The 2018-19 offseason is circled on many calendars.
Those calendars reside on the smartphones of GMs, players, media and fans.
As a member of the latter two groups, I am extremely excited for the amazing group of free agents set to hit the market next November.
My Philadelphia Phillies appear to be in the same boat, just drifting and waiting for that great class of players to hit the market.
The problem is, they’re not alone in baseball. Several teams are sitting back and gearing up for the race for Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and maybe Clayton Kershaw.
Assuming those players get their projected sizable contracts, only three teams will enter spring training 2019 with big smiles on their faces.
With that in mind, it is a shame so many are blinded by the possibilities of Harper, Machado and Kershaw, because the chance to compete is right in front of their faces.
The Phillies, for example, have just $52.7M on the books for 2018, and that includes $18.33M for Carlos Santana.
So, I have to ask the Phillies, why not go for it this year?
Right now, they could go out and sign Mike Moustakas (speculating five years for $20M a year), J.D. Martinez (six years, $27M) and one of the key starters, Jake Arrieta or Yu Darvish and still have a payroll for 2018 that would be about $110M.
That total falls $62M short of the $172M payroll the Phillies had in 2011 when they won 102 games.
Simply put, they can actually afford to go get both of those pitchers, along with Moustakas and Martinez.
The lineup would be — in position number order, not how I would write their names on a lineup card — Jorge Alfaro, Carlos Santana, Cesar Hernandez, J.P. Crawford, Mike Moustakas, Rhys Hoskins, Odubel Herera and J.D. Martinez. (Try and trade Mikael Franco and Nick Williams, if possible.)
The rotation would be Arrieta, Darvish, Aaron Nola, Jerad Eickhoff and Vincent Velasquez, with a solid bullpen behind them.
All told, that would be about a $130M to $140M payroll — easily manageable for the Philadelphia market.
Is that team better than the Nationals? No, probably not, but I would like to think they’d make a run at a playoff spot this year with a strong chance to overtake the Nationals next year in 2019.
Of course, none of this will happen, and I’m fine with it as a Phillies fan knowing the current direction of this team, but it is tough to see teams like the Phillies not cashing in on a slow market.
A chance to drastically change the 2018 outlook is there for the taking, but too many are caught waiting for the Harper sweepstakes. There is a lot of uncertainty in that approach, which is why I hate to see teams missing out on a golden opportunity to get guys like Eric Hosmer and J.D. Martinez.
That's why some teams should hit the brakes on their offseason plans and consider making 2018 their big spending year. Cash in now to avoid the disappointment of missing out later.
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