FanPost

AAOP: Destroy Erase Improve

This team had injury troubles in 2017 to say the least. The problem is though, you can't realistically plan for them not to happen because if they happened once, they can happen again. Therefore, the aim should be to make this roster more adaptable and to build in as many contingency plans as possible. Every year we say "we can't have that luck again", yet here we are, again, remarking about what rotten luck we had. Devise a plan that will succeed anyway. Build a roster anticipating the same injury troubles. If this is the year we finally have regular luck, if such a thing exists, we'll be that much better.

I originally wrote those words some-365 days ago. Low and behold, same shit, different year; another season in the abyss. Ray Ramirez is a pariah, sure, but we can't use him as a scapegoat to ignore the issue: 2017 was the second consecutive season that was lost because we didn't have the necessary pieces to fend off the drowning pool of a thousand trips to the DL. A roster that doesn't have injury troubles is rarer than footage of a yeti. What is clear, is that we can't count on our fortunes to brighten without planning for there to be dark days. This team is in desperate need of a better class of depth - and I'm going to give it to them.

One way to prepare a roster to weather injuries is to make it adaptable and flexible. Too many players that can only play one position locks you in to a very specific lineup. That causes craters when someone goes down and makes the only escape plan AAA-quality players. This isn't only applicable to position players either. There seems to be a counter-balance to the trend of over-specialization starting to take foot: pitchers who can be multi-inning options out of the pen. I don't think we're too far off from piggybacking becoming a viable option either. I'd like us to get out in front of this nascent trend and use it to our advantage. We have quite a few pitchers who have had recent injury issues, concerns about how many innings they have in their arms, or have come back from injuries and can't maintain performance through a lineup three times.

Cancer Bats:

Last season the Mets finished a disappointing 18th in Runs Scored. Yoenis Cespedes and his 131 wRC+ was limited to only 321 PAs. A revamped training regimen should lead to more opportunities for vulgar displays of power as he had his third consecutive year with an ISO >.245. Michael Conforto broke out in a big way with a 146 wRC+, but he went down with an injury that threatens his readiness for Opening Day. Once he get back to health, he has a death grip on RF. Asdrubal Cabrera reached a 111 wRC+, but gave almost all of it back with the glove and on the base-paths. Travis d'Arnaud managed to stay healthy enough to reach 376 PAs, but he only hit to a 91 wRC+. In the sea of catchers, that's acceptable - plus he had another good year as a receiver (6.7 Framing Runs). Jose Reyes rode a good second half to a decent season (94 wRC+) seeing time at four different positions, but he's in need of a contract. Juan Lagares once again displayed all-world defense in between battling injuries. His bat still wasn't what we all think it could be, but even at his career 84 wRC+, he's still a borderline everyday player. Wilmer Flores was once again our friend and had himself a cromulent season (106 wRC+) - that is until he broke his face and spilled most precious blood. He can play all over the IF and mashes lefties so he definitely has a spot as the first option off my bench. Also of note with regard to Flores: he hit a 101 wRC+ vRHP in 2017, so there's the possibility he's not so much a strict platoon option anymore. That said, it was a relatively new phenomenon so it would be best to not count on it happening again and be presently surprised if it does. Either way, the goal would be to get him 400 or more PAs.

After a series of trades, the Mets allowed for a wave of babies their chance at the majors. It produced mixed reults. All-world prospect Amed Rosario displayed the raw tools that made scouts drool. However, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows as his 28.8 K%, 1.8 BB%, and 74 wRC+ would attest. We'll have to take our lumps and let his glove carry him until he starts to adjust to MLB pitching. More alarming was Dominic Smith. The young 1B put up a disappointing 73 wRC+ and it wasn't like he was sacrificing contact for power as his ISO was only .198. Additionally, the above average defensive work also wasn't on display. All in all, it seems like a situation where we would be giving him too much to work on in too bright of a spot light to make him our Opening Day starter. Brandon Nimmo used the power of a smile that would make Norma Jean blush to put up a 117 wRC+ and 1.1 fWAR over 215 PAs; I'll take that as a bench outfielder any day. TJ Rivera had another nice season even though he still doesn't walk (103 wRC+, 3.9 BB%). Unfortunately his season was cut short due to Tommy John surgery. However, he should be ready to go by early spring at the latest and would bring a desirable amount of flexibility to our bench being able to play 1B, 2B, 3B, and COF in a pinch. Kevin Plawecki finally showed signs of life with the bat (106 wRC+). Along with his history of good framing skills, figuring out how to hit the ball out of the infield makes him an adequate backup catcher.

