Bonn1997 wrote:Finestrg wrote:Just trying to get it down on paper to see where we are and where we could go. Hopefully it'll shape up this way:CF Ellsbury
SS Jeter
2B Cano (Omar Infante if Cano signs with Seattle?)
1B Teixeira
RF Granderson
LF Soriano
C McCann
DH Kendrys Morales? Mark Reynolds?
3B ??? A-Rod might get a reduced sentence at some point but he'll be gone the whole year. See, I would've been OK with David Adams here. Eduardo Nunez?
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1 - Sabathia
2 - Matt Garza?
3 - Nova
4 - Kuroda (if we want to conserve some salary, let Kuroda walk and slate in Adam Warren here)
5 - Pineda
Darkhorse - Manny Banuelos (legit consideration if he's healthy and has a good spring)
Darkhorse - Masahiro Tanaka, but maybe we pass on this in favor of filling other needs. Garza might be cheaper and more of a known quantity.
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Closer - Fernando Rodney? The bow & arrow thing's ridiculous but he's dominant. Younger than Nathan. 3 year deal maybe? If we want to conserve payroll, go with D-Rob and bump everyone up a notch.
Main setup - Robertson
Additional setup - Chris Perez?
Lefty Specialist - Resign Logan
Other quality possibilities:
?? Matt Thornton
?? Jose Veras
The rest:
Preston Claiborne
Cesar Cabral
Shawn Kelley
Adam Warren
David Phelps
Dellin Betances
What about Gardner? I assume he's playing and Granderson is gone.
I didn't get into the bench -- love Gardy but I think he might be relegated to 4th OFer if we can (1) bring back Granderson and (2) pick up a halfway decent everyday DH (Morales?). Although Ned could be right -- maybe Sori's looked at more as the DH and we go with more OF defense and speed with Gardner in the starting lineup. Could go either way.
I think Cano and Granderson are essential myself. Either one would be a huge loss and a tough void to fill. One guy's the best 2nd basemen in baseball, our own homegrown guy and the other was a guy we traded a good young OFer for a couple of years ago, a guy in his prime with 40 HR-type pop. We'd have nothing to show for that trade at all if we let Grandy walk. I know it's looking bleak but hopefully we can re-sign at least one of the 2 if not both. There are things we can do to conserve payroll to possibly come up with enough money for Cano & Granderson:
• Go cheap at DH (maybe Reynolds over Morales, go with Vernon Wells, give Pronk another shot?) and play Gardner full-time.
• Fill 3B from within. Probably the plan anyway. Nunez?
• Pass on the frontline starter (Garza, Tanaka).
• Pass on Kuroda, opt for Adam Warren here instead.
• Pass on the big name closer (Rodney or Nathan), promote Robertson to closer, elevate Betances and Claiborne to primary setup duty.
• Pass on shutdown lefties for the pen like Boone Logan and Matt Thornton -- instead go with Cesar Cabral, Vidal Nuno, David Huff.
Gonna be tough -- I don't really wanna skimp in these areas either -- I want upgrades here as well. Hopefully things settle down, we have some good dialogue with their agents, demands come down some and we can bring back Robbie and Grandy. I can't picture Grandy with the Mets and I can't picture Cano in another uniform as well. Does he really wanna go to Seattle? Safeco literally swallows up HRs. He'd hit 5-10 less a year there easy. But if they gave him a 10-year deal and the contract brought him to 41 years old, would he even care? Hopefully Robbie cares about wearing pinstripes and the 2 sides can bridge their gap. Jeter, Sabathia and these guys really need to put in work trying to get these 2 to stay..
12/6/2013 11:21 AM