I have a hard time pinning down everything I'd like to see happen that's at least in the ballpark of reasonable because I'm a bit torn on Reynolds the more I sit with it. But to play the game...
1. Trade Reynolds if you can get one of the following packages (in this order): A) Moreno + supplementary pieces; B) Kirby, Brash, Kelenic, throw-in; C) Volpe, Pereira, low-level pitchers OR Dominguez, Cabrera or Peraza, Pereira, pitcher; D) Miller, Pages, two more; E) Rogers, Cabrera, two more /// If none of those premiums are met, revisit at the deadline.
2. Sign Quintana to a 3 year, 45 million contract. Pay the bit extra and "risk" a third guaranteed year. Quintana is the trifecta: veteran leadership, covers innings, established success at PNC Park. Even if he tapers off, I think he's still a valuable regular season pitcher in the third year. The third year is where I see the edge over other teams, though his AAV will be low enough that a team looking at sparse options might see it as the cost of doing business if they want to better improve their chances immediately. This is really priority #1 I hope happens this week, as I would put Benintendi as too much of a long shot for the "big" move.
3. If Reynolds is traded: sign Jackie Bradley Jr. for cheap. His better offensive years were when his walk rate was very good, so maybe he's the kind of player Haines can get right and back into positive overall value. If not, at least you have a good defender for LF and CF, and one use to some part-time play who wouldn't necessarily block young bats.
4. Sign Perez for 1 year, 2 million. The pitchers want it, so it's a no brainer unless he's not healthy enough. I think there's some risk here and would probably prefer the more upside play with someone like Alfaro, but it seems easy, and importantly if we're going to make even a modest signing or two, the price is right.
From there, harder to say. I think Wacha for 2 years would be a smart low-level investment, and either that or Manaea on his one year bounce back should be viable if it's not just hot air that we have the "flexibility" to sign two pitchers. Getting both Quintana to be a veteran anchor and Manaea on a pure upside play would balance the rotation nicely, so I think that's my preference and would surely cover most of any possible room to spend.
Bonus round is either Mancini for a slightly bigger cost, or Cutch on a similar, "let's get some veterans in the mix" type of vibe that Quintana would bring after also bringing Santana. Interestingly with Cutch, his speed is still very good and maybe a return after some years away to end his career would bring a spark. The trouble with both of these guys is that I'm not sure where their OF defense is at. Cutch at least would know PNC's LF, but I don't think that's even much of an option for Mancini, and in general, who is going to man LF is a fairly big concern, especially if Reynolds is gone (and even if Reynolds is here, you can imagine him not being very happy if he's shifted to LF, because that lowers his prospective value).
