Well, you blamed recency bias for Taj getting positive comments after last night. In reality, he has earned almost twice as much WAR as his closest teammate. That's a measure of the productivity in entire season.
I love Mendez, but will he eventually profile as a 1B? He only hit 12 homers this year and his OPS was .804 at AA and AAA. But he's just 22 years old. He's 6'3" and 175 lbs. He could be a very different player at age 25.
Taj is our ace heading into the spring. If we slot Pablo #2 and Ryan #3, we stack up pretty good in the Central Division. We even have some serviceable depth behind them! I believe Clemens is better in a utility/bench role than as a starter. So we ought to upgrade at 2B. I think you know where I'm going with this...
I'm a huge Bohorquez fan too, but understand his season was curtailed by time on the IL. He's among a handful of farm hands worth a close study in 2027. If Quick fully makes the adjustment to AA next spring, he could be a big deal too. We must add depth to our minor league pitching corps this off-season!