Official Offseason Thread

[zbhargrove]

No, and I've been pretty consistently banging the drum for adding Ozuna and Shaw for some time now. Would make the bench a lot deeper and would allow Riley to spend as much time as he needs in Gwinnett. The problem is, most folks around here seem to think the only "good" way to go about this is by having a 3B that can hit behind Freddie - trading for Bryant/Arenado/Andujar/whomever.

I get that Donaldson (and Bryant and the others) are sexier names than Ozuna, but who cares? Don't burn prospect capital for someone you'll only control for 2 years unless you KNOW that guy can/will push you over the top. Sign Ozuna and give up the 4th round pick. Add Shaw and see if Seitzer can help him bounce back.

Adding Ozuna and Shaw seriously stretches the lineup, especially with d'Arnaud on board - you'll never need to hit Dansby or Ender higher than 7th or 8th, and if somebody's desperate enough for a CF to give you something good for Ender AA can make that trade without having to hang up the phone to think about it. Pache can handle CF defensively now, and if you want to game his clock you can platoon Markakis and Duvall in RF while Acuna covers center for 6 weeks.

The point is that AA needs to make that decision quickly and pull the trigger. If there's ANY reluctance to giving the 4th year to Donaldson - don't do it and move on. If there's any part of you that doesn't think the DH gets here before Donaldson becomes the new Melvin, walk away. This market has moved much faster than anyone expected, and if he gets bogged down in the mud with the Gnats trying to get Donaldson back Ozuna and Shaw will have signed and his only choice will then be overpaying for one of the (possibly) available guys.

No he doesn't need to pull any trigger quickly... the off season isn't even half over. Stop with your melodramatic bullcrap... further, there is no evidence AA will have to "back the truck up" to acquire Bryant. The rumor that seems to fit from those in the know with the Cubs is that it'd take Riley and maybe Wright/Anderson and one more lower pitcher. That's not "backing the truck up" and not something that really hurts the team at all and barely hurts the farm.