cjm0926’s 2023 Payroll Blueprint

[cjm0926]

Starters/Bench: It is pretty much compromised of starters from last years team, I extended Correa, signed Narvaez, and traded for Ramon Laureano, all of which I will explain later. Ive got Kirilloff starting in left field, but him and Larnach are interchangeable. If Kirilloff is still injured you can replace him with Matt Wallner, who ideally will start the year at AAA. I am trading out a bench spot for a 6th starter, which is why Winder is listed as utility.

Rotation: I am starting the year with a 6-man rotation to try and maintain the health of our starters, given that all 6 starters missed varying amounts of time last year do to injuries/illness. If we do get hit by the injury bug, we have young starters in AAA such as Henriquez, SWR, Balazovic, and Varland to fill in as needed. Maeda may need long relief after his starts, or start in the bullpen, given he has not pitched in over a year, so you could swap out a bullpen arm such as Moran for an AAA arm to start for or long-relieve Maeda.

Bullpen: Should look pretty familiar. We have our 3 righty flamethrowers in Duran, Lopez, and Alcala. I also have Jax and resign Fulmer to give us 5 righties. We have 3 lefties, Thielbar, Moran, and Puk. Thielbar had been a steady force for the past few years, and Moran is looking to build off of a strong 2022 season. I get Puk from Oakland packaged with Laureano. Puk is a pre-arbitration reliever, and former top prospect. He posted a 3.12 ERA in 66.1 innings last year with 76 SO.

FA Signings: I only get one new player for this years team, while resigning 2 others. For the new player, I sign Omar Narvaez for 1 year, $4 million. He is a veteran catcher with solid defense to platoon with Jeffers. It doesnt necessarily have to be Narvaez, just preferably a veteran left handed bat, which Jason Castro and Mike Zunino fit that bill. I resign Correa to a 8 year, $250 million contract, which is $31.25 million per year. He will be a huge key to our 2023 success. It certainly will be one of his bigger offers, so hopefully we can retain him to lead this team with Buxton for the next 5-10 years. If Correa signs elsewhere, we will settle for a stopgap such as Andrus or Iglesias until Lewis is ready. Lastly, we resign Fulmer to a 2 year, $10 million deal. He is a steady veteran presence in our bullpen who can pitch in higher leverage situations if need be.

Trades: Kepler is the odd man out, his 2019 season looks like a major outlier, and we get some value out of him while we still can. We trade him for 1 or 2 mid level prospects, and wish him luck. We also make a deal with Oakland for Laureano and Puk. We give Oakland Celestino in return. Baseball Trade Values lists Celestino value at 11.2 and Laureano at 6.6, and Puk at 0. Although the values don't match up perfectly, I have a hard time believing a pre-arb reliever such as Puk who has posted good numbers has no value. It sucks to see Celestino go, but having him and Nick Gordon on the roster are kind of redundant. Gordon plays slightly worse defense in the outfield, but can play infield and has a much better bat. Celestino fits Oakland's timeline much better as well. Laureano is an exciting player to get in return though. He is fairly young at 28, but hasn't played a full season in the big leagues (besides 58/60 games in the 2020 season.) He was suspended 80 games between 2021/22 for testing postive for PED's, which may turn some away, but he is a very good player. In the first half of 2022, he posted roughly a 110 OPS+, before having lingering muscular injuries in the second half bringing his overall season OPS+ to 92, which was the worst of his career (Keplers was 93). He also plays very good defense, posting 3 DRS in roughly 500 innings this past year. He has posted below average, and above average defensive marks in CF, depending on the year, making him a possible backup to Buxton if needed. Overall, Kepler has the defensive edge on his new replacement, but Laureano has a much higher offensive upside, and is $4 million cheaper, he also has 2 years of team control left.

 

• C: Ryan Jeffers ($0.70M)
• 1B: Luis Arraez ($4.50M)
• 2B: Jorge Polanco ($7.50M)
• 3B: Gio Urshela ($9.00M)
• SS: Carlos Correa ($31.25M)
• LF: Alex Kirilloff ($0.70M)
• CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M)
• RF: Ramon Laureano ($4.6M)
• DH: Jose Miranda ($0.70M)
• 4th OF: Trevor Larnach ($0.70M)
• Utility: Nick Gordon ($0.70M)
• Utility: (SP 6) Josh Winder ($0.70M)
• Backup C: Omar Narvaez ($4.00M)
• SP1: Sonny Gray ($12.00M)
• SP2: Tyler Mahle ($8.00M)
• SP3: Kenta Maeda ($9.00M)
• SP4: Joe Ryan ($0.70M)
• SP5: Bailey Ober ($0.70M)
• RP: Jhoan Duran ($0.70M)
• RP: Jorge Lopez ($3.00M)
• RP: Griffin Jax ($0.70M)
• RP: Jorge Alcala ($1.00M)
• RP: Michael Fulmer ($5.00M)
• RP: Caleb Thielbar ($2.00M)
• RP: Jovani Moran ($0.70M)
• RP: AJ Puk ($0.70M)

Payroll is 11.25% under budget

[FlyingFinn]

FYI - the rules will not allow a team to carry 14 pitchers.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

11 hours ago, cjm0926 said:

Starters/Bench: It is pretty much compromised of starters from last years team, I extended Correa, signed Narvaez, and traded for Ramon Laureano, all of which I will explain later. Ive got Kirilloff starting in left field, but him and Larnach are interchangeable. If Kirilloff is still injured you can replace him with Matt Wallner, who ideally will start the year at AAA. I am trading out a bench spot for a 6th starter, which is why Winder is listed as utility.

