Out of the Park Baseball 25 - Can We Save the A's? (Ep 209)

[@paulwest3905]

Hmm. I won't lie, it is mighty tempting to throw my lot in with the other guys regarding flipping Mendoza now for prospects and giving full time to Richards if he will sign a contract, letting you play Godina as primary 1B. In the end I would just say we have an awful lot of excellent depth in our minors at just about any position, so I don't know that there is a reason to manipulate Richards if he is willing to sign at a reasonable level. I am also a bit suspicious of our dip in development budget and the lab results; not gonna say causality just yet, but it doesn't pass the sniff test for me.

[@notmy4ply]

Richards and Godina, my freaking goodness

[@servalarian]

Wow, Jonah Richards looks like he's going to be unreal. I wonder if doing something like "learn new position" would work for Richards in the next round of the lab to possibly be able to teach him to play an infield/outfield position well, rather than just doing the minor improvement to 1B.

[@QuieTmEshizuka]

Give Richard a long term contract! May also take a look on other players demand too? Some of the demand may come down

[@dll1b14]

I think you have to find a way to sign Richards now. I know he's a good defensive catcher but i am concerned he will not play enough games if he is catching full time. I think he needs to be your full time 1B. What a huge development success for you.

[@bladestaff46]

I think I’d happily trade those poor results for the outstanding ones we got! The Richard’s contract seems to me like a good deal, and it might be worth exploring something with Godina too. Might cause some payroll headaches in the future but those should be two special players with those ratings!

[@Shauneroo]

Looks like Ortega has gone to the Yankees to become Giancarlo Stanton. With those development lab results, I say you trade Mendoza to free up cash, sign Richards before he changes his mind on that contract, play him at catcher and Godina at first. Happy days.

[@whyme943]

I do wonder if your player development budget impacted the dev lab success this offseason. In future, might be smarter to put all the money from draft to development over the offseason. You might need to trade Mendez and/or have an even split at catcher after the development you got. I think the contract Richards wants is good already and if you can talk him down ~10% it’ll be a no-brainer.

[@T_man350]

I am in favour of signing Richards to that contract now before the demands change again