What will we look like.......

[33rdst]

...on April 1, 2016. I realize this thread is a bit premature given that we're in the midst of a pennant race, but I was inspired by Soprano's thread on Boras clients, so I had to ask the question.

I think it's close to a given that we won't be signing any of the Boras clients unless their markets fall below five years. In addition,O'Day is a likely casualty given his age and likely contract demands. So how do we go about replacing these guys and stay competitive?

Many here would agree that we look to be in pretty good shape in the rotation moving forward. Ubaldo, Tillman,Gonzo,and Gausman form the corp of the rotation. Who will be the lefty? Will Tilman regain his form?

Next question, do we have thirty plus HR at first base? Maybe with a Pearce/Parmalee platoon. I think Walker could be traded this month. Wieters will be the toughest to replace in the short term. Joseph is okay defensively. Do you add Clevenger for his offense?

The outfield will need an upgrade. Uptown and Gordon are the only two free agents for whom I would relinquish a draft pick. Both are young enough to give five years. It would take big dollars but Duquette has spent big dollars before for Manny in Boston.

Matusz, Hunter, and O'Day are likely departures from the pen. The pen will be crucial moving forward, especially with the uncertainty of the rotation. Several people have mentioned that they would sign O'Day for the stability he provides as much as his production. Tough call here. It's going to take three years. At thirty three do you give to him or do you roll the dice on Givens,Wright etc. and spend the dollars you save on the free agents I mentioned.

Even with the loss of the Boras bunch, things don't look as bad as I thought. Schoop will be back for the year. He'll replace some of the offense we'll lose and make us stronger up the middle. We still have pitching depth albeit unproven. Things could be worse.

[SteveA]

I wonder what the budget will be.

We have the highest payroll in team history this year.

If we don't re-sign all the guys you believe we won't, we will have a lot of $$$ to spend to get the payroll back close to where it was this year.

But will the budget be as high next year? How will the MASN thing play out.

Until we know the answers to those questions its nearly impossible to speculate how we go about replacing the guys we lose.

And of course they will never announce the budget DD is working under.

So as fans we will go into the off season completely blind, not even knowing the parameters Duq is working with.

[33rdst]

A

I wonder what the budget will be.

We have the highest payroll in team history this year.

If we don't re-sign all the guys you believe we won't, we will have a lot of $$$ to spend to get the payroll back close to where it was this year.

But will the budget be as high next year? How will the MASN thing play out.

Until we know the answers to those questions its nearly impossible to speculate how we go about replacing the guys we lose.

And of course they will never announce the budget DD is working under.

So as fans we will go into the off season completely blind, not even knowing the parameters Duq is working with.

Do you think we will sign anyof the Boras clients even if we have this year's budget?

[Can_of_corn]

A

Do you think we will sign anyof the Boras clients even if we have this year's budget?

Britton.

[SteveA]

A

Do you think we will sign anyof the Boras clients even if we have this year's budget?

Probably not. So the question is how will we have to spend on replacements and who will we pursue? Which pitcher (s). Jason Heyward?

[33rdst]

Britton.

He's not a free agent yet is he?

[Can_of_corn]

He's not a free agent yet is he?

Nope, he will be arb 2 (of 4). But he is about the only Boras client we will see on the team next year.

[BradyBunch]

...on April 1, 2016. I realize this thread is a bit premature given that we're in the midst of a pennant race, but I was inspired by Soprano's thread on Boras clients, so I had to ask the question.

I think it's close to a given that we won't be signing any of the Boras clients unless their markets fall below five years. In addition,O'Day is a likely casualty given his age and likely contract demands. So how do we go about replacing these guys and stay competitive?

Many here would agree that we look to be in pretty good shape in the rotation moving forward. Ubaldo, Tillman,Gonzo,and Gausman form the corp of the rotation. Who will be the lefty? Will Tilman regain his form?

Next question, do we have thirty plus HR at first base? Maybe with a Pearce/Parmalee platoon. I think Walker could be traded this month. Wieters will be the toughest to replace in the short term. Joseph is okay defensively. Do you add Clevenger for his offense?

