2022-2023 Offseason Thread

[lou]

I don't love the idea of using prospects to get RP, but this deal looks very good on it's face. Being that it's the Marlins, though, I'm sure Puk will just be an ok RP, and Bleday will become the hitter we all wanted him to be.

After a horrid start, they're actually close to making this a proper offseason. They still need another bat, preferably a SS. Reynolds would be a really nice final piece, but I'm not holding my breath on that. Realistically, I think they're probably done, but I hope I'm wrong.

We can also view this as a compliment they believe in some assortment of DLC, Sanchez, Burdick, and Jerar. Or it is a set up for Reynolds in LF, and they still like those guys as the 4th OF/DH moving forward once Soler likely opts out with even an OK year. DLC has the great analytics/new swing supporting him. Sanchez has very good hard hit rates when he does hit the ball and big defensive upside. Scouts like Jerar and thinks he needs time and had the big winter league. I'm with fish16, I'd play him exclusively at 1B. And Burdick is a cyborg tank who can sit in AAA for 2 years and see what happens. I'd play him at 1B too and see what happens.

They seem to be talking up Amaya a lot (and some analytics love him, as well as Hinojosa even!). I'd be surprised if he's good quick as why would the (smart) Dodgers move him. But they seem happy there.

I'd sell the fucking house for Reynolds and Bednar or Brubaker (only shedding 1 MLB starter - call it Rogers/Cabrera, Meyer, Eder/Fulton, J. Sanchez, Comp Pick) and sign Elvis Andrus. They can trade them 3 SP getting Puk and taking back another arm. That team would be really interesting I think without crunching numbers.

[fish16]

If everyone is healthy and has their best years of their careers I agree we’re going to be great.

i didnt say anything about the best years of their careers. If jazz stays healthy and doesnt miss 100 games, that's a massive multi win upgrade on last years team. If avisail garcia is actually just his career average of .740 OPs as opposed to the worst hitter in baseball, that's a multi win upgrade. If he is what he was 2 years ago, it's even more significant. Soler being healthy is another power bat upgrade. Arraez drastically improves the contact and on base abilities, same with segura. They dont have to have career years for these upgrades to be massive. It's really just health of Jazz and non-apocolyptic years from guys like last year. And they should be much better in close games with the bullpen additions and making sure Tanner scott is nowhere near the mound in close games.

[fish16]

We can also view this as a compliment they believe in some assortment of DLC, Sanchez, Burdick, and Jerar. Or it is a set up for Reynolds in LF, and they still like those guys as the 4th OF/DH moving forward once Soler likely opts out with even an OK year. DLC has the great analytics/new swing supporting him. Sanchez has very good hard hit rates when he does hit the ball and big defensive upside. Scouts like Jerar and thinks he needs time and had the big winter league. I'm with fish16, I'd play him exclusively at 1B. And Burdick is a cyborg tank who can sit in AAA for 2 years and see what happens. I'd play him at 1B too and see what happens.

They seem to be talking up Amaya a lot (and some analytics love him, as well as Hinojosa even!). I'd be surprised if he's good quick as why would the (smart) Dodgers move him. But they seem happy there.

I'd sell the fucking house for Reynolds and Bednar or Brubaker (only shedding 1 MLB starter - call it Rogers/Cabrera, Meyer, Eder/Fulton, J. Sanchez, Comp Pick) and sign Elvis Andrus. They can trade them 3 SP getting Puk and taking back another arm. That team would be really interesting I think without crunching numbers.

I really think it is a set up for Reynolds. They simply do not need this much pitching, and they clearly have 1 more big hole in the lineup. Keep Cabrera and Luzardo, use Rogers, Eder/Meyer/Fulton, Sanchez, Watson, and maybe the pick, and that should be more than enough to get reynolds.

SP would be Sandy, Luzardo, Cabrera, Cueto, and Garrett. Eury + whoever they dont trade and maybe sixto or even Puk as further depth. That is one of the best and cheapest rotations in baseball (on paper obviously).

