Looking at the past

[Circleville Guy]

The payroll in 2015 was like 16 million higher than the current payroll. Looking at the players that have been let go or traded, only Chapman has done well with another team. Cueto did have 1 really good year but it looks like the purge part was a good idea. The timing and who they got in return is the big question though. They would have been way ahead to just have let Bailey fly too. Here’s a thought though, what if they had just signed a new middling starting rotation in free agency right then and made the young guys pitch their way to the bigs? They could have kept the payroll around around 120 right then and added 2-3 seasoned vets right then. Could that have worked or does that sound way off?

[fredtoast]

Pitching prospects are like college QBs. It is very hard to tell which ones will be good in the big leagues.

We migt have overpaid for Bailey, but not by as much as people think. He was coming off back-to-back innings with over 200 innings pitched and an ERA in the mid threes. Guys like that don't come cheap. We would have had to pay more for Cueto, but he was clearly a better pitcher than Homer.

[Circleville Guy]

(10-28-2018, 02:21 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Pitching prospects are like college QBs. It is very hard to tell which ones will be good in the big leagues.

We migt have overpaid for Bailey, but not by as much as people think. He was coming off back-to-back innings with over 200 innings pitched and an ERA in the mid threes. Guys like that don't come cheap. We would have had to pay more for Cueto, but he was clearly a better pitcher than Homer.

This is why I would have signed 2-3 guys at 8-10 mil and made the young guys earn their call ups.