As has become customary, a look at the trophy:
The word on the budget from the bossman:
Some news from our longtime superstar:
Not a shock but we have an offer for an extension out to him and he seems favorably disposed, so stay tuned for good news in that department.
The salary situation for those not making the minimum:
Keeping everyone here is only about $116M, and if we re-sign Barela that'll take us to ~$150M so still about $30M to play with. We do lose the following notable players: 3B Tomas Laboy, CF Chris Parham, and the back end of our pen in relievers Abelaldo Gray and Steve Falcon. Incidentally Falcon had to leave Game 7 of the World Series with elbow tendinitis, an 8-week injury though but we might want to see how he looks after that's over before any attempt to bring him back.
Position-by-position assessment:
Catcher: Nelson Bocardo is probably the best in baseball so we'll gladly pay through the nose in arbitration to bring him back. Alvaro Alejandre played over his head as the backup last year and we might try to sell high on him since we have David Morales, one of our top prospects, ready to take over - he's a .300 hitter with little power but decent defense.
First Base-Juan Viatoro and Ruben Ramirez return. They both hit righty so there's no natural platoon but Viatoro is a .320 hitter while Ramirez has 70 power so they bring different skill sets. Ramirez will likely continue to DH against lefties. Eric Wilson is MLB-ready at age 26 and is a lefty hitter; he might be out of options so a decision may have to be made here.
Second Base-Juan Davila, no elaboration needed.
Shortstop-Yuji Morioka, ditto.
Middle Infield-Ismael Morales hit over .300 as the backup MI and provides good D so we're set there too.
Third Base-It all hinges on Barela re-signing; if for some reason he doesn't we have to find a 3B somewhere since Laboy is a free agent too. Indy league signee Kelvin Owens wasn't particularly convincing at Durham last year (265/318/398 with slightly below-average D), so he's not seen as the answer.
Left Field-Mario Saro is the man.
Center Field: I will test the waters with Chris Parham to see what he wants to return but Chris Kidd is capable of taking the job as well having played well as Parham's understudy this year. Kidd is a lefty hitter so we might have a platoon vulnerability there though.
Right Field: Jon Morales is also the man.
Designated Hitter: Alex Duran had a huge season and will be the DH against righties and as mentioned Ruben Ramirez can platoon with him.
Outfield bench: If Parham doesn't come back I'm going to need to find a righty-hitter who can play CF. A dark horse is switch-hitting rookie Jon McGovern, who was our 8th-round pick in 2045 and played a good defensive CF at AA Montgomery last year and has a little pop (14 HR).
Rotation: The top 4 (Bookhart, Rose, Riley, Delgado) all return and Chad Gardner, who was our 5th starter and is still under contract, is due back around mid-season (with what kind of stuff remains to be seen). Brad Mabe, who was so good down the stretch and threw 5 2/3 scoreless in a World Series game, has the inside track and Steve Morris is a possibility to get another shot in the rotation as well.
Bullpen: Our biggest hole (assuming Barela comes back) with our closer (Falcon) and primary setup guy (Gray) free agents. We'll definitely be shopping to improve here. Right now our top back-end options are Mel Mejia and Willie Navarro, the latter a bit of a disappointment last year. Tim James has closer stuff but control issues. Joe Clark was good in a swing role and Jose Morales is a solid lefty option. Chris O'Brien, who just doesn't have enough stuff and spent most of the year at Durham, probably gets non-tendered.
Possible minors help: Aside from those mentioned above, Tony Olivo is a decent hitter with elite speed and defensive versatility but the problem is he's bad defensively at all those positions he can play. C.J. Yamaguchi, whom we acquired last winter and then got hurt almost as soon as the season started, is a potential 65 contact/65 power guy but is essentially a DH-only so he'll be at Durham. Steve Holt, up briefly, is a pretty good hitter but a 40 at 3B so he is also likely not a solution. Our best prospect (#40 overall) is lefty starter Randy Mastropietro but he's only 21 and probably not going to help until 2051.