Since the team is still several years away I doubt he's going to spend any serious money on free agents yet. My guess is Singleton, Cosart, and Springer will already have a year under their belts so maybe 2014.
What makes you call Greinke a true ace? He had that one great year, but other than that he has been mostly a #2/3 guy. Talent of an ace, but doesn't bring it often enough.
2008: 4.9 WAR 2009: 9.3 WAR 2010: 5.1 WAR 2011: 3.9 WAR (in 28 games due to injury) 2012 so far: 3.0 WAR (on pace for 7.5 WAR) If he stays on this pace for the rest of the year, he will have averaged over 6 WAR per season for the last five years. That is a true ace. Do I think Crane will authorize Luhnow to spend $50M in free agency next season... maybe, maybe not. A lot of depends on how the team does the rest of the year. The thing is, when you look at our minor league system, we have zero #1-2 starters coming up through the system, unless Cosart suddenly breaks out and his results start matching his stuff. So it's not like signing some free agent pitchers would be blocking anyone. Also, a lot of the starting pitchers who will be free agents this season are 28 or 29 years old. They will probably still be good 4 or 5 years from now. So, even if we were only around .500 next season, and didn't quite compete in the AL West, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea to sign them. Plus, Crane may want to make some splashes in the offseason to try and win back some of the fans who are pissed about moving to the AL.
Now that the excitement of Lowrie's hot start has fizzled down a bit: I think the Lowrie bandwagon has def cooled off with his decline the past month or so and RIGHTFULLY SO. I've been on the side of trading him but only if it nets a good deal. I've asked this question before but I will ask again: Would you trade J.J. Hardy for prospects??? That's basically the season Lowrie is having but with better walk numbers. I know it would be wiser to wait for him to build his numbers back up to get the best value but he's in uncharted territory with the season he's having so who knows how he'll respond.
