If you were Frank Wren, what would you do this offseason? (Trades, Signings, Firings, etc.)
If you were Frank Wren, what would you do this offseason? (Trades, Signings, Firings, etc.)
"Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon"
I doubt Minor will be moved now that he's pitching well again. Teheran, Wood, and Minor are a pretty good trio. I'd try to bring Harang back as a 5th starter. But no way we can put any faith in Medlen or Beachy at all so another good starter will have to be found. Maybe Gattis can bring that back. Or maybe revisit the BJ for Jackson deal and hope he pitches better on a winning team. In that case use Gattis for a legit CF or 3b. Also work to extend Justin Upton and Heyward.
First you have to look at who is leaving from this year for sure.
Our FA are Ervin, FLoyd, Doumit, Laird, Harang, and Bonifacio. So basically we have about 20% of our Roster is gone.
Which leaves our 25 Man players who are still under contract for next year or are arb/prearb eligible are
C - Gattis
1B - Freeman
2B - LaStella, Gosselin, Uggla sunk cost
3B - Johnson
SS - Simmons, Pena
LF - Justin
CF - Bossman
RF - Jason
SP - Julio, Minor, Wood
CL - Kimbrel
SU - Walden
MR - Avilan, Carpenter, Hale, Gearrin, Varvaro, Buchter, etc.
I think we're fine in the pen. Looking at our issues it really depends on how we want to go about next year. I see a few scenarios but this is what I'd do.
Trade CJ for Best available prospect. Sign Chase Headley. Make QO to Santana, assume he rejects it. Offer Medlen and Beachy to come back for less than this year. If they decline so be it. If they accept we won't count on them but consider them. I'd bring Floyd back to the same offer he had this year. He was great for us before going down.
So Assume Beachy and Medlen resign we keep Floyd.
This is what I'd do for next year.
VS RHP
CF - Jason
2B - TLS
RF - Justin
1B - Freeman
LF - Gattis
3B - Headley
SS - Simmons
C - Bethancourt
VS LHP
RF - Jason
2B - tLS (some spells for Gosselin but not a platoon)
LF - Justin
1B - Freeman
C - Gattis (some rest for Bethancourt than move him to the bottom)
3B - Headley
SS - Simmons
CF - Bossman
Bench
Bethancourt
Cunningham
Terds
Gosselin
Pena
Rotation
Julio
Minor
Floyd
Wood
Medlen/Beachy/Hale/Martin/Hursh/Northcraft/Graham etc.
Pen - Largely the same as this year, maybe with a sprinkling of Beachy/Medlen if they're healthy and not in the rotation.
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg
Another year of crappy offense, I seeOriginally Posted by zitothebrave
"Yes, I did think Aldrich was good UNTIL I SAW HIM PLAY. "- thethe
Replace CJ with Headley seems like a straightforward improvement. Last 3 years Headley has a 121 wRC+, Johnson has 106. Last 2 years Headley has a 105 wRC+ Johnson has a 105 wRC+, this year headley has 95 and Johnson 84 It's also worth noting that Headley has improved a goot deal since joining the Yankees.
Short of signing or trading for a stud, there is no silver bullet. Sure up a weakness (even if Headley doesn't hit much better than Johnson, he will field way better)
Short of getting rid of BJ and adding a thumper for LF or RF, there's no clean way to improve the team. Looking at list of FA, who's a thumper who's available? Nelson Cruz, Michael Morse, Josh WIllingham? Cruz and Morse are hitting very well this year, but are ass on defense. I would like doing that but I cannot see the financials working out.
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg
Biggest priorities:
1. We need to try to re-sign JUp and Heyward. If it becomes obvious that one of them cannot be re-signed explore the trade market for a young outfielder or a third baseman.
2. Trade BJ if you can get anything for him. Personally I'd rather send cash than package him with a player. If we can get any of the money owed back, call it a win. We'll probably have to pay most of his salary.
