Your Offseason Plan in 3 Moves or Less

[RANDY IN INDY]

Agree. Great post, Cooper!

[Kc61]

Upton, Ziegler and a medium prospect for Corcino, Stubbs, Cozart, and Leake.

Crisp and Sean Doolittle for Heisey, Arredondo, Lotzkar, another decent prospect if needed.

Righty hitting SS who can spell Gregorius is third important pickup.



Crisp, Phillips, Votto, Upton, Bruce, Frazier, Hanigan/Mes, Gregorius.
Bench: Mes, HRod, righty shortstop, XPaul, backup righty CF with plate discipline.
Rotation: Cueto, Bailey, Latos, Chapman, Arroyo.
Bullpen: Hoover, Marshall, Doolittle, Ziegler, Lecure, Simon, and either Masset or Ondrusek.


Doolittle and Ziegler beef up the pen. I'd let Hoover close to begin, but with Marshall, Ziegler, and Doolittle also late inning guys.

Crisp is a stopgap for Hamilton.

Letting Ludwick go and trading Stubbs saves some money. Arroyo will be off the books following year, will help offset Upton salary.

Crisp is a short term fix.

Yes, I'm trading both Stubbs and Heisey and seeking a new righty backup CF. Somebody with some contact skills.

[REDREAD]

1. Empty the farm system to acquire Choo from Indians. Extend him.
Failing that, acquire another solid LF or 3b.

2. Sign CF Shane Victorino to a perferably 1 year deal to play CF. (maybe 7 million/year)Go two years if necessary.
Hope for a bounceback.. surely, he won't be worse than Stubbs. I like the upside.Nice stopgap until Billy H is ready.

3. Sign FA LH Reliever Sean Burnett (Nats) for 2-4 million
Gives us a second lefty in the pen, and gives flexiblity to put Chapman in the rotation.

[Vottomatic]

1. Trade Bailey to KC for Wil Myers to play LF and bat cleanup. (I've come around on this one). Chapman to rotation.
2. Bolster the bullpen and closer through free agency or trade.
3. Sign Youkilis to play 3B. Relegate Frazier for pinch hit duty and backup because you know they'll be injuries.

CF B. Hamilton
2B Phillips
1B Votto
LF Myers
RF Bruce
3B Youkilis
SS Cozart
C Hanigan

[_Sir_Charles_]

1. Trade for and extend Shin Soo Choo. Stubbs, one of Corcino/Cingrani, and some lesser prospects. I'm certainly open to ideas concerning what would be required to trade for him. But no to any of the 5 current starters. Also no to Hamilton, Stephenson & Gregorius. Everybody else is fair game in the minors IMO.

2. Chapman to rotation. This will necessitate the following changes as well. Marshall becomes full-time closer. Leake heads to Louisville to maintain a regular schedule as a starter. All the other relievers move up a spot and if we need to backfill, do so from the Louisville bullpen not from their starting rotation. When Aroldis reaches his innings limit, replace him with Leake.

3. Leave Hamilton in AAA until we're sure he's ready. Do NOT rush him. Phillips can cover the leadoff slot. CF is manned by Heisey/Stubbs if they're both still here. If not, an extended audition for Heisey might be worth a look. While I like Stubbs as a person, I think we've all seen that he simply has too many flaws to be successful. I'd LOVE to be proven wrong about that though.


Hanigan/Mesoraco C
Votto 1B
Phillips 2B
Cozart SS (Didi makes the club as a UT)
Frazier 3B
Bruce RF
Heisey CF (if Stubbs is still here...defensive substitution for late innings)
Choo LF

Cuteo
Latos
Bailey
Arroyo
Chapman/Leake

Marshall
Massett
Arredondo
Hoover
LeCure
Ondrusek
Simon

Some of the minor leaguers could certainly fill in some holes (CF, Bullpen, Bench as needed). I'd rather not see us as players AT ALL in the free agent market.