Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
That's not the way teams have 'rebuilt' since the implementation of the present draft rules.
Teams rebuild now by absolutely gutting their squads, losing 105 games, getting themselves huge draft pools so they can go over slot on talent in the middle rounds and squirreling away their top assets in the minors for as long as they can to clump their service time into identifiable windows.
Many teams will focus precisely on moving their 'core' assets because those are the guys who are going to be gone by the time that window arrives or leaving their prime. They'll also get the best return.
Some teams refuse to engage in it and I think they'll suffer for it (the Cardinals). Others embrace it fully and they'll be rewarded for it, IMO (The White Sox are the most recent example; the Cubs and Astros are the most obvious).
If you're going to rebuild, you tear it down to the studs. I'd hold onto Duffy until the trade deadline if I were them; let him re-establish his value. Perez? I'd absolutely shop him around as catchers are tough to find. The problem is that most contenders have one. I'd give the Angels a call and see what's left in that barren system of theirs. They're going to make a hard push now that Otani is there and they can't keep wasting Trout. Maldonado...sucks.
That system is so bad it might be hard to put a deal together with them, but Adell, Canning and Thaiss might makes sense; a big-time toolsy OFer in Adell, a good 'pitchability' righty in Canning that's probably gonna be in an MLB rotation by 2019 and a 1b with helium and an advanced approach in Thaiss. If you could convince them to include Chris Rodriguez in there - huge tools but short on results as a HS pick - you'd have to pull the trigger.
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I know this all sounds like it makes sense, but this is not what will happen. You have to have significant major league assets to yield the kind of haul that contains the parts to a future championship level ball club. Perez and Duffy are far more valuable to us than most other teams and the PR headache would just be another negative on those kinds of deals. We just do not have a Greinke on our team to net the kind of haul that would build the minor league system in a way that's any quicker than doing it through smaller deals and working the system for pool / international money.
Rebuilding just means they won't try to add any significant parts to the existing squad. We will play whatever we already have and start working towards the next few drafts. In the mean time, Burns/Orlando/Gordon/Boni/Soler in the OF, Moss/Dozier at first, Cuthbert and Mondesi will fill out the infield. If they just want to shave some payroll, the only moves that make sense are Duffy, Hererra, Kennedy and Hammell. (edit - oops...and Soria).