For the second straight year, it's pretty great:
So now it's time to build for a threepeat. The first bit of news we got when the offseason began is that both starter
Aldry Acosta and DH
Yordan Alvarez opted out of the last year of their contracts. I guess two rings was enough for both of them for now - they want to get paid. Whether it will be from us remains to be seen but it's highly questionable.
Meanwhile owner Stu Sternberg has given me a $180M payroll to work with and here are our projected salary obligations for the coming year:
Keeping everyone listed here would set us back $131M. I can tell you right now that Khattak is going to be traded or non-tendered, so there's $7-8M off that figure, and maybe Kurkowa gets moved as well but his savings would be minimal. So that would give us approximately $55M to play with this winter. What are we going to need it for? Here's the position-by-position outlook:
C: We're incredibly strong here with Rutschman and 2033 rookie Jalen Lowe, who filled in admirably in September and the postseason when Rutschman was unavailable and someone we'd be looking at as a starter if we didn't have Adley.
1B: Another strong position with returnee Haro and another 2033 rookie who shone when pressed into action, Evan Bell. With Yordan opting out, one of these two would be the DH, with Haro more likely since he's not as good a fielder.
2B: Pino is a superstar.
SS: An interesting dilemma. Cedillos is a decent fielder but his bat has been on the decline the last couple years. Carson Williams has the better bat but the worse glove. An upgrade here is a possibility.
3B: Kevin White returns and hopefully will hit for a better average to go with his 40-50-homer power.
IF: Williams or Cedillos would serve as the primary IF backup with Josh Jones figuring in as well.
LF: Solano has been solid but he did regress a bit at the plate last year. Hopefully he bounces back.
CF: Yet another rookie from last season. Gurrola was everything as advertised and looks like a core piece going forward.
RF: Hardy had a major bounceback season to lead the team in WAR and is a fixture.
OF: Jasso raked as a fill-in for an injured Solano for a while last year but stopped hitting off the bench thereafter. Manny Tovar was productive in very limited ABs but the problem here is that both of these guys are LH batters and we could use a righty bat.
DH: As mentioned Haro likely fills in here but we'll want a RH bat to platoon with him and Bell here and at 1B.
Rotation: Here's where we'll need some help as Acosta and Dakota Stone are free agents. This leaves Lennon, Fragoso and Buckman are the sure things with Khattak being non-tendered. Luis Oviedo will be back from a torn flexor tendon around the start of the season so he could be in the rotation provided his stuff and stamina stay relatively intact. We can also move Stevenson to the rotation but that would thin out the pen. That $55M we have to spend is going to buy at least one if not two starters.
Bullpen: In really good shape here, losing the two guys who were the worst in the pen in Green and Watters. Otherwise late-inning guys Ogando and Rodriguez are back as are middleman extraordinaire Vargas. Boyle and lefties Gonzalez and Little (who's tentatively agreed to a modest extension). And if we don't need him in the rotation Stevenson is an excellent long man. One more arm wouldn't hurt but we don't need it to be someone spectacular.
Prospects: Nobody knocking on the door after we promoted Lowe, Bell and Gurrola last year. The guy I'm most excited about is our 2033 #1 pick Vinny Arroyo, a college SS who looked good at Low-A Charleston last year but probably won't be ready to help until 2035.
So the tl;dr version of our offseason goals are thus:
1. Find a starting pitcher or two.
2. Find a righty hitter who can back up in the OF and/or DH.
3. Potentially upgrade on Cedillos/Williams at SS
4. Add a middle reliever.
All in all we're in really good shape with a good amount of money to spend.