moonslav59

No, we don't know if Cincy will trade a good pitcher, other than maybe Singer, but we do have what they need, and they have what we need, so there is some logic to thinking something might get done. More likely, we trade for Ryan, Keller or Alcantara. Those are known teams looking towards the future. (They may not be looking for Duran, but rather our young pitchers, Campbell, Garcia or Arias.)

If we add two everyday players while subtracting Bregman (FA) and Duran (trade), our 13 players on the roster plus 4-6 on the 40 might be... C: Narvaez & Wong 1B: _____ (Casas AAA) 2B: _____ Romy/DHam 3B: Mayer (Eaton AAA) SS: Story (Sogard AAA) LF: Anthony (Campbell AAA) CF: Rafaela RF: Abreu & Jh Garcia DH: Yoshida That's 17 players, not counting Grissom (DFA) or a 3rd catcher.

He wasn't offered that silly amount last winter. I'm not sure what changed? Inflation? Maybe Age. Yes. Health outlook? Yes (for the bad.)

If the Mest don't bring Alonso back, I think Philly gets one and the other might be someone we can outbid other teams for, since the Dodgers probably won't sign a DH/1Bman type. They'll go for Tucker or Bichette and Cease or Framber.

Several of us wanted him.

I think we'd have to force Yoshida or Hicks into the deal as a salary balance or partial balance part of any offer made.

I think Cincy need offense enough that they may trade from pitching depth. Yes, Singer would make the most sense, but for the right offensive player(s) they may part with Lodolo. I don't think they'll offer Greene. I think they'd take Duran and Garcia for Lodolo. Campbell could be subbed for Garcia, but we might want something more from their side, or force then to take Hicks with KC & Duran. I'm not sure I add KC, even with Hicks. Does BTV have KC+ Hicks about equal to Jh Garcia?

That's like a triple negative. I'd be okay trading him, but there is a non-zero chance he doesn't has the same trade vale as last winter.

He should stay above Story going forward and being 5 years younger. Some players gain power as they pass ages 27-28, but even if he stays even, he should be higher than a 33 year old Story. Story is likely a better defensive 2Bman.

I think we add Sandlin and select nobody. Mullins might be worth adding to the 40, especially if we know we have a 2 or 3 for 1 deal in the making. Once we add FAs, we can always DFA a bubble guy or make another trade. I think Wink and Criswell have some minor trade value. Trade one for a non 40 man prospect.

True. He's about even with Story on HRs, but counting age projection might be a slight uptick. We'd still need to add major power at the corner IF position. 2025 ISO: .170 Story (.168 2022-2024) Turns 33 in NOV .172 Bichette (.162 '22-'24) Turns 28 in March SLG .433 Story (.415 '22-'24) .483 Bichette (.453 '22-'24)

If we really like our "fringey" players that much and are looking for a way to keep them, we can trade 2-3 non fringey players for 1 much better player and open up 1-2 slots. Duran, Crawford and DHam (barely a step above fringey.)

We may be able to sneak a couple guys through waivers, but if someone claims out-of-options Grissom, Moran, Wink or Criswell, will we feel crushed? Same with players with options like Kelly, Guerrero, Eaton and maybe Sogard. I would not shed a tear if we DFA Hicks or even Masa, but I think we could trade them by paying 70-90% of their contracts. (That could add a handful of $M of dollars to the winter budget.) I could also see a trade like Duran + Dandlin for Lodolo which would free up one more slot. Maybe Duran, DHam & a 40 man roster pitcher (Crawford, Dobbins, Fitts, Harrison) for a much better pitcher. I agree, not many teams are looking to add 2 to their 40 man crunch. The Crochet trade was just 2 guys from the 40 plus 2 prospects.

That's how I see it. He can't be much worse than Toro, except on D. We've needed 1B depth every season since I can't remember when.

