Reese Kaplan -- Bluto's Right, Psychotic But Right

When you encounter a disaster, sometimes it’s difficult to know where to begin.  Do you try to stabilize the situation by stopping the bleeding?  Do you take dramatic actions that could solve the problem but come with some risk?  Do you simply sit idly by and have confidence that everything will work itself out somehow?

Call me a pessimist, but option number three is perhaps good for those of immutable faith and naivete as actions speak louder than do hopes.  Ever since Omar Minaya and company were shown the door after the 2010 season we have been waiting for someone to stay awake at the switch and recognize when changes need to be made.  Unfortunately those folks who have somehow achieved a zen-like tranquility that a is solution coming eventually have infinitely more patience than I do.

At best the club has opted for option number two.  These “stop the bleeding” moves have been far too frequent and nearly always ineffectual.  Do James Loney, Jason Vargas, Adrian Gonzalez, AJ Ramos, Jose Bautista, Aaron Harang, Shaun Marcum, Rick Ankiel, Bobby Abreu, Omar Quintanilla, Michael Cuddyer, Alejandro de Aza and others ring a bell? 

Then there’s the corollary of sticking with ineffectual people way longer than should have happened.  In addition to this list you had the likes of Ruben Tejada, Eric Young, Jr., Jose Reyes, Kirk Niewenhuis, Anthony Recker, Rene Rivera, Matt Harvey, Hansel Robles and others would be people who inexplicably got chance after chance even when they demonstrated an inability to get it done (or get it done anymore). 

One of the tenets of project management is that your plan needs to include off-ramps when it’s clear that you’re not spending good money after bad.  We saw last year that even these late season trades were mishandled because the club (with the exception of Neil Walker) stubbornly refused to pay down the budgeted salaries of the players they were seeking to trade and the resulting acquisitions were, to be charitable, works in progress.  The club hasn’t understood the concept of the sunk cost.  When you’ve made a bad investment, you can hang onto it in the hopes it will someday become valuable again, or accept it was a loss and take decisive action to replace the asset with something that might prove to be a better investment.

To wit, it’s time to take some dramatic actions.  Cut Adrian Gonzalez.  Cut Jose Reyes.  Cut Hansel Robles.  Cut Jose Bautista.  Demote Jason Vargas. 

Replace Gonzalez with Dom Smith.  Find out what you have.  If he’s not capable, then you have Pete Alonso behind him.  Replace Reyes with Jeff McNeil.  He’s not getting any younger, can play 3B and 2B.  Both Asrubal Cabrera and Wilmer Flores can man SS for a day if Amed Rosario needs a break.  It’s not like their defense is any worse than Reyes’ at this point.  Replace Robles with Tim Peterson.  Replace Jose Bautista with Phil Evans.  I’d rather have positional versatility with someone who has proven he can still hit until a better option can be found from outside the organization.  If you do indeed promote Tim Peterson to the bullpen then I can be talked into letting Seth Lugo into the rotation, though I’d still like to see what a P.J. Conlon or Corey Oswalt (when healthy) can do.  They really would have to work hard to be a lesser option than Vargas. 

Please for once show the world you actually care about winning.  I won’t ask for major trades.  First of all, you have nothing to give (thanks, Sandy!) and it’s never been one of his strengths to evaluate talent properly to avoid getting fleeced.  However, don’t just sit around or apply more band aids when it's clear you’re hemorrhaging.