Emp9

I was actually going to list Napoli as an honerable mention if we wind-up going the cheaper route to fill in our DH/1B for next year, but I was running out of time. He's put up some nice #'s this season. I loved his initial signing in 2013 and figured there wasn't going to be that much of a drop off between AGone & Nap ... Along with the Vic signing. But even those "short" contracts (Nap's extension included) weren't short enough evidently. I'd take Nap back on a reasonable contract if that meant extending Betts, Bogey, & JBJ.

Wow, the Tribe are now w/out Carrasco for the season, before him Salazar (most likely).... Yikes.

Probably because his swing and misses in 2015 are still setting off currents that are growing into a much larger storm as we speak somewhere. Have some mercy for the good people of Rio de Janeiro, would ya?

Bautista might be an easier signing, less years than EE, though maybe not less money necessarily. He could play OF when called upon. Carlos Santana (although his club option should get picked up). Matt Holliday (although his club option should get picked up) Yoenis Cespedes (has an opt-out) Carlos Gomez (he's waking up as of late, which I suspected he would). He may cost significantly less to sign than anyone out there. Carlos Beltran (as long as he doesn't leave the bat on his shoulders when the game is on the line... ) We could move HanRam to DH, Shaw to 1B, and kick the tires on Justin Turner ( If Moncada isn't quite ready ). All honesty, I'd rather sure-up some of the young players we have on the team right now. If we could extend Betts and XB first (atleast those two), then go after some free agents. We have to prioritize extensions and then see what we have to work with.

Could it also be that we're all a little spoiled by XB, Beni, & especially Betts. In a way you could throw Shaw in on that list as well. I'm not that down on his first 4-5 game performance. I know calling up a top prospect is supposed to have some kind of happy ever after feeling to it, but in reality it's just the beginning of the story. I knew he'd K a ton. I still love calling him up. It's a game of adjustments. He needs to know first hand what he'll be up against. I hope we give him as long a leash as a pennant race provides at this point and he still focuses on his defense. Having him around to PR in the post season would nice too. I said this about JBJ way back when, whether or not you agree he deserved to be promoted, he earned the look. Can't fault anyone for that.

Last season Buch had a nice 1st half (barring a few early games if I remember correctly). I thought it was a no brainer to pick up his option for this year. This season I'm on the fence about picking up his last option. You can make some arguments either way. Last Season=No brainer, This Season= Shoulder Shrug.

While I can see not playing Ortiz at 1B in his farewell season, he was never a bad fielder.

The average player is pretty good, lets not forget. WAR for example isn't based on the average player, its based on the typical replacement player. A replacement player is usually of varying degree not even close to an average player. With that said, I wouldn't mind a stat similar to WAR in every way that uses the average player as the baseline. WAA?

He may get some playing time in LF before Beni is cleared to come back, I read.

Shaw for LF... interesting.

True. In that case, I just might be in the market for a new avatar soon.

Does Farrell ever put in his lineup on time or is it just my perception that he waits until the last second ?

Even w/ the risk of having somewhat of a Closer Controversy... I'd still like to go after a closer off the FA List. Injuries happen, decline happens... I'd be nice to have a set-up guy who's proven he can close out a game if needed

So, is it a given Moncada will start today & vs all RH'ed SPers going forward?

I'd be real surprised if we see Sam Travis next season at all. I cld see trading both Shaw & Holt for BP help. I'd like to keep Shaw over Holt if possible. Maybe we sign a FA RP & trade for one as well (along w/ the possibilty of re-signing one of Ziegler, Koji, or Taz). Our rotation looks decent still, and I always envisioned that if we trade Swihart it wld be for a bigger get than a mere BP arm. There shouldn't be any rush making a trade involving Swihart now. We should let teams come to us about him, not the other way around.

Err on the side of caution, of course. But if there's no longer anything to be cautious about, yeah sure play him.

I still like what Ziegler brings to the team. He's a different look than the rest & differs from the all or nothing high velocity-high stike-out guys everyone likes. We'll be hard pressed to find a better GB% from a RPer. I still like him for a late 6 inning & 7th inning guy. But it wld come down to price $, i suppose.

'16-'17 FA List (for quick reference) via MLBTR: Right-Handed Relievers (Italics denote active closers) Matt Albers (34) — $3MM club option with a $250K buyout Matt Belisle (37) Joaquin Benoit (39) Joe Blanton (36) Blaine Boyer (35) Santiago Casilla (36) Joba Chamberlain (31) Jesse Chavez (33) Josh Collmenter (31) — $2.25MM mutual option with a $150K buyout Wade Davis (31) — $10MM club option with a $2.5MM buyout Scott Feldman (34) Neftali Feliz (29) Jason Grilli (40) — $3MM club option with a $250K buyout David Hernandez (32) Luke Hochevar (33) — $7MM mutual option with a $500K buyout Daniel Hudson (30) Tommy Hunter (30) Edwin Jackson (33) Kenley Jansen (29) Kevin Jepsen (32) Mark Melancon (32) Pat Neshek (36) — $6.5MM club option with a $500K buyout Seung-hwan Oh (34) — club option Ross Ohlendorf (34) Jonathan Papelbon (36) Joel Peralta (41) Yusmeiro Petit (32) — $3MM club/vesting option with a $500K buyout (vests with 80 IP) Fernando Rodney (40) — floating $2MM+ club option with a $400K buyout Sergio Romo (34) Fernando Salas (32) Joe Smith (33) Drew Storen (29) Junichi Tazawa (31) Carlos Torres (34) Koji Uehara (42) Ryan Vogelsong (39) Jordan Walden (29) — $5.25MM club option with a $250K buyout Ryan Webb (31) Brad Ziegler (37) Left-Handed Relievers (Italics denote active closers) Craig Breslow (36) Brett Cecil (30) Aroldis Chapman (29) Mike Dunn (32) Boone Logan (32) Javier Lopez (39) Cory Luebke (32) Eric O’Flaherty (32) Marc Rzepczynski (31) Matt Thornton (40) Travis Wood (30)

Problem is, there's hardly anything else to go get this off-season besides relievers. The flip side is that I'd rather them spend some $ on relief than keep shelling out our fine prospects for more late inning help.

We're facing all righty starters this weekend. Mengden starts Sat. So I think we may see quite a bit of Moncada.

Fri: Triggs RH'd, Sat: TBD, Sun: Graveman RH'd

Sorry, I'm not familar w/ his work. More of a Poe guy myself. If that indeed ends up being the case, I can live with that as long as we get a totr SP back. Assuming you meant trade. Or do you mean we probably can't extend all of them? That's a possibilty.

You got that right. No matter what happens this season, this team should be fun to watch for a long time... Position -wise.

Does he sit vs leftys?

I wasn't going for positive per se. Rational maybe? His eta as a solid 4/5 just as our core players would be entering their prime could be a positive if that ever happens.