Say what you want, but

I don't think we can afford to stand pat at both 2B and 3B with ~1 WAR production . . . especially if we stick with our ~1 WAR players in LF and RF. We should plan for the eventuality that neither Ruiz or Albies break camp with the big club next Spring. It seems to be a given that we'll add solid MLB players at C, SP, and high-leverage RP. Even after that, I think we'll have plenty of $ (and some expendable MiLB talent) to upgrade some other spots.
 
zitothebrave said:
We can pick and choose samples.
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Yes, but not all choices in that regard make equal amounts of sense. The sample that makes the most sense to me is the 602 plate appearances he's had in the majors in 2015 and 2016. Over that sample he's slashed .271/.303/.434. I think that's who he is. And that's likely to be who he will be next year. Over the same sample he's generated 0.8 WAR. So he's about a 1 win player over a full season.

He's still going to be pre-arb next year. So are we better off paying him half a million bucks for 1 win or someone else a much higher price for 2-3 wins. It might make sense to go with what we have in-house at third and spend more on pitching/catching/bench.
 
I don't think it'll go down this way, but it's a reasonable approach to use our available money to go after the best possible players at SP, C, and RP. Doing the quick math, I think we can sign Rich Hill, Wilson Ramos, and Mark Melancon without shedding any existing salaries. This assumes a budget of around $120m, which would be my best guess at the 2017 target. That may be a bit conservative though.
 
msstate7 said:
Probably not, but would money be better served replacing him, catcher, rf, or starting pitching?
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Resources are there to replace everything on this list. There is zero reason to run Garcia out there next year and allow him to post another 0-1 WAR season, or worse like this year's -0.3.
 
3B is going to be interesting.

Freese just resigned. Just Turner will be resigned or offered a QO. The Marlins are trying to extend Prado as they love him there and if they do not will likely offer him a QO. Neil Walker has the same situaition with the Mets as Prado and will more than likely be resigned. Now we're down to Luis Valbuena as the existing option. I'm not sure what's on the trade market outside of Longoria.
 
Chico said:
3B is going to be interesting.

Freese just resigned. Just Turner will be resigned or offered a QO. The Marlins are trying to extend Prado as they love him there and if they do not will likely offer him a QO. Neil Walker has the same situaition with the Mets as Prado and will more than likely be resigned. Now we're down to Luis Valbuena as the existing option. I'm not sure what's on the trade market outside of Longoria.
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Yeah, unfortunately it looks like the only relatively strong position in this upcoming FA market is quickly drying up.
 
Chico said:
3B is going to be interesting.

Freese just resigned. Just Turner will be resigned or offered a QO. The Marlins are trying to extend Prado as they love him there and if they do not will likely offer him a QO. Neil Walker has the same situaition with the Mets as Prado and will more than likely be resigned. Now we're down to Luis Valbuena as the existing option. I'm not sure what's on the trade market outside of Longoria.
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The QO is interesting this year because a second round choice for us will function like mid first round pick because it's the most obvious slot to go overslot on the savings from the first pick. We need to be very wary about who we give that pick to.

It's a reason why I'm not against taking salary on in a trade like the Kemp situation. It's not an ideal use of salary, but it protects us from bleeding our farm.
 
Agreed, it will be difficult for us to maximize the benefit of going under-slot at 1:1 if we surrender that second round pick. I'd personally rather trade from our depth of SP prospects than sign a FA that has a QO attached.
 
dak said:
Agreed, it will be difficult for us to maximize the benefit of going under-slot at 1:1 if we surrender that second round pick. I'd personally rather trade from our depth of SP prospects than sign a FA that has a QO attached.
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There's no way I can see us signing a FA who cost us a pick. I think we'll be trying to trade for another compensatory pick and look to get 3 legit prospects again.
 
nsacpi said:
Yes, but not all choices in that regard make equal amounts of sense. The sample that makes the most sense to me is the 602 plate appearances he's had in the majors in 2015 and 2016. Over that sample he's slashed .271/.303/.434. I think that's who he is. And that's likely to be who he will be next year. Over the same sample he's generated 0.8 WAR. So he's about a 1 win player over a full season.

He's still going to be pre-arb next year. So are we better off paying him half a million bucks for 1 win or someone else a much higher price for 2-3 wins. It might make sense to go with what we have in-house at third and spend more on pitching/catching/bench.
Click to expand...

He's been worth 0.3 WAR according to BR, and that includes the 10 HR in under 200 PAs last year that he'll never replicate.

He's fine as a AAAA role player, but he isn't an answer to anything.
 
Just looking around at possible 3B options via trade there is not much. Derek Dietrich, Cheslor Cuthbert, Hunter Dozier, Jed Lowrie, and Matt Chapman are the names I can see rationale as to being available.
 
I'd really like to see us make a move for Hunter Dozier, he could be a perfect fit for us if his rebound is legit.
 
Chico said:
There's no way I can see us signing a FA who cost us a pick. I think we'll be trying to trade for another compensatory pick and look to get 3 legit prospects again.
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Seriously, that would be foolish. This team isn't winning any championships next year. I wouldn't get all mopey about the roster. Most important thing, IMO, is to maximize the return on the draft again next year, develop the farm, and not do anything to handicap the future in a misguided attempt to try and contend.

If you can make it happen taking on long term salary or trading away less desirable pieces ok, but if they forfeit the first pick of the second round to sign Martin Pardo and then trade away a high upside prospect or two to get some innings in the rotation, I will be disappointed.
 
Chico said:
Just looking around at possible 3B options via trade there is not much. Derek Dietrich, Cheslor Cuthbert, Hunter Dozier, Jed Lowrie, and Matt Chapman are the names I can see rationale as to being available.
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A few other options that are less glamorous would be some vets who could be acquired for little and may be non tendered: Trevor Plouffe, Danny Valencia, Brett Lawrie. All have their warts, but if the FO thinks Ruiz and Albies are close and can be reliable 2017 contributors, I wouldn't be opposed to just looking for a minor addition like this.
 
I'd make a call to Billy Beane. Look, Billy you're loading with infield prospects and you have a comp pick. We'll take 2 of your 5 largest commitments next year in Butler and Lowrie off your hands. We also see you have about $15M committed to 3 pen arms next year. We have some cheap pen arms that can balance that out. I'm assuming you're not bringing Crisp back. Have you seen Mallex Smith play? Let's work something out.
 
Travis Shaw is another possible trade candidate for 3B. Moncada has been playing 3B lately, so when he comes up there might not be anywhere for Shaw to play with Pedroia at 2B, HanRam at 1B, and Pablo taking most of the DH PAs.

Shaw bats LHed, but hasn't shown a platoon split in almost 700 MLB PAs. I think he has 5 years of control left after this year.
 
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