Could Garcia and Ruiz platoon next year with us spending money on other positions?
Kinda get the feeling that the answer to that is tied up in several other decisions that won't be made until the Winter Meetings personally. So many potential scenarios that I'd imagine that's down on the list at this point...
1.) When it becomes more obvious that Cespedes is going to opt-out of his deal with the Mutts, does Dombrowski realize that altering course and trading Moncada for Julio suddenly make more sense than he realized? Cespedes steps in at DH to replace Ortiz and plays some in LF to help keep him healthy, and they get Julio's cheap contract.
2.) Does Gourriel come up down the stretch and become Houston's "answer", making a Bregman for Julio swap something that Luhnow decides is worth making? It's hard to see them finding enough ABs for all those bats even with the DH, and Gourriel and Bregman would be somewhat redundant players - how many players can one Manager use regularly as super-subs? They've got plenty of talent coming by the time Gourriel or Correa would become free-agents in Miguelangel Sierra, Jonathan Arauz, Freudis Nova, and Yorbin Ceuta.
I'd expect either of those things happening would suddenly have Coppy shopping both Garcia and Ruiz. Then you've got to answer the question of just how much pressure is he getting to be competitive (on whatever level) as early as next year? With LF "squared away", is the Mac talk really going to be more than talk this winter? Even if it's not, would a Flowers/Castro platoon be enough to make you competitive with a Garcia/Ruiz platoon, or do you have to go get something better at one of those spots? Certainly an interesting question. Like everyone else who's mentioned it, I'd hate to see us go get a Desmond/Turner/Prado or Ramos on a 3+ year deal if they don't have to. Again, I'd imagine that decision will be based on what we see out of Adonis and Rio over the next few weeks.
I know the numbers guys will point out that there's no such thing as "protection", and that's a discussion for somewhere else. I'm guessing that I'm not the only person who's noticed an entirely different air around the offense this week though - mirage or not. The production hasn't come from Freddie or Kemp - yet - but everyone else seems MUCH more comfortable doing what they're good at now that there's some semblance of a threat behind Freddie. Could the offense be successful with only two guys they can count on to hit the ball over the fence? Who knows? If you surround them with the Garcias, Markakises, Inciartes, etc. roping 2Bs all over the place and a couple of guys (Garcia, Flowers, Castro, etc.) occasionally running into one, maybe. With the added element of speed that we haven't had for so long in Ender, Peterson, Mallex, Albies, and Swanson, it should be much easier to "keep the line moving" than it has in the past.
I've said for a while now that the options available (regardless of which way they go) this winter lines up really well with the holes we have - and I really don't think it's that much of a stretch to see substantial improvement as the new park opens. Even if you don't think a Garcia/Ruiz platoon or a Flowers/Castro platoon will hack it, you won't have to play at the top of the market to suddenly become a much stronger offensive team - particularly with Olivera's money off the books and right-handed thump behind Freeman.
I've been tooting Jaime Garcia's horn as the perfect fit for our rotation for a while now, and he definitely didn't do much to change my mind about that last night. If they could go get Garcia and Greg Holland as under the radar signings and make Ramos their "splurge" sign, I think the 2017 team could be pretty interesting - even with Adonis and Rio splitting time at 3B...
CF- Inciarte, SS- Swanson, 1B- Freeman, LF Kemp, RF- Markakis, C- Ramos, 3B- Garcia/Ruiz, SP, 2B- Albies
Rotation: Julio, Folty, Garcia, Wisler, ???
Pen: Vizcaino, Holland, Simmons, Withrow, Cabrera, Minter, Krol, Cervenka, Marksberry, Paco, etc.
Bench: Flowers, Mallex, Ruiz/Garcia, Peterson (plenty of flexibility to only need a 4-man bench)
