Eppler's 2017-2018 Off-Season Transactions

[tdawg87]

I accept your apology.

[Second Base]

8 hours ago, greginpsca said:

So Thaiss goes to AA?

Almost certainly. He looked great in AA last year, and many prospects skip AAA and go to the majors because in many ways AA can be better than AAA. 

There doesn't appear to be a need to rush him. 49 games wasn't a tiny sample size, but I don't think it would hurt him to spend another 50 games in AA, followed by another 50 in AAA, and a promotion to the major leagues for August and September, particularly if he's hitting for power and getting on base.

[totdprods]

19 hours ago, greginpsca said:

So Thaiss goes to AA?

We probably lose Marte to waivers once we DFA him when he doesn't make the last bench spot...
With him out of the org, Chris Carter fills the Marte role in AAA as power-hitting 1B...Carter likely has an opt-out around end of May, and exercises it (or gets promoted to Anaheim) by that point, which then opens up some 1B at-bats for Thaiss in SLC.

[Second Base]

1 hour ago, totdprods said:

We probably lose Marte to waivers once we DFA him when he doesn't make the last bench spot...
With him out of the org, Chris Carter fills the Marte role in AAA as power-hitting 1B...Carter likely has an opt-out around end of May, and exercises it (or gets promoted to Anaheim) by that point, which then opens up some 1B at-bats for Thaiss in SLC.

There's no report of Carter having an opt-out, so it's doubtful he has one. More likely, he saw 110 games worth of starts at 1B are up for grabs, and only Luis Valbuena standing in his way. Valbuena hit under .200 last year. Plus the environment in Salt Lake could lead to absolutely monstrous numbers. Plus DH is manned by a 38 year old coming off a year with a sub .300 OBP and an unproven Japanese kid who is trying to do something that hasn't been done in a century.

Circumstantially, Carter couldn't be in a better situation. There likely isn't an opt out.

[ettin]

Bumped for completion of C.J. Cron trade for prospect MIF Luis Rengifo.

[Angel Oracle]

Rengifo is only 21, seems to have decent pop in his bat and steals bases, and has played 6 positions in his minor league career.

Definitely start him off at I.E. in April, as a .700+ OPS in the Midwest League is pretty decent/solid.

[ettin]

Updated for Perez DFA and Cash signing.

Assuming nothing further happens tomorrow this is it for our off-season moves!!!!

 

What a Winter we had. Very productive in my opinion. Franchise course-changing!

[tomsred]

3 hours ago, ettin said:

Updated for Perez DFA and Cash signing.

Assuming nothing further happens tomorrow this is it for our off-season moves!!!!

 

What a Winter we had. Very productive in my opinion. Franchise course-changing!

Great improvements this off season.  Wonder what the list will look like for in-season moves?  I would bet it will be longer than most expect.  Roster construction never ends.

[totdprods]

4 hours ago, tomsred said:

Great improvements this off season.  Wonder what the list will look like for in-season moves?  I would bet it will be longer than most expect.  Roster construction never ends.

I think we'll actually see a fairly quiet 12, maybe even 18 months.

For the most part, no one of significant consequence will hit FA that doesn't already have a feasible in-house replacement:

• Maldonado = Ward is a stretch, but Maldy also seems among the likeliest to re-sign.
• Kinsler replaced by Cozart, Cowart, Fletcher, Fernandez, Walsh or a LeMahieu-type FA is reasonable,
• as is Valbuena being replaced by one of those names.
• Richards, should he walk, is likelier simply replaced by the SP depth in-house.

The relative glut of MLB-ready SP depth could lead to a guy or two being moved in a deal, or perhaps to the pen, which seems like the obvious area that will see a variety of moves in coming months. 

Eppler did such a fantastic job of holding onto prospects this winter that at this point, I think he's likely to keep as many as possible. At the rate they're succeeding, expanding, and developing, we'll have a legit wave of talent landing in 2-3 years, when most of our current MLB team starts hitting FA.With the current MLB team under contract for next 2-3 years, no sense eating into that crop now - start of this offseason would have been the only time that made real sense, and it didn't happen. At most, I could see one major deal consummated involving a couple prospects, likely for a true impact player. 

Eppler really built two teams this offseason; 2018 as a contender, and 2020/2021 as a dynamic, young team with potential stars, and the financial flexibility to fill needs at that time.