Yeah I was only doing bats. Gore is the only arm that I think deserves talking about in terms of a long-term signing. I like Lord and Ferrer but relief pitching is notoriously fickle, neither of these guys is lights out (or likely to be that) so they just feel very replaceable and not something you gamble money on keeping past age 30. As arms go Parker and Irvin are nothing to hold on to. I mean I guess if they want to be REAL reasonable and sign for cheap so they don't have to move...
You can wonder about Cavalli who was supposed to be good and who has looked good since coming back from injury but that last part puts a damper on the whole thing. He's just back. Now's not the time to double down on the arm. Let's see it last through a whole season first.
So Gore, I think you do try to sign him. I think he's a weak #1 but a #1 regardless, even given recent struggles. But he's also on a collision course with getting paid way too much for what he's done. So... I don't know if it gets done. I don't know if a fair offer, or even a moderate overpay gets you Gore. But where do you get pitching then?
Susana and Sykora both look fairly strong but you are looking at... 2028 before you are counting on them to be good? And the only thing less reliable that FA pitching are pitching prospects.
So much hinges on this and you have to get it right. Trading for Gio, the first Stras extension, the Scherzer FA contract. All hits. The team soars. The signing of Corbin (post-2019), the second Stras contract. Huge misses. The team crashes.
Sigh... this one isn't as easy but I still lean toward making a good faith effort to sign him. Not a Wood "pay the man what he wants" but an above market deal now. And if he refuses so be it. Treat him like a key piece but not the only piece. You expect to win with Gore, but not to have Gore carry you. I think that's right.
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I think it's too late to extend Gore. Maybe he loves it here like Stras did, but players with that kind of pedigree almost never sign extensions once they're within a couple of years of free agency. And why would he?
He's looking at another $20M through arbitration and then hitting FA as an ace-ish 28 year old (turning 29 before the season starts, though). Someone is going to give him $250M/8.
Unless he gets hurt. And if I were in his situation, I'd be hard pressed to turn down an extension that establishes a floor at "more money than I can spend" and not really care about the extra $50M in expected career earnings, but from what we've seen of Gore's psychology, I don't expect him to feel the same way.
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