The outfield will need an upgrade. Uptown and Gordon are the only two free agents for whom I would relinquish a draft pick. Both are young enough to give five years. It would take big dollars but Duquette has spent big dollars before for Manny in Boston.

Matusz, Hunter, and O'Day are likely departures from the pen. The pen will be crucial moving forward, especially with the uncertainty of the rotation. Several people have mentioned that they would sign O'Day for the stability he provides as much as his production. Tough call here. It's going to take three years. At thirty three do you give to him or do you roll the dice on Givens,Wright etc. and spend the dollars you save on the free agents I mentioned.

Even with the loss of the Boras bunch, things don't look as bad as I thought. Schoop will be back for the year. He'll replace some of the offense we'll lose and make us stronger up the middle. We still have pitching depth albeit unproven. Things could be worse.

It's not a given that we won't sign any of Boras client from our team. Remember right now the big 4 of his clients (Chen, Britton, Davis, and Wieters) make a total of $27.2m. Of that we can easily sign 2 of them and stay in this payroll range. Question is who do you sign. We can sign Wieters at $100m contract (if we really needed too) for 7 years ($14.2m per year). With him catching for the next 2 or 3 years until Chance Sisco is ready and when that happens, move Wieters to 1st. We could also sign either Davis or Chen to a $13m a year deal. Odds are Britton isn't gonna be signed until signed for $6m per year range.

We have staff arms (bullpen and starting) in the minors that are ready to come up so it will bring down the cost of our pitching. Bud Norris is gone and so is O'Day, Hunter and Matusz. That's about $19m. But we have Roe, Wilson, Wright, and Drake sitting around all pre-arb.

Christian Walker isn't gonna be trade yet unless it's for a big deal. Walker is the only servicable 1st baseman above AA and he's not doing bad at AAA either.

Dee Gordon? Because Alex Gordon has a $12.5m player option and KC isn't gonna let him go that easily as it's 2018 when KC will go back to mediocrity (50% of their starting line up is free agents that year).

[BradyBunch]

I wonder what the budget will be.

We have the highest payroll in team history this year.

If we don't re-sign all the guys you believe we won't, we will have a lot of $$$ to spend to get the payroll back close to where it was this year.

But will the budget be as high next year? How will the MASN thing play out.

Until we know the answers to those questions its nearly impossible to speculate how we go about replacing the guys we lose.

And of course they will never announce the budget DD is working under.

So as fans we will go into the off season completely blind, not even knowing the parameters Duq is working with.

We know what the Budget will be, just a bit more if we get to the ALCS again. MASN dispute? Didn't keep us from getting to close to $120m, including burning cash on DFAing players. So probably not much yet.

No team really announces their budgets. It's not like the NFL or some salary cap hell hole of a league where total spending for players is capped so we all know the limit.

[wildcard]

...on April 1, 2016. I realize this thread is a bit premature given that we're in the midst of a pennant race, but I was inspired by Soprano's thread on Boras clients, so I had to ask the question.

I think it's close to a given that we won't be signing any of the Boras clients unless their markets fall below five years. In addition,O'Day is a likely casualty given his age and likely contract demands. So how do we go about replacing these guys and stay competitive?

Many here would agree that we look to be in pretty good shape in the rotation moving forward. Ubaldo, Tillman,Gonzo,and Gausman form the corp of the rotation. Who will be the lefty? Will Tilman regain his form?

Next question, do we have thirty plus HR at first base? Maybe with a Pearce/Parmalee platoon. I think Walker could be traded this month. Wieters will be the toughest to replace in the short term. Joseph is okay defensively. Do you add Clevenger for his offense?

The outfield will need an upgrade. Uptown and Gordon are the only two free agents for whom I would relinquish a draft pick. Both are young enough to give five years. It would take big dollars but Duquette has spent big dollars before for Manny in Boston.

Matusz, Hunter, and O'Day are likely departures from the pen. The pen will be crucial moving forward, especially with the uncertainty of the rotation. Several people have mentioned that they would sign O'Day for the stability he provides as much as his production. Tough call here. It's going to take three years. At thirty three do you give to him or do you roll the dice on Givens,Wright etc. and spend the dollars you save on the free agents I mentioned.

