Passan reporting Lester/Gomes to the A's for Cespedes

[Al Zarilla]

Welcome to my City, Jon. For the first time I'll be able to root for the A's wholeheartedly. This trade just salvaged the season for me.

Maybe I'll buy some boots and go see Jon pitch up there myself. My second son, who lives in Dublin, has gone over to the green and gold side. I'll tag along with him. I was there for the Coco Crisp Garden Gnome game, in which Jon threw beautifully but the pen vomited it up (Papi saved the day).
 

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

 
He moved to Georgia.

 
Atlanta. It's hardly deliverance country.
 
Anyway, it's not a big deal, I just find it amusing. The twang, the bigshitkicker truck, etc.

 

[CoRP]

Why do you all hate white men?

 

[wibi]

 
He's from Tacoma. He's not a country boy.

 
Have you been to Tacoma recently?

 

[Greg29fan]

John Buccigross ‏@Buccigross 1m
Yoenis Céspedes has more home runs (17) in 399 AB than the entire Red Sox outfield does in 1,199 AB.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

 
Have you been to Tacoma recently?

Hey, I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night. Back off.

 

[smastroyin]

Really?  On a busy day like today, with so much to discuss, we are analyzing hugs?

 
Yes, the bandwidth is much better used on posts like this.

 

[smastroyin]

 
Atlanta. It's hardly deliverance country.
 
Anyway, it's not a big deal, I just find it amusing. The twang, the bigshitkicker truck, etc.

 
He does have the big shitkicker truck sponsorship.  

 

[rembrat]

He's from Tacoma. He's not a country boy.

 
Because people never lose or get a new accent. The horror.

 

[Al Zarilla]

Lester in Oakland means LHP Tommy Milone is out. To Minnesota for Sam Fuld. Billy Beane not done.

Milone sunk almost as much as Doubront, getting run over in the Shark trade and now Lester. There was a report of him complaining about being sent down (don't blame him). The A's started the season with two of our faves, Punto and Fuld, and they have them both again.

 

[DJnVa]

Really?  On a busy day like today, with so much to discuss, we are analyzing hugs?

 
This post is full of win.
 
Yes, we are actually analyzing the hugs with a serious intent.

 

[dcmissle]

Smart people adapt. This is a pretty emphatic about face from the notion that the playoffs are just a crap shoot, and that once a GM gets his team there, his work for that year is done. Good for Beane. I hope he gets his ring and Lester another one.

Today also shows that capable executives find a way to get deals done. Oak, Bos, St Louis. They are not perfect deals, and they leave fans grousing, but these FOs don't sacrifice good for perfect.

My sense is a few other teams missed the boat on Lester and will regret it.

 

[alwyn96]

 
Because people never lose or get a new accent. The horror.

Take it easy, it's just funny. Making fun of someone for getting a new accent is totally fair game. Hell, my wife's from Texas and I've started pronouncing some words differently, which I think is amusing. 

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Lester is going to make his A's debut on Saturday...on Cespedes T-shirt Night at the Coliseum.
 
Good stuff.

 

[snowmanny]

 
hes pretty clearly saying something to lester.

"3/54"

 

[Savin Hillbilly]

 
Have you been to Tacoma recently?

 
Seriously. I've spent a lot of time in Oregon (family there), and that "twang" of Jon's is a completely bog-standard PacNW accent.

 

[E5 Yaz]

Jeff Euston (Cot's) in an email stands by his take and says that BRef is incorrect about Cespedes arb eligibility. 

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Jeff Euston (Cot's) in an email stands by his take and says that BRef is incorrect about Cespedes arb eligibility. 

 
I don't know what people are looking at on B-Ref, but it shows Cespedes as being a Free Agent eligible in 2016.  It said that four hours ago when I first looked at it (and people were saying it showed arbitration), too.  Screen grab:
 

 

[budcrew08]

I like this trade, we get a great player in Cespedes. I think his production will go up at Fenway and it helps the guys in the lineup around him. The people pooh-poohing this deal are mistaken.

 

[Savin Hillbilly]

 
I don't know what people are looking at on B-Ref, but it shows Cespedes as being a Free Agent eligible in 2016.  It said that four hours ago when I first looked at it (and people were saying it showed arbitration), too.  Screen grab:
 

 
I think they've fixed it. When the trade was first announced I looked there and I'm pretty sure it said 2018.

 

[Bowlerman9]

 
I don't know what people are looking at on B-Ref, but it shows Cespedes as being a Free Agent eligible in 2016.  It said that four hours ago when I first looked at it (and people were saying it showed arbitration), too.  Screen grab:
 

 
They updated this within the last 2 hrs. Prior to just now, it said he was arb eligible in 2016 and 2017 and a FA in 2018.

