If that is their plan, they'd want to sign Bregman secretly and then trade Hoerner before teams know that they might "need" to move Hoerner. But Hoerner is a 4 fWAR player. So unless they don't trust that #, how are you getting 4 wins back by trading him?🤔
You’re not. You’d likely be moving him for younger talent and/or pitching help. With Shaw and Triantos in the system, that’s where the wins would need to come from, mostly.
Adding Bregman would be adding an expensive 4 wins. Trading Hoerner would be losing them a relatively cheap 4 wins. So unless they absolutely love what they get back for Hoerner, this makes zero sense.
But Horner gets expensive soon and he is replaceable. It’s dumb they won’t keep them both, but with the dumb parameters they’ve set for themselves, I’m fine with it.
Nico’s great defense is mostly replaceable. His offensive numbers are also replaceable. Might need to happen combining a couple players, but can be done. And it may lengthen lineup by squeezing out PAs for guys you wouldn’t want taking them early in the season.
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For me, I'd not sign Bregman, go with Shaw/Hoerner, bank the savings towards extending Tucker or, failing at that, to add what you need next year. 🤷
Gotta make room for him, especially if Bregman comes here on a multi-year deal