Offseason Priorities

[jcroemer]

How do you see the list of priorities lining up for this Winter?

I see:

1. Extend Buck and the coaching staff. A no brainer. Best manager in the game today as evidenced by his record and his job performance in Baltimore

2. Extend Wieters. Catchers tend to start hitting later in their career. He may never put up the offensive numbers that were projected, but he could turn in .250/25/75 seasons consistently and his work behind the plate is Gold Glove-caliber.

3. Top of the Rotation Starter - I've heard the Marlins will shop Josh Johnson and that Greinke will be a free agent. Tillman is excellent trade bait. So is Britton.

4. A Big Bat - Is Hamilton a fit here? His numbers at Camden Yards are impressive but his postseason performance is not. Remind you of anyone? Maybe with Hamilton we can put up enough offense that we have home-field advantage. Would we have won this series with 3 @ home?

Your thoughts?

[kyleott]

I think it is foolish to trade Tillman.

[BillD]

Second base, second base, second base

[MemorialStadKid]

The real thing that has to happen is for Jones, Wieters and whomever becomes the 4th or 5th hitter next year is to learn serious patience at the plate. We GAVE the Yankees the win, they didn't beat us, we simply didn't capitalize on the many, many, many opportunities that came down the pike.

Buck must stay.

We need two SPs. Keep Hammel, MGon and Chen. We could trade Tillman. Saunders goes. Trade Strop in a package with a few others.

We need two big bats. I truly believe this. Tigers have Cabrera AND Fielder. Jones needs protection. Better protection than Davis.

Reynolds - as much as I hate to say this - needs to be traded. His 1B defense was stellar, but lord, he stunk up the place.

Now, we should have Brob, Markakis, Reimold all healthy. We need to figure out what to do with McClouth, Andino, Lew Ford, Tolleson, Flaherty and Davis.

Clearly, Thome is done.

We have got a few holes. We need to plug them and get right back into it.

MSK

[MagicBird]

I think Buck and Baltimore would be perfect for Josh Hamilton. I think he has a big year in 2013. Things seem to have spoiled in Texas for him, but i really think he will do well at his next stop. We could use that bat!

[zero1]

The #1 thing they need to do is to obtain an impact middle of the order hitter.

[wildcard]

How do you see the list of priorities lining up for this Winter?

I see:

1. Extend Buck and the coaching staff. A no brainer. Best manager in the game today as evidenced by his record and his job performance in Baltimore

2. Extend Wieters. Catchers tend to start hitting later in their career. He may never put up the offensive numbers that were projected, but he could turn in .250/25/75 seasons consistently and his work behind the plate is Gold Glove-caliber.

3. Top of the Rotation Starter - I've heard the Marlins will shop Josh Johnson and that Greinke will be a free agent. Tillman is excellent trade bait. So is Britton.

4. A Big Bat - Is Hamilton a fit here? His numbers at Camden Yards are impressive but his postseason performance is not. Remind you of anyone? Maybe with Hamilton we can put up enough offense that we have home-field advantage. Would we have won this series with 3 @ home?

Your thoughts?

I agree with 1 and 2.

[jcroemer]

I kind of want to hold on to Tillman too considering his second half performance. On the other side of the coin, his trade value will probably never be higher. And another consideration, why didn't Buck use him? Was he concerned about the pressure getting to Tillman?

If we want to compete like this year after year we are going to need guys who can handle the postseason.

I could see us going in big on Greinke. That seems like a good investment.

I am torn on Reynolds. Love his glove. We have an option on Reynolds, I don't know how that plays on the trade market.

Yes, Thome is done.

Does anyone know what bats are available after Hamilton and if any offensively minded 2B would be available?

[Scrat1]

1. Extend Buck

2. McLouth

3. Extend Wieters

4. Perhaps sign a guy like Saunders to a one year deal for rotation depth

5. McLouth

6. Do not sign Josh Hamilton or anyone similar

7. McLouth

8. I think we should give Flaherty an extended look at second next year and if he and Andino aren't getting the job done, make a trade during the season. I personally think Flaherty will stick.