Lineup can be something like

Arraez, , Jazz, Reynolds, Soler, Segura, Garcia, Cooper, Wendle/Amaya, Fortes/Stallings
Bullpen- Puk, Floro, Barnes, Scott, Sixto, Chargois, Enright, Okert.

If Sandy stays healthy, that's a damn good team. NG needs to finish it off.

[lou]

i didnt say anything about the best years of their careers. If jazz stays healthy and doesnt miss 100 games, that's a massive multi win upgrade on last years team. If avisail garcia is actually just his career average of .740 OPs as opposed to the worst hitter in baseball, that's a multi win upgrade. If he is what he was 2 years ago, it's even more significant. Soler being healthy is another power bat upgrade. Arraez drastically improves the contact and on base abilities, same with segura. They dont have to have career years for these upgrades to be massive. It's really just health of Jazz and non-apocolyptic years from guys like last year. And they should be much better in close games with the bullpen additions and making sure Tanner scott is nowhere near the mound in close games.

You're talking adding 18 wins from 2021. I'll give you health and some guys (Garcia/Stallings) not being assholes bridges half that quickly. But the current Arraez/Segura/Cueto/some relievers losing Pablo changes aren't making up the other 9. It's chipped into it for sure, but they probably need another 5+ wins minimum.

They need Reynolds and another upgrade, while not losing anything off the roster. Effectively, Reynolds, Bednar/Brubaker/Wacha (as some SP would have to be traded), and Andrus will give them a real fighting chance I think. Rosario, Peraza, etc. Any of these guys/scenarios make sense.

But we can just focus on - Puk is a nice get here. They did well on paper.

[fish16]

with the addition of yet another lefty in the pen in Puk, gotta wonder if there is another move to come or if they will actually carry 4 lefty relievers. Puk, Scott, Okert, and Garrett all projecting in the bullpen as of now. Garrett shouldnt be in AAA either, he has earned a roster spot. Likely an injury makes the conversation moot, but someone might be expendable, and it might be okert. His peripherals are not very impressive and he doesnt throw all that fast, though last year was easily the highest fastball velocity of his career at 93.7. Puk's average fastball last year was 97.

If sixto can get back healthy and come out of the bullpen, imagine his velocity, Puk is 97, barnes was 95.2 last year but has been in the 96 range most of his career, Scott threw 97 last year, chargois was 95.6, Floro doesnt throw hard, That's a lot of velocity in the back end of the pen compared to guys we had last year.

[fish16]

Puk reminds me a lot of the andrew miller/josh hader type out of the bullpen. Huge lefty who throws gas. For his sake i hope he stays healthy, he's had a tough few years before 2022.

[Nick]

i didnt say anything about the best years of their careers. If jazz stays healthy and doesnt miss 100 games, that's a massive multi win upgrade on last years team. If avisail garcia is actually just his career average of .740 OPs as opposed to the worst hitter in baseball, that's a multi win upgrade. If he is what he was 2 years ago, it's even more significant. Soler being healthy is another power bat upgrade. Arraez drastically improves the contact and on base abilities, same with segura. They dont have to have career years for these upgrades to be massive. It's really just health of Jazz and non-apocolyptic years from guys like last year. And they should be much better in close games with the bullpen additions and making sure Tanner scott is nowhere near the mound in close games.

This is a team that will still struggle scoring runs as currently constructed. It just is. Arraez and Segura are upgrades sure, but both guys are complementary players, Arraez a very good one, but the Power in the lineup is a complete fucking toss up. Will Cooper stay healthy? Will this be a good year or bad year from Soler? Will Garcia remember how to hit a baseball? Can some combination of De la Cruz and Sanchez be acceptable? And as much as I love Jazz, dude's missed 140 games in his first 2 full seasons, can he stay healthy playing a new position? Will catcher not be a black hole offensively? Just a lot of question marks for me.

