sportscoach
RD's Guardians PR Man!
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That’s my thinking, get what you can to the 40, worry about Hedges backup after R5 draft. What I don’t know enough of is truly how close Lavastida/Naylor are and what their floor/ceilings are. Sure I can read some scouting reports but it isn’t the same as seeing them every day. So really, how close are they and how good will they be when they arrive? That would play into how aggressive the FO gets in obtaining a backup for Hedges. Like I mentioned earlier, it would be nice to get Berto back. I may be off base, but a possible contract would be to take that $7M for 2022 and spin it into $7M over 2 years. Absolute worst case is the team eats $3M in 2023, but if a reduced-use Berto makes it OK through 2022 and someone is knocking loudly on the big league door, maybe Berto is a bit easier to deal?
Hedges will be a free agent for 23... Perez is signed for 7 mil in 22, so I would personally resign him to a like a 2 year-4 million per season type of thing to give Lavastida a backup/veteran to pair him with...
To me Naylor hasn't had a good season, so his ranking was dropping, so he needs to show up in 22 (he is rule 5 eligible in 23). Lavastida is a guy converted from the INF (in college) to catcher (in the minors, so think of Tony Wolters that way) so he is more athletic but still needs some time there, but MLB.com had him jump way up in their prospect rankings. Essentially I would call him an inexperienced catcher that is a plus athlete (can swipe 10-15 bags a season) for the position, with a plus contact skill (I'd compare his bat profile to Mark Loretta/Ian Kinsler type). I don't think he's pro ready defensively in 22, but needs to be protected since I think his bat is very close if not MLB ready... That how I see it, so I don't think Lavastida is pro ready in 22, but having a spring around Sandy, Hedges, Perez etc would I think greatly increase his skillset...
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