Adding contact, and doing it cheaply. Off Szn Plan 1.0

[Seattle or Bust]

Just saying seems to be a mood there. I don't see the cardinals doing a tear down to the studs kind of deal, they have resisted any sort of sell off so far. See themselves like the Yankees, don't do rebuilds. Like the mariner's hanging on to haniger. Fairly often teams resist tearing all the way down, White Sox hanging on to Abreu. Hang on to some leadership as well as some fan interest
I guess

St Lois sports journalist

"There’s certainly reason to consider trading Donovan this offseason, particularly if a trade helps the Cardinals acquire the starting pitching they desperately need. Ultimately, the Cardinals will benefit more from keeping Donovan as a cornerstone in their rebuilding efforts. They need his experience, versatility, steadiness and willingness to be one of the leaders and tone setters."

Why would trading Donovan being tearing it all the way down?

Roster still has Nootbar, Winn, Walker, Gorman, Scott, Herrera, Burleson who are all under the age of 27.

They need a catcher and they need young starting pitching. Rotation is old and bad. Not sure how they're going to build their rotation up if they're going to hang onto position players who will be f/a's directly after a small reset. My other name I was going to throw out there instead of Ford was Cjinte.

[AZOldDawg]

I'd sure like to pry Stephen Kwan loose from Cleveland. Nice to have a home town boy who is a bonified lead off contact hitter. No idea what Cleveland's needs are.

[harmony]

Just a few thoughts ...

Brendan Donovan is a year younger than Adam Frazier was when the Mariners traded for the latter in November 2021.

Donovan is coming off an injury-marred 2.7 bWAR season while Frazier was coming off a 4.0 bWAR season. However, Donovan has posted 11.1 bWAR in 492 career games (3.7/162) while Frazier had posted 11.2 bWAR in 665 career games (2.7/162).

Donovan and Frazier have generally overachieved after being drafted out of Deep South universities in the seventh and sixth rounds, respectively. Donovan made his first All Star appearance this year; Frazier made his only All Star appearance the season before his trade to Seattle.

Donovan and Frazier are lefthand-hitting second basemen with defensive versatility. Donovan did not play third base this year and has played there in only 15 games since 2022 (although his defensive metrics are positive at third base).

Donovan would come with two years of team control while in late 2021 one year of Frazier cost the Mariners only Corey Rosier and Ray Kerr.

[D-train]

They are just going to roll with Williamson at 3B citing his post trade deadline PCL stats and give Young another shot at 2B. Decent chance they will resign Naylor as their HUGE off season move. But, he will probably have to accept less money to come back.

[AT Fresno]

Getting someone like Kwan would make a huge difference. We need an elite contact hitter to be in the leadoff spot. Arozarena, Canzone, Raley and maybe Robles are disappointing and expendable, imo. I do like Robles defense and he has a year left on his contract. Yes, we are bringing Williamson back, short on power but a pitch count wrecker and gap hitter who performed well at Tacoma in the 4 hole when he was sent back down. We also have a log jam at 2nd base with Polanco, Young, Bliss, and Emerson likely to join the team in June or earlier. Plus Arroyo who will be knocking on the door later next season. We might be wise to trade a pitcher for an. elite leadoff hitter.Of course we should sign Naylor if possible. I favor playing Ford as backup catcher in favor of keeping Garver. He has more speed than Garver, is another potential patient hitter, and it's hard for me to believe he will be worse at the plate than Garver has been. I'm personally not impressed much with Young. I'd rather keep Rivas, more useful as a pinch hitter, utility 2nd base, utility shortstop, and emergency 3rd catcher. I guess if we got Kwan, I'd have to keep Canzone and Robles along with J Rod for my outfield going forward. There are a couple of free agents that interest me though.... Daulton Varsho, an elite outfielder, also a switch hitter due to be a free agent in two years. Of course Willie Castro will be a free agent this season, he is a very versatile utility player and another switch hitter which along with Polanco, Revis, and Raleigh creates problems for any pitcher. As far as the Cleveland needs, they need a power hitting outfielder, they need a catcher with offensive upside, they need one good starting pitcher, and at least two leverage bullpen pitchers. I doubt the M's will have much money available so in order to acquire Naylor, they will have to jettison a couple players like Garver and Arozarena, and maybe trade off Castillo. Whatever, it's going to be a creative off season. And I surely don't mind trading off one of our elite 5 starting pitchers in order to add Kwan and Varsho or Kwan and Castro. We are a season removed from Cade Anderson or two from Sloan. I'm sure other guys will have much better plans for the off season.

[GL_Storm]

I'd love to get Steven Kwan on this team.

1) Re-sign Naylor
2) Trade for Brendan Donovan
3) Trade for Steven Kwan
4) Sign a lefty reliever, or trade for one

This would be a pretty good offseason to me.

[D-train]

I'd love to get Steven Kwan on this team.

1) Re-sign Naylor
2) Trade for Brendan Donovan
3) Trade for Steven Kwan
4) Sign a lefty reliever, or trade for one

This would be a pretty good offseason to me.

Where is Kwan going to play. He had a lower OBP and OPS and WAR than Randy. Sure, good D but such a laterally move to make fans feel like they are doing something.

[GL_Storm]

I'd love to get Steven Kwan on this team.

1) Re-sign Naylor
2) Trade for Brendan Donovan
3) Trade for Steven Kwan
4) Sign a lefty reliever, or trade for one

This would be a pretty good offseason to me.

Where is Kwan going to play. He had a lower OBP and OPS and WAR than Randy. Sure, good D but such a laterally move to make fans feel like they are doing something.

Kwan plays left field. You trade RA and then make a separate deal for Kwan. Kwan is more contact oriented and gives you better defense. He's won the GG three times. He also has two years of team control vs. 1 year left for Arozarena, and Kwan's Arb2 salary is estimated at 8.5m vs. Arozarena's Arb3 estimate of 16m. Those numbers are from Spotrac.

On Donovan, I see him as a more likely target for 2B if they don't resign Polanco.

[HawkandMariner88]

I'd love to get Steven Kwan on this team.

1) Re-sign Naylor
2) Trade for Brendan Donovan
3) Trade for Steven Kwan
4) Sign a lefty reliever, or trade for one

This would be a pretty good offseason to me.

Where is Kwan going to play. He had a lower OBP and OPS and WAR than Randy. Sure, good D but such a laterally move to make fans feel like they are doing something.

DT you gotta improve somewhere how Randy has that kind of OBP is startling. He swings for the moon every time. Just not a good look & yeah I'd love to improve defense. Don't give a shit about OPS really. I want a dude that's not gonna swing out of his shoes. Him & Nails at the top would be a good look. To me it's more an improvement. You just need your 2 contact guys at the top, you already got the power bats with JRod & Cal. Would love the Yandy Diaz move but sadly he don't play anywhere other than 1st but he does crush lefties so definitely a good bat for the bench. Honestly if we can't get Donovan from St. Louis I'd be fine with giving Williamson another crack at 3rd especially if he's gonna draw a lot of contact. Definitely a good bottom of the order guy. I do like the idea of adding another lefty ala Columbe if he's available. Fairbanks would be nice too.

[Lamda]

Sadly according to Dip's early comments - he's happy with RA in LF.