I'm surprised I didn't do a thread like this before, this is to keep an eye on NY's long-term plan. Interestingly, despite all of the youth they've already brought up, they only have three of the eight (not counting DH) lineup spots set long-term, with Sanchez, Judge and Didi. So with this thread I will keep an eye on the frontrunners for the other five spots, and how those develop.
So right now here is what I think NY's long-term lineup hope/plan is, I think they'd like to get as many of these guys set as possible by the end of 2018 and then they can decide to splurge in FA to fill holes if needed:
C: Sanchez
1B: Bird
2B; Torres
SS: Didi
3B: Andujar
LF: Frazier
CF: Hicks to Florial
RF: Judge
This isn't as wishful thinking as it seems, 3 of the 8 are in place as mentioned above, 3 others have played in the bigs this year and looked promising to different degrees (Frazier, Andujar, Bird), Torres is a top 5 MLB prospect who would be up if he hadn't gotten hurt, and Florial is farther away but on the fast track and Hicks is under contract through 2019.
The only change in this over the course of the season has been Dustin Fowler, who I had as NY's next long-term CF, but first he had his devastating injury and then he was dealt to Oakland. Florial's emergence (admittedly probably two years behind Fowler) is one reason they were OK with moving Fowler.
So right now here is what I think NY's long-term lineup hope/plan is, I think they'd like to get as many of these guys set as possible by the end of 2018 and then they can decide to splurge in FA to fill holes if needed:
C: Sanchez
1B: Bird
2B; Torres
SS: Didi
3B: Andujar
LF: Frazier
CF: Hicks to Florial
RF: Judge
This isn't as wishful thinking as it seems, 3 of the 8 are in place as mentioned above, 3 others have played in the bigs this year and looked promising to different degrees (Frazier, Andujar, Bird), Torres is a top 5 MLB prospect who would be up if he hadn't gotten hurt, and Florial is farther away but on the fast track and Hicks is under contract through 2019.
The only change in this over the course of the season has been Dustin Fowler, who I had as NY's next long-term CF, but first he had his devastating injury and then he was dealt to Oakland. Florial's emergence (admittedly probably two years behind Fowler) is one reason they were OK with moving Fowler.