Pitching outlook seems grim long term

[FanSince88]

40 minutes ago, esmd said:

Well, there's two sides to that - we have Tejada who can play SS next year, and there are several decent FA options (Moustakas, Todd Frazier).  In addition, Machado should bring 4-5 prospects in return.  The one model that was posted of the Miguel Cabrera trade was the top 2 prosects, one other top 10 prospect, and two other top 20 prospects from the acquiring club.  So in addition to two SP prospects, there's nothing that says we can't get a SS and/or 3B prospect in the deal.  We also have Mountcastle coming up, who I believe projects to 2B.  When he's ready, perhaps Schoop becomes your 3rd baseman.

Anyway, the point is they have lots of possible ways to go.  The main thing is getting at least a couple solid pitching prospects back in the Manny deal.

Yeah, exactly.  In this day and age you can pick up a serviceable SS/3B for reasonable money and time on the FA market.  Not so for SP, where the market is completely off its rocker.  

[Barnaby Graves]

You get those kind of returns on relievers when they are actively pitching to an elite++ level, during an intense playoff hunt.  Britton has been uneven and has an ambiguous arm injury.  He isn't the flavor of the month reliever anymore.  These guys degrade in value quick.

[crawjo]

My guess is that we will sign a few free agent starting pitchers, but they will mostly be of the bargain-hunting variety, looking for value at the bottom end of the market. It's not going to be pretty.