Why "lengthy," unless we go back to trying to reset the tax?
Are you assuming Bloom will swing and miss on half or more of his FA signings, this winter?
$22M JD
$20M Bogey
$17M Eovaldi
$16M Price
$7M Kike
$7M Vax
$7M Wacha
$5M Hill
$3M Strahm
$2M Plawecki
$2M Robles
$2M Sawamura (option)
That's about $110M for about 6-7 major slots to fill:
SP
SP
RP
C
2B
DH
OF
If the farm can fill 1 or 2 of these slots, or roles like back-up catcher, 6th starter, 6th man in the 8 man pen and utility roles, we might get by needing to sign just 4-5 major free agents. $110M can get you very good talent.
In the past, Bloom has been given $35-40M to spend on 8-11 slots, and this past winter, he spent:
$23M Story
$10M Paxton (more about 2023>)
$7M Wacha
$5M Hill
$4M Diekman
$3M Strahm
$2M Robles
That's about $55M for 7-8 slots.
(THe JBJ trade added salary, as did taking Vaz's option)
I know we can't assume what Henry will agree to pay, this coming winter, but if he keeps the budget near what it is now, there is no reason to think we can't "rebuild" a formidable team by 2023.
Here is the remaining framework to work with and back filling 8 slots:
SP1 _______
SP2 Whitlock
SP3 Sale
SP4 Paxton
SP5 Pivetta
SP6 Bello, Seabold, Winckowski, Groome, Mata, Walter, Murphy
CL _______
RP2 Houck
RP3 ______
RP4 Taylor
RP5 _______
RP6 Diekman
RP7 Schreiber
RP8 Barnes, Sawamura, Brasier, Davis, Valdez, Danish, German, Crawford, Feltman
C ________, Wong/RHernandez/Cottam
1B Casas, Dalbec (TReed, Binelas
2B _____, Downs, Hamilton (Yorke)
3B Devers
SS Story (Arauz, Lugo)
LF Verdugo (Granberg, JDavis)
CF ______, Duran (Rafaela, Jimenez)
RF JBJ (McDonough)
DH ______ (Granberg, Koss