Rotation: I am starting the year with a 6-man rotation to try and maintain the health of our starters, given that all 6 starters missed varying amounts of time last year do to injuries/illness. If we do get hit by the injury bug, we have young starters in AAA such as Henriquez, SWR, Balazovic, and Varland to fill in as needed. Maeda may need long relief after his starts, or start in the bullpen, given he has not pitched in over a year, so you could swap out a bullpen arm such as Moran for an AAA arm to start for or long-relieve Maeda.

Bullpen: Should look pretty familiar. We have our 3 righty flamethrowers in Duran, Lopez, and Alcala. I also have Jax and resign Fulmer to give us 5 righties. We have 3 lefties, Thielbar, Moran, and Puk. Thielbar had been a steady force for the past few years, and Moran is looking to build off of a strong 2022 season. I get Puk from Oakland packaged with Laureano. Puk is a pre-arbitration reliever, and former top prospect. He posted a 3.12 ERA in 66.1 innings last year with 76 SO.

FA Signings: I only get one new player for this years team, while resigning 2 others. For the new player, I sign Omar Narvaez for 1 year, $4 million. He is a veteran catcher with solid defense to platoon with Jeffers. It doesnt necessarily have to be Narvaez, just preferably a veteran left handed bat, which Jason Castro and Mike Zunino fit that bill. I resign Correa to a 8 year, $250 million contract, which is $31.25 million per year. He will be a huge key to our 2023 success. It certainly will be one of his bigger offers, so hopefully we can retain him to lead this team with Buxton for the next 5-10 years. If Correa signs elsewhere, we will settle for a stopgap such as Andrus or Iglesias until Lewis is ready. Lastly, we resign Fulmer to a 2 year, $10 million deal. He is a steady veteran presence in our bullpen who can pitch in higher leverage situations if need be.

Trades: Kepler is the odd man out, his 2019 season looks like a major outlier, and we get some value out of him while we still can. We trade him for 1 or 2 mid level prospects, and wish him luck. We also make a deal with Oakland for Laureano and Puk. We give Oakland Celestino in return. Baseball Trade Values lists Celestino value at 11.2 and Laureano at 6.6, and Puk at 0. Although the values don't match up perfectly, I have a hard time believing a pre-arb reliever such as Puk who has posted good numbers has no value. It sucks to see Celestino go, but having him and Nick Gordon on the roster are kind of redundant. Gordon plays slightly worse defense in the outfield, but can play infield and has a much better bat. Celestino fits Oakland's timeline much better as well. Laureano is an exciting player to get in return though. He is fairly young at 28, but hasn't played a full season in the big leagues (besides 58/60 games in the 2020 season.) He was suspended 80 games between 2021/22 for testing postive for PED's, which may turn some away, but he is a very good player. In the first half of 2022, he posted roughly a 110 OPS+, before having lingering muscular injuries in the second half bringing his overall season OPS+ to 92, which was the worst of his career (Keplers was 93). He also plays very good defense, posting 3 DRS in roughly 500 innings this past year. He has posted below average, and above average defensive marks in CF, depending on the year, making him a possible backup to Buxton if needed. Overall, Kepler has the defensive edge on his new replacement, but Laureano has a much higher offensive upside, and is $4 million cheaper, he also has 2 years of team control left.

 

• ? Ryan Jeffers ($0.70M)
• 1B: Luis Arraez ($4.50M)
• 2B: Jorge Polanco ($7.50M)
• 3B: Gio Urshela ($9.00M)
• SS: Carlos Correa ($31.25M)
• LF: Alex Kirilloff ($0.70M)
• CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M)
• RF: Ramon Laureano ($4.6M)
• DH: Jose Miranda ($0.70M)
• 4th OF: Trevor Larnach ($0.70M)
• Utility: Nick Gordon ($0.70M)
• Utility: (SP 6) Josh Winder ($0.70M)
• Backup ? Omar Narvaez ($4.00M)
• SP1: Sonny Gray ($12.00M)
• SP2: Tyler Mahle ($8.00M)
• SP3: Kenta Maeda ($9.00M)
• SP4: Joe Ryan ($0.70M)
• SP5: Bailey Ober ($0.70M)
• RP: Jhoan Duran ($0.70M)
• RP: Jorge Lopez ($3.00M)
• RP: Griffin Jax ($0.70M)
• RP: Jorge Alcala ($1.00M)
• RP: Michael Fulmer ($5.00M)
• RP: Caleb Thielbar ($2.00M)
• RP: Jovani Moran ($0.70M)
• RP: AJ Puk ($0.70M)

Payroll is 11.25% under budget

Pitchers are limited to 13 roster spots.

I like the idea of a 6 man rotation, but Winder can’t be in the utility spot.

good job showing your work on a fairly realistic trade.

[stringer bell]

I like seeing a left handed hitting catcher to share with Jeffers. Also like the idea of adding Puk or someone like him.