Abomination

He seems to be about the same defensively in both fields.

I don't really think anyone is against bringing Bautista back. He wasn't necessarily the first choice, but he's still a very, very good one. I have a feeling HE doesn't want to come back though unless we overpay. He's stated in the past that he feels the team owes him for the budget friendly deal he signed before, and should compensate him for it. He seems stubborn enough to stick to that, even if it costs him.

He's an average defender in the outfield (below average at 1B). As I mentioned in another thread, I think another good trade target could also be Howie Kendrick. Not really high end at anything, but contributes solidly at everything. Very versatile too, although he's better in the outfield than infield.

For some reason they seem pretty determined not to rely on anyone the other side of Hill on that list this year. Actually, if we were to trade a SP, some of those would make nice targets too.

He likely approaches 2 WAR at about 10M. Pretty decent value, and gives us additional power. Coghlan probably offers by far the best value (he bounced back in the second half last year). Probably an above average hitter and defender in the OF. Coghlan is basically Seth Smith, except probably cheaper, more versatile, and a free agent. Revere is still somewhat interesting.

Moss (among free agents).

It's certainly not ideal, ideal would have been signing Fowler. However, I kinda feel like there's more decent SP options than there are available higher end outfielders. Guys like Chacin (I actually think he'd make a fantastic reliever, but he's possibly a viable back end starter and probably wouldn't be too expensive). Latos (good bounce back candidate). Nova (what the hell are the Pirates doing to players anyway? Give their pitching coach whatever he f***ing wants to come here). Tyson Ross, maybe Peavy.

Happ for Puig maybe? Dodgers are looking for another SP and seem willing to trade Puig. Both players have 2 years remaining.

How does Pearce over Colabello only add 0.5 WAR? Are you projecting Pearce to be 0 WAR next year, because Colabello was -0.5.

BBDL uses a row under the organization name for trade blocks to be hyperlinked. Not everyone uses them, but it's simple and effective.

Also Moss. Moss and Coghlan are probably clear or likely upgrades, Saunders may depend on his health. Revere could be mildly interesting.

Hamilton would likely be expensive, but Dyson only has one year left and KC is crazy. Cost for Dyson could be a B grade prospect, or there could be a lot of competition that pushes it high.

So here's a quick list of OF capable trade targets who could MAYBE be reasonably available and worth looking at. Curtis Granderson (15M, plus hitter, probably average defensively, probably cost a good prospect or more in trade. Projected at 1.4 WAR, but I'd take the over on that.) Howie Kendrick (10M, great versatility, above average outfielder defensively. Projected at 1.4 WAR, but likely higher as a full time outfielder. Potentially excellent trade target.) Andrew McCutchen (14M, best remaining known available bat by far. Price probably too high to acquire him. Projected at 3.4 WAR). Billy Hamilton (ARB, incredible defense and SB, walk rate is increasing. Price likely to be high. Projected at 1.5 WAR, but that's probably just about his worst case floor. Can anyone say 2 man outfield?) Andre Ethier (17.5M. Unclear how available he is, but rumors seem to suggest Dodgers could look to trade him or Puig. They'd have to eat some money. Hits for average, some pop, average defensively. Basically Reddick, but a few years older. Yasiel Puig (8.214M. Unclear how available he is, rumors are there though. Huge potential, projected at 3 WAR, potential makeup issues, probably costly to trade for). Charlie Blackmon (ARB. Probably a league average player, although has some upside beyond that. Hits lefties and righties well. Trade cost high). Carlos Gonzalez (20M, good power, significant home/road splits. May only be average away from Coors. Rockies would have to eat money) Melky Cabrera (15M, horrible defense, decent bat, very low k rate. Projected at 1 WAR. When he's good, he's probably worth the salary. When he's bad, ouch. Jarrod Dyson (ARB, great defense, great speed. Gets on base enough to use his wheels, low strikeouts. Excellent trade target.) Seth Smith (7M, well above average bat if you keep him away from lefties. Defense last year might be smaller sample size or a bigger problem) Other probably not so good options: Jay Bruce (Decent but not great bat, defense probably gives back all the value, did not perform well after leaving Cincy.) Ryan Rua (Rangers will probably keep him as 1B and Choo insurance this year. May or may not suck anyway). Tommy Pham (Likely roughly average offensively and defensively, Cards may not have room to carry him). Jordan Patterson (Rockies may look to trade Cargo or Blackmon and keep Patterson, but picking up Desmond makes him potentially expendable. Always managed to hit a bit, improved walk rate last year) Feel free to add other guys.

Both players project for the same wRC+ next year, but Pillar projects for better defense. It might actually be a step back.

Almost all teams operate this way though in general, in all sports. Once in a while you get a situation like Detroit where they take a loss to get something favorable somewhere else (casino in that case), but that's not the norm. The Cards have made unfavorable (with the fans) decisions for years, yet they're regarded as one of the best organizations in baseball. They can make a move like Fowler now because they've made unpopular choices and managed their team responsibly.

LMAO, Casey, say it, don't spray it. At least he got the ref's attention.

Lots of trade targets too.

They could almost certainly get rid of Smoak (and lots of people on these boards would be very happy to see it). Morales could probably play outfield in a pinch, but realistically not all season. Pearce is not tradeable until midseason (we wouldn't want to anyway). Travis is cheap and puts up big value while in the lineup. No reason to trade him, and it's doubtful we'd get someone with his upside in return if we did. The only way we could likely keep EE at this point would be to trade someone like Estrada and figure out a cheap way to fill the 5th spot in the rotation. It seems pretty clear we're gonna have to fork out some cash for at least one outfield spot, whether it's Bautista or someone else.

What happened to JV's ability to grab rebounds anyway? He's getting out-jumped by just about everyone. I've noticed it the last few games.

It's kind of odd no one else has picked it up. It's probably true, but it could also be that someone hijacked his Twitter feed or something.

It feels to me like he has an agreement to get posted whenever he wants, in exchange for signing with the Ham Fighters originally. He'd still probably be better off getting posted, just having the initial contract only cover the years until he reaches arbitration. It's not as tasty an outcome for him, but he probably still makes more (or at least similar) by getting posted assuming he's as good as advertised.

This is painful to watch so far.

I wonder what Joe Jimenez would cost from Detroit?

I still really like Moss as an option. He's not as good as Fowler, or as good a fit, but he should come a LOT cheaper and is still an average outfielder defensively. He and Upton would provide a very nice platoon.

Back loading is pretty dangerous, unless it's a smaller amount in which case inflation takes care of it. I mean if Fowler gets 16M per, giving him 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 could work, or something to that effect. Doing what we did with Martin, etc probably wouldn't be wise though. Maybe Eddie would accept half the money to be deferred or something (without interest), although that's not ideal either in terms of future budgets.