The problem with the ‘let’s go with youth for a while’ strategy is that we tried that last year and we got a bunch of Mendoza Line activity, except for Winn.
I think they are going to have trouble scoring runs without Arenado and trouble closing out games without Helsley.
At this point, they might as well stand pat and see how the early part of the season progresses.
I get the closing games part, but why would they have trouble scoring runs without Arenado? He’s been just barely better than a league average bat for 2 years straight, has one of the slowest swings in baseball, and happens to be getting a year older. I actually think we’re likely to have a better offense without him. Maybe not a lot better, but I don’t see how losing him would hurt the offense. He is the most valuable defensive third baseman. That part would be a loss.
. I actually think we’re likely to have a better offense without him
If he’s replaced by Gorman, that would result in a slight decline in OPS from the 3rd sacker, based on last year’s stats. However, if you look at Arenado’s career numbers, he suffered a very precipitous drop in offense last year, from the prior season(s). I expect a partial bounceback. But Gorman might improve too.
As far as replacing Helsley, Romero, Fernandez, and King were absolutley horrible in allowing inherited runners to score last year. So their stats aren’t entirely reflective of their pitching ability.