State of the Team? Here's your answer:
We do have quite a few free agents likely to leave the club but we'll have somewhere in the neighborhood of $30M to spend. The big hits come on the pitching staff where starters Ben Hilton and Vinny Miranda are free agents, although we have an offer out to Hilton I think he'll sign. The back end of the bullpen is out the door as well with 8th-inning guy Willie Navarro and closer Steve Talbott out of contract. Swingman Alec McInerney is another one gone as is veteran slugger Tony Vasquez, who'll leave a bit of a hole in the lineup. Re-signing Vasquez is also a possibility, although it would eat up much of our available $.
Position-by-position:
C-David Morales is due a big raise in arbitration this year but will be kept. Backups will either be light-hitting, decent-glove guy Cesar Scroggins or lousy-good, good-hitting youngster Dave Gonzalez.
1B-Nesty de la Rosa is set.
2B-Jose Machado hit well in his rookie season although his glove is a bit suspect.
SS-Dantel Chinchilla is also due a hefty raise in arbitration but he's our most consistent glove and hit .280 last year, albeit with less power than previous.
3B-Luis Barela, the man, the myth, the legend. He'll be 39 in March but he keeps getting it done. One of these years he won't but I'm hoping/better it's not 2054.
IF-Alex Brown was acquired to be our SS with Chinchilla moving to 2B but he didn't hit and Machado sent him to the bench, which is where he'll be next season but a more than capable backup. One or both of Cameron Holly (2B/OF) and Manny Mendoza (RH 1B backup) will likely figure in as well.
LF-With Vasquez likely gone, Ezequiel Avalos should slide over here from RF and be his usual middle-of-the-order force.
CF-Jesus Avalos was our top player with 7 WAR in his first full season and while he's a below-average CF defensively, he's good enough.
RF-Jose Lozada, who hit in a part-time role and hit in the postseason, will get first crack at an everyday job and probably allow J.Avalos to move down in the order for more RBI opportunities.
OF-This is where we're thin, needing a backup OF or a potential starter. We have some usual suspect types in the minors like Brian Whittaker and Daniel Alba, but they're somewhat limited in one facet or another. Definitely an area of need.
DH-Sung-min Yang had a fine rookie season even if he did cool off some in the second half. He's a lefty with a platoon split so we might want to find him a RH partner. That was Lozada with Vasquez taking over DH last season but one may now be a regular and the other is gone. Mendoza and the up-and-down Takayuki Tsujimura are platoon possiblities.
Rotation: The ace returns (Rose) as does the potential ace (Mastropietro) along with Tim Johnson. Assuming Hilton takes us up on the extension offer that will still leave Vinny Miranda's spot open. We could give Melvin Lopez another shot although he was dreadful in long relief but odds are we'll be on the lookout for at least one more starter.
Bullpen: As mentioned the 8th and 9th-inning guys are gone which elevates Mario Berumen to the closer role, which he can handle. September waiver pickup Chris Resnick is another power arm capable of setting up and middle guys like Chris Hetzel and Steve Cleland excelled last year and could get bumped up an inning or two. Lefty Joe Roberts will return for largely specialist duty. Nevertheless we're thin here and will add a reliever or two, possibly high-leverage.
Prospects: Our farm system remains pretty dire with catcher Gonzalez the best prospect as such. Bobby Tafoya is a bat-first 3B/2B with 60 contact who hit .309 at Durham, but he's a lefty hitter otherwise he'd make a good potential platoon mate with Yang at DH.
So the tl;dr version of our goals:
1) Find a starting pitcher
2) Find a reliever or three
3) Find an OF, preferably a RH bat