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Early 22 GM Thread! (Trade Ideas here)

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I have my priority list as Corner OF (with proven MLB track record) then veteran LHRP, Catcher (if Perez isn't retained) then 1B...

Laureano fits the first need since on paper he should be a very good RF, but his value took a nosedive cause of the suspension and I feel like for the A's he will have more value there than he would get a in trade in 22 since his value is so low right now. Oakland also may need to trade Olson, Chapman, Bassitt and Manaea to restock the overall roster and leaving Laureano as one of the few veteran hitters for the middle of the lineup. If I was the A's I dont think i would trade Laureano unless I got full value (aka pre-suspension value)...

And when it comes to Bassitt, his age isn't as friendly, but his numbers don't show a decrease at all and if we could sign him for an additional two years or so, we would have Bieber, Bassitt and Civale as our 1-2-3 with Quantrill and TMac/Morris/Morgan winner in 22... Tell me who would have a better rotation in baseball on paper?
Corner OF with a track record is more plentiful than you'd think.. especially if the return is a ML Ready or MLB SP with some ML experience.. These pitchers are theee most desired commodity going.. The 2021 season saw a BUNCH of guys touch on being major league starters for the tribe.. The guys being considered:

Ramon Laureano..$ 10 MM + AAV for 3 years.. An excellent pick up.. Conflicts with him and Straw in CF & a PED suspension..
Lourdes Gurriel Jr.. is cost secure @ $ 4.5 MM and $ 5.4 MM for the next two years.. limited to LF..
Ketel Marte.. $ 10 MM + AAV for 3 years.. with the last two as option years.. No conflicts and can even play 2B/3B in a pinch
Bryan Reynolds.. 4 Years @ ~ $ 32 MM or $ 8 MM AAV makes him a bargain... but the prospect cost is going to be enormous
Kyle Schwarber.. 1 year rental@ $ 11.5 MM.. Had an amazing year.. stayed on the field. RENTAL
Kyle Tucker.. 4 years and pre-Arb.. would be the kind of star you build a team around
Mitch Haniger.. 1 year rental @ ~ $ 8 MM after his 2021 season.. The M's want to keep him. RENTAL
Jesse Winker.. 2 year ARB II & III @ ~ $ 9 MM/yr for his 2022 and 2023 seasons.. Marginally expensive..
Jo Adell.. Nearly 6 years of service time remaining @ ~ $ 6 MM AAV... Talent on top of talent..but can he get to it at the ML level?

There are others..many others... Either one of the one year rentals and one of the 2+ year guys would solve the corner OF problem..

The same approach can be made w/r to the other equally important priorities:

1B
Catcher that can hit
LHRP
SP

We'll see...
 
Corner OF with a track record is more plentiful than you'd think.. especially if the return is a ML Ready or MLB SP with some ML experience.. These pitchers are theee most desired commodity going.. The 2021 season saw a BUNCH of guys touch on being major league starters for the tribe.. The guys being considered:

Ramon Laureano..$ 10 MM + AAV for 3 years.. An excellent pick up.. Conflicts with him and Straw in CF & a PED suspension..
Lourdes Gurriel Jr.. is cost secure @ $ 4.5 MM and $ 5.4 MM for the next two years.. limited to LF..
Ketel Marte.. $ 10 MM + AAV for 3 years.. with the last two as option years.. No conflicts and can even play 2B/3B in a pinch
Bryan Reynolds.. 4 Years @ ~ $ 32 MM or $ 8 MM AAV makes him a bargain... but the prospect cost is going to be enormous
Kyle Schwarber.. 1 year rental@ $ 11.5 MM.. Had an amazing year.. stayed on the field. RENTAL
Kyle Tucker.. 4 years and pre-Arb.. would be the kind of star you build a team around
Mitch Haniger.. 1 year rental @ ~ $ 8 MM after his 2021 season.. The M's want to keep him. RENTAL
Jesse Winker.. 2 year ARB II & III @ ~ $ 9 MM/yr for his 2022 and 2023 seasons.. Marginally expensive..
Jo Adell.. Nearly 6 years of service time remaining @ ~ $ 6 MM AAV... Talent on top of talent..but can he get to it at the ML level?

There are others..many others... Either one of the one year rentals and one of the 2+ year guys would solve the corner OF problem..

The same approach can be made w/r to the other equally important priorities:

1B
Catcher that can hit
LHRP
SP

We'll see...
I cannot see any possibility the Astros move Tucker regardless of return, particularly given the uncertainty of Correa’s big bat return in free agency.
 
Evan White and Laureano are both guys I would only buy low to be honest cause of the circumstances around them...
 
I cannot see any possibility the Astros move Tucker regardless of return, particularly given the uncertainty of Correa’s big bat return in free agency.
Would one of our SS types have some appeal?

Not interested in the newest iteration of Carlos Gomez - aka Ramon Laureano unless the price is EXCEEDINGLY low. Even then, I'd stay away.
 
