Are you saying you would sign a 7 year deal on whatever beats the rest of the market for Burnes?
Or are you saying Rubenstein and Elias will?
But that's really not how I understand the OP posed. It's more about org building and weighting of FA value to roster construction not specific to where we are currently in payroll. $30m committed for 7 years today reduces the opportunity to spend differently tomorrow.
Agreed that our playoff odds are high for the next few years. Balancing the org build/perennial contender ongoing concern with figuring out how to guarantee bumping up the playoff win% odds is the magic question. Can that be done in the offseason with long term contracts?
I don't think they'll spend big on SPs either. At least not until they make better UCLs...
Maybe the right position player in the right context but generally agree the focus will be homegrown. At least for the foreseeable future.
Means has a legit resume that shouldn't be thrown out. Even it if was 2-5 years ago. That matters if for no other reason than as a reasonable ceiling for expectations. Odds are he won't outperform that (and yes there are exceptions).
His injury/recovery and recent performance matters too. Obviously.
I think it's fair to view his AAA as ST-like but with an injury-risk asterisks. That broadens the range of outcomes (i.e. lowers the floor).
I wouldn't have him as plan A either. I had questions with sustainability of his ERA last year. But how many #2/3 upside SPs are on speed dial? (And he'd be in the SP3-SP5 range for us.) Pitching is thin and everyone is scrounging for arms. A dice role (or 2 if you throw Bradish in this discussion) at upside is worth it.
Another few games will impact expectations.
I didn't see the game and haven't seen him pitch yet. But find his movement profile on Savant interesting. More vertical on his cutter and more horizontal on his 4S. Expected stats have questions. Gotta like the low BB% though.
Gotta think they'll give him another turn or two then make a decision.
Enos and Brit were talking about Lindor's slow start recently. As part of the discussion Enos said that players tend to swing less in the first month and pitchers can rake advantage of that. I wonder if the Sigbot is arbitraging that with more aggressive PAs?