28-yr-old solid innings-eater who has averaged 200 IP the last three three years, won 16 games two years ago, and had 3.33 and 3.55 ERAs in 2012 and 2013. He did have an off-year in 2014, but if that's "ho-hum," a lot of teams would love to have such "ho-hum" pitchers on their staff.

De La Rosa does throw hard, but he had a very unimpressive 4.54 ERA and 1.48 WHIP in his 30 games, 18 starts, and 113 IP with the Sox. He has also never shown firm command of his secondary stuff. You, apparently, think he's going to be better than Miley and Porcello, who's the same age as De La Rosa but won 15 games, had a 3.43 ERA, and a 1.23 WHIP last year. I agree he has the raw potential to be better, but I don't see him doing it. I am, though, willing to listen if you can actually make a case for it.

Shields is more of a #2 than a true #1, but yeah either he or Scherzer would help the Sox immensely. I have a feeling that they'll fall short on getting them. They were only willing to go to $135M on Lester and have already spent a ton of money, not particularly efficiently either.

His prima donna hollywood star strat had become a bit too much for me.

Kemp was a prima donna Strat player on our forum? I knew a few guys seemed familiarly cocky...

As to Friedman's moves. They're both brilliant and defensible. He dumped Haren's salary, ended up with a better offensive second baseman, and got a decent offensive catching prospect (which they needed). That's pretty defensible.

Already this lineup will catch the ball much more often, with Puig better in RF and Joc a defensive upgrade in CF. The DP combo is much better than the duo they replaced with the leather

Dodgers are looking very tough. Great defensive improvement. Grandal should be fine behind the dish after rehabbing his knee in 2014. That will improve his defense as well as his hitting. And Yaz will probably hit 15+ bombs in 2015.

Seems a little odd my Padres would trade offense (Grandal) and pitching prospects (I like Eflin quite a bit) for an older offense piece but Kemp should be a decent line drive hitter with speed. That's a good thing to have for Petco. I think character and attitude is something the Padres also need. If Kemp is a little cocky at times at least he's done something to warrant the attitude. And he's never roided up like Grandal has...in spite of some lasting medical issues. Preller hates roiders and loves character guys. Did I mention the Padres offense had no swagger in 2014? Not even a drop. Maybe Kemp can help turn that around.