2014 Offseason Plans Thread

[lainey12]

Choo/Beltran, McCann, and Cruz.

I'm good with that. That scenerio comes down to all new salary....which makes me think he wouldn't do it.

 

[lainey12]

Butler and Profar would exceed Kinsler's offensive production, Butler does that by himself

And its not that berkman contributed nothing defensively that hurt us, its that he contributed nothing offensively

Bulter improves offensive production if he returns to form. Last year he didn't hit much better than Kinsler, but I assume he does return, since it was such an outlier

 

[scotsman1948]

Bulter improves offensive production if he returns to form. Last year he didn't hit much better than Kinsler, but I assume he does return, since it was such an outlier

the league learned quickly that he can't hit the curveball

 

[Justinkm83]

I have a feeling the bidding will get higher than JD will pay for McCann. I think we might sign another back-up catcher and roll with Soto, just a hunch. That leaves money for Cruz, and Ellsbury or Choo. Too many positions to fill so I hope JD spends. I just have a feeling he won't upgrade as much as we'd like him too.

 

[scotsman1948]

I have a feeling the bidding will get higher than JD will pay for McCann. I think we might sign another back-up catcher and roll with Soto, just a hunch. That leaves money for Cruz, and Ellsbury or Choo. Too many positions to fill so I hope JD spends. I just have a feeling he won't upgrade as much as we'd like him too.

i'm just not buying that we are not going much over what we spent last season. JD knows that he has got to upgrade the offense plus totally reload at C & DH. Plus there's no guarantee that Cruz returns so he may also have to look at LF. Martin's struggles toward the end of last season could mean that Gentry becomes a valuable asset as someone who can step in at CF so the need for COF may become a paramount need.


Soto & a Backup as you put it just leaves me cold. that would be the weakest position offensively on the whole team

 

[donaldson79]

i'm just not buying that we are not going much over what we spent last season. JD knows that he has got to upgrade the offense plus totally reload at C & DH. Plus there's no guarantee that Cruz returns so he may also have to look at LF. Martin's struggles toward the end of last season could mean that Gentry becomes a valuable asset as someone who can step in at CF so the need for COF may become a paramount need.


Soto & a Backup as you put it just leaves me cold. that would be the weakest position offensively on the whole team

I don't see Gentry as an everyday player. Sorry. Great as a fill in, 350 AB a year kind of guy for me. As far as Soto being everyday, he's not going to light it up with the bat. But calls a better game (than say AJ), and gets the staff on the same page, then IMO he negates a lot of the negativity about his bat.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

I think it is asking too much to put any negatives towards Profar's average this past year. He played LF, 2nd, ss, and 3rd. That is a lot to ask of a 20 year old in his first stint in the big leagues. I would have to see how he would do playing just one position. He did show he can make some spectacular plays on defense but it s difficult for a young first timer to be a utility player.

 

[lainey12]

i'm just not buying that we are not going much over what we spent last season. JD knows that he has got to upgrade the offense plus totally reload at C & DH. Plus there's no guarantee that Cruz returns so he may also have to look at LF. Martin's struggles toward the end of last season could mean that Gentry becomes a valuable asset as someone who can step in at CF so the need for COF may become a paramount need.


Soto & a Backup as you put it just leaves me cold. that would be the weakest position offensively on the whole team

I've seen a couple writers say they don't believe payroll will be dropped, who knows what they really know.
JD just doesn't lay his cards on the table.

So far we have "we are going to try to drop payroll a little, and it might be a creative offseason"

well, that's not encouraging...but it's JD, and I give it no stock what-so-ever
hope I'm right

 

[lainey12]

I think it is asking too much to put any negatives towards Profar's average this past year. He played LF, 2nd, ss, and 3rd. That is a lot to ask of a 20 year old in his first stint in the big leagues. I would have to see how he would do playing just one position. He did show he can make some spectacular plays on defense but it s difficult for a young first timer to be a utility player.

I haven't held any numbers against him, in fact I've said I personally would just throw out offensive numbers from last year...because the situation was somewhat tough.

Defensively, I don't think anyone is concerned.

He's still a question mark.

 

[donaldson79]

If there was a thought of Profar being moved to 2nd, surely he'd be at least splitting time in winter ball between 2nd/SS. The plan for him is to get 100% of his time at SS. I suspect the Rangers are trying to highlight him as the SS of the future for someone, just like he was 2 seasons ago, and then see about making a big time trade.

 

[lainey12]

If there was a thought of Profar being moved to 2nd, surely he'd be at least splitting time in winter ball between 2nd/SS. The plan for him is to get 100% of his time at SS. I suspect the Rangers are trying to highlight him as the SS of the future for someone, just like he was 2 seasons ago, and then see about making a big time trade.

