Rumbunter (who does not allow comments it seems) has a nice article Ben Cherington Needs to be Better I totally agree with this article.
The Bucs roster is filled with players that fall into these groups:
- Short timers like Hill, McCutchen, Joe, Hedges, and Santana (plus Choi when he comes back) who won't be around past this year. McCutchen maybe, but certainly not in 2025.
- Guys signed to long term deals/core: Hayes and Reynolds who should be here in 2025. Keller might fall into this category soon. Possibly Bednar as well.
- Players who are going thru their trial period like Contreras, Ortiz, Oviedo, Bae, Castro, Hernandez, SunWINski, and Marcano. These guys might still be around for 2025 but they need to keep improving. Jury still out on all of them.
The rest are just fillers who probably won't be around next season. Owings, Delay, Palacios, plus most of the BP are just taking up playing time until the prospects come up.
Down on the farm are the real players who will determine if the Bucs can be competitive. Davis, Endy, NickG, Triolo, Priester, Johnson, and others plus who ever is picked in this year's draft. These are the guys BC is counting on. Should some of these players be brought up now? IMHO, YES!
Forget about Super 2. If the guy turns out to be valuable then sign him to a deal. If not, you really have not lost anything. Davis and Endy can share time with Hedges at catcher because both can play other positions. Priester can bounce up and down like Ortiz/Contreras while he learns the ropes. We need to see if NickG is for real or not.
I'd like to see by mid-June (or sooner) a lineup with Reynolds, McCutchen, Davis, Endy, NickG, Hayes, Marcano/Bae, and Suwinski playing regularly. Time to really start playing the top prospects.
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