Incendiary Offense:

571697.0.jpg In the first of three trades to help the offense, from Cincinnati, UTL Scooter Gennett, RHP Anthony DeSclafani, and LHP Wandy Peralta are acquired in exchange for MI Gavin Cecchini, RHP Paul Sewald, RHP Marcos Molina, SS Luis Guillorme, and 3B Mark Vientos. Gennett broke out this past season with a 124 wRC+ at the age of 27 and should help transform us into a madball offense. What fueled that break out was newly tapped power as evidence by his .236 ISO. Now, yes, all signs point to there being something going on with the baseballs so his ISO probably won't stay in the top-30 range league-wide, but there is evidence of an actual change in approach. His Pull% and Hard% were career high 42.4% and 34.4% respectively (v. career marks of 35.7% and 29.4%). There's also hope that as he gets fully comfortable with his new "smack the crap out of it in the air" approach, that his K% will fall more in line with his career marks (19% as opposed to his 22.9% this past season). Combine that with slightly below average defense at 2B, 3B, or a corner OF spot, and you have a very useful player that could contribute 3+ WAR. Even if he comes back to earth more aggressively than anticipated, that's still a starting-quality player or a fantastic utility option who can crush 20-something mastodon-sized homers into the Coca-Cola Corner seats. Plus he likes to make pottery, so that has to count for something.

543101.0.jpg DeSclafani is a 27 year old righty who missed the entirety of the 2017 (save 6.2 MiLB IP) due to a tear in his UCL and elbow tendinitis. In 2016 he was limited to just 123.1 IP due to elbow tendinitis and a strained oblique muscle. When he's on the mound, DeSclafani pitches well (career 102 ERA+, 130 in 2016), however, he's not on the mound enough. Think of him as Zack Wheeler without the draft pedigree. Therefore, I suggest we move him to the bullpen as a multi-inning/piggyback option. In turn, the reduced innings he'll have to throw down should help keep him healthier. He employs a 5-pitch mix: a 94 mph fastball that should play up in the pen (so, 95-96, maybe more), a sinker that plays at the same velocity, a nasty slider, a workable curve, and a rarely used change-up. He could match up nicely with Matz.

593974.0.jpg Peralta is 26 year old rookie who ended up with a shiny 3.76 ERA over 64.2 IP out of the pen that bellied some less than shiny underlying numbers; 1.11 HR/9, 74.9 LOB%, and a 4.16 FIP. He's never been very highly regarded (Sickels had him as an "other" for 2017, Mayo never ranked him) and doesn't fair particularly well against left hand hitters, but he throws hard (97 mph FB and sinker) and I think he might be a late bloomer. He heads to Las Vegas and adds to the much needed organizational depth in case of injuries.

The Reds are rebuilding and trade the found money Gennett and oft-injured DeSclafani for some pieces that might be there when they're good again. Additionally, Gennett is starting to get expensive as he enters his second arbitration year (due $6.1M), so that incentivizes the Reds to move him now as well. Cecchini has a wide range of outcomes, with none of them likely being great. In all likelihood, he has a career very similar to the one Gennett had had up to last season: varying degrees of success and lack of opportunities, but a usable player. All that being said, the Reds are the perfect team to give Cecchini a shot to take his lumps and reach his potential. A lot of the same applies to Molina. What he becomes is still very much up in the air. He had promising results at AA after coming back from injury, but he's still inconsistent and the threat of shifting to a reliever still looms. Again, that said, the Reds are in a perfect position for such a high-risk/high-reward play to make sense as #3 starter upside is still there. Guillorme could play SS in the majors today because of his glove and he had a pretty promising year in AA with the bat; there's a good chance he at least becomes a usable back up infielder with a defense-first starter's upside. Sewald offsets the loss from Peralta. Mark Vientos is included as a PTBNL as he was taken in the 2nd round in this past draft.