Not interested in the newest iteration of Carlos Gomez - aka Ramon Laureano unless the price is EXCEEDINGLY low. Even then, I'd stay away.
Come on Criz.. don't sugar coat your thoughts.. tell us how you really feel !.. :bleh:
 
I cannot see any possibility the Astros move Tucker regardless of return, particularly given the uncertainty of Correa’s big bat return in free agency.
this is just stupid..
 
4 WAR players who are in arby don't get more than $15 mil over three years, which is the reason they are so valuable. That may be the biggest lesson we should be learning as we watch MLB. Its also gonna be the biggest discussion in the contract negotiations this winter.

Laureanos salaries over the next three years will be roughly 3+5+7...$15 mil.

Laureanos suspension isn't as big a problem as it is an opportunity.

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Plesacs contract situation is what makes him so valuable in trade...whether he is a better than average (#2/3) SP, or merely average (#3) is secondary to the fact that he is pre arby.

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It is not flawed thinking to prioritize needs, based on budget restraints. It is flawed to not do so.

A case can be made that every position, outside of Jose, Straw, and the rotation could be upgraded. It would be foolish to attempt such a thing.

The first priority is to upgrade the corner OF spots, because we have no viable in house options for next year...a year in which we plan on contending. The other positions all have in house options. Those options, Bradley being an example, may not work out, but at least we have them. Bradley at first is a better option than any corner outfield candidate we presently have for 2022.

Corner OF is the biggest hole with the fewest in house options, and that's the priority. If we get those fixed and have assets left, then we move to other positions.

We don't know if we NEED a first baseman yet. We don't NEED a catcher. We don't NEED a left hand reliever. We DO need two corner OFs.

If my power steering and a power window are shot, but I only have money to fix one, the power steering gets fixed first. Its the priority. Its the NEED.

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Joses market value is what it is...but only within his market. He has little to no value for the teams that he doesn't fit with....the teams outside his market.

A Cadillac is a hell of a car, but if I'm shopping for an off road vehicle, it has no value for me, even if it is a better car than what I'm looking at. That's Jose. Some teams aren't in the market for him.
 
I still don't get the acquire 2 OF strategy. If we just get one OF, we could fit the 2nd OF slot with a more promising combination than whatever we've got going on for 1B. I feel a little better about 1B than the 1st non-Straw slot mainly because a lot of our players can play 1B and Bobby has some potential, but we can rummage together a solution easily in-house for the second slot. We sure have enough options to put together a solution like we always have in the past (except last year but we traded 2 OFs before the deadline). Even last year if we had Zimmer and Mercado platooning, that slot would've been alright but instead we had 2 gaps to fill.
 
If you are satisfied with yet another year of watching Zimmer playing a key part on this team...along with Mercado...okay.

But as GM, I'm not...and I'm going to do everything in my power to avoid it.

If we are talking about Zimmer as strictly a platoon bat vs RHers, his OPS in 2021 was .707...which was driven by a ridiculous number of HBPs. Without them his OPS was .660, is OBP was .288.

Vs RHers!

This is not what I want from the long side of a RF platoon.

Zimmer can run. He can play defense. He can stick his elbow out in front of a breaking ball.

But he can't hit RHers, and is powerless against lefties.

Mercado is at least respectable against lefties....746 career...817 this year.

I can find better ways to spend $1.5 mil than on Zimmer.
 
If you are satisfied with yet another year of watching Zimmer playing a key part on this team...along with Mercado...okay.

But as GM, I'm not...and I'm going to do everything in my power to avoid it.

If we are talking about Zimmer as strictly a platoon bat vs RHers, his OPS in 2021 was .707...which was driven by a ridiculous number of HBPs. Without them his OPS was .660, is OBP was .288.

Vs RHers!

This is not what I want from the long side of a RF platoon.

Zimmer can run. He can play defense. He can stick his elbow out in front of a breaking ball.

But he can't hit RHers, and is powerless against lefties.

Mercado is at least respectable against lefties....746 career...817 this year.

I can find better ways to spend $1.5 mil than on Zimmer.
I'd like to save the money on Zimmer by using Kwan for that slot. He makes a ton of contact without using an early-action approach, which should translate well enough to the majors. I think Kwan/Mercado with Rosario prepared to fill in or even move there, gives us a slot that is likely to be surprisingly okay. While I have no love for Mercado, he is cheap and does bring speed and defense to the roster, and given his lack of options we could always DFA him if we have a replacement plan.

Spring training is going to be essential though to figure out how we slide players around. I could even see us rostering Palacios to start the year, freeing up Rosario to play OF. I really just think there's enough options thanks to the positional flexibility of our players, that we won't get killed. The problem is we had not one but two holes. The roster will improve a lot more by adding one OF, than it will by acquiring a second one after the first one.
 
As GM I'm not going into the offseason with a plan to platoon Mercado and Kwan. No way, no how.

Nor am I planning on solving an OF spot by opening a hole in the middle infield.

