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SB-Nation 2015 off-season simulation: Conclusion

Juan Uribe, Rays third baseman?
Juan Uribe, Rays third baseman?
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome back to the SB Nation off-season simulation with President Hatfield and VP D-Russ.

On Tuesday, we blew up the Rays. You knew that already, and it served as a thought experiment. Many have said Evan Longoria - our beloved face of the franchise, who would like to retire with the Tampa Bay Rays - should be traded. His $100M contract, the second long term extension he'd signed under-market value, is apparently too much for this small market club.

So we traded him for the best offer we could find.

In the simulation that meant to the Red Sox, sorry we're not sorry but we simply went for the best get, and Dave Dombrowski treats prospects like their beads at Mardi Gras. The return from that trade led to a subsequent deal with Toronto sending Drew Smyly and Desmond Jennings away - again, players some think should be dealt for their injury concerns - and netted even more prospects, and a mystery box: 41-year old knuckle baller R.A. Dickey.

The result was nine players in the Top-100, using the ratings and grades from mlb.com:

No. TOP PROSPECTS FV Rank Year ready
1 3B Rafael Devers 60 13 2018
2 OF Manuel Margot 55 25 2017
3 SS Willy Adames 55 37 2018
4 LHP Brian Johnson 55 40 2016
5 LHP Blake Snell 55 41 2016
6 RHP Brent Honeywell 55 48 2017
7 OF Garrett Whitley 55 68 2019
8 SS Daniel Robertson 55 79 2016
9 RHP Jonathan Harris 55 80 2018

Deals within the division never happen in real lift, but it was quite fun to give it a go in the simulation, and particularly to rob those two clubs of their prospects.

While we're at it, the 50-grade future value prospects now delve the list of top-10 worthy pieces 18-deep:

10 RHP Taylor Guerrieri 50
11 1B/3B Richie Shaffer 50
12 SS Adrian Rondon 50
13 C Justin O'Conner 50
14 1B/OF Jake Bauers 50
15 C Max Pentacost 50
16 2B Ryan Brett 50
17 1B Casey Gillaspie 50
18 C Chris Betts 50

And because part of the argument that the Fake-Rays did at least acceptable in this exercise is based on prospects acquired, here's the rest of the notable names:

19 RHP Garrett Fulenchek 45 28 RHP Ryne Stanek 45
20 OF Herschel Boog Powell 45 29 RHP German Marquez 45
21 RHP Chih-Wei Hu 45 30 3B Mitch Nay 45
22 OF Joe McCarthy 45 31 OF Tyler Goeddel 45
23 SS Andrew Velazquez 45 32 SS Jake Hager 45
24 C Nick Ciuffo 45 33 1B Patrick Leonard 45
25 RHP Cameron Varga 45 34 2B Kean Wong 45
26 OF Justin Williams 45 35 RHP Brandon Koch 45
27 LHP Nick Wells 45 36 RHP Matt Andriese 40

Look where Justin Williams is on this list! Moving on.

The Major League Roster

We had a payroll cap of $84m, and a goal of settling in at $70m. Thanks to the division rivals coffers', we were able to pick up $35m in salary relief, which dropped the roster salary all the way down to $64m.

Major League Roster
C1 Yan Gomes $2,500,000 SP1 Chris Archer $2,750,000
1B Mark Trumbo $9,100,000 SP2 Jake Odorizzi $507,500
2B Logan Forsythe $3,300,000 SP3 R.A. Dickey $12,000,000
3B Juan Uribe $5,000,000 SP4 Erasmo Ramirez $2,800,000
SS Brad Miller $507,500 SP5 Matt Moore $5,000,000
LF Rusney Castillo $10,500,000
CF Kevin Kiermaier $507,500 HL Seung-Hwan Oh $5,500,000
RF Steven Souza Jr. $507,500 HL Brad Boxberger $507,500
DH Yonder Alonso $2,500,000 HL Steve Cishek $2,000,000
C2 Curt Casali $507,500 ML Xavier Cedeno (L) $507,500
BN Nick Franklin $507,500 ML Steve Geltz $507,500
BN Tim Beckham $507,500 ML Andrew McKirahan (L) $507,500
BN Brandon Guyer $1,300,000 LM James Paxton (L) $507,500
DL Alex Cobb $4,000,000 Salary $64,347,500
DL Burch Smith $507,500
Other Boston (Castillo) ($5,500,000) Available $84,000,000
Other Toronto (Dickey) ($5,000,000) Savings ($19,652,500)

We are not anticipating a 2016 World Series, but we believe this roster follows the Ray Way of being 'competitive enough' inside the division. We're thinking the Wild Card is in reach, and  there's a possibility of catching fire the rest of the way.