[sangar]

Sabathia showed us the true value of an ace tonight. I'd like to see us make Greinke our top priority.

[OrangeJerseys]

More pitching.

Sent from my iPhone using ninja skills.

[wildcard]

I kind of want to hold on to Tillman too considering his second half performance. On the other side of the coin, his trade value will probably never be higher. And another consideration, why didn't Buck use him? Was he concerned about the pressure getting to Tillman?

If we want to compete like this year after year we are going to need guys who can handle the postseason.

I could see us going in big on Greinke. That seems like a good investment.

I am torn on Reynolds. Love his glove. We have an option on Reynolds, I don't know how that plays on the trade market.

Yes, Thome is done.

Does anyone know what bats are available after Hamilton and if any offensively minded 2B would be available?

I disagree that Tillman's trade value will never be higher. He proved to himself that he can pitch in the majors. If he get 32 starts next season he could pitch 200 innings and win 18 games. If that happens his trade value go through the roof.

[clapdiddy]

1. #1 Starter

2. Second Base

3. MOO Hitter

[jcroemer]

More pitching.

Sent from my iPhone using ninja skills.

from mlbtr, free agent SPs this winter.

Starting pitchers

Scott Baker (31) - $9.25MM club option

Erik Bedard (34)

Joe Blanton (32)

Bartolo Colon (40)

Aaron Cook (34)

Kevin Correia (32)

Jorge De La Rosa (32) - $11MM player option with a $1MM buyout

Ryan Dempster (36)

R.A. Dickey (38) - $5MM club option with a $300K buyout

Scott Feldman (29) - $9.25MM club option with a $600K buyout

Jeff Francis (32)

Gavin Floyd (30) - $9.5MM club option

Freddy Garcia (37)

Zack Greinke (28)

Jeremy Guthrie (34)

Rich Harden (31)

Dan Haren (32) - $15.5MM club option with a $3.5MM buyout

Roberto Hernandez (32) - $9MM club option

Tim Hudson (37) - $9MM club option with a $1MM buyout

Edwin Jackson (29)

Hiroki Kuroda (38)

Francisco Liriano (29)

Kyle Lohse (34)

Derek Lowe (40)

Paul Maholm (31) - $6.5MM club option with a $500K buyout

Shaun Marcum (31)

Jason Marquis (34)

Daisuke Matsuzaka (32)

Brandon McCarthy (29)

Kevin Millwood (38)

Jamie Moyer (50)

Roy Oswalt (35)

Carl Pavano (37)

Jake Peavy (31) - $22MM club option with a $4MM buyout

Anibal Sanchez (29)

Jonathan Sanchez (30)

Ervin Santana (30) - $13MM club option with a $1MM buyout

Joe Saunders (32)

James Shields (31) - $9MM club option with a $1.5MM buyout

Carlos Villanueva (29)

Chien-Ming Wang (33)

Kip Wells (36)

Randy Wolf (36)

Chris Young (34)

Carlos Zambrano (32)

[Singleton]

1. Extend Buck

2. McLouth

3. Extend Wieters

4. Perhaps sign a guy like Saunders to a one year deal for rotation depth

5. McLouth

6. Do not sign Josh Hamilton or anyone similar

7. McLouth

8. I think we should give Flaherty an extended look at second next year and if he and Andino aren't getting the job done, make a trade during the season. I personally think Flaherty will stick.

It's amazing what a difference a week can make. Heading into Tampa, people were talking about Tillman as our ace. He gives a so-so performance and others step up and now many want to trade him.

Meanwhile, McLouth was pretty awful for two NL teams the last two years and his numbers aren't all that impressive in about 250 at-bats this year but he has a good 5 game series and we need to make him a priority.