543401.0.jpg To further bolster the lineup, in comes 2B/OF Jason Kipnis, LHP Shawn Morimando, and RHP Shawn Armstrong from Cleveland in exchange for IF Asdrubal Cabrera, LHP PJ Conlon, OF Wuilmer Becerra, and $1M. Cleveland has future MVP candidate Jose Ramirez as a 3B/2B option. They have former top prospect and defensive stud Bradley Zimmer as a CF option. They could go with either glove-man Giovanny Urshela or Cuban import Yandy Diaz at 3B. They also gave current top-prospect Francisco Mejia time at 3B this past season. They plan to bring Jay Bruce back to patrol RF. They have options in LF including former All-Star Michael Brantley and top-prospect Greg Allen. That leaves Kipnis as a good but very expensive bench piece as he is due $13.5M. Swapping Kipnis out for Cabrera (who is owed $8.25M) allows them to save approximately $5M without losing much in the way of contributions; we send over an additional $1M in the deal to make the savings for the Tribe even greater. Sure, Cabrera does not have the ceiling of Kipnis, but he's a consistently good player who can play 3 positions.

From our perspective, Kipnis offers very similar offensive value, with added contributions with the glove and on the bases. The jump in value from baserunning alone is a huge upgrade as Cabrera was one of the league's worst runners (-8.9 BsR in 2017) while Kipnis consistently offers positive value (3.5 BsR in 2017). A similar trend follows with the glove as Cabrera's career is marked by blow average UZRs while Kipnis' is the opposite. Additionally, Kipnis showed himself capable of playing a halfway decent CF and there are thoughts he'd fair fine in the corners as well. He is due $13.5 in 2017, $14.5 in 2018, and has a team option for $16.5M in 2019 (with a $2.5M buy-out). (And yes, I thought of Kipnis before Joel Sherman.)

596049.0.jpg Morimando is a fly-ball pitcher with a three-pitch fastball, slurvy slider, and change-up arsenal. He's had okay-but-not-great results through his minor league career and was rated by Sickels as a C+ and as the Indians #16 prospect heading into 2017 by Mayo. He broke into the majors last season with a cup of coffee, but he still has work to do with his command. Essentially, he's starting depth for the near minors that we sorely lack. However, he also represents the type of pitcher that could potentially catch fire if moved to the pen even as a multi-inning option.

542888.0.jpg Armstrong is a 27 year old relief arm who has a hard fastball, slider, and curve mix. He has a long history of strong K/9s, but his command has wavered and his HR/9 at the major league level has suffered. For reference, Sickels ranked him as a C+ prospect in the Indians system for 2017 and he was not ranked by Mayo. Cleveland has a wealth of relief arms and no real spot for Armstrong. He still has some kinks to work out, and he can do that in Las Vegas, but he'll have more opportunity here than he would with the Tribe.

In addition to Cabrera, Cleveland receives Conlon and Becerra. Conlon is a finesse lefty who is skewering the lower levels, but has just a fringy four-pitch mix that will likely limit his ceiling. His value isn't significantly different from either pitcher coming our way from Cleveland, just further away. Becerra has stagnated but still carries lotto-ticket value.

