PREAMBLE
I’ve gone a bit over my budget but I’ve worked it out with Uncle Jerry, given the increased revenue from CHSN, the gates, and memorabilia that will be sold with this plan. Uncle Jerry was more than amenable to this idea and was very excited when I guaranteed him the AL Central championship with this improved roster. So here goes.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Miguel Vargas: Tender
- Brenton Doyle: Tender
- Joey Bart: Non-tender
- Huascar Brazobán: Tender
- Jordan Leasure: Non-tender
- Chris Murphy: Non-tender
Vargas DUH. Doyle, less DUH. Brazoban, DUH and designate.
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Nobody
Nobody will be retained unfortunately.
FREE AGENTS
Sign Randy Arozarena for 4 years/$90m to play LF
Sign Michael King for 4 years/$120m to be our true #1
Sign David Bednar for 4 years/$60m
TRADES
Trade Chase Meidroth, Tyler Davis, and Drew Thorpe to Anaheim for Walbert Urena. Urena is a 22 year old rotation starter for us and Anaheim gets a good starting pitcher and great 2b plus now we have a spot for Sam to play full-time.
SUMMARY
Rotation:
Michael King
Walbert Urena
Sean Burke
Grant Taylor - I think he earned a shot to join the rotation. I don’t see why he can’t give us 5 good innings each time.
Anthony Kay*
Bullpen:
David Bednar - closer
Hagen Smith* - high leverage/backup closer, takes over the Grant Taylor role
Bryan Hudson* - high leverage
Jordan Hicks - high leverage
Noah Schultz* - long relief/spot starter
Davis Martin - long relief/spot starter
David Sandlin - long relief/spot starter
Luis Castillo - takes over the Trevor Richards mop up role (cut him and give to Tyler Schweitzer if it goes badly)
Lineup
2b. Sam Antonacci
3b. Miguel Vargas
lf. Randy Arozarena
1b. Munetaka Murekami*
c. Kyle Teel*
rf. Braden Montgomery*
dh. Caleb Bonemar
ss. Colson Montgomery*
cf. Tristan Peters/Brenton Doyle
Bench
dh. Andrew Benintendi*
c. Edgar Quero*
lf/cf/rf. Brenton Doyle/Tristan Peters*
3b/ss/2b/1b/cf/lf/rf. Brooks Baldwin
Explanation
So here’s what the hell is actually happening here:
- The rotation has been shored up with 3 “for sure’s” and 2 “wild cards.” King and Urena anchor it with Burke. Between those 3, if they can win 60-70%+ of their starts and we can win 50%+ with our 4 and 5, we’ll be pretty good. If Kay or Taylor don’t work out, we have a ton of possibilities in the pen to jump in, Sandlin being first on my list.
- The bullpen just got stronger. Granted, Taylor is now in the rotation, but we have Smith for a full year, Bednar as a legit closer, and Martin/Sandlin/Schultz in defined roles. I think this bullpen actually looks really strong plus we have the Wizard and other prospects coming later.
- This lineup still will have some strikeout challenges but we’ve also added some power and batting average with Arozarena, and some speed and defensive depth. Bonemar is not really an everyday DH - this is meant as a rotation spot where we can spell people and Bonemar can fill in in the OF/2b/3b. It seems like a good way to break him in and to and also platoon him with Arozarena and Beni.
- Baldwin takes over the super-sub role that he was destined to have originally. If he’s not ready to go from his rehab, sub Acuna here and that’s fine.
Payroll
I end up with a payroll of just over $160m by my calculations.
