ericchri

If Bruce Chen has enough stuff to hold down a rotation spot then Albers certainly can. That being said, he's got next best thing to no chance to get the #5 spot in the rotation barring multiple injuries to other players. Still having options automatically drops him in the pecking order once you get to the guys without obvious roster spots (huge contracts). It won't bother me to see him get a few starts on the year, though, if injuries/trades cause him to get a chance.

This seems pretty familiar to me, too. Was it maybe best defensive player or something to that effect?

I don't disagree with you, I've just noted a lot of people advocating Escobar get a chance, and a few still wonder if Dozier couldn't switch back. Your platoon probably makes the most sense, though, as I have a hard time seeing how we start the season without both of Escobar and Florimon, regardless.

I think it would be interesting to see (somebody more ambitious than me can take a crack at it if they want) to see a general poll of who people would like to be our shortstop next year assuming we don't go get somebody else. We have Florimon and Escobar as the apparent choices, and a few people still interested in Dozier getting another shot. Heck, you could theoretically throw Plouffe back into the mix, too, though I doubt anyone would actually be in favor of that one. Barring going out and getting Drew, I'd probably be in favor of Escobar getting a chance over Florimon. Reports and personal observations make me think he can be about as good defensively (less flash, more steady), and he looks like he could be a little better hitter to me (maybe a ~.650 OPS to Florimon's ~.600).

I agree with all the sentiments here, but I don't think next year is necessarily a lock for Piazza. Biggio will probably pick up a bunch of votes from people who feel sorry for his close margin this time but Piazza isn't quite that close, and with Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, and Pedro Martinez, and I guess Gary Sheffield (I never really thought of him as a HOF type, but I'd totally forgotten he has over 500 HR), the ballot isn't getting any easier next year. Piazza's probably getting in at some point, but I'm not sure it's next year.

Signing Stephen Drew to a 3 year deal makes me uneasy. I just don't like your odds of getting 3 productive seasons out of him. If we could get him for 2 years (or even better, one) I'd feel a lot better about it. That being said, I think I'd probably still sign him. I think we've seen about the best we're likely to see from Florimon. Excellent defense, really bad offense. Florimon is fine under ideal conditions (i.e., a relatively good hitting team in most other positions), but we're probably not going to have those ideal conditions for a couple more years. It's too much to expect all the young guys to really take off next year. Drew makes the team better. How much better is uncertain, but I'll take small upgrades at this point. The thing I'd be interested to try with Drew on the team would be giving Dozier some of the games against lefty starters to try out SS again. Dozier hits lefties really well, so hopefully he'd be comfortable at the plate those games and he'd be relaxed in the field as a result. If he can't hack it, so be it, we know he can play a great 2B already, but if he looked like he could play a decent short and throw up a good hitting line like the last four months of 2013, he'd become a very valuable trade chip or make Drew tradeable earlier.

Didn't we go into last season hearing that Eduardo Escobar could act as the "emergency catcher?" Hard to see him not being the Utility Infielder this year (well, I guess it could be Bartlett, though I have low expectations there) now that Jamey Carroll is out of the picture, so he should be good for that again this year, presumably.

I have no idea where Florimon compares to other shortstops defensively, trying to rank them somehow, I don't watch enough other games to even try, and others have already listed the statistical stuff. I do know that going into the 2013 season I was unimpressed with his defense, and following the season I was very impressed. He's more than good enough to hold down the spot until the roster stabilizes into what looks like a future core of players that will compete. He's also young enough with enough intriguing features (a little pop in his bat, good speed) to potentially be a big contributor to that future core if he improves offensively. I'm not sure I anticipate any significant improvement offensively, but a tiny bit wouldn't shock me, and with his defense, that would be plenty enough. I'd still prefer somebody who had a little more offense as part of his game, I think looking to improve is definitely prudent, but I'm not sure there's anything out there at a reasonable price (in dollars or other assets) that would honestly be a definitive improvement to the team.

I like it, it feels like a better match for Pinto in that I'm hopeful Pinto turns into an above-average catcher long-term. Some of the bigger name available catchers were going to take away some of the playing time I wanted Pinto to get. Suzuki should slot in nicely as a backup who can take over and start adequately if Pinto should face-plant or get injured for some reason, but not take away his playing time otherwise. Curious what happens with Herrmann, now. Still seems like a possible bench bat due to his versatility, but AAA may be more likely.

Traded a redundant player cluttering up the MLB roster for a redundant player most likely to only clutter up the AAA roster, and cleared salary and a needed roster spot in the process. If Gilmartin never throws a pitch in the majors I'm fine with this trade. I like the notion posited above by markos as well, he would appear to have LOOGY potential on the low end, something which has a little bit of value.

If he's healthy, he should be in the rotation. Is anybody honestly arguing against that? Mostly I see skepticism that he'll be healthy, not anyone tossing him aside as not good enough. I've never really watched Hughes or Nolasco, but based on their career numbers my expectation is they'll be pretty average. If you offered up a choice of those two, Correia, Pelfrey, or a healthy Deduno to watch, I'd bet almost everyone would pick Deduno, he's entertaining to watch. Worley, Diamond, and Gibson, too, I'd pick Deduno. Albers is fun when he's on, and I think Meyer will be a treat in the near future, but for now Deduno is the one I'd choose to watch pitching if I had a choice. Does that mean he's going to be good, though? I have no idea.