546991.0.jpg In the final trade for offensive help, OF Albert Almora Jr. comes over from Chicago with OF Juan Lagares, RHP Hansel Robles, RHP AJ Ramos, and $2M going the other way. Almora was once talked about among the Cubs' top prospects. He was their 6th overall draft choice in 2012 and was named the 39th best prospect in baseball by Mayo for the 2013 season. Since that time, Almora has seen his stock fall as he never had a standout performance with the bat at AA or AAA and has been surpassed by Kyle Schwarber, Ian Happ, Ben Zobrist, and Jason Heyward on Chicago's depth chart. However, he has a 102 wRC+ over two seasons and 440 MLB PAs and is a positive contributor with the glove. Almora has two more years before he enters arbitration eligibility.

For their troubles, Chicago gets someone who isn't as adept with the bat, but more than makes up for it with his elite defense. Lagres still has an air of untapped potential at the plate, but all in all, he's a minor threat offensively. Interestingly, Lagares was able to accumulate more fWAR last year (1.5 v. 1.2) in 51 less PAs. That's not to say Lagares is the better player, as the 23 year old Almora surely has the better bat and more developing to do, but we tend to underrate how much value Lagares can bring with the glove.

The Cub's trip to the playoffs revealed a lack of trust-worthy arms out of the pen. Now, no one is going to call either Robles or Ramos lock-down options, but they would go a long way to helping address the Cubs biggest need and they are only one season removed from very respectable performances. We send over $2M to make Ramos' salary more palatable and make the deal happen.

475174.0.jpg To round out the infield, in comes 1B/3B Yonder Alonso on a 1-year, $11M contract with a 1-year $13M team option that has a $2M buy-out. Alonso joined the growing contingent of major leaguers, like Gennett, who have changed their previous swing to focus on smacking the snot out of the ball in the air. Instead of his contact-oriented, line drive-inducing swing, he shifted to a loftier swing with a higher leg kick. It resulted in the best offensive year of his career (28 HR and 132 wRC+). Yes, his K% rose to a near career high (22.6), but his ISO soared to .235 (good for 32nd among qualified batters). He likely will regress somewhat, but even as a 120 wRC+ hitter, he's a fine option at 1B. Additionally, it's not too far out there to suggest as he get more used to his new approach at the plate, that his strikeouts decrease as he was previously a very disciplined hitter (15.9% career K%). Alonso does struggle against LHP (career 84 wRC+ vLHP), so a platoon with Flores would be optimal; together, they could form a formidable 1B on par with the Abreus and Goldschmidts of the league. Another worthwhile factor is that Alonso can play 3B. It likely wouldn't ever be needed with the bench pieces this team will have, but it's a worthwhile note in case Smith forces his way back to the majors sooner rather than later or we (shocker) face some injury issues. Also on the Smith topic, the structure of this deal gives Smith time to go back to an environment where he can focus on very specific things (like pulling the ball for power without sacrificing plate discipline) without a spotlight on him and allows us to transition to Smith in a more deliberate manner. If 1 win costs around $8M on the open market, Alonso only has to put up around 1.5 WAR per year to be worth the contract; that really shouldn't be too difficult given his new propensity to launch behemoth home runs.

Disposable Heroes and Misfit Love:

408314.0.jpg Proving that distance only makes the heart grow fonder, Jose Reyes is re-signed to a 1-year, $3M contract. After years of falling off the horse away from Queens, Reyes has found some success and happiness again. He takes perhaps less than he could get elsewhere to be a bench utility player and permanent Rosario-mentor.

Reyes, together with Flores, Nimmo, Rivera, and Plawecki, forms a bench that offers an impressive amount of flexibility and performance upside that can be exploited if and when a one of our starters go down.

Additionally, the following players are brought in on minor league contracts:

547982.0.jpg OF Leonys Martin: This former Rangers international FA and top-prospect has now been designated for assignment for the third time and isn't expected to be tendered a contract by the Cubs. He never really performed particularly well with the bat at the major league level. He doesn't walk and he doesn't hit for power. What he can do is play a mean CF offering up positive UZR and DRS regularly. He's also a pretty good base runner. There are no prayers for the dying, but at 30 years old, he'll head to Vegas to try and resurrect his career.

