ashbury

The moves are consistent with a larger strategy to both add young talent and improve roster flexibility. No single move will accomplish it all, so in that sense you're right, and the real proof will be what they do in the off-season with this (and any additional) new-found flexibility. But I am a lot more positive toward the possibility of RA having "Interim" removed from his title, and I never thought I'd say that after his first go-round. It seems decisions are finally being made about who fits into the team's long-term plans and who does not - e.g. Alex Meyer. I am somewhere between Decent and Accolades at the moment.

FA, I am skeptical too. Via trade, though? Possibilities should abound, shouldn't they? Dozier and his affordable salary plus a prospect or two for someone's good $20M pitcher under control a few years? If some GM needs salary relief, maybe that could be constructed....

Don't you just llove autocorrect?

Or, going farther, combine such savings with other funds such as Plouffe being no longer with the team, and aim for a difference maker bearing a higher salary via FA or trade, rather than the usual "million here, million there" strategy.

Vielma at age 22 and hitting .292 in AA certainly hasn't ruled himself out with the bat. His floor remains below the fabled Pedro Florimon however. Hopefully the batting coaches can help him learn the additional skills necessary to keep major league pitchers from abusing him. If successful, he could arrive in 2018 or sometime after. If unsuccessful, well, we can always get Florimon back.

I don't think that's the right way to look at Santiago. He wasn't acquired IMO particularly for his talent, which I think we all agree is so-so. He was acquired (or at least that's what I would have done) because you can get out from under his contract if you want to. If we keep him in 2017, then yes, the salary relief versus Nolasco is negligible; but if either we trade him in the coming off-season for a minor prospect, or else simply non-tender him, we have the approximately $9M he would get in arbitration to reapply to other purposes. That is not a choice the team had, with Nolasco. We're paying Nolasco's salary the rest of this year, and $4M of it next year, so it's not as much salary relief as a straight swap would have given. But it's something. Obtaining this flexibility is what costs us Meyer. Busenitz is a throw-in to disguise what's going on for the average fan who follows trades - nobody enjoys trades that are motivated mainly by money. You don't fix a sclerotic roster in a single trade. But with a series of moves that carry out a consistent vision, it can be accomplished over time, probably half a year. By spring training next year we'll have a better idea whether this trade was part of a strategy or just another random move. I'm not a clairvoyant so I don't know if that's what Antony has in mind. OTOH, it might not matter what Antony intends. If we get a new GM, this trade has improved the flexibility for whoever sits in the big chair, and that person might want to thank Antony.

http://funny.trendolizer.com/assets_c/2015/09/1753511-thumb-288xauto-1521947.jpg “How can you think and hit at the same time?”

It's not? That's all Terry Ryan had been selling us these past four years or so.

Royals game alert: Jennings got a double in the 8th. Hope it doesn't jinx the no-no to say that.

Nolasco, to all intents and purposes.

I had the same thought, and dismissed it as just a routine thing for a big leaguer to do - go toward the ball, duh. But, how nice is that, if we can take it for granted?

"You keep using the word Keanu. I do not think it means what you think it means."

He was a very good pitcher with World Series rings so I don't... oh, ISWYDT.

Revisiting this... I'd like to submit it for consideration as Post Of The Game.

KEP-ler! I'm out of things to say.

ISWYDT.

Buxton Would Have Had That One. TM

This puts in a nutshell an important principle. The signing of Nolasco (and ESan) was a reflection of the failure of the farm system to produce starters. In a better world, we develop the Nolascos (along with hopefully better outcomes)ourselves and get their young cheap years, and we dispose of them in one manner or another before they get expensive. Teams that are sellers at the deadline should be acquiring young talent, and improving flexibility for the coming season. Flexibility comes in multiple ways - salary size, contract length, 40-man congestion, positional oversupply, players exhausting their minor league options or arb years. Talentwise, this deal involves a risk regarding Meyer but otherwise is close to a wash, and salarywise likewise; but it does add some flexibility and for that reason looks like a good thing.

<geek>Yes, upon further reflection I think it could wind up like a real-time demonstration of Zeno's Paradox.</geek>

If Molitor were to let it approach that point, he should be fired on the spot. I'm all for letting JO work things out at the MLB level, but within reason.

PLONK comes through!

I forget what else I saw from him the other day, but he seems to be a ballplayer.

Hrbek. 2016 Hrbek.

Each night I pray there will never come a day When you up and take your game away Say you feel the same way too And I wonder what It is I feel for ...Der Kid (Could it be I'm falling in love) With you (Could it be I'm falling in love) Woo

Looking like you may have to be satisfied with the latter.