Part One: What Mike would do the rest of the year, the Offense

[bird]

What they do the rest of the year does very little for me. Other than Gordon as a future starter and Wade perhaps as a future 4th OF, I don't see significant value in doing much with the everyday lineup. Gordon's not ready and Wade's hurt, an okay September call-up. Put Buxton back out there when he heals, throw a dart for 2B or rotate Ahire and Forsythe. Wilson stays on my 25-man and plays less.

 

The Escobar trade created a shortage. A weakness. I flunk the FO on that move, unless they re-sign the man. Throw him at 2B in 2019 with a promise of just the one season as a starter and then he should brace himself to go back to his incredibly valuable super utility job. Gordon's not a MLB player today, and in fact, the jury is still out on him altogether.

 

We have a surplus of 4th OF's in Cave, Wade, Grossman, Granite, Austin, Raley, et al. However, we have a shortage of starting OF's with just Rosario, Kepler, and a shaky dependence on Buxton. If I'm GM, I take my chances in 2019 on those three and live with maybe a Cave/Austin combo for backups. I do not understand how trading Kepler makes sense. It would be a worse move than the Escobar decision by far by my way of thinking.

 

I try to convince Mrs. Mauer to keep her spouse at home in 2019, or otherwise sit him down over his oatmeal and give him permission to go play part time for one more year. I like the idea of platooning him. Wonder if Molitor would get with that program.

 

I'd go after Ramos and overpay him in years and dollars. Or, I'd trade some of our prospect bounty for a catcher who can hit a wee better than Castro did and who pitchers trust a wee more than they trust Garver. "Payroll flexibility" lets you do one unwise thing when you have an urgent need, and they do. ANd they have surplus assets positionally in the minors to dangle in trade. No excuse not to upgrade a hugely important position.

 

Nice write-up, Mr. Sixel.

[Major League Ready]

 

Great analysis. 2B is the big problem in the field. Adrianza has played a competent to above average SS for the last year’s worth of games. Above average in the field,decent bat. Why don’t we play him at SS and Polanco at 2B? Forsythe is the UTL until he’s waived and traded, which I think is a lock as soon as some contender has an injury there. Gordon can then come up when he’s ready, which I agree is not now and might not be next year. Try to re-sign Escobar for next year. I agree that the rest of this year is about evaluating and creating options. Let’s se if Adrianza is a starting SS option going forward.

 

What a perfect time for this experiment, right? Adrianza was considerably better when he was getting consistent playing time as was Escobar so let's not panic. We might already have the solution and there is a good chance we can resign Escobar in which case our utility IF is Adrianza.

 

The bullpen is the black hole on this team. Trevor May coming back and performing well would be a big plus. Busenitz needs to be in the pen and used in a regular basis the rest of the season.