Expensive $$$ Offseason-What would have done differently?

[ChuckS]

I would have signed Upton, Kazmir (thrown a little more money at him than Dodgers if necessary), and Alvarez. I was against the O'Day signing initially, but knowing now how they were willing to stretch the budget I would have brought him back. I was fine with the Kim deal when it happened, so he would have still been brought in to play LF.

No QO to Wieters, no Davis resigning, no Trumbo trade, and no Gallardo signing.

[Rene88]

Well it depends on whether it's real world or fantasy world. In the real world one has to jump through PA's hoops/ In the fantasy world of wanna be GM's, they have a chunk of money to do with as they see fit. Just how much did we actually spend including the deferred money? 50M?

This sums up things quite nicely. Hard to know who's in charge, a common theme since the 90's unfortunately.

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[Number5]

Zimmermann wanted to be in the Midwest.

Cespedes wanted to be in New York.

Gordon wanted to stay in KC.

Kazmir was offered much more money with an opt out by a rich contender in the NL in a pitchers park. And he has apparently lost quite a bit off his fast ball.

The money given CD was reportedly only authorized by PA for CD alone. It wasn't CD or Heyward or Upton. It was CD or nobody.

Yet we keep on with countless posts and threads that ignore these facts.

Heck, if we are going to do that, let's just go for the brass ring. We should have traded our bottom bench players without options and non-ranked prospects for Kershaw, Harper, and Trout and required that the bulk of their salaries be eaten by their former teams. Anything less is a total failure.

[El Gordo]

Assuming I had about 50 marbles to play with I would have signed Cueto, Kim, DoD, Alvarez, Span, and traded for Trumbo. I would have made the QO to Wieters.

[MDtransplant757]

Wouldn't have signed Davis, would have gotten Cespedes instead. Besides that, I would have done this offseason again.

[Sessh]

The money given CD was reportedly only authorized by PA for CD alone. It wasn't CD or Heyward or Upton. It was CD or nobody.

Pretty troubling that PA is still trying to be a GM if this is true. I hate when it all comes back to him because he's the only one whose contract doesn't run out.

I wouldn't have given CD that contract as I think it's unlikely he will earn all of it. He is too unpredictable performance wise for my tastes. I would have gone after Upton instead. I would have gone after Price or Cueto. I'm not sure about the QO on Wieters, but I think it was a sure thing he would accept it. Hard to believe $15.8M was the QO for him, though. That seems a little steep. I think we would have been better off with Joseph/Clevenger and would not have traded for Trumbo. I think I would have signed Alvarez and gone after Span.

I have a bad feeling about this season TBH. Things just aren't fitting together right plus we have a rotation (aside from Gausman) full of liabilities barring a miracle like if Bundy and Wilson become viable starters this season which is possible, of course. I don't have much hope for Wright, though.

[Bahama O's Fan]

This offseason is a troubling one for me. I have no idea how I would have fixed the pitching problem, as I thought ALL the contracts given out were too much. You probably had to go all in for someone like Price or I would have tried Fister. But here are some things I would have done:

1. I would have still offered Matt the QO, but spoke with him ahead of time and told him it was just a nice gesture and we did not want him to take it. I would tell him if he did, he would not build up his value as he would be splitting time 50/50 with Joseph and would be expected to DH quite a bit.

2. I love the Clevenger for Trumbo deal. I would have given Davis my "best" offer long before that. Once the deal went through for Trumbo, I would have told Chris "Thanks for the memories". I only would have considered him late in the offseason if he value severely dropped.

3. I go all in to get Cespedes. No QO required and would have made it happen. He replaces Davis' big bat and Trumbo is giving me more production than anyone in RF last season. They aren't in the same positions, but I bet Trumbo at 1B and Cespedes in the OF gives the same production at Davis at 1B and whoever else roamed RF last season, plus I get a pick for Davis.

4. Now, if Wieters has accepted my QO, I probably turn to Fister. If he hadn't, then I might consider someone like Price or Heyward.

That probably gets payroll close to where we are now, I think

[Barnaby Graves]

Hindsight is 20-20:)

Oh Jesus the season hasn't even started yet.

But there's no coincidence that the same people who advocate spending piles of money on 30-something power hitters carry that same lack of patience and foresight when they're panicking in the middle of March.

[backwardsk]

I don't think this is a balanced team, and I don't think DD did a good job improving the rotation. Though I really don't know what I would have done differently that would have been better.

