Kapler is not what's wrong with that team but hilarious regardless.Originally Posted by bravesfanforlife88
Kapler is not what's wrong with that team but hilarious regardless.
I think that its basically inevitable that we'll have to fill a couple positions with a prospect next year. I'm not sure we have the money to fill every gap with external options. We're gonna have to find an external solution for catcher, so I think that is the spot we should focus on getting the biggest upgrade. Grandal is the obvious option, but there are some other intriguing possibilities. If we wanted to go with a bat-first option to complement Flowers' framing, we could try to sign Robinson Chirinos to a 1 year deal or swing a trade with the Mariners for Omar Narvaez. Narvaez would be an interesting platoon option with Flowers. There are a few other intriguing trade options and free agents. If Washington declines Gomes' option he'd be compelling. Jason Castro could be intriguing. Stephen Vogt is a thing that exists. Plenty of options here, but only one of them is amazing.
3rd base is going to be a bit more complicated. The simplest solution is to bring Donaldson back, but that only happens if we can get him on a shorter term deal than he probably wants. Obviously offer him the QO. If we fail to bring him back, we aren't fishing in the Rendon waters. The trouble is that there aren't that many good alternatives either. One option I haven't seen mentioned is trying to sign Jedd Gyorko on a cheap short term rebound contract after an awful year this year. If he proves to be completely healthy, he was a relatively consistent 3 win infielder with a good amount of versatility as well. I'm really not in love with any of the other free agent options. There are a few trade options out there, but the dream trade target for me would be Eduardo Escobar from the diamondbacks. He had a great year, has two years left on an insanely team friendly deal, he can play all over the field, and he's a competent switch hitter from both sides of the plate. I wanted him in free agency last year, but he quickly resigned with the D'backs. I'm not sure what Arizona's plans are, but if they signal rebuild then I think we should jump on this option. Technically, we could fill 3rd base with an internal solution of either Riley or Camargo, but I don't have much faith in either one being a starting caliber player on a playoff team. At least not yet. I suppose we could try them out at the beginning of the year and start looking for trade possibilities if that doesn't work out.
The outfield is a confusing mess. The only sure thing is Acuna. I think its likely we bring Ender back to fill CF, but that isn't certain. It just seems likely given what a healthy Ender brings to the table and the fact that he really is pretty cheap for what he is. We'd have to pay Markakis an extra 4 million to bring him back, and I think that is worth it provided we make it ABSOLUTELY CLEAR to Snitker that he isn't an everyday outfielder. I also think we'll bring Duvall back as a bench option. I wouldn't be comfortable rolling with those 4 into next season, but I'm not sure we're going to have much of a choice. I wouldn't hate targeting Ozuna in free agency or trying to swing a trade for an everyday 3-4 win outfielder. But its hard to say that it'd be worth it considering we'd have 4 semi-competent major league outfielders coming back with 2 top 50 outfield prospects sitting in AAA next season. Ultimately, I think we'll end up staying relatively quiet on this front and I'm not sure if that is a mistake or not. We're in a weird spot here.
On the pitching side, just look for value. If we can bring in a starter or a reliever on team friendly deals that will impact the rotation and provide us with some depth, go for it. If that isn't there, then let's just roll with what we have and hope we see some further development from our prospects like Touki, Wright, Anderson, Wilson, Muller, and Ynoa. Let's also not forget about Patrick Weigel. We eased him back into action last year, but he looked pretty solid in his limited playing time. I don't know if we bring back Julio or not, but I feel relatively confident in our front 3 of Soroka, Fried, and Folty. We need to build around them, but I think that is a solid enough foundation to build a playoff-worthy rotation. I'm also curious to see what we do with Newcomb. Are we going to give him another shot as a starter or are we going to keep him in the pen, where he seems to play better. I also think we have a somewhat solid foundation in the bullpen with the guys we brought in plus some younger developing arms. We'll need to add a few pieces, but I think next year's pen will be fine.
JohnAdcox (10-14-2019)
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