Roster Debate: The Starting Pitchers and the Catchers

 As we make our way to the last two groups, starting pitchers and catchers on the 40-man roster, here is what we have.

STARTING PITCHERS

Shane Beiber - KEEP 

Aaron Civale - KEEP

Zach Plesac - KEEP

Cal Quantrill - KEEP

Triston McKenzie - KEEP

Eli Morgan - KEEP - This is an important roster spot but, if everyone is healthy and effective, Morgan will be depth at AAA.   He can hone his stuff down there knowing how he hast to attack batters based on his stuff and just learn to attack them that way.

Carlos Vargas - KEEP (maybe) - Most difficult decision we have yet encountered in these blog posts.   We may have forgotten but the last time Vargas played was in 2019 and that was at Mahoning Valley.   He has never played one inning of full-season minor league baseball as the 2020 season was cancelled.   This is a good example of a team shooting themselves in the foot.   They loved Vargas enough as a long-term prospect to place him on the 40 man at a very early stage in his development.   Then the pandemic hit, then Tommy John surgery.   So they have a player who likely is 3 years away from the majors with maybe only 2 minor league options left, unless through appeal or through a change in the collective bargaining agreement he gets that extra option year.   However, even if that is true, he will still likely create a "dead" roster spot for the next two years, at least, meaning the ML team won't get anything out of the player AND will have reduced roster flexibility as a result of rostering a guy not prepared to help the major league team in the near future.  So, most difficult decision but I guess you have made your bed with him and now you have to sleep in it and see if he healthy and how he advances next spring.

CATCHERS

Austin Hedges - KEEP -  Look, when he comes up I think "Chicken Little" and I am yelling at the screeen "Don't Swing" and "No".  But he is the most reliable catcher on the team right now.

Roberto Perez - DON'T BRING BACK ...unless he is willing to play for $3 million on a 1 year deal.   Look, I love Roberto but not for his option price.  $3 million is generous based on how much he has been hurt and how bad his offensive production has been.  He would only get that salary out of loyalty.

SUMMARY

Regarding the starting pitchers, we will be looking at 7, maybe 8 starters going into spring training on the 40-man roster, if we don't make trades or sign free agents to major league deals.  That is tight but we do have guys like Hentges and even Trevos Stephan who could step up if needed.   Still, the guys we have may give us the best starting 5 pitchers in baseball if they are healthy and continue to perform at a high level.  

As far as catchers go we will need at least one of our spots on the 40-man to be held for catcher #2 (behind or along with Hedges) as Bryan Lavistida won't be ready for the major leagues at the beginning of the season.  It would be nice, after the Rule 5 draft, to make a move or two to clear a spot for Roberto coming back a significantly reduced salary.  That would be ideal.   But, either way, we need to hold that spot open for SOMEONE.   

So, now we are done with the current 40 man roster player-by-player discussions.  Next we will look at the number of prospects we need to roster and compare that to the open roster spots I say we should create.   Finally I will see if there is room for any of the guys I said to remove from the roster and, if so, which ones we should add back in.