542642.0.jpg OF Rymer Liriano: This former Padres top-prospect was DFA'd by the White Sox and is a minor league FA. He's only 26 and mashes AAA pitching. He hasn't found MLB success - mainly because he Ks too much. Still, he hasn't been given much of a chance either.

543432.0.jpg C Ryan Lavarnway: This former Red Sox top-prospect was out-righted for the third time in his career this past season; this time by the Athletics. He's 30 now, but he makes for a good backstop partner for Tomas Nido in AAA.

Between the Buried and Our Starters:

Noah Syndergaard revealed his mortal side when he went down with a torn lat muscle that limited him to just 30.1 fantastic innings (144 ERA+). With Oden on our side, this will not be the twilight of the Thunder God as he did return late in the season and will be ready for Opening Day. Matt Harvey struggled through a year of misery signals trying to come back from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery and a scapula stress fracture with a 63 ERA+ over 92.2 innings. He is my first piggyback candidate. It might be hard for him at first to swallow his pride, but it would accomplish two things that should lead to more success for our Dark Knight: 1) limit his turns through the order, and 2) limit his mileage so he can stay healthier. Hopefully there are no more fat lips in his future. Jake deGrom was the only starter that managed to avoid turmoil. Like Clockwork, he posted a 119 ERA+ over 201.1 innings. Seth Lugo suffered a bit of a sophomore slump with a 90 ERA+ across 101.1 innings after fighting through a partially torn UCL. However, his spin rates still exhibit the joy of motion. He's another starter that I think could benefit from the piggyback approach. Robert Gsellman missed time with a hamstring injury, but even when he pitched he wasn't particularly successful as evidence by his 81 ERA+; I'd like him to head back to AAA as our first option in case of injury. Surprising no one, Steven Matz hit the DL a few times, suffering because if it (70 ERA+), and was limited to a 66.2 IP; he'd be my third biggyback target. Zack Wheeler reset his death-clock when he finally returned to MLB action after a long slog though injury. He pitched to a respectable 97 ERA+ over 86.1 innings, but I think a transition to the pen as a multi-inning option is probably better for the health of his arm. Rafael Montero pretty much confirmed our symphony of destruction as he saw 119 innings putting up a 76 ERA+. Tyler Pill and Chris Flexen where both largely ineffective in the smattering of innings they saw. They, together with Gsellman and Montero are sent to AAA to form Vegas' rotation with the aforementioned Morimando.

Fortunately, we don't need an influx of alternatives for the rotation. What we need is a shift in pitching staff tactics.

The Bad Religion of Bullpens:

For too long major league rosters and coaches have been slaves to the starter-setup-closer dogma. It's claustrophobic and stiffing. It leads to criminally over and under-working pitchers. I think the biggest misconception cynics have about piggybacking starters is the notion that the first pitcher would come out of the game at a predetermined time. What the idea means to me is that you have pairs of pitchers who attack games together. The first pitcher goes for as long as they can before they scrape the bottom of their barrel, and then he gets replaced by someone from the bullpen who does the same thing. In today's world, that likely means games split up into 4 inning appearances, but it's not always going to be a hard and fast 4 innings per pitcher. The other misconception that I think needs to be quelled is that it could lead to disaster and break you if one of the piggybackers gets knocked out of the game "ahead of schedule". That is misguided since in the traditional set up, if your starter gets knocked out in the 2nd inning, you have to cover 7 innings with options from the pen that aren't accustomed to going more than 1, maybe 2 innings at a time. That would require either punting the game, putting someone in a situation to hurt themselves, or depleting your pen going to four different pitchers to get the job done. With piggybacking, you'd have someone coming in that could give you 4 or more innings without overextending themselves and doesn't leave the pen in the lurch for the next game.

