Reading the tea leaves of DD's latest comments it looks like they will probably only add one big bat - 1B or DH to be determined - with Hanley occupying the other position.Now, this may have been a smokescreen but I doubt it. DD seems to be a far from devious GM. He lays out a plan and is pretty direct about accomplishing it.
I'm in agreement with your read that DD is probably only adding one big bat, but also think you are still going on to make some far reaches there on JD and Nunez. JD because you then have us paying the super premium on a primary DH (which a lot of use are extremely skeptical he'd do, hence the entrance of all this Bradley trade speculation), and Nunez because DD has already implied he wasn't going to be taking that kind of approach towards filling in for Pedroia (plus Nunez is getting a guaranteed starting gig elsewhere, so he's certainly not going to sign here anyway).
Personally, I think it's more likely at this point that DD makes same non-panic right turn he did last winter when most had him taking that left towards EE going in:
1. Outbid the field on Jay Bruce, who's premium cost is going to be a lot less stressful then JD Martinez and more in line with what what we are actually willing to spend on a DH type without losing any real sleep over it. Who slots your much needed 35 home runs in at DH. while still rotating in at OF and some random 1B.
2. Hanley obviously moves back to full time 1B at that point, with the the added benefit that he'll have to stay healthy enough to remain on the field for that option to vest.
3. Bradley, who is essentially at a crossroad here atm, gets his 1/3-1/2 season chance to rebound. If he doesn't hit well enough Jay Bruce then shifts into a full time OF spot, Bradley either gets traded off or regulated to 4th OF for the time being (replacing whatever league min'ish scrub we have going in), and you are still left with the open DH flexibility to explore offensive upgrade trades. Or heck, I guess maybe Chavis even ends up looking like a decent bet by then to make the aggressive jump.
From there maybe DD surprises again and outbids the field on retaining Reed. I mean it does avoid that step backwards, and offers decent post-2018 Kimbrel insurance being a guy who might be able to fill that void here without being offered the closer's role up front. At which point we could probably also look to dump the final year's Joe Kelly's contract in a trade that both shreds a little salary and brings back some super random/cheap SP flyer type for added depth.
- Rough out of pocket cost total on the season (including Castillo) - $240m
- $14m of in-season breathing room before we hit the 62.5% LT tier, and see our 1st rounder drop 10 spots.