coolhandluke121

1b: Thames/Braun/Aguilar 2b: Villar/Sogard/Perez SS: Arcia/Sogard/Villar 3B: Shaw/Perez LF: Braun/Phillips/Perez CF: Brinson/Phillips RF: Santana/Phillips/Perez C: Pina/Vogt That's likely to be a respectable lineup and could be a really good defense if used correctly. The versatility could allow for a lot of double switches. I would also support moving Braun to 1b, releasing/trading Aguilar, and keeping Broxton for defense, pinch-running, and depth.

I expect a fair amount of regression from several players. However, there's always a few guys that surprise you as well, and they shouldn't have to go into the season with guys like Franklin and Kirk on the 25-man, nor should they have to rely on starters as bad as Guerra and Peralta and relievers as bad as Feliz, Torres, and Drake. All they need is serviceable players to get much better in those areas, making up for some of the regression from this year's best players. There's not a lot of candidates for an injury or age-based decline, and guys like Hader and Phillips will be on the roster all year so they'll probably get more WAR out of those roster spots even if they don't play as well. ETA: Shouldn't have to rely on Bandy and Susac as much either, though I'm not sure how much better Vogt will be. Does he have a good year left in him?

Honestly that would probably give them a better chance to maximize their wins over the next, say, 10 years, but it's hard to justify right now and he could keep improving. He reminds me a bit of Corey Hart though, in the sense that I'm not convinced he's going to have seasons like this on a regular basis, and his defense is even worse. Prime Hart had decent range.

All it takes is one gm who likes the guy to get something for Villar or Broxton. That said, there's no guarantee someone will. You can cite Jason Rogers, but how often does that happen and how many other teams do you think made a decent offer for him? Keon and JV were both pretty bad this year. I'd definitely give Villar a chance to get back in the .750+ range before trading him for what little he's likely to fetch. Does Broxton has any options left? Because I'd keep him in AAA for depth before trading him after a down year like this as well. Brinson and Braun both seem to be major injury risks, so the return better be good enough to justify compromising your depth after an 86-win year or you're better off keeping him. If they hadn't had to play guys like Villar and Perez in cf, or play guys like Kirk or Franklin at all, they would have probably been in the WC game. I'm normally all for selling and going young, but only if the return is there. And the return could be better if you wait until next year anyway, so I personally hope they stay. It's not like you have to worry about impending free agency or be worried about them regressing after a career year. That would have been a good argument for trading them last year, but that ship has sailed. I'd listen to offers on Thames, but he did end the year with nearly a .900 OPS and they don't have better options right now. I'd just try to reduce his starts. Braun could be a plus defender in ~40 starts at 1b and is capable of hitting rhb's, and Aguilar would continue to get a lot of starts against lhb's. After the season they had, I think everyone deserves to run it back, unless of course you get a really good offer for someone.