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They should trade him this offseason.

Option used to be $6M until performance bonus made it $8M.

dont mind this move. need some vets on this team. what happens to Tellez now? does he make this team and backup Smoak at 1B?

So_Fresh wrote:dont mind this move. need some vets on this team. what happens to Tellez now? does he make this team and backup Smoak at 1B?

The ideal solution would be to get rid of Morales. That would allow them to use Tellez as a DH and ease him into 1st, or adopt a rotating DH to give players half days off. I'll be disappointed if we start the season with the same Smoak/Morales combo during a rebuild year.

Smoak likely has much more trade value than Morales, so I'd imagine he'd be the easier one to move of the two. Trade both if you can, but we're likely stuck waiting out the final year of Morales' deal (or eating most of it in July to trade him to a team that wants a no-cost bench bat or something).

I'd echo the thought that we shouldn't be starting the year with both Morales and Smoak around. I'd much prefer to give Gurriel/Diaz/Travis/Martin/Tellez/Tulo (if by some miracle he's healthy) ABs at DH than one of these two.

Trading Smoak seems like a given, imo. I dont see the point in keeping him, other than veteran presence.

He should get the Jays something worthwhile.

Schad wrote:Smoak likely has much more trade value than Morales, so I'd imagine he'd be the easier one to move of the two. Trade both if you can, but we're likely stuck waiting out the final year of Morales' deal (or eating most of it in July to trade him to a team that wants a no-cost bench bat or something).

Yeah, I can see Morales sticking around until the August 30th deadline unless he's got like a 120 wRC+ in late-July. I don't think anybody wants to clog up the DH spot with a guy like him for any longer than they have to. He's ideal once the rosters expand in September, and in the playoffs, when you can afford to carry specialty players with all the off-days.

It's gonna be interesting to see how much of a tear-down happens, and how fast. We have a lot of guys that need to be moved.

I don't see Smoak going anywhere. Not until the trade deadline anyway. They need people to hit in front of and also behind Vladdy to get him some pitches to hit. As sad as it may be, their best option to hit behind him is Smoak.

bartron_44 wrote:I don't see Smoak going anywhere. Not until the trade deadline anyway. They need people to hit in front of and also behind Vladdy to get him some pitches to hit. As sad as it may be, their best option to hit behind him is Smoak.

Lineup protection is largely a myth; if Vlad hits from day one, he'll get walked a tonne no matter who is hitting behind him. Given that Smoak isn't returning next season, I wouldn't hang on to him for Vlad's sake.