Stayed up to watch that goofy Jets-Bills game last night so I'm a little loopy this morning, but an "interesting" (if absolutely nothing else) thought popped up. If the brass still isn't sold on Adonis, I wonder if our scouts like Mike Moustakas enough to trade Markakis for him straight-up?
With the emergence of Cheslor Cuthbert and with Hunter Dozier all but ready, I wonder if this wouldn't be an almost perfect swap for both teams?
The Royals would get the OF bat they need without seriously weakening either their MLB roster or their minor league system, and the Braves would get the 3B with pop they'd like to have while creating ABs for both Inciarte and Mallex.
If the Royals re-sign Morales, KC would then look like: 2B- Merrifield, CF- Cain, 1B- Hosmer, DH- Morales, RF- Markakis, C- Perez, LF- Gordon, 3B- Dozier, SS- Escobar
If the Braves do trade for Mac, Atlanta would then look like: RF- Inciarte, SS- Swanson, 1B- Freeman, LF- Kemp, 3B- Moustakas, C- Mac/Flowers, 2B- Peterson, SP, CF- Mallex
Sure it would make us a little LH-heavy early on in 2017, but Albies will fix that soon enough. It would also buy another full season of development for Ruiz in Gwinnett to see whether his power will further develop before we'd have to make a call on Moustakas. Adding Moustakas' and Mac's pop to the lineup should easily offset playing Ender and Mallex in the OF together.
With the emergence of Cheslor Cuthbert and with Hunter Dozier all but ready, I wonder if this wouldn't be an almost perfect swap for both teams?
The Royals would get the OF bat they need without seriously weakening either their MLB roster or their minor league system, and the Braves would get the 3B with pop they'd like to have while creating ABs for both Inciarte and Mallex.
If the Royals re-sign Morales, KC would then look like: 2B- Merrifield, CF- Cain, 1B- Hosmer, DH- Morales, RF- Markakis, C- Perez, LF- Gordon, 3B- Dozier, SS- Escobar
If the Braves do trade for Mac, Atlanta would then look like: RF- Inciarte, SS- Swanson, 1B- Freeman, LF- Kemp, 3B- Moustakas, C- Mac/Flowers, 2B- Peterson, SP, CF- Mallex
Sure it would make us a little LH-heavy early on in 2017, but Albies will fix that soon enough. It would also buy another full season of development for Ruiz in Gwinnett to see whether his power will further develop before we'd have to make a call on Moustakas. Adding Moustakas' and Mac's pop to the lineup should easily offset playing Ender and Mallex in the OF together.