I don't think so, I think he could play him there all winter and slide him into 2nd when ST starts.

just my opinion,
you could be right

 

[donaldson79]

I don't think so, I think he could play him there all winter and slide him into 2nd when ST starts.

just my opinion,
you could be right

This may be a cat & mouse kind of situation. Meaning: Profar stays at short in winter ball, plays SS great, hits well and someone makes us an offer we can't refuse. Or, he plays SS well, hits pretty good, and we move him to 2nd. Then we move Kins to 1st, or out, but if it's out we'll probably have to eat a bunch of money. I, personally, hate doing this. It's just dead money.

But it's all about us part-time GM's pulling the trigger right now. haha

 

[scotsman1948]

I haven't held any numbers against him, in fact I've said I personally would just throw out offensive numbers from last year...because the situation was somewhat tough.

Defensively, I don't think anyone is concerned.

He's still a question mark.

exactly

 

[scotsman1948]

If there was a thought of Profar being moved to 2nd, surely he'd be at least splitting time in winter ball between 2nd/SS. The plan for him is to get 100% of his time at SS. I suspect the Rangers are trying to highlight him as the SS of the future for someone, just like he was 2 seasons ago, and then see about making a big time trade.

i think you are pretty close to the truth. when we've sent players to play winter ball it usually at the position we are wanting them at. we sent Feliz and Ogando to winter ball as starters. this season we've sent Feliz down as a reliever because that's what he will be doing this coming season. i think Profar is being sent down as a SS because the Rangers want other teams to see him there

 

[RevSader]

A's are expected to let Balfour leave via FA. Hope he goes to the NL, because I hate him.

 

[donaldson79]

A's are expected to let Balfour leave via FA. Hope he goes to the NL, because I hate him.

If there is a God of baseball, please let him go to the other league.

He's such a punk.

 

[jta4437]

Kinsler is starting to look like he has more to prove than Butler, Kinsler has more negative outlier seasons than Butler has had in the last 5 years, Butler just happened to have his last year

Does Kinsler continue the trend of not being to steal bases effectively? (21/30 2 years ago and 15/26 last year)

Which Kinsler shows up next year no power or no average Kinsler? .263 or lower in 4 of his 8 seasons, 9 HRs in 103 games 4 years ago, and then just 13 last year in 136 games

Is his walk rate going to continue to drop? 12%+ in 2010 & 2011, but 8.2-8.3% the last 2 years?

Ideally I still want McCann & Napoli, but even in that scenario I would take Butler being the DH and would even consider Cruz in LF, but I wouldn't be upset about rolling with Gentry

 

[jta4437]

This may be a cat & mouse kind of situation. Meaning: Profar stays at short in winter ball, plays SS great, hits well and someone makes us an offer we can't refuse. Or, he plays SS well, hits pretty good, and we move him to 2nd. Then we move Kins to 1st, or out, but if it's out we'll probably have to eat a bunch of money. I, personally, hate doing this. It's just dead money.

But it's all about us part-time GM's pulling the trigger right now. haha

This

Allowing him to focus on one position, the more important one, while he works on his hit tool, he can always switch over to 2B and after an adjustment period be just fine

Lets be clear, Kinsler was no expert with the leather out there, Profar doesn't have to be awesome to match Kinsler's production with the glove

 

[lainey12]

Kinsler is starting to look like he has more to prove than Butler, Kinsler has more negative outlier seasons than Butler has had in the last 5 years, Butler just happened to have his last year

Does Kinsler continue the trend of not being to steal bases effectively? (21/30 2 years ago and 15/26 last year)

Which Kinsler shows up next year no power or no average Kinsler? .263 or lower in 4 of his 8 seasons, 9 HRs in 103 games 4 years ago, and then just 13 last year in 136 games

Is his walk rate going to continue to drop? 12%+ in 2010 & 2011, but 8.2-8.3% the last 2 years?

Ideally I still want McCann & Napoli, but even in that scenario I would take Butler being the DH and would even consider Cruz in LF, but I wouldn't be upset about rolling with Gentry

Here's the bottom line, we have two pages talking about Butler. The Royals are highly unlikely to take on Kinslers contract. They do have a 2nd baseman, would they like to upgrade? yes...MAYBE
They aren't desperate for one, and when you're not desperate, you don't take a contract on like Kinsler's

 

[RevSader]

Here's the bottom line, we have two pages talking about Butler. The Royals are highly unlikely to take on Kinslers contract. They do have a 2nd baseman, would they like to upgrade? yes...MAYBE
They aren't desperate for one, and when you're not desperate, you don't take a contract on like Kinsler's

Kinsler's contract won't look that bad after Cano gets signed. Kins will be attractive to teams that cannot afford Cano, but want more out of a 2B. I think it's very realistic. Taking Kins wouldn't be desperate. It probably won't happen, but I think it's both feasibly and positive for both clubs. Kins did play college at Mizzou, so it's not like he would be a foreigner to the area or anything.