There is no may be right. It’s a fact that this is what they are doing right now. Unless Mancini can’t play this year or something like that, Mountcastle is your LFer.
I find it interesting that you like to read between the lines on everything the manager and the organization say (like say Mullins for example) but you choose to ignore what they are doing and saying for Mountcastle.
All of this is great...but they still won in 2017 and set themselves up well for the long term by rebuilding for a year. Even after making those moves in 2016, they still made a late run with some of the young talent they had.
They put themselves in position to contend immediately by making those moves. Yes, they can do whatever they want money wise but teams still win because of their home grown talent.
It hasn’t been a mess because Nick left. It’s been a mess because the organization was garbage at doing things smartly.
BtW, in the 6 seasons since he has been gone, Nick has been worth 5.8 WAR. If that isn’t production you can replace, you have no business having a job in baseball.