Interesting to look at how our 2021 staff is shaping up with the Stanek/Baez acquisitions and the potential to add one more hand (no pun intended) to our late inning menu of options. We're really developing a nice stable IMO.
I like the Baez pickup simply because it allows us to get more creative with roles for guys that we used in the back end last year (ie Taylor, Paredes, and Raley). Adding another hand (no pun intended) would really give us some nice flexibility.
Starting rotation seems pretty set (Framber, LMJ, Greinke, Urquidy, Javier) but all of those guys will almost certainly miss starts. It will be interesting to see how we use Stanek. Will we use him as an opener for any of those five? Or will we reserve him for down the road when we need fill in starts? Do we groom, say, James or Perez as openers too?
Assuming we're able to add another back of the bullpen hand (no pun intended) to go along with Baez, I'm excited to see how we deploy Paredes this year. He was a starter in the minor leagues, so I think it's possible he could end up back in an extended role (ie a game where Stanek starts and Paredes pitches innings 2-6).
It's also fun to think that of the pitchers listed below, 6-7 won't be on the big league roster to start the season. We'll have the luxury of keeping guys fresh over the 162 and grooming them in the minors for specialty roles.
SP: Framber, LMJ, Greinke, Urquidy, Javier (potential JV return in September)
Pen: Stanek, Solomon, Scrubb, Whitley, Abreu, Garcia, James, Perez, Raley, Paredes, J Smith, Taylor, Baez, Pressly, another late inning hand (no pun intended)
Anyway, I like where our staff is headed.