And when you look at the bubble players already on the 40 that could be traded or DFA'd without much worry, IMO there is no major 40 man roster crunch. Kelly or Guerrero Out of options: Grissom, Criswell, Winckowski, Moran Salary dumps: Masa & Hicks Trade? Murphy, DHam, Eaton or Sogard

BINGO! Even if he ends up not playing a single game in 2026, I'd prefer rolling the dice on him than some of the bubble players mentioned beforehand.

It's more than DET offered him when he was a year younger. It won't be $110M/4 and likely under $150M/5. I'd guess between $120M/4 & $140M/5.

We could then afford Bichette (maybe Mayer at SS & Bichette at 2B.)

K Campbell should be listed as 1B depth.

If I had to choose I'd go with Harrison as the #5. (Crawford is second in line.) Fitts should be in the pen. ESPN says Dobbins should be 100% ready for ST'ing, so I doubt he starts the year on the 60, like Houck will after opening day. AAA rotation: Dobbins, Harrison or Crawford, Early, Tolle & Perales (Maybe one of these 5 go to the MLB pen with Fitts (Crawford?) and Uberstine is the 5th man. Criswell is out of options, along with Wink & Moran. I doubt any would pass through waivers, but are also not high trade targets for other teams looking at their own 40 man roster squeezes. We may try to keep them around by fitting them into the opening day ML roster, but we also have Hicks crowding the 8 man pen. Chapman Whitlock Slaten Weissert Bernardino Fitts Hicks _______ One slot for Criswell, Wink or Moran (Fitts and Bernardino have options remaining, so may be they start the season off the 26, just so we keep viable pen choices alive. I'd love to see us find a way to trade Hicks and his $12M x 2 remaining contract. I'd rather have any of these guys I mentioned on the 26 over him, and even Murphy and maybe even Kelly/Guerrero or a converted SP'er.

Houck could likely be a great set-up man in '27, if we choose not to start him. (Hint: Whitlock become a FA after 2026.)

They stuck with KC a very long time, too, but then again they stuck with Toro for a very long time, too, so I'm not sure we can read too much into length of leashes. Campbell had been ripping up pitchers upon every promotion, then started out very well in early April. I doubt they cut him as much slack, next spring, but who knows. I do think they may hand Mayer the 2B or 3B job. I'm not sure how long his leash will be, but at least he's okay on D. That makes it easier to lengthen the leash. We also have Jh Garcia looking ready for a legit shot at some serious MLB playing time, but with a team looking to get to the next level, I'm not sure how many slots we open up for unproven youngsters beyond Mayer & Anthony.

One 3 week streak? I found one over 100 games long. Try 3+ months. I may disagree with you, but you won't get banned from here for posts like these. We don't have much talent that needs Rule 5 protection. One could argue Sandlin is borderline. To me, we can easily get down to 36 players while keeping Casas, Houck and Sandlin. Say good bye to Grissom & N Lowe. Keep one from Kelly and Guerrero. Keep Sogard over Eaton. Keep two from Criswell, Wink, Moran and Murphy (the first 3 have zero options) That's an easy 36. Leave room for 4 FAs. Houck was our ace in '24. Casas is the only guy on our roster who has averaged 30 Hrs per 650 and an .800+ OPS. You wanna keep Sogard and eaton over him?

The Casas injury is very hard to come back from. With Mayer, it's been different injuries, but none career threatening. I'd trade Duran and Sandlin for Lodolo. Sign one of these pairs: Bregman (3B) and Suarez (1B)- Mayer/Romy plays 2B Suarez (3B) and Hoskins (1B)- Mayer/Romy plays 2B Alonso (1B) and Torres (2B) Castro (2B) Rengifo (2B) or B Lowe (2B)- Mayer/Romy plays 3B KMart (2B via trade) and Suarez/Hoskins (1B)- Mayer/Romy at 3B Maybe bring back Matz & Refsnyder, too.

Yes, I just presented the starting point for the winter and 2026. If we add nobody or just a bunch of scrubs, I'll be driving the anti-JH wagon, myself. (I may not deserve it, but I will very quickly. I don't even think adding Bregman, Hoskins and Merrill Kelly would be "enough," but I might not get rabid over it.