PREAMBLE
In my plan, I use short-term starting pitching solutions to figure out where we stand with our top pitching prospects while still remaining competitive and giving the starting pitching much needed innings.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Miguel Vargas: Tender
- Brenton Doyle: Tender
- Joey Bart: Non-tender
- Huascar Brazobán: Tender
- Jordan Leasure: Non-tender
- Chris Murphy: Non-tender
I am cutting Leasure and Murphy as I don't have much trust for either of them but offer them minor league deals. I did not see enough of Bart to warrant keeping him.
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Erick Fedde
I think we get outbid for Newcomb and that's ok with me at his age. I do re-sign Fedde in a bullpen role and double his AAV with a 1 year/$3 million deal.
FREE AGENTS
SP Freddy Peralta- 1 year/25 million with a mutual option for another $25 million. This is a prove it deal that Peralta has been rumored to get. He's looked much more like himself in Tampa Bay and I'm ok with spending a majority of the budget on someone who's shown the consistency he has through the years.
Extension: 1B Munetaka Murakami- 6 years/$125 million
TRADES
Trade SP's Anthony Kay, David Sandlin, and SS Billy Carlson to KCR for SP Michael Wacha. I know that giving up Carlson seems like a lot due to Wacha's age, but this guy has a $14 million club option after this year and threw 200 innings in 2026. That's the cost of starting pitching and I'm not willing to give up Bonemer. KC gets Kay to eat some innings on a relatively cheap contract.
SUMMARY
We will see how Thorpe, Bush, Berroa, and hopefully Vasil at some point in 2027 look and I am hopeful that one of them takes Castillo's rotation spot sometime this season. I am all for stretching Hagen and Grant out into starter roles but I don't think that will happen this year.
As for the offense, I am letting all of them develop until Roch or Bonemer forces themselves onto the roster. I can't justify moving Colson, Chase, or Sam for guys who haven't touched AAA yet.
26-man:
SP Freddy Peralta
SP Sean Burke
SP Michael Wacha
SP Noah Schultz
SP Davis Martin
SP Luis Castillo
RP Erick Fedde
RP. Tanner McDougal
RP Huascar Brazoban
RP Bryan Hudson
RP Jordan Hicks
RP Hagen Smith
RP Grant Taylor
C Kyle Teel
1B Munetaka Murakami
2B Chase Meidroth
SS Colson Montgomery
3B Miguel Vargas
LF Sam Antonacci
CF Tristan Peters
RF Braden Montgomery
DH Andrew Benintendi
Bench: C Edgar Quero, IF Brooks Baldwin, OF Brenton Doyle, UTIL Tanner Murray
