Absolutely. It makes perfect sense to roll the dice early in their careers because the value of the mighty dollar deteriorates over time giving teams more bag for their buck.
They also have yearly variance/regression/injury potential which is why depth is depth, and those teams that lack it (or don't have callups that can fill in) tend to do bad year after year. Also not counting chickens on Dezenzo or Whitcomb (or Melton)... and hopefully won't have another Jake Meyers type situation where fans are still counting on him to turn into something he will likely never be (and has zero trade value). All for getting excited about the fast-tracked Matthews/Smith, but the hope is that you have a franchise that is strong enough to never have to put all the expectations on any single call-up, ever.
Hunter B was amazing then he wasn't. I'd hold off on getting too excited about a relatively inexperienced core of starting pitchers. Spence will get hammered more, now that there's more of a book on him. Same with Blanco. Keeping Framber isn't a luxury. Trading Framber will create a HUGE hole. Two bats. Bregman. Pitcher. Reliever. GET TO WORK.
You can say this about any pitcher going into his 2nd year and fortunately they've got backup plans for their pitching staff in Garcia/Blubaugh/Gusto and rumor has it they're looking to add a mid tier SP in FA. That's more than enough depth. As for the position side of things I expect Dana to add 2 above avg bats to the lineup. That will either be a 3B,!B or 2 OF'ers or some combination of these things. That puts the lineup in a position of only needing one of Chas/Meyers/Dezenzo/Whitcomb/Melton and I like Baez after the all star break as a wildcard to be avg MLB hitters. You could also bring back a vet OF like Gamel to platoon if none of the above options workout. In short, I dont like the return on the Tucker trade and there's still a lot of work for Dana to do, but this situation isn't as bleak as many are making it out to be if Crane is willing to spend say 40-45 of the 55 mil he's got in the bank to spend without going over the luxury tax. This is after trading Pressly/Caratini and keeping Framber. There's even more money available if they trade Framber and if they trade Framber I'm expecting a Casas/good young OF, plus a young wildcard low level pitcher. Of course I'm probably wrong like I was in the Tucker trade.
I am confused about the hunter b narrative. He was basically one of the top 2 or 3 pitchers in baseball the second half of the year and then dominated in the playoffs. Not saying that it couldn't have been a mirage, but there is no truth to him being good then not. He got good and stayed good after the first 45 days of the season.
He’s saying that once he improved after his poor 2023 and poor start to last season, he hasn’t sucked again.
No, I get it. But he was good in 2022 too. I'm just saying that Spencer might have trouble duplicating what he did last year and Blanco too . . . I'm not arguing, just worried about jettisoning experienced pitchers like Framber, etc. Hopefully this additional arm they are looking for can help spread the load and build depth with all these young/injured guys. Trade Framber and I'm scared.
Hunter's the real deal, he's been a stud since he figured out how to throw a cutter, he's always had great stuff. Hopefully he gets to a point where he can throw 7 innings of great ball instead of 6 innings. Pitchers like Arrighetti and Blanco usually get better after their rookie years because they're more used to the workload at the MLB level. I expect some regression from Blanco because he was so good and consistent last year. But even if this happens they've got Garcia/Blubaugh/middling FA guy in reserve and hopefully they can find a middling FA guy with stuff that turns out like Kikuchi did. Bottom line is the pitching is still their even if Framber gets traded and I dont think he gets traded until the deadline unless there's a really good return.
I dont want Dana to trade Framber either, but if he does I'm thinking it wont be the end of the world. I'm also hoping Dana finds a vet to lighten the load. As of now if they trade Framber they will have a bunch of very good 6-7th inning SP's so another bullpen arm might be needed depending on what they do with Garcia.
I agree with you on Spencer. I have no idea what to expect from him. He’s hot great stuff. I could see him building on last year and doing really well but I can also see him in the minors by May.
I want Framber traded. Crane will not do what he needs to in order to resign him. Framber is the only trade chip that does not have control beyond 2025 and has the value to bring back an impact player. If this team does not improve from where they are now, Framber's final season is wasted. And Framber is the only player who would be a major waste of value if he played here all season. Sign multiple impact players or trade Framber- anything else is wasting time and assets.
Have faith, usually guys with Spencer's stuff perform better in their 2nd year. Their command improves and just from hearing him talk he knows he's got the stuff to eventually be a SP1 and he wants to become the guy.
Pitching is always a toss-up every year. Trading Framber would essentially make the contention chances minimal for next year, not that its all that high to begin with. Having a stable rotation with as many high ceiling performers as possible would be the best way to stay in contention.
Framber and a high end pitching staff (with relative health) is the one thing that would keep this current team in contention next year... additions or not. You don't need to resign him for regressing years either. Keep one more relatively affordable prime year and thats it. If they trade Framber, it would be more for salary relief first... but there's not really a comparable player they can sign that would add as much value for 2025, thus hang on to the only pitcher who has proven he can go multiple full seasons with a standard work load.
Why Hays? He’s been just barely average against RHP and crushes lefties, so he’s basically a poor man’s McCormick. I do like Soroka as a potential underrated RP.
Basically they become Seattle!!! A 5 man rotation plus guys in AAA and unable to score runs because the GM refuses to trade SP. Then 1 of the SP walks for nothing and they didn't get the 3 possible players to help over the next 5-6 years.
We also were out of starting pitchers at the trade deadline with bullpen games built into the rotation because Garcia, Javier, Verlander, Urquidy, etc were all out simultaneously
