'18-'19 Free Agency strategy

[El Gordo]

5 hours ago, wildcard said:

1B - Davis

2B - Valera

SS - Villar

3B - Wilkerson

LF - Mancini

CF - Mullins

RF - Rickard

C - Sisco 

DH Trumbo

Bench - Nunez, Wynns, Yaz, Peterson

Promoted later in the season: Mountcastle, Stewart, Diaz, Hays

SP - Cobb, Cashner, Ramirez, Hess, Means

RP - Scott, Carroll, Castro, Fry, Wright, Yacabonis, Kline

Norfolk Shuttle - Meisinger, Tate, Rogers, Luis Gonzalez, Akin. Flaa

DL - Bleier

Players gotten  in trade of Bundy, Givens and Hart  may change this roster.

No free agent signings.

 

Why play a career -20.6 UZR/150 SS when you have one who  is +1.6?

[HelenaEngineer]

20 hours ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

Replace Davis is Mancini. Davis and Trumbo share the DH duties. Play someone else in LF.

I have always thought this was the obvious move as long as you had both Davis and Trumbo on the team, with a slight modification. I would play Davis at 1B and DH Mancini vs righties and play Mancini at 1B and DH Trumbo vs lefties - essentially platooning Trumbo and Davis to go from having both  of them in the lineup to just one and freeing up LF. If you think Mancini has a better glove at 1B than Davis, then go your way, but I haven't seen enough of Mancini at 1B to convince me that he is better than Davis with the glove.

I'd do it now and put Mullins in CF and Jones in a corner, however you want to shuffle LF and RF once Mancini's move frees up LF. Jones will be a corner OF for someone next year anyway, so this gives him a head start on his position change which can't hurt him in free agency and Mullins gets a nice long look to help you determine if you are comfortable with him as the every day CF going into 2019. You will immediately improve your defense at CF and LF and make your lineup better at the same time, unless I am overestimating what Mullins can do at the plate.

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, El Gordo said:

Why play a career -20.6 UZR/150 SS when you have one who  is +1.6?

Neither one is a long term solution.   Why trade the team's 2nd best starter?   Answer to that question and your question is its cheaper.   O's are driving the payroll into the dirt.

[El Gordo]

19 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Neither one is a long term solution.   Why trade the team's 2nd best starter?   Answer to that question and your question is its cheaper.   O's are driving the payroll into the dirt.

you haven't answered my question. the difference between them is 800K. Both have 2 more years of arb.

[FlipTheBird]

8 hours ago, wildcard said:

1B - Davis

2B - Valera

SS - Villar

3B - Wilkerson

LF - Mancini

CF - Mullins

RF - Rickard

C - Sisco 

DH Trumbo

Bench - Nunez, Wynns, Yaz, Peterson

Promoted later in the season: Mountcastle, Stewart, Diaz, Hays

SP - Cobb, Cashner, Ramirez, Hess, Means

RP - Scott, Carroll, Castro, Fry, Wright, Yacabonis, Kline

Norfolk Shuttle - Meisinger, Tate, Rogers, Luis Gonzalez, Akin. Flaa

DL - Bleier

Players gotten  in trade of Bundy, Givens and Hart  may change this roster.

No free agent signings.

 

That's irrational, it's always good to have a few extra bodies on hand for inevitable injury situations and, as others have noted, 1-year stopgaps can sometimes become players that you profit from at a deadline.

Players will know the Orioles are going to be bad, but they also need to get paid. Bring in a few guys on one-year deals to make sure you're never forced to play a prospect that's not quite ready yet. Rushing guys is what killed the Orioles during most of the dark years. Let's not repeat it.

[HelenaEngineer]

35 minutes ago, FlipTheBird said:

That's irrational, it's always good to have a few extra bodies on hand for inevitable injury situations and, as others have noted, 1-year stopgaps can sometimes become players that you profit from at a deadline.

Players will know the Orioles are going to be bad, but they also need to get paid. Bring in a few guys on one-year deals to make sure you're never forced to play a prospect that's not quite ready yet. Rushing guys is what killed the Orioles during most of the dark years. Let's not repeat it.

I agree with that. For a player who might not be a sure starter on a strong team or be in position to sign a long term contract, a 1 year deal on a bad team has some appeal. His chance of playing time is better, and if he does well, there is a good chance he gets flipped to a contender as a rental. As you say, it buys time for prospects to develop and gives you a chance to perhaps get some more prospects with a mid-season trade if the guy does well. If not, you can always bench him or release him if a prospect is ready for a mid-season promotion. As long as you are not spending a lot of money or blocking players who are ready for promotion, then the 1 year deals are fine.