We are going to ride or die with Vlad; he's too much of a superstar for Toronto and its fan base. (even if he isn't playing the part at the moment)
Flipside:
1. Do we trade for Benintendi or Bell, and who can we actually land given our current state of pieces available to trade? (Is it smart to trade for both considering both are rentals? I personally don't think so)
I rather have Benintendi personally as he is younger (fits the timeline if he chooses to extend with us), cheaper remaining salary, contact/OBP guy + slightly better percentiles in more categories than Bell (except max EV, Bell crushes balls), pretty good speed and played in AL East during the Boston days. This also lets us remove Tapia or Zimmer (Tapia preferably since Zimmer has better defense and speed) from the lineup.
Big problem is Yankees are also definitely in on Benintendi to circumvent Hicks/Gallo shenanigans, provide more OBP to their slug-heavy lineup. Do we have anything that can get that deal done? KC definitely doesn't need catchers.
2. Do you guys see one of the three catchers moving and to where? Pirates definitely need a catcher and could be a very good trade candidate for Bednar to come over.
3. One LHB might not be enough for this lineup and we don't really have room for two unless we trade Lourdes (Benny takes LF and then if we do go for Bell, DH/1B) - thoughts on that? any good trade targets for Lourdes?
Biggio working out for this lineup at 2B would be huge (adds a OBP LHB) but that is looking like a distant dream; hopefully he picks it up over June.
We could definitely use another reliever as well who is swing/miss but they might wait until Pearson doesn't work out/doesn't stay healthy since he is starting his AAA rehab