[fish16]

This is a team that will still struggle scoring runs as currently constructed. It just is. Arraez and Segura are upgrades sure, but both guys are complementary players, Arraez a very good one, but the Power in the lineup is a complete fucking toss up. Will Cooper stay healthy? Will this be a good year or bad year from Soler? Will Garcia remember how to hit a baseball? Can some combination of De la Cruz and Sanchez be acceptable? And as much as I love Jazz, dude's missed 140 games in his first 2 full seasons, can he stay healthy playing a new position? Will catcher not be a black hole offensively? Just a lot of question marks for me.

absolutely agree, just saying a shit ton went wrong last year on top of an already bad team. i dont think they were nearly as bad as the record would indicate for the talent level. To me it's about .500 as of now because it's missing 1 bat and they seem to be unable to not have a terrible string of injuries in june and july every single year, but i just love the rotation and think getting reynolds makes this a playoff threat, albeit a lot of ifs go into that actually happening.

to me, the lineup on paper is better, but i think we will also realize very quickly how much better they are going to be situationally because of the added contact and OBP guys like Arraez and Segura. When you have what we had last year, we had 0 power and also 0 contact and on base ability. They still need more power and hopefully garcia and Soler returning to form helps that in some way be at least passable, but the contact and situational hitting is going to be so much more enjoyable to watch.

And like i said, with this puk move, i think the bullpen becomes way improved compared to last year.

I think to me the key for what this season becomes (outside of the need to trade for reynolds), is the health of Cabrera and luzardo. If those 2 stay healthy and our top 3 is them and sandy, i think we have more than enough options for the 4 and 5 spot for this rotation to be ++.

And i also think Skip compared to mattingly is not only a major upgrade over last year in terms of in game management, but i think the change of voice in the clubhouse will also be a refreshing change for a lot of the players.

[Nick]

Also, it’s easy to say, if Garcia just play to his career average. Did Garcia look to anyone like a guy that was about to break out of it at any point last year? Sure if he makes the right corrections in the off-season he could be back but I’m surely not going to count on that.

[fish16]

Also, it’s easy to say, if Garcia just play to his career average. Did Garcia look to anyone like a guy that was about to break out of it at any point last year? Sure if he makes the right corrections in the off-season he could be back but I’m surely not going to count on that.

he was wildly out of shape coming into spring and never got into shape. I believe he also had an injury of some sort that lingered that didnt help. If you look at his career, since 2017 he has alternated good years and bad years. From 2017 on, here are his OPS by year: .885, .719, .796, .659, .820, .582

They should have never paid him that contract, but it's very likely he bounces back and at least plays to his career averages, if not putting up one of his good years. He seems to be taking it very seriously, given that he has lost a bunch of weight and is not playing in the WBC to focus on the year.

[rmc523]

Really good off-season? Are we joking? We spent no significant money and are looking at a 79 win season instead of 69. A really good off-season would’ve been putting together a playoff contender. What we have right now ain’t it.

I agree they should've dropped money on one of the big name SS guys out there, AND all the moves they have made.

I think last year's team would've been around .500 if it weren't for the perfect storm of Jazz injury, Garcia/Soler suckage, and lame duck Don. He had no urgency/was checked out, so the team never really meshed/had any drive.

[rmc523]

absolutely agree, just saying a shit ton went wrong last year on top of an already bad team. i dont think they were nearly as bad as the record would indicate for the talent level. To me it's about .500 as of now because it's missing 1 bat and they seem to be unable to not have a terrible string of injuries in june and july every single year, but i just love the rotation and think getting reynolds makes this a playoff threat, albeit a lot of ifs go into that actually happening.

to me, the lineup on paper is better, but i think we will also realize very quickly how much better they are going to be situationally because of the added contact and OBP guys like Arraez and Segura. When you have what we had last year, we had 0 power and also 0 contact and on base ability. They still need more power and hopefully garcia and Soler returning to form helps that in some way be at least passable, but the contact and situational hitting is going to be so much more enjoyable to watch.

