BamaDoc

Is he over his back issues? From what I see he missed a month or two, came back in August for six starts and was shut down with a ERA over 6 in August. How much you gamble? If we had a healthy rotation, I see the gamble but I think you need guys you can count on out of the gates.

Holt and Leury would give a pretty good amount of positional versatility. Against most peoples perception, Yolmer out WARs Holt most years but I would probably do who fits economically . Sign Holt, Get something for Yolmer in trade? Or maybe we get Yolmers bat where it was a couple years back. His power at 25 way better than now.

Please go back and look at the second half splits on those guys. Several were young for league and fine in second half. Sheets had more homers than previously in career in a tougher park. At 23 had a .855 ops in the second half and you wish to give up on him? Basabe has a wrist injury. We saw how it affected Robert 0 hr to 32, and Madrigal . Rutherford 22yo .600 ops first half .758 second half. Adolpho hurt. Burdi previously 100 mph, sucked but I give one more year, risk/reward. With 26 man roster you could hide a player a lot easier than 25. Come on I have seen your posts, you are better than that.

About right which is why I might like to see some dealt if possible or 2:1 , 3:2 deals. As long as you move some for guys who don't require protection.

I think I would prefer Holt to Gennett . What were Gennett's injuries -.7 WAR and OPS+ of 47 don't inspire me and previously glove negated much of bat. Might give a minor league invite. Holt has more positional versatility and coming off much better year.

If you add a switch hitter Grandal and a lefty hitting RF Gardner that is two mainly left handed hitters to our line up with much better plate discipline. It would allow you to rotate at dh to rest people or by performance but more importantly who ever dh's has earned it unlike this year. Heck if Collins hits he is one of C/1b/dh vs RHP (terrible # vs LHP) so would Grandal. It just opens up so many more options. Right now with a young pitching staff I don't think Collins is ready to be a #2 catcher. Without Grandal, if McCann hits like the second half or the rest of his career and Collins struggles , you return to a offensive hole in your lineup. Again those two just make a lot of sense.

Preach on Brother! +1 to ya

I think the trend is younger, analytical, and cheaper in managers though I think Maddon will have a job. Not sure he gets 6 million again. How ironic if Ricky loses job for Maddon twice. I am not a super close observer but not crazy about Maddon's use of pitchers. Seems to have a lot of injuries and he damn near killed Chapman. I figure he wouldn't cede control of pitchers to Coop like some think Ventura/Renteria did.

People keep talking about Wacha but he may never pitch again.

Pretty close to what I was thinking. I think Jose will get more $. I didn't have Wheeler but at that rate I might consider it. I thought about Nimmo but worry about prospect cost. If we could do it cheaply ok but why I went with Gardner because I like his OBP more than Calhouns ks but better slugging. I think we have to many ks. Wood and his back injury scare me on anything but an incentive laden deal but again I want to count on the free agents, heck for a few dollars more I would think about bringing back Nova. Good job!

I agree with you on the extension being mandatory but if you get the extension done, Boston will want a lot more.

If you look at our teams deficiencies as I outlined at the beginning and in the season review thread, Grandal hits the areas of terrible plate discipline and adds LH hitting as he switch hits. He is going to give you a bat 15-20% better than league average and way better than average catcher. He also has a career OBP of nearly .350 and is at .380 this year. I hope this indicates opposing pitchers working a lot harder and if his approach rubs off on some of our players, even better. I expect McCann to regress but I keep him for your reasons.

With Coop, we might be the only team who might do that since he likes starting pitchers going deeper. League wide trends have starters going less and less innings necessitating more relievers. It would also require a manager mixing and matching because if those guys just sit on the bench another reliever may provide more value. Maybe free Yermin!

Thanks, I researched a long time prior to posting my realistic plan thread. I can't swear on it but in the 40 plus pages on the RF thread not sure anyone mentioned Gardner. Heck if you want an injury returning flyer Lonnie Chisenhall or one year wonder Cameron Maybin might have risk/reward appeal if cheap enough but again I don't want to miss on free agents since we need them to hit to contend. Why I considered consistency, health, OBP, and LH in my plan.

Re backup CF. I still keep Leury on the team. He made 1 million this year so I don't think he gets to big of a raise via arbitration. His multi positional versatility has me keep him for another year or two. Gotta teach him to have a better two strike approach or something to drop ks given his lack of power. I might stick an outfielder glove on Mendick in spring training or send him to a winter league. If I remember, Yolmer hurt his arm trying that so probably don't revisit if he is on the team (more expensive than Leury, no SS or CF ability). Gardner made 7.5 this year so I think he is affordable.

With all the Yankees injuries, he has played center and has overall positive defensive ratings. Foot/back injuries scare me on outfielders. I don't want to miss on free agents as we currently don't have the depth to overcome. I consider him almost contingent on Grandal. If you have Grandal's bat higher in lineup, Gardner could be in that 6-8 range. If you don't get Grandal, you may have to gamble on more of an impact bat. I encourage people to look at Gardner's numbers https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gardnbr01.shtml. He has been a lot more solid than I thought and I think his playoff experience, leadership, mentoring would also fit on our team. Shoulders/backs scare me on pitchers which makes Wood less attractive unless really cheap.

I totally respect your opinions. Could you clarify $10 a year for two years? I don't understand to whom you are referring. It is also why I really think Gardner makes sense. So consistent, good OBP, glove and LH. His only knock is age but he is 4.1 WAR this year. I think age makes him cheaper and shorter contract (2?) which fits perfectly for one of our guys in minors to develop and take over. In two years that would also free up money to reallocate.

"This makes it sound like you're asking what we trade for him." Sorry my wording was bad. I meant what contract would you offer him and again it may create two bad defenders in the outfield. I don't mind Moose as DH, in my "Realistic Plan" thread I took Grandal over Moose and would use Grandal as DH/1B on non catching days. If Collins is going to play he will have to earn it and could as I think there are bats there for all. If McCann hits like he has in the second half, he won't be wanted for DH at bats. Again I was being realistic in that we have limits in spending and I spent on C/DH, 2 SP, and a RF option I feel is a lot better than most (Gardner). I agree with you we need LH bats which is what I added. Moose at 12 million easy isn't a bench player and likely doesn't want to be primarily a DH. Kendrick made 4 million. His WAR 2.9 vs 2.2 Yolmer. Would he take being a bench bat?

What would you give for him? He is negatively rated for defense and has not played right field and has a broken foot?

Here is a link. Warning it is not particularly pretty http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/org.jsp?id=cws&y=2019

What kind of deal will he require? He is at a career high in innings at 195. WHIP 1.259 getting to pitch to pitchers. 29 years old and missed two years to injury. This is my definition of a guy with warts/risk. If I lose that pick, I want some degree of longevity but with his history that is a scary prospect to commit.

Lemahieu now 0-2 .328 Anderson 0-2 .335

Because so many of our guys got injured, we don't have the prospect depth to be making major trades. I also don't think it is wise this year to sign free agents who have qualifying offers attached. You lose your second round pick and the money associated with it. This year it would cost us Thompson our #14 prospect. With player graduations it would probably cost us a prospect who might be about #10. Aside from Cole all the other pitchers offer risk I don't want to deal with.

Technically Maddons contract expires and they part ways

Hurdle and Maddon fired.