Even with the loss of the Boras bunch, things don't look as bad as I thought. Schoop will be back for the year. He'll replace some of the offense we'll lose and make us stronger up the middle. We still have pitching depth albeit unproven. Things could be worse.

I don't know why the O's would go after Gordon (32) but not to after Wieters (29), Davis (30) or Chen (30). All ages are as of April 2016.

Upton and Heyward are young enough to get 7 years of longer. I don't see the O's bidding of those long contracts.

I think the O's will spend 3/21 on O'Day and he might sign before he goes free agent. Relievers can be good at 33-35 years old.

I think the O's will go 5/85 for Wieters. Maybe even add a buyout on a six year at 3M. Is that enough? I don't think they go higher.

I can see the O's going after Wieters, Davis and Chen in free agency. I think they set how far the will go and stick to that offer. I think they can afford to sign O'Day, and two of the three Boras clients. We will probably not know until sometime in January if the O's pay enough for the Boras clients just because of the way he works.

The O's will have an influx of young players from the minors IMO. That will allow them to let the follow players go:

Norris 8.8m

Hunter 4.65M

De Aza 4m

Pearce 3.7m

Matusz 3.2M

Cabrera 2.4m

Young 2.25m

W Wright 1.7m

Replacing these players with young players making a little over 500K each will change the look of the team. I think the O's try to keep their core players together.

[mdbdotcom]

On April 11, 2016, OH will be filled with new threads criticizing the lack of action on the part of the front office and attacking Angelos/Duquette for not doing everything possible to win. This will happen even if they sign all the free agents.

[El Gordo]

I think they'll go after a back of the rotation arm and possibly a LF on the order of a Fowler. The rest they will go in house for.

[33rdst]

H

I don't know why the O's would go after Gordon (32) but not to after Wieters (29), Davis (30) or Chen (30). All ages are as of April 2016.

Upton and Heyward are young enough to get 7 years of longer. I don't see the O's bidding of those long contracts.

I think the O's will spend 3/21 on O'Day and he might sign before he goes free agent. Relievers can be good at 33-35 years old.

I think the O's will go 5/85 for Wieters. Maybe even add a buyout on a six year at 3M. Is that enough? I don't think they go higher.

I can see the O's going after Wieters, Davis and Chen in free agency. I think they set how far the will go and stick to that offer. I think they can afford to sign O'Day, and two of the three Boras clients. We will probably not know until sometime in January if the O's pay enough for the Boras clients just because of the way he works.

The O's will have an influx of young players from the minors IMO. That will allow them to let the follow players go:

Norris 8.8m

Hunter 4.65M

De Aza 4m

Pearce 3.7m

Matusz 3.2M

Cabrera 2.4m

Young 2.25m

W Wright 1.7m

Replacing these players with young players making a little over 500K each will change the look of the team. I think the O's try to keep their core players together.

I did not realize Gordon was that old so no, I wouldn't expect theO's to go after him. If Upton gets seven years it won't be from theO's. My point was, like yours,that his age makes him an acceptable candidate for a "long term" deal. My problem with Wieters, andI think perhaps DD's problem as well, is that Wieter's bat won't play at first base. His value is as a catcher but what kind of catcher will he be in the final years of his contract.

[33rdst]

April 1, 2016

1B Parmelee

2B Schoop

SS Hardy

3B Machado

C Joseph (platoon with Clevenger or FA signing)

LF Snider

CF Jones

RF Reimold

DH Paredes

Flaherty/Lough

Starters

Jimenez

Tillman

Gonzalez

Gausman

McFarland/Wright/Wilson/Bowden

Bullpen

Britton

Givens

Cabral

Roe

Brach

Drake (Bundy if he's healthy)

McFarland/Wright/Wilson

Now, that's without any FA signings, without promoting Alvarez to RF, which is certainly possible. I would kind of expect a major signing for either 1B or a corner OF spot. The O's may try to get Paredes a spot int he field. Could be LF/RF or 1B. The team above could be a competitive .500 team. Lot's of question marks though.

I'm thinking more help for the pen too. Definitely agree about more help for the outfield. Is a lefthanded starter a necessity?

[weams]

I'm thinking more help for the pen too. Definitely agree about more help for the outfield. Is a lefthanded starter a necessity?

Try winning in Texas without one.