Yeah, and I think the clear implication there is that the Meadows part of the Archer trade may be the most devastating. Maybe Luplow will surprise some, but I'm not yet sure about him as more than a bench or depth guy. There are some potential free agents we could also bring on board, since even with a healthy Dickerson, I think he's best when getting some fairly regular rest, just above that of a platoon situation. Certainly Frazier could step into that gap, and if for example Kramer really excels, could even shift more broadly into a utility/LF role going forward, but I think when you also consider that Polanco having an unknown shoulder injury that needed surgery, there is cause for concern about what seemed to be one of the only brighter spots on an offense that is most definitely handicapping the whole team.
What I think needs to be done above all this winter is for Huntington to be decisive. We have some viable internal options who are getting a test run this month, and that's great. Maybe somebody will look very good and then fade next year, and that's hard to put too much blame on. But we need to figure out which internal horse(s) to bet on, and then move decisively to try and get help from outside the organization. Playing musical chairs with a bunch of possible a little bit better than mediocre guys is a recipe for guaranteed below average offense again.
That said, I am still fairly optimistic regarding the pitching situation. Big questions about Archer remain, even separate from assessing the trade and so forth, but I think Taillon is basically an ace at this point, and Musgrove is maybe not the most ideal #2, but if you are getting a lot of the solid, 7 IP starts from him + Ks, he'll have room to improve even slightly, and if you get some more consistency and a better floor out of Archer, it's a quite solid first three, backed up by some stable backend options and an outstanding bullpen.
I like the idea of resting certain of the bullpen arms and playing it safe, and think that things like Santana having a little bit of a blow up are basically meaningless. The bullpen arms we should try and maximize the use of are Brault and Burdi. It'd be nice to have Brault be the LHP reliever we need there, so that in the offseason, we can pretty much solely focus on the offense, and while Burdi obviously had a bad review, the guy was throwing 98 and has a good offspeed pitch. Given the depth, we should try to see more of that now, and stick with him next season -- that's closer apprentice stuff, in the way that we've pretty much always had close apprentices in waiting since Hanrahan.
