2B options are not great in free agency unless you want to gamble on someone. I would prefer to stay in-house and use the money towards a corner OF and SP. I guess anything leftover could go towards 2B.
They could roll with Cespedes like Jimmy said they could or maybe sign Kevin Pillar or Tommy Pham (Pillar you could probably get for like $1M) to be a right-handed compliment piece to a lefty. Pillar only had 13 PA in the MLB last year but had solid AAA numbers. Pour whatever savings on the right-handed OF bat into a left-handed bat and SP.
Looking at right-handed OF bats (potentially ones that can play CF too) to platoon with whatever lefty they bring in, there really aren't many solid options (in free agency at least) to the point where paying Engel $2.3 mill seems more likely now than when we thought Pollock would also be here. Unless the Sox make a small trade for one.
A lot of it too though is having innings beforehand. Over the last 3 years, he has 63.2 innings to his name (60.1 MLB, 3.1 in college). Your take of "he can take Giolito's spot when he's gone" is just unrealistic for 2024.
I don't even know how many innings he would throw if you had him in a MLB bullpen or beginning work of transitioning him as a starter with limited innings over the past like 4 years. At this point, I think the amount for either will be close as he just needs innings. Might as well get it in the MLB bullpen.
Yeah I saw that too. But in the article that I read, it mentioned that they could still line up both Judge and Betts in the OF at times. Dodgers love moving guys around the field. Platooning an infielder with a guy who plays the OF and then moving another player between the IF and OF isn't new to them.
Also, just looked up this guy's numbers (a 23-year old, left-handed hitting third baseman. Wow.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=muraka000mun
1/$8 mill but you’re probably right. We’re talking about the 4th OF (when Colas come up and if they add another left-handed bat) but with this team’s injury history, I guess you could do worse than Pollock.