As in, a #1 starter AND another pitcher having a great year. You're talking about trading ours (or at least close to it, with Peterson and Franklin) for Zobrist. Addison is better than DJ, but McKinney is not better than Franklin, IMO. I would view them as similar players.
I don't care about Zobrist's positional versatility as much - we need a hitter. So while Doc compares his WAR to what DJ might provide, I'm not really seeing that. Zobrist can at least give our infield some days off, but mostly he'd be in the OF (at least, as a solo add). Is a 110 OPS+ OFer good enough? If you think he's going back to his career peak, then yes I can be talked into it. I don't see a lot of guys reversing the aging curve these days in non-suspicious ways.
But Oakland threw down the gauntlet when they grabbed Samardzija and Hammel. If Zobrist is our only return fire, I like it - it helps us as that #10 man who can step in and provide a quality bat and will get a starter's # of ABs - but is it enough?
And if it's NOT enough, can we add more now that DJ is gone, and the Big Three are all injured or recovering from injury?
I'm with you, Matt: let's NOT waste this year. But if we're gonna pull the trigger then find a way to add Zobrist without using the big guns - then trade the big guns for that last piece. Don't use the piece you need to land the best player on the second-best one.
Most likely, the Ms have the... gumption... to add one guy. It might even BE Zobrist - but that would likely be it. We COULD win the WS with this team with the right adds... but I don't see them happening. On the plus side, a 2015 team with improvements from Zunino and Miller that has Zobrist on it (and finally gets that OFer) is still a contender. There are worse fates.
~G
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