Impeach The Ricketts

[Hawk4Hall]

Let’s get the hearings going. :flythew:

[toonsterwu]

It's funny, I've spent years arguing that this front office shouldn't be glorified, and yet, there were no major moves that screamed out as being horrible at that immediate point in time (I supported Heyward signing, didn't love the Quintana trade but value was fine for a guy on that contract coming off some very solid years, Chatwood signing looked fine when it happened). In some respects, the stagnation is a mix of FA moves gone bad and an over-reliance/trust on their young assets. Yet, no matter what, here we are, in 2019, with the season over, a mismatched good but not great roster, and a farm system that's ... betting on high upside low level talent, which almost all organizations have (I think Marquez might be special ... really love Brennen Davis, but really got to see how he does in AA to really know ... I'm still not sure how excited I should be on Nico Hoerner. Amaya looks like a potential top tier starting catcher, but it looks like it's a few years down the line. Honestly, the guy I'm really excited about might be Kohl Franklin, but that's several years down the line as well).

 

I still feel like something major needs to be done. They can keep cobbling it together - that is, bringing back the horses and keep making a run at things. A little luck, and this is a playoff team. After all, the main 4 (Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, Contreras) is still excellent. That said, does this core group, as currently constituted, look like a team that could be a strong WS contender? It's debatable. I mean, buying FA pen arms comes with sufficient risk.

We could arguably use another bat, a good SP, and with so much money being spent already, it's hard to see huge FA outlays, particularly when there are extensions coming, and the chances of moving either Heyward or Darvish is slim (and in Darvish's case, don't really want to move him).

 

I'm of the opinion nothing should be off the table. Much as I've grown to like Rizzo, he might be our most movable asset that could net a high quality return, at a position that they should be able to find some production. Has to be the absolute right deal, and I'm not particularly sure what that is. I'd ponder shopping Contreras as well Of course, you move either Rizzo or Contreras, you really need another big bat as well. Darvish/Lester/Hendricks is a solid enough three to the rotation, but they need some help. You could roll Quintana back, but a part of me wonders if Quintana, with only one year left, might be able to fetch a nice return on the open market. Giving Chatwood a chance at the 5th starter job is fine, but he needs a lot of competition. I'm of mixed opinion on Alzolay's future. I mean, if his competition is Chatwood for the 5th job, one could see Alzolay winning it, and he could develop into a mid-rotation arm, but that assumes time and improvement. That said, he looks to have late inning ability now, and grooming him as a 7th inning type with the hopes of eventually replacing Kimbrel sounds like a potentially good idea that could also help the club now.

 

Don't know. This FO did what it needed to do - it won a title. Now, they've got to avoid some of the consistent inconsistency at their previous stops.

[Old Style]

HARUMPH!

[The_Achiever]

I don’t like them politically but they’ve been pretty great about spending money. The team and ballpark are in the best shape of my life. They spend but don’t mettle in the baseball side of things at all.

 

This is an important offseason though.