The plot sees an uneasy alliance forged
between Cersei, Dany and Jon to fight against the White Walkers. While Jon
refuses to bend the knee to Dany, he agrees to relinquish his King In The North
title if she helps him fight the threat in the north. Appalled, Cersei agrees
to help; but when the time comes for her to send her armies north she reneges, hoping the
White Walkers and her opponents will thin each other out. This is the moment
Jaime gives up on his sister, disgusted, and rides north to join the fight. Cersei
also believes she is pregnant with…
Oh, this is the Mets blog?
Oh, this is the Mets blog?
Never mind.
I began my version on Monday. I dumped
$52mil + in 2017 salaries with either a mid-2017 trading, or end-2018
dumping of:
SS Jose Reyes, 2B Neil Walker, OF Curtis
Granderson, RP Addison Reed, 1B Lucas Duda, RP Fernando Sales,
and SP Tommy Milone.
I’ll take what I can get
for some of these guys, but I have a funny feeling all I’ll get back are AA-A
level prospects. That’s how most of these trades work, but we’ll get back to
this later.
(one more thing... I haven't even addressed any kind of additional dollars could be saved if a retirement agreement could be worked out with that third baseman we used to have play on this team. What was his name, anyway?)
The first thing I have to do is declare
who are the nucleus of my 2018+ team. There are others that I will be happy
with, but there are only so many special players on this team.
They are:
Infielders
– Amed Rosario, Wilmer
Flores
Outfielders
- Michael Conforto, Yoenes
Cespedes
Starters
– Noah Syndergaard, Jacob
deGrom
Relievers
– Jeurys Familia
Six of these seven players are ex or
potential all-stars. The last, Flores, may be the best utility infield bat in
the National League.
But that’s seven players and I need 25
on my team.
I’m not saying that I wouldn’t be
unhappy if I had to ‘settle’ with Dom Smith, Jay Bruce, Steven Matz…
I’m just saying I want to go shopping first.
So, right now I got seven players on my
major league roster, a bunch of projected coin in my pocket, and a head full of
dreams.
Dream #1 –
I
want another top shelf starter. Yeah, I know, we were supposed to have
the rotation of the century. Well, that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen
and the least I need to build a World Series contender is three front end
starters.
My
choice is someone I ought to be able to get on the cheap.
Lucas Giolito is someone I
begged the Mets to draft in 2012 with the 12th pick in the draft.
The Mets chose Gavin Cecchini instead and
Giolito was picked by the Washington Nationals with the 16th pick
overall. He had a couple of good years in the Nats pipeline and was considered
their top pitching prospect when he was traded, with fellow pitching prospect
Reynaldo Lopez, to the White Sox in December 2016 for OF Adam Eaton. So far,
the trade has been an embarrassment for Chicago. Eaton was hitting .297 before
going on the disabled list while Giolito was still pitching at the AAA level,
with a 5.36-ERA in 10 starts.
Still,
I want this 22-year old in my rotation. I can’t see a deal him being the loss
of three players… maybe one prospect and another from my mid-season dump list.
Chicago
is still distantly in the race for an AL wild card bid, and they could still
win the AL Central as well. I would hope I could build this deal around someone
like Granderson or Walker and add in a mid-range pitching prospect like Chris Flexen or Andrew Church.
I would do everything I could to keep both Steven Matz and
Zack Wheeler out of this deal, but if one had to
go, I could live with that also if it was a one-for-one deal. I believe this
much in this kid. I just know he would excel at Citifield.
Dream #2 –
Hopefully
my rotation is now set with Syndergaard, deGrom, Giolito, Matz, and Wheeler. My
roster is now 9 players.
(I will tuck both Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo into my bullpen and keep them pitching there until any injuries develop in the rotation. Both are too talented to send back to AAA and too valuable as emergency pieces to be traded off)
My second choice is another player I wanted since he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles... third baseman Manny Machado.
(I will tuck both Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo into my bullpen and keep them pitching there until any injuries develop in the rotation. Both are too talented to send back to AAA and too valuable as emergency pieces to be traded off)
My second choice is another player I wanted since he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles... third baseman Manny Machado.
