Last year was brutal. With the Indians talking about breaking up the party, opportunity exists to at least be competitive. I’m not in favor of throwing away our minor league assets despite the many good intentioned suggestions by others. Instead, we have to be strategic, keeping future assets, trading for more assets and signing key free agents. We also have the opportunity to capitalize on other teams’ overspending.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Jose Abreu, $16M TENDER
- Avisail Garcia, $8M Non- TENDER. Too much for too little
- Yolmer Sanchez, $4.7M Non TENDER
- Carlos Rodon, $3.7M TENDER
- Matt Davidson, $2.4M Non- TENDER. Minor league contract?
- Leury Garcia, $1.9M TENDER
- Danny Farquhar, $1.4M NON-TENDERED ALREADY
CLUB OPTIONS
- Nate Jones, $4.65 million/$1.25M buyout PICKED UP ALREADY
- James Shields, $16 million/$2M buyout BOUGHT OUT ALREADY
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Miguel Gonzalez (made $4.75 million in 2018) LET GO
- Hector Santiago (made $2 million in 2018 — added) RETAIN
FREE AGENTS (We need pitching, A Centerfielder, and a Third baseman)
No. 1: Gio Gonzalez (four years, $60 million). 2018 was not a great year but he finished last year strong with the Brewers and 2017 was a good year.
No. 2: Josh Donaldson (two years, $40million). He is a placeholder for two years. Either Burger or Madrigal will be up in two years and we need some excitement in the meantime.
No. 3: Andrew Miller (two years, $24 million).
No. 4: Yusei Kikuchi (4 years, $56 million) No compensation in draft picks. A Lefty! An International guy. What could go wrong?
No. 5. Wilson Ramos (3 Years, $33 Million)
TRADES
No. 1: Trade Leury Garcia to the Cubs for Albert Almora, Tyler Chatwood. The Scrubs need to dump salary and Chatwood has two more years. Can he be fixed? If he can, we have a piece to trade or use while others develop. Give Almora Center and you don’t lose Engel type defense but you can a better stick. They get Garcia because he’ll fit right in to the plan to move guys all over the field.
No. 2: Trade Carlos Rodon to the Yankees for Frazier, Sheffield, Medina, Ellsbury, Andujar. Let’s start with the obvious discussion point: that’s a lot for Rodon. Yes, but the Yanks want to sign Machado and not go over the luxury tax number. They need to dump Ellsbury, who would have to agree to the deal. He probably would if the Sox agreed to release him. Done. Andujar becomes expendable if Manny is in NY. Frazier is already expendable. Medina is 19 or so and Sheffield is another top young arm. Amassing Assets. I count Ellsbury toward player development money. About $21 mil for the next two seasons.
No. 3: Trade Wellington Castillo to Atlanta for Tucker Davidson and Ricardo Sanchez. The two players are buried deep on the Braves prospect list and probably won’t make it to Atlanta. Atlanta needs a catcher and we need to get rid of one.
Other
Extend Abreu for 3 years for 39 mil
SUMMARY
We don’t want to give up future assets including draft picks. We need to be somewhat aware of a budget so we had to cut dead wood like Avi Garcia, Davidson. I think we can be competitive and still wait for our future stars.
Lineup
- Moncada 2B $560,000
- Andujar DH/3B $560,000
- Abreu 1B/DH $13 mil
- Palka LF $560,000
- Donaldson 3B/1B/DH $20 mil
- Ramos C $11 Mil
- Almora CF $600,000
- Frazier RF $560,000
- Anderson SS $1.4 mil
Bench: Rondon, Narvaez, Delmonico (total 1.68 M)
- Gonzalez $15 mil
- Lopez $555,000
- Kikuchi $14 mil
- Chatwood $13 mil
- Giolito $555,000
Bullpen:
- Covey $555,000
- Santiago $2 MIL
- Miller $12 MIL
- Burr $555,000
- Fry $555,000
- Hamilton $555,000
- Bummer $555,000
- Jones $4.65 Mil
Dead money: Ellsbury $21 mil
Total salary 88 mil plus 21 mil for Ellsbury. If it wasn't for money, I would keep Avi for another year and let him fight it out with Frazier and Palka. Maybe Jerry would say yes.
