FanPost: My Offseason Blueprint

[Hans Herrera]

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[Guest]

I'll admit to not being on board with any of these suggestions, but the undervaluing of Trevor Rogers is the most troublesom. I'm looking for a huge year from him as he arrives in the best conditiion of his life.

[Guest]

HORRIBLE PLANS A,B,C,D,X HORRIBLE

[Ely Sussman]

I would want to hold onto Rogers for another year too, but he's pretty far removed from his rookie success at this point. Getting multiple solid big leaguers with several years of club control left would at least be worth thinking about.

[Guest]

I like Trevor, he is a great guy with a ton of potential. But the reality is that he hasn’t pitched well in two years and even though trading him now would be selling low, he is the one I would trade. Why?

Sandy is not playing, Luzardo is the “ace” right now, Garrett is at his all-time high value, but also the team will need those 150+ innings; there is no way you trade Eury. That leave us with Cabrera and Trevor. If the pitching staff keep working on Eddy’s mechanics to fix his BB rates, he can be almost as good as Sandy, and he did that after coming back from AAA last season. So that leaves Trevor. This is a personal opinion, but I try to see the reality of the situation.

 

Like Ely said, Trading him now for two young, controllable players who happen to be better than average (Fraley was better than DLC and Moll was better than Okert) is a good return entirely based on Trevor’s potential, not his present.

 

The team still needs two bats, and I don’t really know how much Sherman is willing to spend, but I bet it won’t be more than $20M this offseason, so if you want to get better, you have to trade a pitcher away.

[Guest]

Fair enough… So what would you do?

[Guest]

There are two mistakes I made in the article: the first one is the list of player subtractions: Sanchez, Groshans, Burdick, Rogers, Okert PLUS Scott and DLC, and minor leaguers Viscaino and Villalobos.

The second is about the payroll. Arbitration salaries from Okert, Scott and Rogers project near $8.5-9 M. Projected arb salaries from Fraley and Farmer project about the same. That means, the proposed signed FAs is the actual payroll increase, suggested at the $12-15 M depending on performance bonuses. However, with Soler, Stallings and Hampson gone (minus the increase of Bell’s contract), there should be another $5-7 M available for free agency, unless uncle Bruce sees this opportunity to reduce the expenditure.

[Guest tpjoseph0130]

Hello, Hans, and thank you for the insights (as always). It's fun to speculate and play GM! I suspect there will be no free-agent signings, especially over a few million dollars. Of course, with an ex-Ray in charge now, the surprises and under-the-radar moves are bound to come. Prognostications and specifics: I'd like a move to get a cheap, MLB-ready catching prospect such as Edgar Quero from the White Sox. I'm not much on older catchers, especially at four or five times the price (a la Stallings). Regarding shortstop, stay with our internal options instead of the low-end or middling guys out there for a lot more money. Come the trade deadline next season with the Marlins in a middling season, Bell will be going, Chisholm will be hurt, and our pitching value will be at a peak. Ciao.

TP Joseph

[Guest]

Hello, Hans, and thank you for the insights (as always). It's fun to speculate and play GM! I suspect there will be no free-agent signings, especially over a few million dollars. Of course, with an ex-Ray in charge now, the surprises and under-the-radar moves are bound to come. Prognostications and specifics: I'd like a move to get a cheap, MLB-ready catching prospect such as Edgar Quero from the White Sox. I'm not much on older catchers, especially at four or five times the price (a la Stallings). Regarding shortstop, stay with our internal options instead of the low-end or middling guys out there for a lot more money. Come the trade deadline next season with the Marlins in a middling season, Bell will be going, Chisholm will be hurt, and our pitching value will be at a peak. Ciao.

TP Joseph

[Guest]

'24 is a lost season IMHO without Sandy. I would cut payroll so I could spend more in '25. Trade away some guys and rebuild our minors.

[Guest]

After CLE acquired Hedges, I see the Bethancourt move as his direct replacement in my Blueprint: a glove-first catcher who should battle to make the team in Spring Training.

 

Just like Mish said, they still should be looking for another reinforcement via Free Agency and maybe a waiver claim.

[Hans Herrera]

Hey TP, nice to hear from you. Yes, it is very nice indeed to play with somebody else's money.

 

I hope you are wrong about the team not spending. In paper, this team is closer to contend next season than

[Hans Herrera]

I clicked the "reply* button unintentionally... this roster is closer to contending than every Opening Day starting lineup over the last 5 or 6 years, so rebuilding now doesn't make much sense.

 

About Quero... He just completed AA, so I'm not sure if he deserves an MLB spot just yet. I would just roll with Banfield instead, as at least I know he can handle the pitching staff defensively.

 

But the problem here is to get more offense. I really like the "let the kids play" approach, but the Marlins system is just not reliable enough when it comes to field players. In any case, I'll be just fine if they promote Amaya for the SS job in Miami.

[Hans Herrera]

I guess you are the same account as the comment above. So there is my reply to you.

[Hans Herrera]

The 2023 before trade deadline lineup (record 58-51) was more or less:

 

Arraez 2B

Soler DH

Cooper 1B

Jazz CF (Davis played a lot of games)

Segura 3B

Garcia / Sanchez RF

DLC LF

Stallings C

Wendle SS

 

After trade deadline lineup (record 26-27):

 

Arraez 2B

Soler DH

Bell 1B

Jazz CF

Burger 3B

DLC LF

Sanchez RF

Fortes C

Wendle / Berti / Hampson SS

 

The proposed lineup in the FanPost is, on paper, much better than the first lineup, but probably not as good as the second one... I mean, Soler would be the most missed, however,

as a group, Fraley, Grandal, Perdomo, and Farmer are again, on paper, better than DLC, Stallings, Wendle, and Soler.