Warren Newson wrote:
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
Warren Newson wrote:
When three of your long term heart of the order guys are bad to mediocre, there's not much you can do about that short of getting a new heart of the order.
I just don't think you can junk those guys after you tanked to get them. And I know Moncada is frustrating, but circumstances have to fall right. He'll quite likely end up with a better career than Javy Baez who is a Cub legend. You just need guys to play well at the right time and avoid injury. It's easier said than done.
I don't think it's absurd to believe that you can get 12 WAR from Moncada-Robert-Jimenez in the next year or two. If you get that you're probably going to have a decent team. If you put the right players around them, you could have a really good team. A lot of ifs, I know. But it's a funny game and there are no sure things. I remember when Kris Bryant was a guaranteed first ballot Hall of Famer. Now it looks like he's Kevin Youkilis.
My guess is they hold on to all of them and cross their fingers. I would like to see them trade Vaughn and Jimenez for somebody else's underperforming players and see if that shakes anything up. I think if they got a combined WAR of six out of Jimenez, Moncada, and Vaughn next year, they would be lucky.
I think that's what you have to do. It's not like these guys are complete busts. They've shown they can hit in the big leagues. They just need to put it together at the same time.
And I don't think any of these bums should be untouchable. Not even Robert. If the right deal is there, move them.
It isn't easy to win a World Series. You have to try to win one every year. When you fantasize about tanking followed by dynasty, that's usually what it is- a fantasy. Look at the Cub juggernaut.
That's why it's a mistake to look at your "bright future." There is no future in baseball. It's a funny game. Next year you'll probably lose to the Twins. You have to do EVERYTHING possible to win when you have a chance. You don't sit Strasburg while fantasizing about all his future Cy Youngs and your future World Series wins. You don't hang on to Jackson Holliday when Dylan Cease or Justin Verlander could have won you the World Series this year.
The Indians were darlings of baseball last year, winning baseball games the right way. They were terrible this year