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Like Dr. D, you probably just now put MSNBC on pause to dash in and check for anything new on SSI. As y'know, we live to serve, even in the iciest couple of weeks of the Hot Stove tundra.
I/O: Zoom is VERY confident that the M's will grab an impact player, way beyond Cozart, this winter. He's got a friendly wager with SABRMatt who takes exactly the opposite view ...
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Last I checked, the M's had a new ownership thing. Leader of that group, a Mr. Stanton, may be wantin' to make a splash and find some more money to back the roll of the dice. I'm thinking the ownership group will open up for that.
Do not look at DePoet's honest face and think there is not a chance he's got loaded dice somewhere nearby fot this game ... especially when he sees Mr. Stanton with an aura of ego for jumping in to turn things around in a territory in which he lives, and take a bit of the credit himself.
A bullpen arm and Cozart (if, indeed, he is still their target and not just misdirection at this point) are simply not going to be terribly expensive.
You bet I think the bucks will go to an OF RH Bat (or possibly Fowler, though I doubt it).
Mr. Stanton wants to enter the game with some pizzaz, not left over pizza.
zoom
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YIN: Jerry Dipoto does give you the adrenaline-junkie impression. The older Dr. D gets the more he encourages this attitude. Ferris Beuller taught us if you blink, you might miss it. Life, he meant, or David Rollins' potential, or Adam Lind's Seattle career, or ...
YANG: What if you asked, which move of Dipoto's was not PURPOSEFUL last winter? ... he wanted six guys for his rotation, he wanted a showpiece defender, he wanted a deeper lineup ... which moves were moves-to-make-moves?
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YIN: Scott Servais has, very politely, stated that the M's roster needs to get considerably more talented.
YANG: JeDi says, very politely, that we're down to tweaking. Dr. D find this attitude rather McConnellesque. In fact this whole line of reasoning began because Zooooom ball used the SSI comments section to try to soothe Dr. D's jangly nerves on this point.
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YIN: Is there money available?
(1) Every team in baseball could easily lay down $30-60M more on payroll, right now today, if it cared to. It doesn't care to. It cares to give the public a spin that MLB clubs are losing money, as it is. (2) JeDi has said he's got $15, 20M available, in fact all the money he needs to do anything HE WISHES to do.
YANG: JeDi has also said "we've done our big-game hunting" and has been extremely clear that Arte Moreno's hamiltonian swoops had greatly offended him.
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YIN: The M's current brain trust is smart. Cutting-edge smart. That has implications.
Everybody who is smart, in sports, understands that Stars & Scrubs -- ceteris peribus -- is the way championship teams are created; you get both the playoff star power, and you get the ability to switch-and-swap dynamically at the fringes of your starting lineup.
They get this, from the Seahawks and Patriots (with 2 Stars and 51 fungible Scrubs) on down to the quasi-relegatables like the M's. Adam Lind was an S&S grab late last winter. As was the last-second swipe of Hisashi Iwakuma. Dipoto has demonstrated his fondness for 1-year, 2-year rentals of "name brand" big leaguers.
YANG: The only place to put an impact bat is in the outfield - which already has six fairly hefty names to it, not even including Tyler O'Neill.
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THEORY AND PRAXIS, Dept.
Specific names who would cost $13M or more:
(1) Zoom has suggested Taijuan-plus for Andrew McCutchen in trade.
(2) People are axing whether Jose Bautista might have made a mistake passing on his 1/$17M qualifying offer.
(3) The Rays are shopping two pitchers, who would qualify for the impact add in spirit if not in letter. The Sox are also shopping two TOR's. Or so we hear.
(4) Mark Trumbo! Why Not Us! Well, maybe the position isn't absolutely best.
(5) Carlos Gonzalez? Is he still in play?
(6) Ryan Braun, that one we definitely hear is in play.
(7) You know the shtick by now: scroll down to the comments for the serious hot stove leads.
Enjoy,
Dr D
