Yeah I mean, I guess I just need to see it to believe it. If I were Rick I’d underpromise as well. He’s gone the over promise route and he gets skewered for it daily. I don’t really give two shits about what Twitter blowhards like Josh Nelson, Eloy v Wall, NBB and the foodies have to say on the budget.
But yeah, if for some reason $180M is the number, may as well trade everyone not named Luis Robert, hope he has a monster season, then trade him too. Because you can’t build a competitive roster with $10M when you have 1 OF and 4 SP, and all the main offensive issues from 22 are still present, less perhaps the best hitter on the team.
and fwiw, I don’t really think projecting the same payroll as 2022 should be labeled optimism. I think it’s just the baseline projection until it’s not, despite the meaningless early offseason chatter.