Maybe you should call up Justin Hollander and see if he'll take a look at your resume.bpj wrote: ↑Fri Oct 14, 2022 5:49 amThe proposal I made was a ~$0 net difference compared to what they're paying now to Marco/Flexen/Winker/White- none of whom are doing us any good- with Detroit picking up the tab on Baez's final ~two years so if he declines further, dump him.GL_Storm wrote: ↑Fri Oct 14, 2022 5:29 amIf Detroit deals him, which they should, Javier Baez will be an albatross to whichever team takes that contract. He's the type of player second division teams sign when they're desperate to prove to their fans that they're serious about winning.
Right now, we're reeling from having run straight into Yordan Alvarez, the monster that haunts pitcher's dreams. The answer isn't to bring in some overrated strikeout lord that can't take a walk and then be burdened with that salary for the next five years while the player slowly declines from plus to average to bad and then finally gets released with a year and a half left on his deal. That's not a smart move.
This is not to say that I know what the smart moves are. Trading for Ian Happ might be a good one. I also wonder how the Cubs are feeling about Seiya Suzuki. I think getting at least one elite reliever would make sense. Ideally, several bullpen upgrades would happen. Look for the teams that are in limbo right now, like both Chicago teams, Minnesota, Milwaukee, KC, maybe Tampa Bay.
I'd love to see them sign Josh Bell but the one thing that worries me about that is the general lack of enthusiasm for the player, despite pretty good numbers in 2021 and 2022. Washington basically gave him away as a sweetener in the Juan Soto deal and I just wonder what the issue there is.
If they think they're going to get a higher return from Marco/Flexen/Winker/White for the same $'s than what they'll get from Baez, by all means, keep them.
It's basically an answer to the, "Well who's going to take on Marco and Flexens salary" question. There are viable scenarios out there.
Comes down to, Is Baez more valuable to us at a cost of $80M, or are Marco/Flexen/Winker/White more valuable to us for $80M?
Probably neither. But since it's a one or the other proposition- and the money is already spent essentially- I'd take Baez and the 3 vacant spots on the 40 man roster where they can add more talent. Even if he ends up as your UTIL by the end, that's probably more of a return than we're going to see from the other 4 guys.
But seriously, I do see the logic of your proposal and if it worked out that way I would be fine with it. My opposition to Baez is more broad in the sense that I see him as the exact type of player that teams overpay for. That high strikeout, low walk combo combined with a declining batting average just spells disaster to me, whereas Marco and Flexen still have actual utility on this team and the commitments aren't long term. Winker is obviously an oops at this point, but maybe they can offload him by paying half his salary or something.
