Optimal position player roster for second half and playoffs?

[Sports Guy]

IFers: Mayo, Holliday, Westburg, Gunnar

OFers: Cowser, Kjerstad, Mullins, Santander

UTI: OHearn, Mateo

C- Adley, McCann

Leaves one more spot for Mounty, Hays, Stowers, Norby, Urias or trade for a RH OFer, likely a CFer.
 

note: Obviously this is based on the idea Holliday will be able to play in the field soon enough, establish himself and get up here.

If Mounty is the final bat (likeliest scenario of the above options) and we have kept the top 4 prospects (including Kjerstad in that), do we have enough players to fetch us the BP and rotation help we need?  I feel we do especially because I don’t think a true TOR starter is going to be available.

I have talked about trading  Mounty but I do agree with those who talk about his defense and his clubhouse presence. Trading that in the middle of the season may not be the best move. I would still do it for the right player but I think there are better moves to make midseason and then look to move Mounty in the offseason.

The problem with Mounty staying is that it becomes harder to find at bats for everyone.

Losing Urias and Hays isn’t going to effect team chemistry imo.

Edited Sunday at 03:32 by Sports Guy

[sportsfan8703]

Edit - My first post was too snarky. I’m trying to change.

Mayo should be up for Urias.  Ideally we could trade Urias to an NL team. 

Mounty and his .853 OPS vs LHP isn’t going anywhere. 

Kjerstad and any of the big 3 aren’t going anywhere. 

We have enough 4-40 in our system to buy rentals to get a game 2/3 SP. Two high leverage relievers. 

We can worry about the 2025 rotation this offseason. Let’s see what happens with Burnes. There’s no need to get radical to try and hit a royal Flush and take care of next year’s rotation too. 

Edited Sunday at 08:23 by sportsfan8703

[Jim'sKid26]

8 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

IFers: Mayo, Holliday, Westburg, Gunnar

OFers: Cowser, Kjerstad, Mullins, Santander

UTI: OHearn, Mateo

C- Adley, McCann

Leaves one more spot for Mounty, Hays, Stowers, Norby, Urias or trade for a RH OFer, likely a CFer.
 

note: Obviously this is based on the idea Holliday will be able to play in the field soon enough, establish himself and get up here.

If Mounty is the final bat (likeliest scenario of the above options) and we have kept the top 4 prospects (including Kjerstad in that), do we have enough players to fetch us the BP and rotation help we need?  I feel we do especially because I don’t think a true TOR starter is going to be available.

I have talked about trading  Mounty but I do agree with those who talk about his defense and his clubhouse presence. Trading that in the middle of the season may not be the best move. I would still do it for the right player but I think there are better moves to make midseason and then look to move Mounty in the offseason.

The problem with Mounty staying is that it becomes harder to find at bats for everyone.

Losing Urias and Hays isn’t going to effect team chemistry imo.

Trusting 2 rookies, one who was not good in his brief stay in MLB and has also been hurt, and one who is marginal at 3B and inexperienced at 1B, seems very risky defensively. I'm not sure Elias would put Holiday and Mayo on a team going to the playoffs given their defensive limitations. I could be mistaken.

That OF is very left handed, with the exception of Santander. I still think Luis Robert makes this team so much better than just about any other player you could add. If he's healthy. 

https://www.mlb.com/news/luis-robert-jr-trade-fits-2024

Edited Sunday at 12:21 by Jim'sKid26

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Jim'sKid26 said:

Trusting 2 rookies, one who was not good in his brief stay in MLB and has also been hurt, and one who is marginal at 3B and inexperienced at 1B, seems very risky defensively. I'm not sure Elias would put Holiday and Mayo on a team going to the playoffs given their defensive limitations. I could be mistaken.

That OF is very left handed, with the exception of Santander. I still think Luis Robert makes this team so much better than just about any other player you could add. If he's healthy. 

https://www.mlb.com/news/luis-robert-jr-trade-fits-2024

I’m not worried about Hollidays defense, if the elbow is healthy. Mayo would probably DH a bunch too, so I’m only so worried about that too.  
 

The OF is very left handed but does that matter? Against tough lefties, Santander is one one if your OFers. Kjerstad has hit lefties well in the minors.

But you would have Santander, Mayo, Adley, Westburg, Mounty batting right handed and Holliday and Kjerstad have done well vs lefties in the minors and at least check, Gunnar had one of the highest OPS vs lefties in MLB.

So I’m not overly worried about that.  Mateo is also a wild card here. It may be smart to get him more CF time over the next 4-8 weeks to see if you feel good enough about him defensively.

That being said, I do agree that having a right handed bat for the playoffs would be nice. 
 

You don’t need 13 pitchers in October. There is a scenario where you get the Bader or Pillar type guy at the deadline and then stash a minor leaguer (maybe moving guys up and down for rest purposes) and add whoever needs to be added in September as the extra player, that way you have everyone.

[RZNJ]

1B Mountcastle

2B Westburg

SS Henderson

3B Mayo

C Rutschman

LF Cowser

CF Mullins

RF Santander

DH O’Hearn

McCann, Mateo, Hays, Kjerstad

Cowser plays CF on the road with Kjerstad in LF and Cedric sits.   At home Mountcastle sits against RHP, with O’Hearn at 1B and Kjerstad at DH.  Also 1-2 games a week in RF with Santander at DH.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 12:39 by RZNJ

[RVAOsFan]

IMO all of this hinges on one player right now, Mayo.  How fast Mayo adjusts to the MLB game is going to determine a lot of roster decisions. We all thought when Holliday was called up that it was a lock he would be at least be a regular starter but he ended up having to be sent down. We can’t pencil Mayo in as a starter until we see how he does against MLB pitching. I hope Elias brings him up soon so they can get a look at him before the deadline. 

