The Next Wave

 OK, so I am now a convert.   It is time for the next wave of pitching.  Let's bring up Gavin Williams.  But what happens as a result of and after that?  That is the subject of this post.

• Gavin Williams gets added to the 40-man.  Who comes off?
• Pitchers?  
• Zach Plesac - We would likely DFA him, meaning we sell low on his trade value.  Some people are OK with that because they are just done with him.  I, personally, never like to give away assets without getting something in return.
• Aaron Civale - I don't see this happening but he has been quite mediocre most of his career and, last year, was downright replacement level of below in most of his starts.  

With either of these pitchers you aren't getting much back if you DFA them and I absolutely hate that but I think that if Willaims comes up, one of the guys above become expendable.  Frankly, I think Plesac could become a great multi-inning reliever if he could just get his head around that role, but I don't know if his mind would allow for that.  

• Position players
• Cam Gallagher, with the concomitant promotion of Bo Naylor - Naylor has trouble throwing out runners.  So does Gallagher.  So does Zunino who has many more issues than that.  So a positive move on all fronts.
• Jose Tena - something is wrong with this guy.  Don't know what but if they decide it isn't fixable, he could be gone
• Juan Brito - My favorite whipping boy, Nolan Jones hasn't made it out of AAA yet so if you were ever going to declare this trade a failure, now is the time to do it.
• Oscar Gonzalez - Talk about how the mighty have fallen!  The fact that he is even on this list after his rookie season shows that he has has cratered in Franmil Reyes-like fashion.  
• Richie Palacios - The second dumbest move we could make, he IS quite redundant to our current outfielders but is still, in my opinion, a decent prospect and if Brennan fails, Palacios is a good fall-back.  But that is what I thought about Nolan Jones so what do I know?
• Jhonkensy Noel - Hear me out.  He IS one step away from the majors but that step is the toughest one, and one Bobby Bradley could never quite make and that Oscar Gonzalez may not be able to make again.  I could see them dumping him but, with a guy like Noel, you want to hold onto him until you are absolutely sure that the light bulb isn't going to go on.  
• Gavin Williams gets added to the rotation.  Who is out?  Remember the rotation should, eventually, be Beiber, McKenzie, Quantrill, Williams, #5 (Bibee or Allen). We have to choose between Bibee and Allen for who gets the last spot, as crazy as that seems and that's IF Civale loses his rotation spot.
• Peyton Battenfield - The natural choice as his stuff is pedestrian.  Battenfield goes back to AAA and bids his time in case of injury.
• Aaron Civale - It is not out of the question that he joins Plesac, Battenfield, Allen and Gaddis in the rotation at Columbus as they all bide their time until 
• Logan Allen - How crazy would it be for Allen to go down when Williams came up?  Too crazy, I think.  Still, I think Allen's pure stuff/moxie plays up less than any of the other guys.
• What's left down below?  Not much, actually, beyond Plesac, Civale, Battenfield, Allen and Gaddis.  After Williams comes up you only have a bunch of question marks.
• Espino - Not until 2025, if then
• Cantillo - Some days it looks like this year but some days it looks like late 2024.  Not really imminent, however, until he strings together some strong starts (in his SECOND year at AA!!!) and then proves it can translate to AAA.
• Burns - Maybe never
• Nikhazy - Maybe not ever
• Campbell - 2025 at the earliest given what is going on with him this year
• Mace - Maybe not ever part #2
• Messick/Dion - 2025 at the earliest.

The thing about the guys who are left AFTER Williams is promoted is that NONE of them may EVRE show enough to make the majors, with Cantillo, right now, being head and shoulders above any of the rest of them in terms of talent and performance.  

SUMMARY - So there you have it.  Williams being promoted starts his arbitration, option and FA clocks one year ahead of where they should have started.  It creates a domino effect that will cause us to likely DFA or give away for little return, another player, maybe even a true prospect.  It will also deplete our quality starters from the minors and leave us with little in terms of replacements at AAA except for Logan and guys who have struggled recently.  

I hope the FO doesn't do anything that is silly leaving the FO supporters saying 'what did you exepct to get for [fill in the blank], he sucks so bad he isn't worth anything' and the rest of us saying "Really, you took cash for this guy instead of a good prospect coming back."