Where are you guys at with Nelson Cruz? Say we signed him for the amount of money we had available for the first few years of Choo, but not number of years? If Walt was talking to Boras about Choo, then there's money available. Now, I realize Cruz isn't Choo...but if its a 2 or 3 year deal for the money per year we had set aside for Choo, then that could solve some of the RH power issues.....

-Sign Cruz for 2 or 3 year/15 million, or cheaper, with significant incentives for # of games played and offensive stats achieved.

-Move Bruce to CF for 2014, while Hamilton gets more hitting experience

-Bat Cozart at leadoff, his stat line was much better post All Star break....apparently he didn't bat at all in the leadoff position in 2014, but his numbers for leading off an inning are pretty good, so that could be a good sign.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/splits...6/zack-cozart-

I know there is a draft pick we'd lose on Cruz signing, but most likely will pick one up when Bailey walks next year.....mid long term, is that a wash, being 1 year apart...not really sure.

Would this lineup get it done in 2014?
Cozart (.280avg/.315 OBP/.715 OPS post AS break)
BP
Votto
Cruz (RF)
Bruce (CF)
Ludwick (LF)/Meso
Frazier
Ludwick/Meso

Rotation remains the same with Bailey and no Arroyo signing. Then in 2015, Stephenson slides in to the #5 spot.

Is that now too many right handed bats in the lineup?

I'm not sold on Hamilton yet..and fear he could be the new Willie Taveras, and we could all be fed up with him by June/July if handed the CF job opening day.

What I've done here is presented a possibility to run with, but admitting I don't have all of the answers, or fill in information here to truly analyze it, so feel free to add to this positively or negatively.