The first order of business this offseason is to either extend Stearns and if he is determined to leave and go back home to the mutts let him go as we cannot afford to have a lame duck executive making moves for the future of a franchise he has no intention of being a part of.
If Stearns leaves which I fully expect I would go after Luhnow who has paid enough of a price for what he did with the Astros. Mark A will of course go the cheap route and just let the unproven Matt Arnold run things which could be good or awful as we just have no idea whatsoever what kind of top executive he will be.
I would move both Burnes and Woodruff if we can't resign either which is a longshot at best. Hopefully we can get big packages for both specifically some pitching as the system is lacking in good young arms ( stay away from trading for more outfielders as we clearly have enough on the way plus the albatross Yelich who is going nowhere). The window has clearly closed for this group due to ignoring the lineup which pretty much wasted the best starting pitching in team history. If we can do well in the deals for Burnes and Woodruff maybe we take a step back for a year and are ready to contend again by 2024 but the cut and paste short term nonsense signings of guys like McCutchen have to end.
Its a shame that we wasted this rotation and the back end of a bullpen with Devin and Hader but we have. Too bad we didn't have all these intriguing position player prospects to compliment the pitching but unfortunately the timing just didn't work out.
As much as Stearns has done a good job with this organization he failed miserably at the last seasons trade deadline as well as last offseason and this deadline was another mess. Its time for an overhaul which means its time for Stearns to commit or leave.
The team effectively waived the white flag on the season when they did nothing to meaningfully address the offense last offseason. Anyone that watches this team on a daily basis can see that the lineup is nothing short of terrible. The game last night ending with a pulled Hiura on the bench while his replacement hits into a game ending double play was a microcosm of the season.
The pitching certainly has not been good enough particularly this new look terrible bullpen and the defense has been a joke but thinking this offense has been anywhere near good enough is laughable.
I so wish he would sell to someone willing to spend enough to win. How can you not be infuriated when he said on opening day how McCutchen wasn't in the budget and that they had to expand the payroll to sign him like it was the type of move to put us over the top.
Totally putting him in a position to fail only facing lefties. I would play him every day the rest of the season regardless of who is pitching but not letting Keston face righties is so stupid.
Rough first inning for Woodruff but we have 4 very good starters and some good relievers. The offense is atrocious and we have been a bad defensive team all year.