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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?