It's always nice when your kids start performing in the 2nd half to salvage a lost season and give you hope for next year. Like Byron Buxton last season.
I see value in having a strong year in 2019 even if they’re not a WS contender. We’re already hearing about friction between Shapiro and ownership. Winning 83 games while really loading up for 2020 and beyond is a lot more attractive to me than another tire fire season as Vlad and Bo are breaking in. The f***ing Twins won the wild card last year and the Rays are going to win close to 90 games this year. There’s absolutely no reason why we should be resigned to a terrible 2019.
It doesn't have to be a big splash, but a 2 year $30M contract for Happ and 1-year deal for someone like Richards, Ryu, or Cahill should definitely be in the budget. Literally the only salary committed next year is to Tulo, Martin, and Morales.
The team’s staff is in an absolute shambles right now, and they have almost no salary committed. A 3-year deal for one or two reliable starters certainly won’t hurt their ability to compete long term, and would help prevent next year from being a complete s*** show. I really think they should and will be active on the SP market.
I wonder if Michael Brantley will be a target. The team only really has Grichuk and Pillar that need to be on the opening day 25-man, and Shatkins and Brantley go back a long way.
Cleveland seems to have a knack for finding these kinds of arms. Kluber and Clevinger took the same route we're hoping Merryweather takes. If he can even become a useful SP5, that's pretty good.
The 2016 draft looks pretty solid:
- T.J. Zeuch looks like a future back-end starter
- Bo Bichette is a top-20 prospect
- Cavan Biggio just had a monster season in AA and looks to have MLB potential
- J.B. Woodman was turned into 5 years of Aledmys Diaz
- Jared Carkuff was used in the Solarte trade
- Chavez Young, Josh Palacios, and even Josh Winckowski look a bit interesting