I want to believe you CATS, I'd just like to see another year of it before "giving up the farm" for him. The more I consider it, the more I believe that Baltimore won't trade him anyway. Great target though, and certainly appears to be a difference maker. He's the type that would make all of us happy should he continue to perform like he did this season. He's a 5 tool player.
Edited to say that I think it's more realistic to acquire Happ and Haniger, and I would focus my energy and resources on that type of player(s).
Both are on my shopping list, though farther down.
The problem with Haniger is that he would be a rental...the kind of pickup that is better suited for the deadline. If he had three years of control left, he might be #1 on my hit parade.
While I have no problem with trading prospects, I'm not really interested in rentals in the off season.
As GM, I'm responsible for husbanding the resources at hand....money and young talent. If I have a choice between trading multiple fine prospects for Haniger, who will get around $5.5 mil in arby, or sign Canha for $8-9 mil, Canha is the obvious choice. They are basically the same player....with the same value.
The difference in cost is probably under $4 mil.
Would anybody be willing to sell multiple prospects for $4 mil? Not me.
The problem with Happ, who anybody who has followed me knows has been at the top of my wish list for years, is that he Ks too much. That wasn't as big a problem several years ago, when we had Carlos and Lindor in the lineup. But with Franmil and Bobby now here, how many 30% K rates can a 9 man lineup have and still be productive? The other thing that has to be considered is that, inspite of all that talent, he hasn't been that productive. His value lies in his versatility.
He will make about $6.5 mil next year, and more in 2023. Again, I look at Canha, and think I'd prefer bidding on him first.
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In this exercise, as sportcoach laid out at the beginning of the thread, we have $70 mil to spend.
As GM, my goal is to spend young talent on a major upgrade that will be here for at least three years, and hopefully four. A major long term upgrade to go with the present roster negates the need for a ton of prospects.
The second goal is to spend my money on a short term upgrade that will act as a bridge to Valera and cover my butt at first base, in case Bobby struggles.
My shopping list so far looks like...
Laureano
Reynolds
Mullins
Edman
Maybe none of them will be available, but I'm willing to spend a lot in talent to acquire them...and like everything I do, I kick the tires on the top of the line first, and work my way down to what works best for me.
I learned that from my Dad. He wanted a Lincoln, but with three kids at home and headed to college, he bought a Ford. Once we got thru college he bought a Mercury. But once he retired, and he had the resources, he bought a Lincoln.
I think I have enough prospect resources to shop in the Lincoln row...but I won't know until I try.
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Again, revisionist thinking on past pitching prospects. We may say now in hindsight that this guy or that was a lesser rated prospect than Espino, but at the time the industry disagreed.
And while higher rated prospects now crash and burn all around us, we may think we may have the one prospect that will defy the odds, its a really poor bet.
Espino looks like one hell of a prospect. Every top 100 SP prospect does. I dont WANT to trade him, but only 20-30% of Espinos end up turning potential into production over their first six years in MLB. And if that's the price to pay to make this team a viable contender for the next three or four years, I will do it in a NY minute.