But we have several years yet to figure out which one or two. For my money, Smoak is gone - 1B is far easier to fill than 2B. He and Ackley are both Boras clients, too, so there's no discount to be had there with either.
I think eventually we pick Ackley as the Face, extend him, and call it a day. I like him better aging at 2B than Smoak at 1B anyway, and Ackley's younger (not much).
Still a LONG way off from that. We have a World Series to win before that happens. First things first. ;)
And yeah, a theoretical Ackley + Fielder combo is likely to be as good as Edgar plus...almost anyone, positionally. Maybe not Edgar/A-Rod, but it'll still be pretty. The second base thing is huge for adding additional plus bats.
We just have to actually ADD one - I don't see a lot of DH/1B bats in the minors, so thankfully we already have Smoak for 1B, Carp for LF, and a tailor-made DH hole.
I'm very, verrrry curious about this offseason. Do we plan to be contenders, or to roll our young kids over one more time in the high-yield CD and hope the market doesn't crash?
Ackley / Fielder / Smoak / Carp (with Trayvon, Wells and co as supporting cast) fronted by a rotation of Felix / Pineda / Paxton / Furbush / Vargas and an improved bullpen could make for some dynamic games.
Especially after Ackley gets some rest - remember, he's been going since 2009. College baseball followed by AFL, with a bare few weeks off around Thanksgiving before extended Spring Training (he lived in AZ that year), followed by a full minor league season, then AFL AGAIN, then another full-ER season of pro ball til October.
This will be his first extended rest in a while. He's earned it, and he'll be better for it.
~G
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