Ray

Dusty would be a fool to not start Strasburg on full rest now that the games been postponed.

I still really really like the idea of Carlos Santana. Switch hitter, career slashline of .249/.365/.445 with a 121 OPS+, averages ~3.1 WAR per season. Incredible at taking walks and working an AB. Unfortunate he's strictly a 1B at this point. He would be my #1 target if we didn't have Morales locked up for 2 more years. 4/50-4/60 probably gets it done for him too. Didn't realize Dee Gordon is only making $10 million next year. He wouldn't be a bad add either. Marlins are 100% heading towards a firesale. Their payroll is actually going up because the backend of Stantons contract is kicking in. Probably want to shed as much money as they can. Gordon could probably be had for cheap if we eat all the salary.

$175 million- $180 million would be the sweet spot.

Signing one of Dyson/Jon Jay and trading for either Lowrie or Profar would be an ideal offseason imo. That's a cheap combo that'll bolster our depth in both the infield and OF and will also allow us to have enough money to go for a really good starter if need be. OF: Pillar, Pearce, Dyson, Teoscar, Carrera, DSJ, Alford, Pompey(?) IF: Donaldson, Tulowitzki, Travis, Profar, Urena, Goins, Refsnyder C: Martin, Maile, Lopez, Jansen, McGuire SP: Stroman, Sanchez, Happ, Estrada, Borucki, Biagini, Rowley, the 5th starter we sign. 1B/DH: Smoak, Morales, Tellez maybe if he figures it out. It really is about having viable depth across the diamond. Obviously I want a guy like Donaldson playing everyday, but the era of iron man everyday players is mostly over. That's not what wins championships nowadays. You need to be able to rest your regulars and have major league ready backups behind them that can fill in. You look at the Cubs for example. Even in a down year they still managed to win their division. They lose Dexter Fowler who was a big contributor the year before and they manage with an Almora and Jon Jay platoon in CF. Rotation regresses, Zobrist plays like s***, Addison Russell goes down for 40 games and yet they're still good. That team is just built to last and overcome obstacles.

Rosterresource has us projected at $141 million to start next season assuming all of them are tendered contracts. I'm going with the assumption that Koehler probably isn't tendered one and that we have the same budget as last season. You take Koehler's $6 million off the books and you have $135 million with gives you rough $30 million to play with.

If these projected arb salaries are correct, we'll have roughly $30 million to play with in free agency assuming our budget is the same as last season. Our bullpen is mostly fine. Another LOOGY or getting back Joe Smith would be nice. 5th starter, IF depth, and an OF is what we need.

Girardi is a moron

Edwin just hurt his ankle really really badly.

Astros may be the most likeable team in the MLB. Red Sox on the other hand....

Hopefully he'll be the centerpiece in a trade for us to get Profar.

Need to find a way to get Profar this offseason. Almost a certainty he’s gonna be traded because he’s out of options and that infield is pretty crowded. I say trade Dalton Pompey to the Rangers for Profar. Both former highly regarded prospects that have been injury ridden and haven’t been able to put it together with their respective clubs. Pompey has more control and has another year of options, but we have a glut of OF as it is in Buffalo. We can afford to lose him. Rangers need OF depth and we need IF depth. Perfect trade.

This front office will pay for the right person, aging or not. They offered Edwin $80 million and he’s not exactly a spring chicken. Would’ve been paying him $20 million a year for his age 34-37 seasons. You’re gonna be paying Donaldson $25 million next season in arbitration anyways so we can clearly afford the AAV. It’s more the term that’s the bigger question. Where will this front office draw the line? 5 guaranteed years with a vesting option for a 6th seems very reasonable.

You do get a higher bonus pool if you draft Top 10 though I believe. That can help.

They can be creative with it. Backload/defer cash to when Martin and Tulos contract expire. We're going to be paying Donaldson $25 million next year in arb anyways. It's just going to be that amount stretched over a longer term.

Hasn't butchered any plays or anything so far and seems pretty athletic. Doubt he's going to be Kiermaier or even Pillar, but I'd project him as average.

I'm so sick of Pillar and his s***** ABs. Declining defense and zero sign of showing any improvement with the stick. Just had a terrible AB where he fouled off a pitch neck high, and one pitch that almost touched the ground.

Hernandez is gonna be a 20-20 guy next season.

I hope Altuve gets it. It's a tossup between him and Judge really, but Houston getting an MVP after the disaster they went through would make for a nice story.

Verlander has been incredible since the ASB: 14GS 9-2 1.89 ERA 0.808 WHIP .169 BAA 6.1 bWAR I hope he continues to pitch like this for a couple of years. I'd love to see him get into the Hall of Fame. He's been a joy to watch pitch over the years.

Teoscar Hernandez looks great at the plate right now.

Trea Turner through 162-games in the majors: .309/.351/.504 with a 120 OPS+, 25HR and 75SB and worth 6.1 fWAR Kids an absolute beast. What a trade for the Nats that turned out to be.

I don't think he gets 10 years either. That was a case of a front office being blinded by their own stupid desperation. I don't think we'll go past 6 years if anything.

Yep. Yankees offered him $170M over 7 years. Seattle then offered him $200M over 8 years. Then apparently heard that a "mystery team" had an offer of $225M over 9 years on the table when there was no such thing and inexplicably upped their offer to $240M over 10 years. Cost themselves 2 extra years and $40M when they were by far and away the best offer Cano had anyways. Article here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2013/12/06/cano-signs-240m-deal-with-seattle-jay-z-saves-face-sort-of/#2a1a68612b74

I'd think he'd want 5 years at least guaranteed. You could probably do an option on a 6th year to defer some money. 2018: $25M (Age: 32) 2019: $25M (Age: 33) 2020: $27.5M (Age: 34) 2021: $27.5M (Age: 35) 2022: $30M (Age: 36) 2023: $25M Team Option with a $5 million buyout (Age: 37) He's looking at $140M guaranteed over 5 years which comes out to be a $28 million AAV. By the time he starts making $27.5 million+, Tulo and Martins $40 million will be off the book and hopefully you'll have a relatively young core of players in either arb1 or pre-arb. The obvious comp to Donaldson is Cano who got $240 mil at age 31.