 

[Sprowl]

Some more data on Cespedes' pull power tendencies and the move to Fenway. YC's 2012 spray chart from the Coliseum superimposed on Fenway:
 

 
2013:
 

 
and 2014:
 

 

[CoRP]

Please compute OPS+ for that spray chart superimpostion and project through 2020 +/- 1 std dev. Thanks in advance.

 

[alwyn96]

 
Seriously. I've spent a lot of time in Oregon (family there), and that "twang" of Jon's is a completely bog-standard PacNW accent.

 
Hm, I live 45 minutes from Tacoma, and it doesn't sound native to me. We must be hanging out in different bogs.

 

[Norm Siebern]

Baseball ops did a good job here trying to bail out the other side of the front office. I am not moonstruck by Cespides and his near .300 OBP, but he is probably the best they could do for a 2 month rental. That does not get the other side of the front office off the S list however. Thry screwed this whole affair over so badly from the start it is ridiculous. Just because the undertaker can make the body presentable at the funeral, it does'nt excuse the responsibility of the doctors who sent the corpse there in the first place.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Please compute OPS+ for that spray chart superimpostion and project through 2020 +/- 1 std dev. Thanks in advance.

 
And show your credentials.

 

[budcrew08]

Baseball ops did a good job here trying to bail out the other side of the front office. I am not moonstruck by Cespides and his near .300 OBP, but he is probably the best they could do for a 2 month rental. That does not get the other side of the front office off the S list however. Thry screwed this whole affair over so badly from the start it is ridiculous. Just because the undertaker can make the body presentable at the funeral, it does'nt excuse the responsibility of the doctors who sent the corpse there in the first place.

That is a morbid analogy

 

[Lars The Wanderer]

 
Because people never lose or get a new accent. The horror.

 
Is that you, Madonna?

 

[Luis Taint]

That pic of Henry and Lester is sad.

 

[Rasputin]

Jeff Euston (Cot's) in an email stands by his take and says that BRef is incorrect about Cespedes arb eligibility. 

 
It should be pointed out that the two don't actually contradict each other. He's eligible for arbitration per the CBA but has a clause in his contract saying the team can't offer it. 

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

Well - regardless, there is nothing to indicate the Sox can't give him a QO.

 

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

Baseball ops did a good job here trying to bail out the other side of the front office. I am not moonstruck by Cespides and his near .300 OBP, but he is probably the best they could do for a 2 month rental. That does not get the other side of the front office off the S list however. Thry screwed this whole affair over so badly from the start it is ridiculous. Just because the undertaker can make the body presentable at the funeral, it does'nt excuse the responsibility of the doctors who sent the corpse there in the first place.

I agree. The front office should have stopped Lester from aging, becoming a free agent when his contact was up or at least cornering the free agent market by buying up all the free agents so that nobody could pay a pitcher over 30 a 6+ year 150mm+ contract. Cherrington should be drawn and quartered for this epic failure.

 

[Dan to Theo to Ben]

Edes just came on MLBN, ending his short stay saying that it's possible the FO have Cespedes as an Ortiz replacement down the line. Please please don't waste that arm.

 

[Harry Hooper]

 
hes pretty clearly saying something to lester.

 
"Well, I'll have some rotten nights after I've sent you over, but that will pass. If all I've said doesn't mean anything to you, then forget it and we'll make it just this: I won't because all of me wants to, regardless of consequences, and because you counted on that with me the same as you counted on that with all the others. Don't be too sure I'm as crooked as I'm supposed to be. That sort of reputation might be good business, bringing high-priced jobs and making it easier to deal with the enemy, but a lot more money would have been one more item on your side of the scale."

 

[NickEsasky]

Hey, I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night. Back off.

Didn't Toyota name their pick up truck after Tacoma?

 

[MakMan44]

Edes just came on MLBN, ending his short stay saying that it's possible the FO have Cespedes as an Ortiz replacement down the line. Please please don't waste that arm.

Doesn't Craig make more sense?

 

[Sprowl]

Please compute OPS+ for that spray chart superimpostion and project through 2020 +/- 1 std dev. Thanks in advance.

 
What would be even nicer is if we could get HitFX velocity, angle and loft on Cespedes' batted balls. Free the Data!! :nerd:
 

Edes just came on MLBN, ending his short stay saying that it's possible the FO have Cespedes as an Ortiz replacement down the line. Please please don't waste that arm.

