Well I gotta do my list....
First off, manager has to be figured out... If it's not Francona, I feel it will be between Venable, Sarbaugh and Tracy... They will do their due diligence, but I'd be very surprised if it's someone other than those three... Venable with keeping the rest of the staff in place, would be the transition on paper, but Sarbaugh is the guy on paper, whose managerial track record and experience with the team, is the guy I am secretly routing for...
Next... we gotta look at the the roster...
Locks for the 24, for the original 40 man roster in my mind...
Pitchers
Allen, Bibee, Cantillo, Clase, Curry, De Los Santos, Hentges, TMac, Morgan, Sandlin, Stephan, Williams
Position players
Util Fry, C B. Naylor, 2B/LF Brito, 2B/SS Gimenez, 1B/RF J. Naylor, 3B JRam, Util Arias, OF Brennan, OF Kwan,
That's 21 players that I believe will be on the roster... I don't see any of those guys being moved...
So we have to look at the next 19 spots...
Giolito, Lopez and Moore are all free agents.. All will likely sign after the 40 man roster needs to be set, so it's likely, even if we retain one or more of them, we won't add them until after the Nov date...
Then we have to talk about Bieber and Quantrill... Both guys could help us in 24, but both guys also could be dealt. I don't think they have a ton of value, so I am expecting them back...
Now last pitching spots on the 40 man...
Karinchak is in Arb, so his cost vs production... he isn't going to get much of a raise, but likely will, so is he worth retaining?
Guys like Herrin, Gaddis, Morris and Kelly are on the roster bubble for 24... I am guessing Kelly will be DFA'D and given a good MiLB deal...
Also we have to factor in the rule 5 and MiLB invites, so I am expecting a group of like...
Bilous, Plesac, Vallimont, Enright, Gose, Mikolajchuk, Misiaszek, Norris, C. Smith, Burns, Hankins, Espino, Aleman, Stanley, Sharpe, Hickman, etc...
So I have 12 pitchers listed above that are locks... Let's do 8 more for the initial 40 man...
Bieber, Quantrill, Herrin, Gaddis, Espino, Morris, Karinchak... Then one more either Burns or Hankins if they feel either could be taken in the rule 5... But I don't have an internal list...
Now onto position players... I had 9 above...
When it comes to catcher Naylor is the starter... I feel like we will DFA Gallagher... then we will try to retain him on a MiLB deal... Also we will try to retain Lavastida, Haase and Leon... We will go into 24 with the 40 man only having Fry and Naylor as the catchers. So we will look for a deal that way, to maybe add another catcher via free agency/trade... So going into 24, we don't have the backup catcher spot 100% situated since I like Fry in an util role not just straight catcher...
When it comes to the INF...
J.Naylor, JRam and Gimenez have the starting spots... Arias, I feel like is on this roster as a SS or utility guy since he can play multiple positions at a good defensive clip...
So when it comes to depth, I don't think we need to protect, Bracho Frias etc... we have Freeman, Rocchio, Tena, Martinez, Brito, Noel plus guys like Pries and Schneeman with AAA experience mixed in. I expect Calhoun back on an MiLB deal since we will offer one to him... Manzardo is a candidate for the roster, but doesn't have to be protected, so he won't start the off season,
I feel like Cleveland will listen to offers on everyone on that list... Rocchio would take a haul... Freeman I feel like will be traded this offseason... I also don't know if we will keep both Martinez and Tena... I'd have Tena on the way out... Giants maybe?
Then for the OF... Kwan and Brennan are sure bets... Laureano and Straw are likely back depending on if we make a trade... I feel like we need to try and protect J Rodriquez and Valera is definitely in the OF mix... Halpin and Fox aren't rule 5, and we have to include Noel, Pries, Brito, DeLauter etc in this mix since we all want to see Brito playing LF. I feel like OGonz is gone... Laureano will be moved if we acquire a RF that's a RH bat...
I feel like we will trade for a RF, who exactly, I don't know... I don't expect Renfroe to be on the list since we aren't going to offer the years, he likely wants...
I feel like our initial 40 man roster will be, with let's say 20 position players...
Cs - B. Naylor, Fry
INF - J. Naylor, Gimenez, JRam, Arias, Rocchio/Freeman, A.Martinez/Tena, Noel, Brito
OF - Kwan, Brennan, Straw, Valera, Laureano/Acquired OF, J Rodriquez
Then we have 4 more spots... Pitchers? Pries + Schneeman? Who knows, but that creates spots if we move on from Freeman, Tena and OGonz...