3. See how much cash is left. See if Santana can be re-signed. Explore possible acquisitions. Outfield and third base would be likely candidates. Gattis or Bethancourt could be trade bait. Whether we go for a star or younger players would be determined by what happened up to this point. In another thread Mookie Betts was mentioned. If we could get someone like that who could be a high on base guy at the top of the order I'd definitely be interested. We need more consistency.
Extending Jason and Justin would be my top priorities. I suspect we will have to clear some salary to do this. Therefore, I would be willing to package a good young prospect with BJ to move most of his contract. I would do BJ and Bethancourt for Jackson.
Braves1976 (09-04-2014), GovClintonTyree (09-04-2014), JohnAdcox (09-04-2014)
I would agree on that. I just assumed that is what will happen. As far as contract goes with them we can just start backloading them.
After next year Uggla's money will be off the board, I think we'll get rid of Walden to clear some space. ANd I think we'll shed Johnson and maybe Minor.
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg
1. We can't afford to resign both Heyward and J-UP find out which one can be signed and trade the other one. Personally I think Heyward would bring more back in a trade. Try to get a CF,RF and/or a 3b
2. Package Minor and BJ to get BJ's salary off the books. I am a Minor fan but he is going to command too much money even with his struggles this year.
3. Sign Alex Wood to a Teheran type deal.
4. Bring back Santana.
5. If you get a adequate 3b back in the deal trade CJ
6. Trade Gattis
Seppuku
No way Wren goes into the season with Floyd and one of Beachy/Medlen taking up 2 spots in the rotation. If he does he should be fired on the spot.
50PoundHead (09-04-2014), goldfly (09-05-2014), NinersSBChamps (09-08-2014)
I definately am not for trading/letting Walden go.
Tough off-season ahead in a lot of ways, but Wren made most of the mess and it will be interesting to see if he just goes forward with what he has or makes some brash moves. I'm almost in the "ride it out" camp.
I doubt Santana will be back and I don't know if Wren risks the qualifying offer on him. That means we need another starting pitcher. I will be surprised if either Beachy or Medlen throw a pitch in a regular season major league baseball game again and there's no one truly ready in AAA/AA to challenge for a job in the rotation.
I would jettison Chris Johnson, but what's the market going to be for him?
It would be nice to get J. Upton and/or Heyward to sign extensions, but that would likely mean an overpay on a tight budget. Not to say it isn't possible, but my guess is those guys will want to test the market.
Disagree on letting Walden walk unless he prices himself out of the market. Bullpen has been very inconsistent this year and Walden is a solid 8th inning/back-up closer. This team always seems to play at the margins, which makes bullpen performance crucial.
I somewhat worry what Wren will do if he decides to get bold. Getting rid of B.J. Upton will be next to impossible unless we swallow all but a couple of million dollars. Only thing worse than paying him $15 million is paying him $12 million to play somewhere else. Plus, there's no CF-in-waiting (unless Peraza moves out there).
Starting pitching will have to be shored up given the impending free agency of Santana and Harang. This somewhat adds to the logic of revisiting the BJ Upton for Edwin Jackson trade. We need to build around the core of Teheran, Minor and Wood. Given that the priority is to extend Jason and Justin, I think Wren is going to have to be creative in adding starting pitching without adding much to payroll. I could see going with a rotation of Teheran, Minor, Wood, Jackson and Hale, with someone like Medlen or Floyd signed to an incentive laden deal.
We will need a little luck with the starting pitching. Someone to do something similar to what Harang has done this year.
I would sign Jason Hammel to a 3 year 21 million dollar deal if his market bottoms out.
Natural Immunity Croc
Hale has done well in his spot starts. I think he has a repertoire that lends itself better to starting. I get the feeling the front office will give him a shot as the fifth starter. Still leaves an opening for a #4.
Braves1976 (09-04-2014), cajunrevenge (09-04-2014)
Just curious ... why? I am not trying to argue or anything; I am just wondering what he adds that, say, Hale wouldn't save experience.
Ok why exactly are you putting varvaro in the same category as Avilan. Luis has been BJ in the pen this year, whereas Varvaro has been pretty good.
He has not been great, in fact, he has given up inherited runs as well as his own in big spots
If Simmons were shopped what could realistically be expected in return?
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