I admit it's kinda tempting to throw Hicks in there and move Gardy to left, and just roll with the most elite defense possible. But how much of a big deal is it really just to upgrade LF? The other problem is that Stanton off the bench has zero value, I'd rather get him more ABs and see how it goes, and have Hicks as a switch-hitting PH and late game replacement guy.

Stanton is a lineup killer who can't play the outfield and can't move the lineup unless teams teams are stupid enough to walk him and just have to hope he gets a meatball and hit's a HR, which is harder to do in the playoffs against pitchers who are actually good.

Alrighty then, offseason for us begins today! What starters do we go after? What do we do with Didi? Decisions decisions yo...back to work.

Let Didi walk imo. Torres, Judge, etc... are due raises soon and they can't keep everyone.

If Severino is healthy that's like a new signing. Not really loving any FA pitchers aside from Cole. Bumgarner was barely better than average last season I think he'd get lit up in NY.

JOBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Ok which one of you guys called up....

if I am GM here are the moves I make.

Let Didi walk, slide Gleyber to SS, DJ to 2nd, Voit to 1B, Let Gio and Andujar fight for 3B

re-sign Gardner (everyday LF), My OF is LF Gardner/Tauchman, CF Hicks/Gardner , RF Judge

I make Giancarlo the everyday DH. Keep his bat and limit his fielding to KEEP HIM IN THE LINEUP!

Sanchez as catcher (Romine ain't coming back), Higashioka as backup.



Pitching:

Plan A: Sign Cole, enter with a rotation of: Cole, Sevy, Tanaka, Paxton (Happ/Montgomery)

Plan B (fail to sign Cole): Sign Zack Wheeler. Enter with Rotation of Sevy, Wheeler, Tanaka, Paxton, Happ/Montgomery/ Deivi Garcia

Bullpen: Resign Betances

They will go over the first Luxury tax threshold, but shouldn't hit the second.

What about Ryu, Strasburg and Madbum? Decent backup options if we don't get cole/wheeler?

I think those are all better options than Wheeler.

I just dont want to give any dumb insta-bad contracts they'll never be able to get off like Ellsbury and Stanton

I think Ryu is a lock to return to LAD, MadBum, I feel like he is on the decline.
I would consider Stras, but his history of injuries is too risky.

Cole probably has a better chance of injury at this point than Stras does. I am completely pulling that out of my ass, but I think it may be true.

Think we can offload JA Happ?

Cole to the Yankees!!!

That's an insane contract. Yolo I guess

He's only 31, his type of pitching only improves into age 40. Have fun boys.

Loooooool

Yea I will come off as spoiled Yankee fan but this team just can't resist giving long bad contracts. I'm curious to see what the Madbum price will be but I would much rather have had him for half the years and half the price.

This isn't Stanton levels of bad but holy **** is that going to be a burden in years 6-9

Thrilled to have him, but I hate how a signing like this brings out all the analysts with their ANYTHING LESS THAN A CHAMPIONSHIP WILL NOW BE A DISASTER talk. Sure this will hopefully plug a glaring playoff hole, but it's still baseball and I don't think a team is ever really more than a 2:1 favorite in any series, and that's rare.

Hell, my theory has always been that you could take the WS champion every year and stick them in a 7-game series against the worst team in the league (with suitable $$ incentive for everyone to actually try) and the bad team would win a full 20% of the time.

While I don't agree with the second statement necessarily I agree with the point completely.

Your first point I agree with completely. That's why giving yolo contracts in baseball often end up doing far more harm than good in terms of actually winning. It's not like basketball where the top 5 players itl are worth 500x more than any other player

This is an extremely bad take. Bumgarner is a barely above average fly-ball pitcher who's played in a cavernous pitcher's park his entire career. His postseason heroics were half a decade ago. Giving Bumgarner something like 5 years, 90 million to pitch at Yankee stadium is precisely the type of move you don't want to make if your goal is to win a WS. I'd bet you he wouldn't turn out much better than JA Happ at Yankee stadium (capable of good starts but mostly mediocre and frequently gets lit up by the long ball).

Cole is literally the best pitcher in baseball right now, and under 30. He immediately improves the team more than any other player would right now.

Very few FA players are great for every single year of their contract. When they signed Sabathia 11 years ago he immediately moved the needle by a huge amount that's what they needed. Would you call that a bad contract because he sucked from years 5-7?

If Cole pitches like a CY contender for 5 years of the deal and doesn't provide anything from years 6-9 (which isn't anything close to a given, because power pitchers age well) he will have provided decent value.

I love getting Cole, I don't love the insane cost it took to get him.

Welcome back Gardy.

Anyone else think Brett found a new way to roid up? Had his best offensive season at age 36, his neck and head are huge, and he had a hilarious number of (possible roid) rage outburts last year.

I would be completely shocked if Gardy wasnt roiding

Regardless of whether he's roiding or not, he's probably the biggest beneficiary of both a livelier ball and home stadium. He's not a better player than he used to be, he's just adjusted his game to provide value differently (from speed/defense to pulling homers).

Absolutely horrendous post.

Guess I haven't missed much in this thread!