And like i said, with this puk move, i think the bullpen becomes way improved compared to last year.

I think to me the key for what this season becomes (outside of the need to trade for reynolds), is the health of Cabrera and luzardo. If those 2 stay healthy and our top 3 is them and sandy, i think we have more than enough options for the 4 and 5 spot for this rotation to be ++.

And i also think Skip compared to mattingly is not only a major upgrade over last year in terms of in game management, but i think the change of voice in the clubhouse will also be a refreshing change for a lot of the players.

Yeah, having a manager that actually cares and doesn't pull absurd double switches that takes out his best players will help wonders.....not to mention the shifts away from the spots players hit the ball.

[sports24/7]

If everyone is healthy and has their best years of their careers I agree we’re going to be great.

I don’t think they’d have to have the best season of their careers, just above average seasons for key players like Soler and Garcia. We certainly shouldn’t count on that, and that’s why for it to be a good off-season for me they still need another good bat, but it’s also not pie in the sky to see these guys have seasons like that. And even if they don’t make a move before the season starts, if they start off even decent, maybe that puts pressure on the ownership/the FO to make a bigger move for a bat.

I’m not overly excited about the off-season, but it looked for a while like they were going status quo, and at least now they have started to make some encouraging moves.

[fauowls44]

Disappointed that Bleday never panned out here. Just couldn’t ever hit consistently in the minors. Maybe he figures it out in Oakland, but getting Puk under team control through 2026 is a nice move.

Having Floro, Puk, Barnes, and Scott at the back of the pen gives them plenty of late inning options with closing experience.

Solid off-season for Kim after a painfully slow start. They still need another bat. Obviously Reynolds would be perfect, but even a smaller move could be helpful. Whatever role they envisioned for Gurriel hasn’t been filled after that broke down. Maybe they circle back to that with spring training approaching. Profar is still sitting out there as are guys like Voit and Moustakas. I’d take a flyer on one of them and see if they can make the team in the spring.

[lou]

Disappointed that Bleday never panned out here. Just couldn’t ever hit consistently in the minors. Maybe he figures it out in Oakland, but getting Puk under team control through 2026 is a nice move.

Having Floro, Puk, Barnes, and Scott at the back of the pen gives them plenty of late inning options with closing experience.

Solid off-season for Kim after a painfully slow start. They still need another bat. Obviously Reynolds would be perfect, but even a smaller move could be helpful. Whatever role they envisioned for Gurriel hasn’t been filled after that broke down. Maybe they circle back to that with spring training approaching. Profar is still sitting out there as are guys like Voit and Moustakas. I’d take a flyer on one of them and see if they can make the team in the spring.

Puk told Oakland he wanted to start and they didn't disagree so they were going to stretch him out. Just saying, might not necessarily be just a reliever although that's likely the obvious move. In any event, he's a welcome addition wherever he lands. He's good. I really don't get Oakland's thinking here. Bleday is a swing path away from exploding, but you can say that about 100 guys at all times and most don't do it. He's a good prospective add, but not at the expense of a maybe SP or high leverage pen arm with 4 years of control. But whatever. Arraez fills that Gurriel spot IMO - that's the backup 1B situation and since there are no other bats around, you rely on effectively Berti to take over 2B (as well as their arguably top 3 bats in AAA are Amaya, Groshans, and Edwards. Or you just move Jazz back and maybe Sanchez/Burdick/Jerar can handle an OF spot), etc. I don't see how Voit or Mouse help compared to what happens if Wendle gets hurt. It's still a SS as the most impactful add to me.

As mentioned if they can pull a Reynolds+Bednar/Brubacker and only shave 1 MLB arm doing that (call it Rogers, Meyer, Eder, J. Sanchez, 1-2 decent things outside top 10 prospects), and sign Andrus on top of that (or even better trade for Rosario without hurting the MLB team) I think the Phillies would be concerned.