nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
To understand what Frank Wren will do this off-season a grasp of what we have in the farm system is indispensable. What are the areas we can afford to trade from. Which positions have internal long-term solutions and which ones don't. How far away are those internal solutions from being major league ready.
Here is my take on a position-by-position basis.
Catcher-depth was weakened some by the trade of Caratini. But we're still pretty strong here. Bello and Tewell finished the year at Lynchburg and will man the upper levels in 2015. Murphy and Flores showed some promise in the rookie leagues. And of course, we have Gattis and Bethancourt as a strong duo at the major league level. In terms of major league ready talent that could be traded away, those two constitute our strongest hypothetical trade chip going into the off-season. I have a view as to which one we should keep (Gattis) and which one we should trade (Bethancourt) but one way or another I suspect one of those two will be included in our biggest deal this off-season.
Middle Infield-here our cup runneth over. Including young guys in the majors our system has Simmons, Peraza, Albies, La Stella, Gosselin, Pastornicky, Elmer Reyes, Castro, Camargo, Dykstra, Didder, Obregon, JJ Franco, Alejandro Salazar, McElroy. Not all will pan out. Some will change positions. But the depth here will allow us to include a decent middle infield prospect if we have to add a little to get a deal done. For the purposes of long-term planning it is important to note that Simmons, Peraza and Albies are in a higher class than the others in that they project as potentially above average everyday players. My guess is we hold on to those three with the plan to keep Simmons at short, have either Peraza or Albies be the long-term second baseman and shift the other to a different position (third or center).
Corner Infield-much less depth here. Kubitza took a big step forward this year but still projects more as a bench player. Edgerton had a nice first pro season but also mostly projects as a bench player. Others such as Meneses are even more of a reach.
Center-we have good organizational depth here but no obvious major league starting caliber prospect. Cunningham and Wren will probably both be in AAA next season. To me they both project as major league bench players. But there is always a chance one of them shows some unexpected development. At the lower levels we have guys like Lien, Oliver, Godfrey. Again no one that projects as a major league regular, but maybe a useful player will emerge from the group.
Corner outfield-Braxton Davidson and Victor Reyes are our best prospects there. Both are a long ways from being in the majors, with all the uncertainty that this implies. This situation argues for trying to sign both Heyward and Justin Upton to a long-term extension since no in house replacement is anywhere close to being at hand. Joey T is the most accomplished of the upper level guys but it would be a big drop off is we had to use him as a starter either at first or corner outfield. I do think he will turn out to be a good major league bench player.
I will turn to pitching later.
Here is my take on a position-by-position basis.
Catcher-depth was weakened some by the trade of Caratini. But we're still pretty strong here. Bello and Tewell finished the year at Lynchburg and will man the upper levels in 2015. Murphy and Flores showed some promise in the rookie leagues. And of course, we have Gattis and Bethancourt as a strong duo at the major league level. In terms of major league ready talent that could be traded away, those two constitute our strongest hypothetical trade chip going into the off-season. I have a view as to which one we should keep (Gattis) and which one we should trade (Bethancourt) but one way or another I suspect one of those two will be included in our biggest deal this off-season.
Middle Infield-here our cup runneth over. Including young guys in the majors our system has Simmons, Peraza, Albies, La Stella, Gosselin, Pastornicky, Elmer Reyes, Castro, Camargo, Dykstra, Didder, Obregon, JJ Franco, Alejandro Salazar, McElroy. Not all will pan out. Some will change positions. But the depth here will allow us to include a decent middle infield prospect if we have to add a little to get a deal done. For the purposes of long-term planning it is important to note that Simmons, Peraza and Albies are in a higher class than the others in that they project as potentially above average everyday players. My guess is we hold on to those three with the plan to keep Simmons at short, have either Peraza or Albies be the long-term second baseman and shift the other to a different position (third or center).
Corner Infield-much less depth here. Kubitza took a big step forward this year but still projects more as a bench player. Edgerton had a nice first pro season but also mostly projects as a bench player. Others such as Meneses are even more of a reach.
Center-we have good organizational depth here but no obvious major league starting caliber prospect. Cunningham and Wren will probably both be in AAA next season. To me they both project as major league bench players. But there is always a chance one of them shows some unexpected development. At the lower levels we have guys like Lien, Oliver, Godfrey. Again no one that projects as a major league regular, but maybe a useful player will emerge from the group.
Corner outfield-Braxton Davidson and Victor Reyes are our best prospects there. Both are a long ways from being in the majors, with all the uncertainty that this implies. This situation argues for trying to sign both Heyward and Justin Upton to a long-term extension since no in house replacement is anywhere close to being at hand. Joey T is the most accomplished of the upper level guys but it would be a big drop off is we had to use him as a starter either at first or corner outfield. I do think he will turn out to be a good major league bench player.
I will turn to pitching later.