Let's assume that all money spent this offseason was available for anybody (I understand the Davis reality). From my rough estimate, we added around $67M for 2016 FA.

Kazmir would either cost more than $16M or maybe we get him for 5/80 if we don't give the opt out. He is having problems breaking a plane of glass with his fastball.

I love watching Cueto pitch. But man, I'd be hesitant to give him $130M.

Spending $30M for price gives you another $37 to fill two OF spots, 1B and DH.

I would have been open to giving Fister more than $7M, up to $10M, on a 1 year make good contract.

Zimmermann wasn't coming here. Kennedy was a horrible deal. Smardijza is a much worse deal than Gallardo.

Gordon wasn't leaving KC. We offered more guaranteed money to Cespedes and Fowler.

Cincinnati turned down Wheeler for Bruce last season. I have no idea what they are asking for now. This team is in a weak position to trade prospects for established talent.

[oriole]

I'd have traded one of Tillman/Jimenez, let O'Day walk, let Davis walk, signed Aoki, Zimmermann, Fister

I like the Alvarez signing, Kim too even though it's a real gamble, I would have liked to see Jon Singleton traded for and let him compete with Walker for 1b with Alvarez as a backup plan. I definitely wouldn't have done Trumbo.

We needed pitching so badly and we've got a rotation of 4 and 5 type guys. It's gotta be one of the worst rotations in baseball and Gallardo was all we could muster?

Not a fan of this offseason. But still excited nonetheless. Baseball is baseball whoever is on the team.

[backwardsk]

Two second tier prospects

I guess that second tier is not quite clear. What constitutes a top tier prospect? BA top 100? So if the asking price was Reyes and Lee, should we do that? I'd rather have Trumbo and Alvarez.

I would have also explored trading Britton if the right deal was on the table. Knowing the cost of Kimbel and Giles, I would have been on that even if the return was not ready to help in 2016.

[LookitsPuck]

Let Davis walk.

Sign Heyward.

Extend Manny.

Like the Kim signing.

Sign Pearce, not resign Reimold.

Sign Alvarez.

Sign Rickard.

Assuming Wieters accepted the QO (I would have accepted it), I actually like Trumbo at 1B and Alvarez at DH.

Honestly I'd have punted this season and see how the young guys do. Yes, it's be painful but we'd have a nice haul of draft picks. And if Ubaldo is doing well mid season I would see if we could flip him.

I don't like Gallardo.

I don't like that we bid against ourselves with Davis.

I don't like that we don't have an outfield to be speak of for the future.

I don't like that we have a million DH's on this team.

This team needs an influx of young talent. Giving away top draft picks for declining pitchers like Gallardo all the while trading our young talent left and right really shows Duquette lacks any meaningful direction.

[Sessh]

This team needs an influx of young talent. Giving away top draft picks for declining pitchers like Gallardo all the while trading our young talent left and right really shows Duquette lacks any meaningful direction.

I might be out of line with this, but is it possible DD is still pissed that we didn't let him go to Toronto? It all started with that offseason last year where he was probably having wet dreams about going to Toronto and wasn't focused on improving the team. This year, now we're spending money irrationally and attempting to address everything but the pitching really? Are we just going back to the days of overvaluing our pitching? Gallardo is better than nothing, but unless he has some kind of resurgence, it probably won't be worth the money or the pick we gave up for him. Is our FO losing their minds? Is PA meddling where he shouldn't be again? I can't imagine the relationship between DD, PA and Buck is the same as it was before the Toronto debacle.

[TINSTAAPP]

1. Let Davis walk or make him a take it or leave it offer of 4 years, $100 million.

2. If Davis turns down the contract offer, use the money to sign Jordan Zimmerman or Mike Leake. If Davis accepts the offer, sign Mat Latos or Doug Fister.

3. Sign Denard Span.

4. Post the winning bid for Byung-Ho Park.

[El Gordo]

I might be out of line with this, but is it possible DD is still pissed that we didn't let him go to Toronto? It all started with that offseason last year where he was probably having wet dreams about going to Toronto and wasn't focused on improving the team. This year, now we're spending money irrationally and attempting to address everything but the pitching really? Are we just going back to the days of overvaluing our pitching? Gallardo is better than nothing, but unless he has some kind of resurgence, it probably won't be worth the money or the pick we gave up for him. Is our FO losing their minds? Is PA meddling where he shouldn't be again? I can't imagine the relationship between DD, PA and Buck is the same as it was before the Toronto debacle.

Yes this is totally stupid. The guys a pro and he wants a future in MLB .