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Mark P
11:23
To answer the inevitable first question...I think the Chiefs win by a touchdown.  Now, let's open the Weekend Chat up to some baseball
Farhan
11:24
Will I sign soler and Chapman soon?
Mark P
11:25
The chances of both can't be ruled out, given the relative lack of landing spots for either player at this point in the offseason.  The Giants would probably be able to leverage Soler more easily than Chapman, however.
Me
11:25
I thought that the competitive balance picks were not allowed to be traded until the season started, but I have already seen two trades this off season that included competitive balance picks.  Is this now allowed or was i wrong in my prior beliefs?
Mark P
11:26
There isn't a time period attached to trading the CBR picks, though they can only be traded once.  So not that they'd do this anyway, but the Brewers aren't allowed to flip the pick they got from Baltimore in another deal
LDub
11:27
Mark: Good Morning. I get the appraisal time needed for Bendix to evaluate, but SS and DH has to be addressed, don’t you think?
Mark P
11:28
Miami will sign someone for placeholder purposes at least, but I don't think you're necessarily going to see any real earth-shaking moves.  Probably can't rule out the Marlins trading a pitcher for a more significant piece, of course, but in all likelihood they're going to keep things pretty low-key
The Ghost of Bobby Thigpen
11:29
Am I wrong for thinking that the White Sox blew their chance to get the best return for Cease? To me, you wanted Baltimore and Cincinnati bidding against each other...the Orioles getting Burnes lowers the potential return...
Mark P
11:30
Chicago's chances of getting that sky-high asking price for Cease was probably a little far-fetched anyway, but don't forget that Burnes being off the market also increases some desperation on the part of other pitching-needy teams.
If the White Sox end up with, say, 66-75% of their reported asking price for Cease, that still counts as a pretty nice return
DepressedBlueJay
11:31
Jeff Passan tweeted saying that the Blue Jays might get desperate and sign Cody Bellinger. Do you think Ross Atkins is willing to sign him if his price goes down?
Jays fan
11:31
passan said the jays could get desperate for belli, would you think its true?
Mark P
11:33
Desperation signings rarely work out, even if "desperate" might not exactly be the situation here.

Fact is, the Blue Jays need to upgrade their lineup, since I question whether just counting on Vlad/Springer/Kirk/Varsho to all just rebound is a viable strategy.  Bellinger would certainly be a big help in that regard, especially as a left-handed bat.  If Bellinger's price did go down to some extent, the Jays would surely have interest and might be waiting for this exact scenario.....but then again, so would a lot of clubs
Heller
11:34
With the lack of signings, how come the phillies havent jumped on jordan montgomery and Bellinger…the phillies have alot of boras clients so i cant see it being him, they are close to getting over the hump, you would think they would try to load up as much as they can
Mark P
11:35
This has been a popular rumor, given the Phillies/Dave Dombrowski's shared history of big signings and Boras clients.  Dombrowski did his best to downplay the idea of a prominent outfield addition in the wake of Marsh's injury, but I admit, Bellinger was the first name that popped to mind when I saw that news break.
11:36
Of the two, Bellinger would seem the likelier signing than Montgomery for Philly, just because a Wheeler extension might be the Phils' top pitching priority
Cardinal fan in GA
11:37
After the last few seasons when the starters didn't live up to expectations and in '22 we had to aquire at the deadline, why don't the Cardinals go for it and sign or trade for another starter? Money can't be the issue. Prospects are just that until they prove otherwise. Let's get another starter. They could even really shake things up and get another position player like Bellinger. If he performs like last year it's well worth it. I say grab Bellinger and Monty or trade for Luzardo/ Cease. Why can't the Cardinals build a juggernaut like the Dodgers/Braves have done? It's not lack of funds coming from ticket sales.
Mark P
11:39
The Cardinals are one of the teams impacted by the Bally Sports bankruptcy, so TV revenue is undoubtedly a factor in their spending plans this winter in particular.  That said, the franchise has never been an overly huge spender, sometimes being a borderline top 10 payroll team.
11:40
That's not nothing, but it does indicate that ownership is only willing to spend to a certain limit, even with plenty of extra revenue seemingly coming in from their own ballpark village.  I wonder if last year's disaster of a season might've convinced ownership to splurge a bit more (say, on a Jordan Montgomery) if the Diamond Sports situation hasn't arisen, but we'll never know
antonetti
11:40
How do you feel about Guardian's Starting pitching depth ?
Mark P
11:41
Pretty good, considering how the Guards seem to be able to develop quality starters on a seemingly annual basis
O’s fan
11:42
Are the additions of Maton and Soto by the O’s something that will actually take significant at bats away from Holliday or are they just a couple back up plans in case Holliday isn’t quite ready?
Mark P
11:42
Probably backup plans, with only one of Maton/Soto (at most) likely to end up on the Opening Day roster
Yo adrian
11:43
angels should pursue Montgomery instead of Snell, the consistency should be more important that the higher ceiling of snell
Mark P
11:43
The Angels' hesitance about offering lengthy contracts to pitchers seems like the biggest obstacle to signing either pitcher
Othani
11:44
Do you see him pitching in relief for the dodgers when healthy?  He only averaged 60 innings pitched a season while with the angels
Mark P
11:45
He averaged 96 per innings per year with the Angels, and naturally that number doesn't account for his missed Tommy John year or the shortened 2020 season (which he also basically missed in terms of pitching).  So obviously the injury concerns are valid here, but Ohtani won't become a reliever until he absolutely has to, health-wise
Astros fan
11:46
GM Dana Brown (Astros) recently mentioned that the club was still looking at the starting pitcher market. Would this be more of a veteran depth signing or could you see them making a surprisingly big splash?
Mark P
11:47
The Hader signing probably will be Houston's only "surprisingly big splash" move, so my guess is any SPs added will be of the veteran depth variety
Jill
11:47
Will Cleveland win a world series before it becomes a 100 year drought?
Mark P
11:47
Will the Guardians win the World Series before 2048?
Yes (44.8% | 461 votes)
 
No (55.2% | 569 votes)
 
Total Votes: 1,030
Ross Atkins
11:48
Some reports say that the Blue Jays’ offseason is done, but others say that they still have some money to spend. If I’m going to spend more money, who would it be? Would it be a RHH outfielder like Randal Grichuk or Tommy Pham?
Mark P
11:48
Pham would seemingly be the likelier of the two, given that the Jays have probably seen all they've wanted to see of Randal Grichuk.
5
11:49
if Matt Shaw has an exceptional Spring is there any chance he breaks Camp as the Cubs staring 3b.
Mark P
11:50
He's barely played any Double-A ball, let alone any Triple-A.  Shaw is a very interesting prospect but it's too early to think about him appearing at Wrigley any time soon
Hotdog
11:50
Perfect. We've been sitting here talking all day and you all never bothered to learn my name...
Mark P
11:50
Random!
Utah Fan
11:51
Where does Espinal fit in the Jays plans this year. He's done some solid work the past couple of seasons. same can be said for Biggio and his contribution last year.
Mark P
11:52
On paper, a Biggio/Espinal platoon would seemingly work well at second base, except both players have been so inconsistent.  Given their need for lefty bats, the Blue Jays would like nothing more than for Biggio to finally become a decent regular, but it remains to see if his 2023 was another false start or a sign that he's turned a corner
Giant Gonzales
11:54
With the Duran rumor, there's no way Boston thinks about that w/o getting one of San Diego's top SP prospects back correct? I get some of Breslow's trades to improve the team at the edges, but that's 5 years of control of a LH lead off hitter
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