[CaptainRedbeard]

I want to see a lineup with Cowser in CF, Kjerstad in LF and Mayo at 3B. That would be crazy deep, it may be Mayo batting 9th? Would be better defensively with Mullins and/or Holliday in there but this would be the best offensive lineup.

Henderson SS

Rutschman C

O’Hearn DH

Santander RF

Mountcastle 1B

Kjerstad LF

Westburg 2B

Cowser CF

Mayo 3B

[RZNJ]

3 minutes ago, CaptainRedbeard said:

I want to see a lineup with Cowser in CF, Kjerstad in LF and Mayo at 3B. That would be crazy deep, it may be Mayo batting 9th? Would be better defensively with Mullins and/or Holliday in there but this would be the best offensive lineup.

Henderson SS

Rutschman C

O’Hearn DH

Santander RF

Mountcastle 1B

Kjerstad LF

Westburg 2B

Cowser CF

Mayo 3B

That would be something.  I think you could see that pretty regularly on the road, not so much at home but you never know.   Depends on how Kjerstad looks in LF and Mayo at 3B.

[CaptainRedbeard]

3 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

That would be something.  I think you could see that pretty regularly on the road, not so much at home but you never know.   Depends on how Kjerstad looks in LF and Mayo at 3B.

Yeah agreed, so I’m basically thinking the same as what you said in your post before mine. Was just crazy to think about how you’d actually structure a lineup that deep. But I think Mullins playing instead of Mountcastle against RHP when you want the extra OF defense would also make sense. It’s a very flexible lineup to move pieces around and match up based on the opposing pitcher, the Orioles SP (Mullins for the fly ball heavy Povich/Suarez? Mateo/Urias for GB heavy Burnes?) and stadium.

They have been playing Kjerstad in LF in OPACY some, but Mullins has been much better of late and they’re not going to go to 4th OF level work for him. It makes sense for Mullins’ time to be more at home and less when on the road in parks with friendly corner OF dimensions. But depending on Kjerstad and Mayo’s defense and bats at the MLB level, that could be the optimal lineup with them at LF/3B even at home. 

[Aristotelian]

I am not sold on Holliday yet. He will need to prove it. He is still very young and may not give us the best chance to win right now. He could be the extra guy in September.

 

 

[Tony-OH]

33 minutes ago, CaptainRedbeard said:

I want to see a lineup with Cowser in CF, Kjerstad in LF and Mayo at 3B. That would be crazy deep, it may be Mayo batting 9th? Would be better defensively with Mullins and/or Holliday in there but this would be the best offensive lineup.

Henderson SS

Rutschman C

O’Hearn DH

Santander RF

Mountcastle 1B

Kjerstad LF

Westburg 2B

Cowser CF

Mayo 3B

This is the lineup I want to see more times than not. I still think Mullins should play 4-5 times a week though so a rotation of Mullins, Santander, Cowser, and Kjerstad would give everyone enough playing time and keep them fresh. 

Although I think Mayo would move up in the order very quickly.

[CaptainRedbeard]

7 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Although I think Mayo would move up in the order very quickly.

That’s the crazy part - no matter how you stack it, you’ll end up with a comically overqualified #9 hitter vs RHP. The worst hitters in this lineup vs. RHP this year have been Mountcastle and Adley.

We’re arguably already overdue for Westburg swapping spots with Mountcastle. Mountcastle, Westburg and Mayo would get spaced out and likely have a righty batting 9th, although I suppose it could be Cowser or Kjerstad batting 9th instead - which is still wild going up against a RHP. 

[Tony-OH]

10 minutes ago, CaptainRedbeard said:

That’s the crazy part - no matter how you stack it, you’ll end up with a comically overqualified #9 hitter vs RHP. The worst hitters in this lineup vs. RHP this year have been Mountcastle and Adley.

We’re arguably already overdue for Westburg swapping spots with Mountcastle. Mountcastle, Westburg and Mayo would get spaced out and likely have a righty batting 9th, although I suppose it could be Cowser or Kjerstad batting 9th instead - which is still wild going up against a RHP. 

The fact that this team is obliterating team and MLB records for home runs without a guy who very well could end up the best power hitter on the team at some point is pretty amazing. 

Mayo might be the best prospect in this system. Really Holliday, Mayo and Basallo all could lay claim to the best prospect in the system. 

[Hallas]

Fun fact, Westburg is +8 OAA at 3rd and -6 at 2nd.  I'm a little surprised to see him so far down at 2nd, but he's looked pretty good at 3rd, and he's looking like an all star.  Between that and the fact that Holliday has 2nd reserved for him, it makes it really difficult to pencil in Mayo anywhere.  Maybe he can play RF?  Based on how he mashes you find room for him but we have a lot of crowded spots everywhere.

[Bemorewins]

41 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

The fact that this team is obliterating team and MLB records for home runs without a guy who very well could end up the best power hitter on the team at some point is pretty amazing. 

Mayo might be the best prospect in this system. Really Holliday, Mayo and Basallo all could lay claim to the best prospect in the system. 

Tony, do you think that Mayo has Judge upside when it comes to power? That’s the only guy besting Gunnar right now. Or do you think that this is an outlier power season for Gunnar?