This is one of the things that I am most interested in around the baseball landscape. They are in one of the worst positions I have seen in the past decade. How would some of you guys go about rebuilding there? Obviously step 1 would be to draft well and do well internationally. But as far as talent accumulation goes outside of that, they are going to have a rough time. I guess if it were me I would try to flip any semblance of talent I had remaining on the roster for the farm. Then I would try to sign or acquire some of those reclamation types in the hopes that some of them hit and can be flipped for more farm talent. I don't know. Its a really rough situation and I think it will take them a minimum of 6-7 years to get back into the realm of relevancy.
First step is to obviously not sign Hosmer.
Second step would be to flip Duffy for a nice little return, rather than wasting him like the Braves did with Teheran. Then do the same with Sal Perez to a team like the Nats.
They will get 3 picks for losing Hos, Mous and Cain. Add those 3 picks with the returns for Duffy and Perez, plus their regular draft picks, and suddenly they have built a respectable farm system in less than 1 year.
Take risks on upside plays like the Rox did with Holland, and the Brewers did with Thames, and the Cubs did with Smyly, and the Cards did with Mikolas in hopes of generating value that can be converted into more prospect capital if they pan out.
Continue to buy prospects by taking on contracts like Kemp and Ellsbury, and lose a lot of games.
Stay on that course and suddenly they have a Top 5ish farm in 3-4 years and can look to turn the corner again.
When they are ready to turn the corner to competitiveness in 2023+, make sure the payroll is bottomed out like the Phillies have done so additions can be made as required to fill holes.
That's the standard blueprint for a 5 year rebuild.