The Rays have eight players with contract extensions at least through next year.Only one came via free agency. They have already committed around $74 million in salary for 2024.
I understand the logic there, but I'd want my best defenders at short, center and catcher, and we seem to have that with Mateo, Mullins and Adley. I'm hoping our offense improves with more consistency from Hays and Mountcastle and continued progress from Adley and Gunnar. I still hope we trade for a good starting pitcher to be our No. 1 guy by using some of the surplus we have in the infield and in our rotation to go with one of our outfielders.
I don't dislike him. Just feel that because of how poor the bat is we'd be overall better off with a slightly less awesome fielder, but one that can likely hit some too. Like what I think Ortiz could do. I know the war he put up last year, but I also know how volitile defensive ratings and metrics can be, so I take his war with a grain of salt. Plus the way the O's are currently constructed we don't have the lineup to really carry so many holes in the lineup. A Mateo type hurts less on a team with a stacked lineup as if 1-8 is solid, 9 can be poor. But one of our problems is we have a few good hitters, with the rest being super streaky, injury prone or just not established as mlb hitters. That makes carrying a Mateo in the starting lineup harder to do as we don't have the other guys to carry the team with their sticks. If Mateo could even be average to slightly below average with the bat, then it's a different story. But to this point he's really bad, other than a great 6-8 week period when he caught fire.
That would make sense if the streaming were in addition to carrying the games over the cable channels and MLB.tv that many of every team's most loyal fans have paid for. But it's not.
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.