bosockboy said:
Sounds about right. Hanley at 3B never occurred to me but that's a great solution to get another bat. Veteran SP I'd love Iwakuma.
There is no chance Hanley leaves L.A. for 5/100. He'll be going into his age 31 season so he's getting 6 years at least, and probably closer to 23 or 24 million AAV. And given the amount of left side of the infield depth the Red Sox have in the minors, this would probably a poor use of resources. Use that money somewhere else, like trying to bring Lester back. I'd rather have him at 6/144 than Hanley, given the current 40 man roster.
bosockboy said:
The Reds seem inclined for a do-over; our lineup outside of Papi projects to be incredibly RHH heavy. I wonder if there is a blockbuster potential with Votto coming with Latos and them eating a decent amount to make it palatable. He's an OBP machine that would be incredible in the 2-hole.
MakMan44 said:
I can't even imagine what we'd have to give up to get Votto and Latos.
Everything. There is absolutely no chance this happens. Latos might be something the Sox are interested in, but there is simply no way they spend any significant time discussing the possibility of both he and Votto and Votto doesn't really fit with the team in the short term anyway. Right now they have Napoli, Papi and Craig under control through 2015, and Papi and Craig through 2017. There is no need for Votto in the next few years.
As for the thread topic, Since we're blowing past the threshold next year and this is all meant to be fun, it's probably not meant to be 100% realistic. So, with the starting point of about 80 million spent before arbitration and other costs (adding Craig, Kelly and Cespedes is +16.5 million, and subtracting Peavy and Lackey is 15 million, so we're at 1.5 more than the roughly 78.5 Cot's has us at currently), I'm going to assume we're at about 115 spent total going into next year.
- Offer Koji 10 million the second the World Series ends, but give him a QO if he turns it down or lags in responding. +10 or +15
- Offer Lester and Scherzer 144 with a 72 hour window to accept or reject, citing a need to fill a lot of holes as a reason we can't wait around for an answer. If one accepts, great. +24 If not...
- Look to trade for Latos. If Lester or Scherzer (unlikely, I know) have accepted, I don't go higher than Ranaudo and one of Marrero or Margot. If they both rejected, I offer all three. +12-15
- If one of the previous two hasn't panned out, I offer Shields 3/54 with a vesting option for a 4th year at 18 million, and go as high as 4/80 to get him signed. +20
- Extend Cespedes with a contract that buys out 2015 and replaces it with 4/60. Go to 5/75 if necessary. +4.5
- Find a buyer for Victorino to free up his 13 million. -13
- Sign Russell Martin for 3/39 (throwback contract!) +13
- Package Betts, Swihart, a pitching prospect like Brian Johnson or Matt Barnes and a fully subsidized Allen Craig to Miami for Stanton. Extend him at 10/300. +30
- Give Carp away
At worst, we're adding 93.5 million for a payroll of about 208 million to start the 2015 season. However, if a Latos deal goes through, that drops to at least 203 assuming Latos gets 15 million in arb or an extension. Let's assume, since this is fun, we get the best case scenario and have Latos in the organization instead of Shields and have extended him to 4/60. We're at 203 million spent, or about 14 million over the projected threshold of 189. Here's the roster.
Lineup: Bogaerts SS, Pedroia 2B, Ortiz, DH, Stanton RF, Napoli 1B, Cespedes LF, Martin, Middlebrooks 3B, Bradley CF
Bench: Holt, Nava, Vazquez, Cecchini
Rotation: Lester, Latos, Buchholz, de la Rosa, Kelly
Bullpen: Koji, Tazawa, Workman, Badenhop, Breslow, Mujica, Hembree
Minor League Depth (offense): Shaw, Coyle, Hassan, Brentz, and Ramos
Minor League Depth (pitching): Webster, Owens, Wright, Diaz, Noe Ramirez, and one of Johnson/Barnes
Top Prospects: Owens, Devers, Johnson/Barnes, Coyle, Chavis, Kopech, Ball, Rijo, Shaw, Travis, Longhi, Wright, Cosart (not necessarily in that order).
World Series won in the next 5 years? 7
