You think that the Cards would be looking to move Gyorko? I'm skeptical of that, unless they decide to rebuild for some reason. I think the Cards feel like they can still compete at this point. Gyorko would be a guy I would love to have though, but I do wonder what the price tag would look like for him.
I think there are lots of people looking for the Cards to try for a pretty big makeover this winter. They're obviously in on Stanton if they can get him, and would be an obvious fit for J. D. Martinez if they can't. I've heard them mentioned as a logical suitor for Hosmer - their kind of intangibles guy, and having he and Molina in the same dugout would be a lot like the clubhouse leadership the Cubs had with Rossy and Rizzo. Adding Hosmer would lead to another position switch for Carpenter. They're loaded in the OF, and adding Martinez would add to that. They have plenty of pitching with Martinez, Weaver, Wacha, Wainright, a potential Lynn reunion, Reyes coming back from Tommy John, and Flaherty and Hudson knocking on the door.
They always have plenty of money to spend, but I'd love to see about trying to work something out where we could take Gyorko and Piscotty's money off their hands - if they landed Martinez and Hosmer, Carpenter likely goes back to 3B. They're not likely going to be able to unload Wong's money on anyone, so pinching pennies in other places makes lots of sense. Tommy Pham could move to RF to help "hide" Martinez' defense in LF.
Taking on both Piscotty AND Gyorko would cost us $10 million in 2018 - in the range we've been discussing for a 3B addition if the brass makes one - Piscotty doesn't start to make money until Markakis would be off the books. They're rumored (nothing concrete, of course) to have interest in Camargo as a serious defensive upgrade, and will be looking for back-end pen help with Rosenthal down next season. I'm not sure how much more it would take to get talks started on their end (quite sure we'd need to add some more), but if we could offer Johan, Vizcaino, and maybe Ramirez to help fill their holes inexpensively, they'd wind up with a terribly dangerous offense - Fowler, Pham, Hosmer, Martinez, Carpenter, DeJong (2B), Molina, Camargo - and add two back-end arms without having to spend much on them.
We pass on Dickey (if he doesn't retire), possibly trade Adams for Odorizzi (as mentioned elsewhere). The money? You've added $15.95 million in salaries if...
1.) Save $1 million going from Dickey to Odorizzi ($7.5 million to $6.5 million)
2.) Add $5.4 million with the additions of Piscotty and Gyorko ($9 million + $1 million less Adams' projected $4.6 million arby number)
3.) Add $11.55 million with the additions of Reed and Kintzler ($10 million + $5 million less Vizcaino's projected $3.7 million arby number and Ramirez' ~$750,000)
Julio, Gohara, Odorizzi, Newcomb, Folty
Ender, Ozzie, Freeman, Kemp, Piscotty, Gyorko, Flowers/Suzuki, Dansby
Flowers/Suzuki, Markakis, Jace (Albies slides over anytime Dansby's out), Lane Adams
Johnson, Reed, Minter, Kintzler, Freeman, Winkler, Brothers/Lindgren, Sims
You let everyone know Markakis is available for a bag of balls at any point as long as you don't have to eat money, and that you're willing to eat up to 50% of what's due Kemp if someone will take him - at the point either gets dealt Acuna gets promoted and plays one of the corners.
