to review the in house options:
Niki Groodrum: good arm, mediocre hands, plays back on balls too much to key many DPs. Has power but bat has become black hole, esp from left side. Under control until 2024, Also has options left but only for next season as he would be a 5 yr vet at the end of 22.
Isaac Paredes: Can play SS, decent arm, but probably doesn't have the range to be any kind of good there. Hitting as a major leaguer is still total unknown but skepticism is high in many quarters despite his progress in raising his AAA OPS.
Zach Short: pretty uniform opinion that he is an above average defender. Close to zero chance he can hit enough to be viable.
Ryan Kreilder: Toledo staff say his glove is ML quality. He is currently hitting well beyond expectations for his projections. Can he do it at ML? Again - skepticism remains high but he is doing his best to go out and refute it.
Willi Castro: No, No, and No. Unreliable arm, slow pivot, low baseball IQ and general situational awareness. And a bat that flashed in the short season but has also now disappeared-- though at least in his case he is young enough that he could find it again, as opposed to Niko who looks like he is just already on the downside of his career as a hitter. I won't say there is NO hope for Willi, but he needs a lot of work *in the minors* to figure out how to play competent ML middle IF.
Harold Castro: Harold is a nice utility level guy, which is where he needs to stay.
Bottom line is that I would rate the chances as still being greater than even money that none of those guys pan out so I'm good with pursuing a FA. You can always find a place for a bat if one of the other guys forces himself into playing time.