Other things first:
Eddie Rosario trade: We saved about $2,200,000 and gave away Rosario. Salary dump
Myles Straw trade: You have to ask yourself why the Astros would trade a quality ML centerfielder for Phil Maton and a low A catcher (Yainer Diaz) that the Astros would have to roster this year. Aside from that elephant in the room question, this looks like a good trade. We were going to need to find a home for Diaz as no way can you roster a 22 year old catcher in low A ball. That's assuming you think he would have been drafted in the Rule 5. I have my doubts but even if we did keep him, it is tough to roster a guy who might run out of options before he gets to the majors the first time. This will cost us to lose one of Johnson, Mercado or Zimmer to waivers this off-season., I guess. Still, a win for the Indians.
Luplow and DJ Johnson for Peyton Battenfield - This is a win for Tampa. They give up a AA pitcher who is not even on their top 50 prospects and get a guy back in Luplow who might win them a game or two down the stretch, hitting against tough lefthanders. The Indians get another college starter, albeit this one, unlike Pilkington, doesn't have to be rostered after this season. I think if you did a study of guys ranked from 20-30 in an organization's top prospects very few make the majors. What happens if they are not even ranked. Battenfield is a suspect, a filler, until proven otherwise.
The Hernandez trade keeps getting better. Do you realize that now that the White Sox got Hernandez for nothing, they turned around and traded Nick Madrigal as the centerpiece for Kimbrell. So the Hernandez trade netted them not only Hernandez but allowed them to get Kimbrell, as well. And we got Konnor Pinkington. Yeah, in the best interested of the team. BTW, another $1.8 million saved.
Still waiting to here how we spent the other $150,000 of our draft budget.
40-man roster issues
I made two lists. Players who should be on the 40-man roster this winter and players who will be competing for the remaining few spots on the 40-man roster this winter.
Locks - guys currently on the 40-man roster
1. Shane Bieber
2. Aaron Civale
3. Emmanuel Clase
4. Sam Hentges
5. James Karinchak
6. Triston McKenzie
7. JC Mejia
8. Zach Plesac
9. Cal Quantrill
10. Nick Sandlin
11. Roberto Perez
12.Gabe Arias
13. Bobby Bradley
14. Andres Gimenez
15. Nolan Jones
16. Jose Ramirez
17. Amed Rosario
18. Josh Naylor
19. Franmil Reyes
20. Myles Straw
Guys not on the 40 man now but virtual locks
21. Joey Cantillo - Even though he was hurt this year he was a valuable part of the Clevinger trade. They won't expose him to the Rule 5
22. Konnor Pinkington - Can you imagine losing this guy in the Rule 5 after trading Hernandez
23. Bryan Lavastida
24. Tyler Freeman
25. Johnkensy Noel - In low minors but power and athleticism are so compelling you can't leave him unprotected. Think Anthony Santander.
26. Richie Palacios
27. Brayan Rocchio
28. George Valera - He is so low in the minors that he might not even get his first cup of coffee until 2023, after we burned his second option. More likely it would be sometime in 2024, when we would have burned all three of his options. That's for his first taste, not getting to the majors for good
29/ Oscar Gonzalez - He looks too good to not roster. Maybe that changes after the rest of the AAA season but I doubt it.
So, we need to fill 11 spots.
Virtual Locks
30. Carlos Vargas - Currently on the roster so almost a lock
31. Eli Morgan - ditto
32. Trevor Stephen
33. Harold Ramirez
That's 33. So we have 7 left to place on the 40. If we don't remove any other young player from the current 40-man we have this.
34. Owen Miller
35. Yu Chang
36. Bradley Zimmer
37. Oscar Mercado
38. Daniel Johnson
39. Ernie Clement
40. Logan Allen
41. Scott Moss
42. Austin Hedges
43. Cam Hill
44. Justin Garza
45. Nick Wittgren
So, we would have to lose 5 players on this list to get down to 40. All of those 5 would have to be DFA'd, I think. I mean, we didn't even want to give up on Jake Bauers. How much do you think the FO wants to give up on 5 (or more, see below) of these guys and get nothing for them?
Guys still on the outside looking in:
Cody Morris
Will Benson
Jose Tena
Franciso Perez
Jose Fermin
Alexfri Planez
Juan Mota
Jerson Ramirez
Shane McCarthy
Adam Scott
Steve Kwan
Trenton Brooks
Jonathon Rodriguez
Aaron Pinto
Connor Marabell
Steve Kwan
Dakody Clemmer
These guys would have to be rostered or risk being taken in the Rule 5. Of these you would like to protect the first 4 although Mota and Jerson Ramirez are risks to be taken.
BOTTOM LINE:
So this is our dilemma. If it was me our 40-man would look like this:
1. Shane Bieber
2. Aaron Civale
3. Emmanuel Clase
4. Sam Hentges
5. James Karinchak
6. Triston McKenzie
7. JC Mejia
8. Zach Plesac
9. Cal Quantrill
10. Nick Sandlin
11. Roberto Perez
12.Gabe Arias
13. Bobby Bradley
14. Andres Gimenez
15. Nolan Jones
16. Jose Ramirez
17. Amed Rosario
18. Josh Naylor
19. Franmil Reyes
20. Myles Straw
21. Joey Cantillo
22. Konnor Pinkington
23. Bryan Lavastida
24. Tyler Freeman
25. Johnkensy Noel -
26. Richie Palacios
27. Brayan Rocchio
28. George Valera
29/ Oscar Gonzalez
30. Carlos Vargas
31. Eli Morgan
32. Trevor Stephen
33. Harold Ramirez
34. Owen Miller
35. Francisco Perez
36. Jose Tena
37. Will Benson
38. Jose Fermin
39. Cody Morris
40. Austin Hedges
The following guys would lose their roster spot and have to be DFA'd. Some have enough service time that they wouldn't have to accept the demotion to the minors and are able to become free agents. If any of these guys make it through waivers and are sent to the minor leagues they would all have to be exposed to the Rule 5 draft.
Ernie Clement
Logan Allen
Scott Moss
Cam Hill
Justin Garza
Nick Wittgren
Yu Chang
Bradley Zimmer
Oscar Mercado
Daniel Johnson
Yu Chang
Bradley Zimmer
Oscar Mercado
Daniel Johnson
The following guys would have to be exposed to the Rule 5.
Alexfri Planez
Juan Mota
Jerson Ramirez
Shane McCarthy
Adam Scott
Steve Kwan
Trenton Brooks
Jonathon Rodriguez
Aaron Pinto
Connor Marabell
Steve Kwan
Dakody Clemmer
You see the dilemma. I could see 10 of these guys picked in the Rule 5. Easily. And some others like Wittgren and Zimmer might have enough service time to become free agents rather than go to the minors.
Plus our 40 msn then has an extreme number of guys (10)who will not likely impact the ML team in 2022 as they will not have enough experience and/or will still be rehabbing from injury:
Joey Cantillo
Konnor Pinkington
Bryan Lavastida
Tyler Freeman
Johnkensy Noel
Richie Palacios
Brayan Rocchio
George Valera
Oscar Gonzalez
Carlos Vargas
Plus, if that isn't enough pressure, our roster will be packed with prospects and we won't be able to add anyone in free agency without DFAing a true prospect.
This is a mess and it would require some nifty trading to get us out of this mess, turning 3 prospects into one ML-readyprospect.
I have no faith our FO can pull this off.
But what do I know.
No comments:
Post a Comment