As I mentioned earlier, plantar fasciitis is a complete fluke. I wouldn't even call it an "injury"...nothing structural happened, but it is impossible to play with. He played in 144 games in 2021. In 2020 he broke his wrist. It could be a defect or point to future injury issues, or it could just be a fluke injury. Overall he's been in the league for 8 years, and has been fully healthy in 5 of them, while playing 102 in another. Plantar was a fluke, so I'd say he's been "injured" for 1.5 of his 8 seasons. In his 5 completely healthy seasons, he was an All-Star or top 11 finisher in the MVP race in all of them. I would also be completely fine with taking prospects in lieu of cash as you suggested.
Some of us have accepted we already have 4 OFs. Alvarez in LF, Tucker in RF, ans McCormick/Meyers battling it out for CF/Bench OF. The openings are backup C and Primary DH (who will get fewer starts than most other positions because of the no fielding rest portion of the rest protocol.)
That's kind of where I am right now. Both Conforto and Brantley are coming off shoulder issues. One is a power hitter (Conforto), the other is contact (Brantley). But 1 wants $20 million plus a player option, while the other would probably take a 1 year deal for $10 million. You can sign Brantley in Feb/March, and still have room to make a bigger deal at the deadline. Conforto may restrict your financial flexibility.
I will take this a step further It's not that they haven't signed anyone. It's that they haven't signed anyone after saying they would. And Crane firing the GM for ( in part) doing this same thing last offseason
Pitched b didn't look like a major league pitcher most of the time. He also clearly wasn't happy with his role on the team.
If that is the case, Bryant and Tovar for Dubon would work. We bump our valuation by 60M and they add a $50M prospect to get to an even Trade. No cash involved other than re-evaluation of Bryant's value and a significant prospect. But our payroll goes up about $27M/yr. If Tovar can transition to 2B, Altuve could be primary DH and get his hitting without his ever increasing defensive offset (-1.2 in 2022) solving two problems. Bryant in the OF mix and ability to cover at nearly any position upgrades the Super position with Meyers and McCormick likely battling for a bench role. But if Tovar cannot become a plus defensive 2B, we can forego the Altuve DH and still have Bryant in that role. Diaz really needs to put his heart into C.
Did they say they would sign a bunch of people by mid-December? Some of the people that fans want like Conforto and Benitendi (or Brantley) haven't signed anywhere as of yet.
Not seeing a huge need to sign anyone else IF Brantley is healthy and signed and IF Maldonado is healthy and ready to go opening day. They can roll with Diaz as 3rd Catcher/DH split. DH Brantley/Diaz Bench:. Meyers/Lee/Hensley Eovaldi could definitely help the staff if they want to add one more arm.
My concern there is will Crane go into the tax in 2024? Only Maldonado (and maybe Neris) falls off and your arbitration guys probably puts you at or close to the line if you include Bryant. After 2024 the tax isn't really a concern because Bregman and Altuve come off. Maybe you keep one of them, but I'd be surprised if we keep both unless they are willing to sign favorable extensions. Besides the luxury tax itself, how willing will Crane be to engage in extension discussions with some our younger players if he's right at or close to the tax, even if we could get favorable terms? Bryant is worth it IMO, so long as Crane will pay the tax in 2024. 2023 isn't an issue. 2025 isn't an issue.
This could eventually wind up with this 11 deep lineup: DH Altuve ++OFF SS Pena ++DEF LF Alvarez ++OFF 3B Bregman +DEF+OFF RF Tucker ++ DEF+OFF 1B Abreu ++OFF CF Meyers +DEF 2B Tovar ++DEF (55 Hit, 70 Field) C Diaz ++OFF (60 Hit, 60 Arm) Maldonado Bryant +OFF McCormick+OFF +DEF Hensley Professional PA.
Love the Bryant idea, but it seems (just a guess) like when he had his choices, he just wanted to be rich and live in Colorado. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I would be surprised if living in Colorado was a real reason. Yes Colorado is beautiful, but during the season he would be trapped in Denver for half of his games, on the road for the other half, and at least half of his off days would be travel days. He can go anywhere in the offseason. The interesting thing with Bryant is the full no-trade clause. He basically gets to pick where he wants to go, subject to that team's interest and Colorado's price.
I don't think Crane will agree to 6 years on him. It's been deal breaker for everyone not named Yordan or Correa and only because of their youth.
That's another issue, but I would think the math adjusts somewhat with market prices. Bryant on a 6 year deal in the mid-$20s isn't anywhere close to Correa, Tatis, Bogaerts, Turner, etc. It's workable for a multi-positional player that you can spin down over time.