The downsides are no worse than a traditional approach to the pitching staff, but the potential rewards could be huge. You simultaneously set your starters up for better results by limiting both their trips through a lineup and the miles on their arms. What kills relievers isn't innings, it's appearances. No longer would you have one go-to guy out of the pen who ends up being worked to death, nor would you have pitchers who struggle after sometimes a week of non-use being thrown to the wolves. It's a ideological shift, yes, but I think it's one that a pitching coach turned manager can wrap his head around and get his staff to embrace - and there are already hints that they are planning to go that direction.

In 2017 our bullpen was a cradle of filth finishing 29th in ERA and 26th in fWAR. Jeurys Familia had a year to forget pitching to a 98 ERA+ in between suspension and injury. Jerry Blevins was the lone bright spot in a cast of misfits. He had a great year with a 144 ERA+ over 49.1 innings. Young relievers like Jamie Callahan, Jacob Rhame, Chase Bradford, and Josh Smoker are all more-or-less interchangeable in my mind. They are all options on the periphery, and if on your Opening Day roster, expose a lack of depth. For the most part, they all have the ability to strike batters out, but the need to figure out how not to give out free passes at such alarming rates. They'll each head back down to Las Vegas to try and figure that out. With the newly acquired Peralta and Armstrong, they represent a suddenly deep stock of backup arms waiting in the AAA bullpen under Frank Viola's watchful eye. DeSclafani and Wheeler join the pen as back-half piggbackers. The tandems I think would be preferable would be Harvey/Wheeler and Matz/DeSclafani. That leaves Lugo needing a partner and two other spots to be filled.

Rainbows are Free, and Mercenary Arms Don't Have to be Expensive:

459429.0.jpg Coming aboard is LHP Jake McGee on a 3-year, $18M contract. Rarely do good relievers manage to avoid over-use. McGee happens to be one of the exceptions only ever exceeding 70 IP out of the pen once in his career. McGee brings a fantastic career 132 ERA+ supported by a strong 9.10 K/9 and 2.51 BB/9 last season. He gives us a formidable high-leverage trio of traditional relievers with Familia and Blevins.

445926.0.jpg Additionally, RHP Jesse Chavez is signed to a 1-year, $4M contract to serve as our 3rd multi-inning option out of the pen and partner with Lugo. Over the last four years Chavez has started 68 games and pitched 508 innings. In those four seasons he has put up ERA+s of 108, 93, 95, and 79. The outlier there was this past season and appears to have almost entirely been induced by a 18.3 HR/FB%. The only other change was throwing his slider 16.5% of the time versus the sporadic usage it had prior. All of his other underlying numbers where near or very close to his previous, more successful seasons, nor did he have a velocity drop. I'm willing to bet that if he cuts back on his slider usage, that HR/FB number falls a bit and he returns to his ~100 ERA+ ways. That's not even mentioning the effect limiting him to one or two times through the order will have. Last season, the difference between his first time and second time through the order was .034 wOBA points; between the second and third was .064 wOBA points.

039_53555130.0.jpg To really drive home the pitching staff flexibility, RHP Miles Mikolas is signed to a 1-year, $3M contract with a second year, $3M team option. Mikolas spent the last 3 years eating up batters in the NPB. As a starting pitcher with the Yomiuri Giants, he recorded a 2.18 ERA, 8 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, and 0.994 WHIP over 424.2 IP. Now 29 years old, Mikolas wants to come back and try his hand at the MLB again. I'm willing to give him a shot as my fourth multi-inning option. The pen is now loaded with all killer, no filler. He won't be directly paired with any starter, but he gives us a valuable swing man. Think of him as a contortionist reliever or the pitching equivalent of a UTL.

