Twinkie Town Community Build-A-Team Offseason Plan (part 2)

Dec 5, 2022 - 6:49 PM

What kind of plan is this?

Previously, I asked the people of Twinkie Town to make the tough decisions. Below are the results and my plan, based on the results:

Decision #1: Catcher
Vote: 44% - Sign a Little Ticket FA.
Sign: Omar Narvaez for 2 years/$14 million ($7 AAV)
Note: Narvaez should be a good compliment to Jeffers and one many fans are pulling for.

Decision #2: Shortstop
Vote: 49% - Correa or bust
Sign: Carlos Correa for 8 years/$280 million ($35 AAV)
Note: It’s impossible to predict the opt out scenarios but $35 seems to be the consensus for AAV.

Decision #3: Kepler
Vote: 64% - Trade
Trade: Kepler (5.6) + Rodriguez (14.2) + 2 young pitchers (Prielipp, Raya, Moran, Woods Richardson, Canterino, or Festa…10.0) + cash until it’s even = Trevor Rogers (36.5)
Note: Rogers’ name has been floating around since last offseason and if the Twins can argue Kepler’s ability at CF, I could see the Marlins showing interest but, ultimately, I think they’d look for more Major League ready players.

Sign: Wil Myers for 2 years/$18 million ($9 AAV)
Note: Losing Kepler leaves a hole in RF. I contemplated many names and considered several attributes (internal vs. external, handedness, positional flexibility, likelihood of signing, playoff experience, money required, etc.) and ended up favoring Myers.

Decision #4: Arraez
Vote: 36% - Utility
Start: Kiriloff on Opening Day.
Note: With health and positional flexibility throughout the roster, Arraez will see plenty of time at 1B, 2B, 3B, and DH.

Decision #5: Pitching
Vote: 36% - $45-$69 million
Trade: Kepler for Rogers (see above).
Sign: Chris Martin (2/$14) and Chad Green (1/$6)
Note #1: $45 million was an impossible figure if I was going to sign Correa AND stick to a $140 million budget. Instead, I used BTV’s value of Rogers ($36.5 million) plus the acquisitions of Martin ($7 million) and Green ($6 million) to get to the desired $45 million.
Note #2: I would have non-tendered Pagan and Garlick to start the off-season. Instead, to save some money and get closer to my target budget, I trade them for whatever I can get.

This leaves me with the following roster:

Lineup
C: Ryan Jeffers ($.72)
1B: Alex Kirilloff ($.72)
2B: Jorge Polanco ($7.50)
3B: Jose Miranda ($.72)
SS: Carlos Correa ($35.00)
LF: Trevor Larnach ($.72)
CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00)
RF: Wil Myers ($9.00)
DH: Kyle Farmer ($5.9)

Total: $75.28

Bench
Backup C: Omar Narvaez ($7.00)
IF: Luis Arraez ($5.00)
UTL: Nick Gordon ($.72)
OF: Gilberto Celestino ($.72)

Total: $13.44

Starting Pitchers
SP Sonny Gray ($12.00)
SP Joe Ryan ($.72)
SP Bailey Ober ($.72)
SP Tyler Mahle ($7.20)
SP Trevor Rogers ($.72)

Total: $21.36

Relief Pitchers
RP Kenta Maeda ($3.13)
RP Jovani Moran ($.72)
RP Griffin Jax ($.80)
RP Chad Green ($6.00)
RP Caleb Thielbar ($2.40)
RP Chris Martin ($7.00)
RP Jorge Lopez ($3.70)
RP Jhoan Duran ($.72)

Total: $24.47

Dead money: $8.15

Grand total: $142.70

I’m happy to say I was able to give the people what they wanted while fielding a competitive team and almost (I ended $2.70 million over plus whatever cash was required to complete the Kepler trade), keeping within the constraints of the budget. What do you think? Anything in particular you like or dislike? Anything you would do differently? Let me know!