 
Craig will end up at DH long before Cespedes gives up the glove, I'm thinking.
 

Didn't Toyota name their pick up truck after Tacoma?

 
Leonard Cohen named a mournful soung after Tacoma.
 

 
"Well, I'll have some rotten nights after I've sent you over, but that will pass. If all I've said doesn't mean anything to you, then forget it and we'll make it just this: I won't because all of me wants to, regardless of consequences, and because you counted on that with me the same as you counted on that with all the others. Don't be too sure I'm as crooked as I'm supposed to be. That sort of reputation might be good business, bringing high-priced jobs and making it easier to deal with the enemy, but a lot more money would have been one more item on your side of the scale."

 
:bravo:

 

[Stitch01]

Smart people adapt. This is a pretty emphatic about face from the notion that the playoffs are just a crap shoot, and that once a GM gets his team there, his work for that year is done. Good for Beane. I hope he gets his ring and Lester another one.

Today also shows that capable executives find a way to get deals done. Oak, Bos, St Louis. They are not perfect deals, and they leave fans grousing, but these FOs don't sacrifice good for perfect.

My sense is a few other teams missed the boat on Lester and will regret it.

They're still real close to a crapshoot, but a guy like Lester will always help

 

[maxotaur]

Really?  On a busy day like today, with so much to discuss, we are analyzing hugs?

Yes, yes. We SOSH have so much work to do. We must remain serious about our work here on this board.

Give it rest.

 

[maxotaur]

Baseball ops did a good job here trying to bail out the other side of the front office. I am not moonstruck by Cespides and his near .300 OBP, but he is probably the best they could do for a 2 month rental. That does not get the other side of the front office off the S list however. Thry screwed this whole affair over so badly from the start it is ridiculous. Just because the undertaker can make the body presentable at the funeral, it does'nt excuse the responsibility of the doctors who sent the corpse there in the first place.

That's awesome.

 

[alwyn96]

Yes, yes. We SOSH have so much work to do. We must remain serious about our work here on this board.

Give it rest.

 
Seriously. We need to see a video of the hug from a couple of different angles and analyze the advanced hug metrics to get an objective sense of it. Then we can develop some extremely hard-line, invective-filled opinions on who should be blamed for different aspects of the hug's failure and how it fits into The Plan or some other new abstract theory. 

 

[Reverend]

 
Seriously. We need to see a video of the hug from a couple of different angles and analyze the advanced hug metrics to get an objective sense of it. Then we can develop some extremely hard-line, invective-filled opinions on who should be blamed for different aspects of the hug's failure and how it fits into The Plan or some other new abstract theory. 

 
Free the Hugf/x data!!

 

[Ananti]

Here's the hypothetical question for me, if Cespedes was a FA available at the end of 2014, what do you think would be required to sign him so that he'd would on the 2015 Red Sox, 4 years 60 mil?  Because the difference between that and the 1 year/10.5 million that he's making in 2015 is net value of this trade. 
 
And that's pretty good value for 2 month of Lester that is worth very little to the Red Sox. It's basically the difference between finishing 75-87 and finishing 72-90.  So needless to say I like this deal.

 

[Kramerica Industries]

 
 
And that's pretty good value for 2 month of Lester that is worth very little to the Red Sox. It's basically the difference between finishing 75-87 and finishing 72-90.  So needless to say I like this deal.

 
And that difference could get us a better draft pick!!!!  :q:

 

[soxhop411]

Alex Speier ‏@alexspeier  2m
Red Sox initially plan to use Cespedes in RF, Craig in LF (platoonish situation in LF with Nava).
 
https://twitter.com/alexspeier/status/494966493088845825

 

[DJnVa]

Cespedes to RF per Cherington.  Press conference on NESN now.

 

[Dan to Theo to Ben]

Cherington press conference tidbit, looking to see how Cespedes will do in RIGHT, especially with Victorino hobbled
 
Says he has history in RF even if not recently (ie. away from Cuba)
 
Based on that, I now expect him to start at RF tomorrow night.  (I prefer him in LF personally)

 

[DJnVa]

 
Based on that, I now expect him to start at RF tomorrow night.  (I prefer him in LF personally)

 
Sure, but that allows you to see what you have with Craig in LF.

 

[soxhop411]

Cherington: "we envision having Cespedes here longer."

 

[Dan to Theo to Ben]

 
Sure, but that allows you to see what you have with Craig in LF.

Sure! If Craig is healthy, let's see what he has. Also, since RF is tougher than LF in Fenway, it's good to see what YC has in right for games that "don't count."