Not a fan of Pelfrey's, partly his slow pace, but really his mannerisms on the mound (like when he hocks up a lung 2 or 3 times between pitches, I mean what is that?). He was a bad pitcher last year, but that's how bad Diamond and Worley were last year, bad enough to make Pelfrey look like the better option. I really can't disagree with the thinking Pelfrey is the more likely candidate to give you decent innings this year versus those two or Deduno (coming off as shoulder injury) or Albers. I think I'd have been willing to risk that rotation spot on trying to find something workable amongst all of them, but c'est la vie, when your pitching is horrible, even small improvements are meaningful.

Alex Meyer certainly has the highest upside of that bunch, but I'd guess he's at least 3 years away from making an All-Star game. With Perkins still on the team, I have doubts whether Tonkin will receive the notoriety needed to ever get there. But then I try and imagine anyone else on the list making any All-Star game, and I just don't see it happening. At this point I'd say it's a tossup between Meyer, May, Gibson, Stewart, Thorpe, Gonsalves, Berrios, etc... Whichever one of those guys finds his peak soonest, so I'm going to take a flyer on Gibson just edging out Meyer and vote none of the above.

I voted for Diamond on a total WAG. When he was good in 2012 it was because he could hit his spots. I think the elbow problems took him from being able to hit his spot almost perfectly to missing by a couple inches, and with his stuff he couldn't miss by a couple inches. I'd have thrown my vote behind Willingham and Worley for the same reason (better health) this year as well. Hicks is the fun pick, cause he's the one most likely to turn into a star if he gets it together, I'm just not sure it'll be next season when he gets all the way there.

I like it. I've been following your lists all along, and not necessarily agreeing everywhere doesn't change my admiration for the effort you put into this. I'll admit to having had a bit of curiosity if you would indeed put Sano first, as all along you seemed to have been evaluating a little differently than the common thinking appears to have been. I'll also admit to a bit of agreement on Sano in that if he truly meets his potential, he could definitely be an amazing player, in a way the Buxton hype-machine seems to have almost pushed by the wayside. Sano is the #3 overall prospect on many lists, and while Buxton might be #1, Sano has the potential to be just as game-changing. Kudos!

I'd rather have Arroyo than Pelfrey, all things considered. I'm pretty ambivalent to bringing him on at this point, though. I'd be perfectly willing to run with what we have so there's more opportunity for Gibson/May/Meyer to get the experience they need, but Arroyo also looks like a strong candidate to give you a solid league-average season with a lot of innings, and that would really be refreshing after the last few years.

They need to start shedding guys from their roster to make moves like this. I don't mind a slight upgrade over existing talent, and this would be, I'm just curious who they would drop to make this happen. They've seemed so reluctant to cut people loose previously (though the Liam Hendriks move may be a sign of change) that I struggle to see this happening.

Um, "wouldn't take top prospects" and then he throws out Arcia's name? He's only not a top prospect because he's not technically a prospect anymore due to service time. If he was still a prospect, he'd almost certainly be in our top 6, maybe top 3. That's just silly. And no, I wouldn't trade Arcia for him. Kepler/Walker/Harrison/Hicks, maybe, but not Arcia.

Lottery tickets are cheap for a reason. Oakland can have someone from our bullpen not named Perkins and a middling prospect (not in our top 15 or so), but I wouldn't feel good about most anything else. His last injury doesn't look like the kind of thing that should have a lasting effect on his pitching, but even so he's barely pitched recently.

I'm amazed he got his 10 years. I figured he'd end up taking 8 years at around $200 million and even that would have been horrible. I have a soft spot for Seattle, so I guess I hope this works out for them, but I doubt they get more than 5 years of that deal where it looks reasonable.

I'll take the pair of batting gloves. I like Doumit in a lot of ways, but he's really cluttering up our roster right now, especially if he can't catch. Younger guys need those AB's at DH and outfield.

He had an option left, correct? So if he gets claimed the claiming team still has an option to send him to AAA? If that's the case I can't imagine he won't get claimed.

That would be really interesting, and might have a huge impact on Japanese baseball in another way. Right now there is massive pressure on young kids in Japan to continue the tradition of starting their professional career in Japan. A few have tossed out the notion of heading to America right away, but then bowed to the national pressure to play in Japan. If Japanese teams now start refusing to post players because they won't "get enough money" for them, it may finally cause those extremely talented youngsters to finally forgo the Japanese leagues completely. Will be interesting to watch from the outside.

I can't say I'm necessarily predicting a breakout per se, but the two players I am most hopeful of having a breakout next year would be Jorge Polanco and Danny Santana. Polanco has a full season to see if he has what it takes to play SS, and Danny Santana should get to show what he's got at AAA. That's pretty much been the one position where we don't have much for really promising prospects up to this point, only flashes of potential. It sure would be nice to see one of those guys grab the position and really make it look like they have what it takes. Honorable mention to Levi Michael and Niko Goodrum, I just don't have as high hopes for either. As for an actual guess for breakout player, I'd say Stuart Turner. His hitting numbers this year weren't terrible, if he's even average with the stick he becomes a really good prospect with his supposed stellar defense at catcher.

I'd prefer they take a rest from adding more starters at this point, at least of the veteran FA variety. If there's a youngish starter available in trade, I'd be OK with that, if the price was right. If we'd signed Garza instead of Nolasco that would have been great, but I don't want him in addition at this point. I think Brock is advocating most strongly the plan I believe in. We've hopefully stabilized our rotation for the year, but we still have a lot of evaluating to do with younger guys moving up. Why tie up so much of your rotation with aging guys now when there should be somebody similar available in a couple years if you decide you still need something. Shore up the other weaknesses on the team if you feel it necessary, but another 30+ year old pitcher on a 5 year deal doesn't feel like the right move to me at this point.