I get being intrigued by Grissom in a vacuum but Good God how many MI prospects does one organization need, particularly when there is nothing resembling a 1B or CF anywhere in the organization?
Yeah, I feel the same way that you do. It seems like enough should be enough at this point, but it's also tricky to look at the roster construction since the team is very bad as constructed, but also a number of positions seem to be filled or are filled:
OF: Reynolds, Suwinski, and Davis at least part-time // could certainly use a plus defender here for CF
3B: Hayes, assuming he can even stay on the field
SS: It's still Cruz in the long-run until it's not, IMO. Plenty of capable backups, including Williams who can really pick it
2B: This is more of an open question, but there are half a dozen options, and maybe not too zany to figure that Johnson might be knocking on the door by spring training 2025
1B: This is a bigger hole; Triolo might cover some here, but I'm not sure he has the bat
SP: Let's not even talk about it, you always need more pitching, and we need more than more.
That's my attempt to carve it up quick and dirty without getting way into the weeds. Alek Thomas could be a real nice fit for a CF option, but he's gotta be too valuable for a Hill trade and more of a supplementary player in a potential Keller or Bednar deal.
In a seller's market, I'm pretty split on how aggressive we should be getting. It's undeniable that Keller and Bednar should really be building blocks for the 2024 team and beyond, and as such moving either would be a really bad sign for the fans. But I think it's equally undeniable that the current situation is not very good and even an optimistic view of the current young players and their potential growth leaves me coming up short.
To expand on that, I do think there's plenty to be optimistic with in terms of Davis and Endy, and especially what the offense will look like when Cruz is healthy. If you then just say solid health for the pitching, maybe adding Brubaker to the pen, Skenes at some point relatively early in the year, some veteran spending, then I think you can squint and see the kind of pretty rapid transformation that happened for Baltimore between 2021 and 2022, but that kind of thing is still really rare.
Though I think the Pittsburgh thing isn't totally worth discounting, this is especially the case with Bednar. It's difficult to imagine the 2024 team taking a leap without a better bullpen, let alone one that lacks Bednar, but it's still just too obvious a truism to deny that a light's out closer is a luxury for a team currently in the cellar. If there's a path towards turning one closer into 2 players who can impact the 2024 team, and some additional depth/lotto tickets beyond that, I think you almost have to pull the trigger. There aren't enough free agents at positions of need, and we aren't signing them anyways.
