Ray

Hope Reese McGuire has a good spring training and roll with him as your backup catcher.

If (when) we do sign Bautista, depending on how much we have left over, I'd rather the remaining funds go to another signing like Valbuena/Coghlnan/Moss to really beef up offense. Hope that you can find suitable in-house bullpen pieces and a backup catcher during Spring training. Wouldn't be opposed to bringing up Reese McGuire for backup. He's a good defender even if he can't hit. I'm not so sure how much better he's going to get over a medial AAA stint.

Now give me one of Coghlan and Moss to platoon with Upton, and dump Smoak...somehow.

If we can dump Smoak and get Bruce to platoon with Upton, that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. If not, I'd rather we get someone like Coghlan or Pagan. Cheaper, possibly better. Also, I was reading /r/baseball today and some Mets fan actually made a post about how Osuna for Bruce would make sense. I just couldn't stop laughing.

You're assuming that I'm thinking that every single prospect will work out which is not the case obviously. I recognize there are going to be more busts than those who work out I just want our team to not be as dependant on free agency and trades to be competitive. Our current core is almost entirely built on either trades, or free agent signings. Guys like Tulowitzki, Martin, Donaldson, Estrada, Happ etc. That stuff is fine. I'm not condemning it since you basically need to do it. But it's good to fill holes. Not to build a whole team.

I hoping we can do Bautista, Valbuena and Blevins for 30 million.

Have a constant pipeline of good young prospects ready to come up when needed, and only use Free Agency and Trades as a route to fill the gaps in between and not as a means to build a core group of players. I like the way this man thinks.

Would it be a bad idea to get Valbuena on a Pearce deal and stick him in LF with Upton? He's made a couple starts in the outfield before, though he is a primary infielder. Love his bat.

I'll get nervous when the official opening day lineup is posted and has a combination of Pillar, Upton, Carrera, and Pompey as starting outfielders. I have faith that this front office will be able to get enough done that we'll be contending, atleast on paper.

Speaking of, I wonder what type return we could get for Osuna at this point. Not advocating trading him. He's the only truly elite arm in the pen. But a 21-year closer who throws 98 mph fastballs in this market is worth a pretty penny. Like would a team like the Nats who desperately need a closer and are going all in trade Robles+ for him.

I think when it's all said and done, the Rays will make out like bandits in this deal. I really like Mallex Smith. Yarbarough and Vargas are good lottery tickets.

That's the thing. It'll take a lot more than just Vlad to get this deal done. We're not going to get McCutchen with the main piece being someone who's 4-5 years away from reaching the majors, and literally just had half a good season. They're gonna want a haul that probably won't be worth it.

Dipoto basically trained to be a GM in OOTP.

$11 million AAV is fine. I'd say it's even good for a guy like Morales. I can see the issue with 3 years, but like I said, we likely had to go a little over to get Morales since we got him so early into the market. I'm fine with it. If Morales has a year like 2015 and we're clearly out of contention, I bet you we could flip him in the offseason for something relatively valuable. Even better if he can prove he can play 1st.

It's not terribly hard to understand the Morales situation. - We offered Encarnacion $80 million over 4 years with a 5th year option that he turned down thinking he could get more - Our office panicked, and thinking they didn't want to get left behind signed one of the best available free agent replacements for Encarnacion in Morales. Morales was also one of the very first free agent pickups, which is why we probably had to overpay by an extra year to get him so that he didn't test the market. - Encarnacion market absolutely crashed which no one was really expecting, which allowed teams like the A's and Indians to bid on him in the first place. There's blame to be put on both sides, but both sides also had some logical thinking. We could've waited out Encarnacion and probably ended up getting him for the initial deal we put out, but the risk was the if some other team outrageously bid on him, we could've lost out on both Morales and Encarnacion. Encarnacion should've taken the deal, but he was thinking he could've gotten more. I don't blame him. I don't think anyone quite expected his market to crash as much as it did. Cespedes deal screwed him over big time.

I found it funny that the only team that Matt Holliday had on his NTC when he signed with the Yanks was Oakland. Guess he likes having free soda. I think I might riot if we don't get Bautista for 1/15. Bautista at his best is worth more than a 30-something overall draft pick. Theres no reason we shouldn't get Bautista on a 1 year + 1 team option deal at this point

lol Vlad is a 17-year old who had a great season in Rookie ball of all things. Calm down with the prospect overhype. And I like Vlad. Just for the record, I wouldn't trade Vlad anyways, nor do I think this Front Office is going to because A) We're clearly not going all-in for 2017, and its not like McCutchen puts us over the top or anything. If this was 2015 or pre-2016 season, I would've traded for Cutch in a heartbeat because we still had Edwin and Bautista and Cutch would've been worth it for going all in. Yeah we need 1-2 outfielders pretty badly, but there are still ways to address our outfield. Pirates are probably gonna wait until the trade deadline to flip Cutch since he'll likely bounce back and be more valuable. Get the sense the Pirates front office is just seeing what they can get for Cutch as a floor. He can't be worse than he was last season.

They did lose James Loney at 1B, and he's pretty comparable to Smoak. Except Smoak is a switch hitter. I can see the Mets taking him for depth.

We had Saunders and Bautista out there this season. In the grand scheme of things it'll be fine. Plus there's ways around it. Rotate Pearce and Bautista between 1B and RF.

NEW YORK METS TRADE RUMORS: FRONT OFFICE REGRETS PICKING UP JAY BRUCE OPTION Link: http://www.inquisitr.com/3859293/new-york-mets-trade-rumors-front-office-regrets-picking-up-jay-bruce-option/ Of course they do, because its Jay f***ing Bruce. Nows the time to strike if they want a Liriano type deal for Bruce. Smoak for Bruce + 1 or 2 prospects. We'll take the salary. Then sign Bautista and you're golden.

Right, I forgot how big RC is in comparison to other ballparks. Still, field a somewhat competitive team and people will come. I've never seen more Jays hats and gear around campus than I do now, and I live in Edmonton. I love it.

It still stuns me that we beat the Cubs and Giants in total attendance. And Boston didn't even reach 3 million.

Johnny Damon had a similar bonus when he signed with the Rays. Encarnacion actually fits Clevelands needs to a tee. Indians are looking really scary. On top of that, Brantley's going to return, they're going to have Carrasco and Salazar healthy in the rotation, and get a whole season of Andrew Miller. Ridiculous.

You know what, at this point I'd be pretty content with Jay Bruce assuming we can get him for nothing with the Mets eating a portion of salary, and Bautista on a cheap 1 or 2 year deal. Give me those two plus a LOOGY like Blevins or Logan and this offseason is somewhat salvaged. Just the thought of Bautista and Bruce playing outfield at the same time has me shuddering though. Poor Pillar will have to work overtime.

Mariners are looking decent. Think the Astros have that division all but locked up though. Especially if they get Quintana. Wildcard race is looking tough. Tigers, Mariners, Yankees, Rangers.