A quick thought about the batting order probably looks like this:

vRHP vLHP
1 Kevin Kiermaier Brandon Guyer
2 Brad Miller Logan Forsythe
3 Logan Forsythe Juan Uribe
4 Yonder Alonso Mark Trumbo
5 Steven Souza Jr. Steven Souza Jr.
6 Mark Trumbo Rusney Castillo
7 Juan Uribe Curt Casali
8 Yan Gomes Tim Beckham
9 Rusney Castillo Kevin Kiermaier

And because no team is complete without a Spring Training roster, the following player all accepted invitations to compete for a job with these Fake-Rays.

Minor League Deals
C J.P. Arencibia
1B/3B Mark Reynolds
2B/SS Stephen Drew
OF Justin Maxwell
DH Aubrey Huff
SP Brandon Beachy
SP Ryan Vogelsong
RP Jonny Venters (L)
RP Jerry Blevins (L)
RP Jason Motte
RP Sean Marshall (L)
RP Sergio Santos

I would be happy with all of these invitations in real life too!

If our focus is on 2018 as the year we arrive, it's only fair we provide projected rosters as well.

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
C1 Yan Gomes Yan Gomes Yan Gomes Yan Gomes Yan Gomes Yan Gomes
1B Mark Trumbo Richie Shaffer Richie Shaffer Richie Shaffer Richie Shaffer Richie Shaffer
2B Logan Forsythe Daniel Robertson Daniel Robertson Daniel Robertson Daniel Robertson Daniel Robertson Daniel Robertson
3B Juan Uribe Juan Uribe Rafael Devers Rafael Devers Rafael Devers Rafael Devers Rafael Devers
SS Brad Miller Brad Miller Willy Adames Willy Adames Willy Adames Willy Adames Willy Adames
LF Rusney Castillo Rusney Castillo Rusney Castillo Rusney Castillo Rusney Castillo
CF Kevin Kiermaier Kevin Kiermaier Kevin Kiermaier Kevin Kiermaier Kevin Kiermaier
RF Steven Souza Jr. Steven Souza Jr. Manuel Margot Manuel Margot Manuel Margot Manuel Margot Manuel Margot
DH Yonder Alonso Yonder Alonso Steven Souza Jr. Steven Souza Jr. Steven Souza Jr.
C2 Curt Casali Justin O'Conner Justin O'Conner Justin O'Conner Justin O'Conner Justin O'Conner Justin O'Conner
BN Tim Beckham Logan Forsythe Brad Miller Brad Miller
BN Brandon Guyer Brandon Guyer Brandon Guyer Garrett Whitley Garrett Whitley Garrett Whitley Garrett Whitley
BN Nick Franklin Nick Franklin Nick Franklin Nick Franklin Nick Franklin
SP1 Chris Archer Chris Archer Chris Archer Chris Archer Chris Archer Chris Archer
SP2 Jake Odorizzi Jake Odorizzi Jake Odorizzi Jake Odorizzi
SP3 R.A. Dickey Alex Cobb Alex Cobb
SP4 Erasmo Ramirez Erasmo Ramirez Erasmo Ramirez Erasmo Ramirez
SP5 Matt Moore (L) Blake Snell (L) Blake Snell (L) Blake Snell (L) Blake Snell (L) Blake Snell (L) Blake Snell (L)
SP6 Brian Johnson (L) Brian Johnson (L) Brian Johnson (L) Brian Johnson (L) Brian Johnson (L) B. Johnson (L)
SP7 Brent Honeywell Brent Honeywell Brent Honeywell Brent Honeywell Brent Honeywell Brent Honeywell
SP8 Jonathan Harris Jonathan Harris Jonathan Harris Jonathan Harris Jonathan Harris
HL Seung-Hwan Oh Seung-Hwan Oh Seung-Hwan Oh Seung-Hwan Oh
HL Brad Boxberger Brad Boxberger Brad Boxberger Brad Boxberger
HL Steve Cishek Taylor Guerrieri Taylor Guerrieri Taylor Guerrieri Taylor Guerrieri Taylor Guerrieri Taylor Guerrieri
ML Steve Geltz Steve Geltz Steve Geltz Steve Geltz Steve Geltz
ML A. McKirahan (L) A. McKirahan (L) A. McKirahan (L) A. McKirahan (L) A. McKirahan (L) A. McKirahan (L)
ML Xavier Cedeno (L) Xavier Cedeno (L) Xavier Cedeno (L) Xavier Cedeno (L)
LM James Paxton (L) James Paxton (L) James Paxton (L) James Paxton (L)

And that doesn't include contributions from Burch Smith or the other myriad prospects highlighted above.

This is a stacked group of prospects at rock bottom costs wherever we could find them.

Be honest. How did we do?