The offseason “elephant in the room”

[Sports Guy]

What do you do with Mancini?

This is a pretty crucial decision.

Moves will obviously be made but there will still be plenty of roster questions.  
 

Will room be made for Diaz?  Will Mountcastle play first or LF?  How do you handle DH?  
 

Mancini is a factor in all of these decisions, not to mention do you want to pay him 5-8M next year coming off of him kicking cancers butt?  It’s a risk, for sure.

I don’t envy Elias here.  Obviously, you have to see where he is strength wise and stuff like that to really make this decision but once you have that confirmation, what do you do?  

[Can_of_corn]

How much information can Elias get from the doctors involved?

Regardless of if he can play next year you don't want to take the PR hit of non-tendering him so you try and work a deal with his agent that protects the team as much as possible.  If they want to force arbitration on you then you are in a poor position since you would ideally like to cut his guaranteed money by more than 20%.  Push comes to shove you go to arbitration with the 20% cut and are prepared to cut him in ST if he can't play and is being unreasonable about working toward an equitable solution for both sides.

Mancini doesn't seem to be the type that would be hard to deal with so I expect them to come up with an agreement that's good for both sides.

[ArtVanDelay]

Man, that’d be the ultimate dick move to non-tender Mancini after his cancer battle.  PR nightmare.  They can afford $5MM for Trey, payroll will be low enough as it is. 

[Sports Guy]

I wouldn’t be concerned with the PR hit but I think the team will. You have to make the move that makes the most sense for the team, regardless of what the heart says.

I think they keep him and he gets something around the salary he would have made this year. 
 

I don’t know that is the best move though.

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, ArtVanDelay said:

Man, that’d be the ultimate dick move to non-tender Mancini after his cancer battle.  PR nightmare.  They can afford $5MM for Trey, payroll will be low enough as it is. 

It’s not the money as much as it is the roster space.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, ArtVanDelay said:

Man, that’d be the ultimate dick move to non-tender Mancini after his cancer battle.  PR nightmare.  They can afford $5MM for Trey, payroll will be low enough as it is. 

Not that I think he would do it but what if everyone knew that 100% Mancini couldn't play next year, maybe never again and he demanded to go to arbitration and get paid?

Wouldn't that be as bad?

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

It’s not the money as much as it is the roster space.

The roster space issue might only be pertain to the rule V draft.  Are the O's in a situation that they need that 40th (39th)spot?

[ofan239]

You rotate him between first base and DH and pay him the amt he would get in arbitration . You rotate Mountcastle between lf and dh and have him full in occasionally at first . You release Chris Davis and eat the 42mm plus on the remainder and you trade Núñez for what you can get .  
 

starting lineup 

Mullins cf

Hays lf 

Santander rf 

Mountcastle dh

Mancini 1b

Ruiz 3b ( at this point I think he’s AAAA but best we have defensively )

Severino - replaces by Adley in sept 

Alberto - start him there - if he struggles start Vailaka - also intrigued by Vavra - 2b obtained from givens trade maybe September ?

Iglesias - option to be picked up
 

Edited September 23, 2020 by ofan239

[DrungoHazewood]

There's no elephant here.  It's almost guaranteed that Mancini's agent will work out something fairly reasonable with the team, and the team won't even think about non-tending him.  40 man is a non-issue, if you need a spot just cut one of the 17 random relief pitchers.

[interloper]

28 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

It’s not the money as much as it is the roster space.

? Boot Chris Davis, trade or non-tender Nunez.

LF - Mountcastle
CF - Hays/Mullins
RF - Santander
DH - Stewart
1B - Mancini

Diaz gets some AAA at bats for a month or two, comes up and cycles into the outfield corners, while everyone cycles in and out of the DH spot. Option Stewart if you have to.

[ChrisP]

After paying CD 23 million for years, 5-8 for fan favorite who beat cancer? No brainer. 
 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, ChrisP said:

After paying CD 23 million for years, 5-8 for fan favorite who beat cancer? No brainer. 
 

I don't understand what one has to do with the other.

They signed Davis to a bad contract and basically threw money away so they should (potentially) throw more money away?

Also where are you getting 5-8 million from?  You think the O's should give him a raise?  That's asinine.

[interloper]

Options exist for a reason y'all. I know we want every prospect up here at the same time, but guys like Mullins and Stewart are vulnerable to the shuttle and it is what it is. Guys get hurt. They'll figure it out. I worry about Diaz but they'll rotate him in and out and it'll make sense somehow. Trades will happen. Mancini, if healthy, will play. 

[Sports Guy]

5 minutes ago, interloper said:

Options exist for a reason y'all. I know we want every prospect up here at the same time, but guys like Mullins and Stewart are vulnerable to the shuttle and it is what it is. Guys get hurt. They'll figure it out. I worry about Diaz but they'll rotate him in and out and it'll make sense somehow. Trades will happen. Mancini, if healthy, will play. 

Yes, options fo exist and one of those options is non tendering him.

Im fine with the idea of bringing him back.

What I’m not fine with is the idea that you bring him back and block other players who deserve at bats.

Its obviously easy for him to be on the team because of other easy moves you can do.  However, how good do you think Mancini will be?  He was really good, offensively, in 2019.  He wasn’t good in 2018.  He will be that much older, coming off of cancer with a very uncertain future.

Its not a slam dunk imo.

[interloper]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Yes, options fo exist and one of those options is non tendering him.

Im fine with the idea of bringing him back.

What I’m not fine with is the idea that you bring him back and block other players who deserve at bats.

Its obviously easy for him to be on the team because of other easy moves you can do.  However, how good do you think Mancini will be?  He was really good, offensively, in 2019.  He wasn’t good in 2018.  He will be that much older, coming off of cancer with a very uncertain future.

Its not a slam dunk imo.

I meant player options, the act of optioning a player.

Mancini will not block anyone at all. See the many posts in this thread. As far as I know we don't have a starting 1B. We have a injured/bench 1B who may be released and Nunez, who will be non-tendered or traded.