In my mind, we lost 5-9 wins with this Lindor trade (per fangraph WAR differences). We went from being competitive with Minn and Sox to being middle of the road (more wins than losses). And, the Sox are improving. Even if they sign an OF or 2nd (like Caesar) with this great financial savings, it is just treading water in replacing Caesar's value from last year (let alone Santana's value of drawing walks and 1/2 season of Clevinger).
You can say that Quant is going to take a huge leap forward but we are also one injury away (such as Bieber) from being a bottom feeder. And, with a line-up card of Gimenez, Cesar/Rosario, Jose, Reyes, Naylor ... you are not going to give Jose a whole lot of pitches to look at - and do we believe he wants to take walks like Santana?
Plus, if we are going to follow this Tampa/Clev model, will Jose be traded after this year anyway to maximize his value (with 2 years left)? Even if they hold him to trade deadline 2022, I would pull the damn band-aid off now (or by July - see if lightening strikes with our young kids), to really maximize his trade value (that is if we get a haul of prospects). Yet, with 3 years of playoffs, we better get elite prospects and not these ... we hope they can become Buehler prospects or they use to be top 100 prospects that are not living up to their potential after 2 years.
I would do Jose to Dodgers for Ruiz, Gray, Hoese and Rodriquez or the Braves for Mueller, Waters, Langeliers and Shuster (may have to throwing in Whitgren here for values to work). Both have near ready prospects to fill holes and pitching. You may say that's too much for them to swallow giving up. Yet, for 3-years of Jose, you have infinitely more leverage than 1-year of Lindor, as $12 million for a solid 3-hole hitter is going to save financial strain and luxury tax than trying to sign a Springer or other at $20 million plus.
Now it's not about saving money rather using our chips when we can actually win (late 2022-22024 before Bieber goes). If you save $20 million this year, then spend $40 million next year on a quality OF & 1B that can actually fill out middle of the line-up. Otherwise, Ramirez is wasted for next year or two as we wait on Jones, Freeman, Valera and others as as any pitcher would rather face Reyes.