With the exception of a catcher to team with Hedges, my lineup is set everywhere, except the corner OFs...and I don't see an answer in house for either.

Unlike the fans, I dont view Spring Training as a deciding factor in much of anything. I've been holding tryouts since July. I have also learned that six weeks of desert baseball mean very little.

If it did, Allen, Johnson, and Bradley would have been All Stars in 2021.

I've seen enough of what we have. I'm going to try to bring in some real live MLB outfielders to play for the Guardians.
 
I still don't get the acquire 2 OF strategy. If we just get one OF, we could fit the 2nd OF slot with a more promising combination than whatever we've got going on for 1B. I feel a little better about 1B than the 1st non-Straw slot mainly because a lot of our players can play 1B and Bobby has some potential, but we can rummage together a solution easily in-house for the second slot. We sure have enough options to put together a solution like we always have in the past (except last year but we traded 2 OFs before the deadline). Even last year if we had Zimmer and Mercado platooning, that slot would've been alright but instead we had 2 gaps to fill.

I think we will acquire one corner OF and if we acquire a second it would be a trade like we did for Mercado...

I am thinking of Kevin Smith of the Blue Jays... He normally was playing SS and 3B but played LF last year so we could find a spot for him. Now who they would want, I am not sure but he could be a target ...

Edit: looking at trade value simulator...

Trade value has his value at 2.7... worth less than Daniel Johnson (3.1) and a little more than Battenfield at 2.5... I'd so swap Johnson for Smith personally... but maybe...

Amed Rosario for Kevin Smith and RHP Hoglund... But not sure if that would fly from the Blue Jays side lol
 
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As GM I'm not going into the offseason with a plan to platoon Mercado and Kwan. No way, no how.

Nor am I planning on solving an OF spot by opening a hole in the middle infield.

With the exception of a catcher to team with Hedges, my lineup is set everywhere, except the corner OFs...and I don't see an answer in house for either.

Unlike the fans, I dont view Spring Training as a deciding factor in much of anything. I've been holding tryouts since July. I have also learned that six weeks of desert baseball mean very little.

If it did, Allen, Johnson, and Bradley would have been All Stars in 2021.

I've seen enough of what we have. I'm going to try to bring in some real live MLB outfielders to play for the Guardians.
We don't have holes in the middle infield. We have:
Rosario
Gimenez
Chang
Miller
Palacios
Arias
etc etc
(maybe later on, Freeman or Rocchio)

We're not opening anything up if we feel confident in at least 2 of these guys. Rosario, who has already played a solid CF, can certainly play a corner position at an adequate enough level. Probability is on our side that we will find a solution to the middle infield outside of Rosario as the season goes on. We just have too much talent to make it likely that all of them will flop concurrently.

Sometimes you have to take risks. This isn't a very big risk.

Let's talk about Mercado. He put up 0.6 WAR in 238 PA despite putting up a wRC+ of 84. His career average will have him at about 2 WAR during a regular season. He has a career wRC+ of 98 against lefties. So with Mercado you have someone who isn't terrible even when he's not hitting, but is pretty much an average hitter against lefties.

Let's talk about Kwan. I'd rather not talk about his power because I don't really see it being what brings his value. What he has been doing though, and will continue to do, unless something drastically changes, is put up a good hitting approach and get on base. He struck out 9% of the time across both levels. His swinging strike rate has always been extremely low. These are great ingredients for success. He got a bit of a delayed start in his baseball development but ever since then all he's done is hit with a great approach. He mainly played CF in AAA but I'm sure he can also play LF, and he's known to be a good fielder from a technical level even if the pure athleticism isn't there.

And... we might not even need either of them.

I think we will acquire one corner OF and if we acquire a second it would be a trade like we did for Mercado...

I am thinking of Kevin Smith of the Blue Jays... He normally was playing SS and 3B but played LF last year so we could find a spot for him. Now who they would want, I am not sure but he could be a target ...

Edit: looking at trade value simulator...

Trade value has his value at 2.7... worth less than Daniel Johnson (3.1) and a little more than Battenfield at 2.5... I'd so swap Johnson for Smith personally... but maybe...

Amed Rosario for Kevin Smith and RHP Hoglund... But not sure if that would fly from the Blue Jays side lol
Our team is in a bit of a transitional state at the moment, and I think we need Amed there to fill in holes. But if players settle in and we gain confidence in what we got, I wouldn't mind trading him. Now is just not the time though.
 
I feel like Mercado will end up being our 4th OF in 22... we have Naylor, Jones, Kwan etc all from the left side, and likely Johnson (still has options) and we don't have many RH options, so Mercado fits the bench spot...

Also it's hard to say which way we will go with Amed... he will he one of our highest paid players and his production vs his pay isn't as team friendly as we would like honestly, but he is a proven big leaguer and if he started in LF for us, I wouldn't be against it regardless of "batting profile" that some people complain about. We need guys who can hit and Amed has proven he can do that, so if you can hit in 22, the Guardians will have a spot for ya
 
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