016_31635110.0.jpg Finally, RHP Hideaki Wakui is signed to a 1-year, $1M contract with two club options each for 1-year, $1M. Wakui has long been one of the NPB's best and most consistent starters. Since breaking into that league at the age of 19, he has racked up 2061 IP with a 3.45 ERA, 6.6 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, and 1.259 WHIP. Additionally, he won the Pacific League's MVP in 2006, and their Cy Young Award equivalent in 2009 to go along with multiple All-Star designations and National team selections. Apparently he was sort of like their John Smoltz as he even recorded 37 saves one season in the middle of his career. Having long held the dream to test himself against MLB hitters, Wakui takes the jump over at age 31. He throws a fastball that sits around 90 mph which he can pump up to 94. Like seemingly most Asian pitchers, he compliments that fastball with a slew of six other offerings including, but not limited to: a cutter, sinker, and slider. However, most notable among those other types of pitches might be his curve which he apparently uses as not-quite-an-eephus pitch that can dip into the mid-to-high 60 mph range. As it seems for a lot of pitchers from the NPB, Wakui does have some miles on him, but he's been very healthy and that should give us hope he has a few more years before that arm goes the way of all flesh. Wakui is given a chance to realize his dreams by starting as a Rumble Pony instead of a 51 to avoid the launchpad that is Las Vegas. If he is able to make a smooth transition, he could provide us with a decent innings-eater type for the back of the rotation. Short of that, he's yet another multi-inning option out of the pen also capable of starting a game.

Additionally, the following pitchers are brought in on minor league contracts:

518567.0.jpg RHP Josh Collmenter: A soft-tosser who was DFA'd off the Braves roster. At 31 years old, he could see a boost as a 1-time through the order pitcher after a career as a starter/swing-man.

503449.0.jpg RHP Wily Peralta: Opted for FA after being out-righted off the Brewers 40-man roster. The good: he's only 28, throws hard, and has posted a GB% better than 50 five out of his six seasons. The bad: He's lost his already not-great control and gives up too many HRs. He might benefit from moving to the pen as a traditional reliever.

458690.0.jpg RHP Chris Volstad: Volstad was DFA's by the White Sox and is now a minor league FA. His problem is he doesn't strikeout enough batters. He's older at 31, but has a history of good GB%s. He could benefit from full time transition to bullpen.

457915.0.jpg RHP Javy Guerra: Once upon a time, Guerra was a rookie closer for the Dodgers. Fast forward through a few trips to the DL and two "drug of abuse" violations, and you'd find him out-righted off the Marlins 40-man roster this past season. That said, he throws hard, has decent GB%s, and could make for a good AAA closer.

Again We Rise / Final Notes:

With these moves we have a potent offense and a deep stable of arms. Kipnis, Gennett, and Alonso help drive our offense, instead of relying solely on Cespedes and Conforto. A revamped bullpen and new approach to how our pitchers attack opposing lineups is highlighted by impressive depth as Gsellman, Wakui, Morimando, Flexin, and Montero all start the year in the minors. No more Houdini lineups. No more cobbled together versions of bullpens. No more war and pain suffering through shallow rosters where one injury starts our countdown to extinction. This roster is also built for life after Wright as we have a Plan A (Gennet), B (Flores), C (Rivera), and D (Alonso) for 3B that don't include hoping that Wright finds health. It's a course correction toward an adaptable team that has built-in depth which should lead to a playoff birth.

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Photoshop:

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Additions: Scooter Gennett, Jason Kipnis, Yonder Alonso, Robert Almora Jr, Jake McGee, Anthony DeSclafani, Jesse Chavez, Mike Mikolas, Hideaki Wakui, Shawn Marimando, Wandy Peralta, Shawn Armstrong, Leonys Martin, Rymer Liriano, Wily Peralta, Ryan Lavarnway, Chris Volstad, Javy Guerra

Departures: Asdrubal Cabrera, Juan Lagares, Hansel Robles, AJ Ramos, Gavin Cecchini, Marcos Molina, Paul Sewald, Luis Guillorme, PJ Conlon, Wuilmer Becerra

Guaranteed Contracts: $40.2M

Contracts via Arbitration: $33.4M

Contracts via FA/Trades: $49.3M

David Wright: $20M

Retained Money: $3M

Total 2018 Payroll: $145.9M

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