monkeytargets39

The draft is such a crapshoot for the most part that I wouldn’t really want to give much established talent up for a draft pick. Maybe if we are talking a top 5 pick in a loaded class or something. Very hard to quantify value of a draft pick in baseball compared to football or basketball. So much can go wrong with development and injuries.

Keith was our top prospect who mashed his way through the minors, Maton was a 26 year old who didn’t OPS above .800 in the minors. One will get more of a chance than the other.

Agreed. Avila was the one who hung onto his marginal players way too long. Jacoby Jones, Mikie Mahtook, the Castros, Victor Reyes, Greyson Greiner, etc. Thousands of at bats to well below league average players who rarely showed signs that they could be consistent at this level. Harris hasn’t really done that yet. He’s already jettisoned Maton and Sands, and hasn’t shied away from things like Torkelson, Meadows, Baddoo and Manning going to Toledo for extended time frames.

I wouldn’t support giving up any of our youth or prospects to buy for this year. Adding an impact bat doesn’t make this lineup much more of a contender. Especially with our current bullpen and 4/5 spots in the rotation right now. For me, it all comes down to whether or not Illitch/Harris are willing to pay Skubal to keep him. If they aren’t, then now is the time to move him and get the max return. Keeping Skubal and then letting him walk for nothing or get injured and tank the value will hurt worse than a trade designed around getting a long term competitive core. Not moving Boyd, Fulmer or E-Rod effectively has really hurt the current rebuild. If they’re gonna be cheap, then that’s gonna be obvious in the near future with or without a Skubal trade and we will be pissed about it either way. The worst thing they can do is be cheap and dumb about being cheap.