I don’t want to make assumptions on the expected career tracks of youngsters like J.P. Crawford. The kid has some serious on base skills, and power develops. Did anybody see Jose Ramirez coming? Can You imagine a Segura for a minor league and MLB cup o coffee Ramirez being hailed by the baseball experts as a get?
Still, I can’t go along with this makeover. I don’t understand it. How can you rip apart a team that had a lineup of Segura-Haniger-Cano-Cruz? That is serious firepower. How can you complain about an ace like James Paxton and a Marc-O Gonzalez as your #2, and Leake and LeBlanc following? How can you complain about a closer like Edwin Diaz? Our problem is the second tier: the guys who get exposed, like Seager, Zunino, Gordon. So, what we do is we cast off our first tier to bring in a new unproven second tier, and make them the first tier? None of these guys are a guarantee to produce like the players we already have. The guys they are replacing are among the best in their positions and will be so for the next 3 seasons.
Do what the Red Sox do...and what your first tier does. Put on your big boy pants and double down on the front line talent, and keep your best prospects. If you have a bare cupboard with no best prospects, then hitch up,your big boy pants and triple down and rebuild it...and fire whoever it was that made the farm system so pathetic. Instead, we are firing the guys who actually produce.
All the Mariner organization has right now in surplus is front line talent, a devoted fan base who will come to the publicly financed ballpark for reasons beyond winning, and a lot of money. They put 89 wins on the board with what they currently have. Nobody they are currently counting on in the next 3 years to win 85 games is seriously going to fade during that time. Cruz and Cano will put up the numbers they are doing during the coming three year stretch. These aren’t a 40 year old Edgar with faulty eyes, or a juiced up mediocrity like Brett Boone we got lucky with. Our ace isn’t a 41 year old Jamie Moyer who guiled his way to 21 wins. Rather, it is a 30 year old power and dominant lefty with a fresh arm. Excuse me...was.
Pete Carroll remade the Seahawks, casting off all the old guys. But he did not cast off anyone who are premier at their positions. These guys: Cruz, Segura, Paxton, Cano...are premier players at their positions.
You find the right manager and give him this team...he’d find a way to continue to win with it. You find an owner with vision...same thing.
Reload and rebuild. We don’t know if these new kids will develop. We can be pretty certain they aren’t going to be Cruz, Segura, Paxton, Diaz anytime soon. You don’t grow these kind of players on trees.
Hope I’m wrong, but I’ve grown tired of watching this movie.