Yes, I
know he will not hit free agency until after the 2018 season, but I can’t wait
until then and have to compete against all other 29 teams in the league. I want
to close a deal with the Orioles that make sense for both teams.
They
have a quality player having a shitty season under a one year deal.
We have a
quality player having a shitty season under a one year deal.
We
need a third baseman for 2018 and they need a rotation pitcher.
Machado
for Matt Harvey. Even up. Let both teams try to
work out a long term deal with these two past the 2018 season. It worked for
the Mets with Cespedes.
Okay… my team is up to five starters, one closer, two other relievers, three infielders, and two outfielders. 13 players.
Flores will become my full time second baseman (sorry Gavin, no room),
slotting in next to SS Rosario and 3B Machado.
My direct needs still are a first baseman, a right
fielder, and a catcher. (16 players)
I then would need two backup outfielders, a backup
catcher, and two utility infielders (21 players).
Four more reliever will round out my 25-man squad.
I will pick this back up Sunday in my next Morning Report.
David Roseboom injured his foot and is out for the season.
David Roseboom injured his foot and is out for the season.
7 comments:
I like all of this, the core, the discards & the targets
Until...
Machado comes down with a back problem in his walk year;
Thor & Jake become perpetually snake-bitten with blisters & bone spurs;
Yo pulls a this, that, or the other thing;
Familia goes gofer prolific...
An unlikely scenario I tell myself as I purge any reminiscence of March past.
Hobie -
Very well said...
You and I can't control these hiccups. Neither, it seems, can the Mets medical and training staff
Two of the last 3 starts for Giolito have been superb, including a 7 inning no hitter. Might be tough to pry him away.
Similarly for the underachieving-in-2017 Machado, unless Harvey shows something great real soon, I'd doubt the O's would consider that an even exchange. They might want a Jordan Humphreys or Merandy Gonzalez too, to make it a more palatable deal. And Jose Reyes too - he can Rumba down in Camden Fields.
My thoughts on the 2018 team roster composition will run on Saturday. Interestingly we see different priorities as to what's needed.
No way you get Machado for Harvey all alone. It's gonna take a whole lot more than that.
Harvey
Humpreys
Flexen
And t least 2 more minor league top guys
I also believe Boras is his agent, if so he won't sign an extension.
Just go to free agency and make him your #1 priority in 2018 offseason.
i appreciate your hope on machado, but harvey before the tj surgery maybe. its not happening now. You can add blevins to the list of next year players as there is an option year that can be excised. Chicago isnt traded giolito unless they decide like the nationals did that he isnt what they want him to be.
I know this is going to sound odd, but the mets will have a starting infield of these players next year (rosario, cabera, smith, chech, walker, Flores, duda) they will not have 3 players with less then 1 year experience in there on opening day. If i were a betting man id bet on 1 of walker/duda being retained. walker being the one who might get a long term 3 year contract. and it being flores, rosario, walker, smith.
also Bruce isnt coming back. If he continues to have a good year he'll be too expensive (also Id like to get conforto in rf and a real cf) or if they fall out of it completely he'll have the most trade value.
Lets be clear, if nothing the mets need to be better defensively. they give up too many hits and extra at bats.
Im a wheeler fan so im excited about how he's improving throughout the season
***This is a re-post from the thread above......after reading this, Mack, it makes more sense here.
Mike
_____________________________
It is disturbing how the current regime appears to overlook the importance of basic fundamentals, such as fielding good defensive players (fielding, throwing, positioning) on "defense" and enhancing run production with more then a "slow pitch softball" approach (i.e. all home runs). The Mets are a slow team, playing "station to station" on the base paths.
This leads to "good" power numbers on the season, but game to game you will be wildly inconsistent (ten runs one day, one the next).
In a ballpark that is designed to be at least neutral, or even slightly in favor of pitching, you should design you roster to favor PITCHING and/or run suppression!
Good pitching, good defense/fundamentals and an offense that can create runs on a consistent basis by more the a home run.
Think of how the Giants and Cardinals approach things. Yes, they can have a down year (i.e. this year) but how many titles do those two franchises have over the past decade? Hell, even KC played that way when they made back to back WS appearances recently, to include a win over our Mets (who were sloppy as hell in that series).
You wonder when they will learn?
Post a Comment