Irie
Registered User
They have done absolutely nothing that looks like playoff or bust. Their moves are remarkably patient, and I think far too passive actually. This came up on the pdocast recently where Dmitri and the guest both agreed that Seattle could have made some big moves - they had the assets and the cap space - and did nothing except fill out with replacement level players. It feels like "nothing ventured nothing gained" is the motto around here and I don't like it.
The conversation was about "taking a step back" by trading Dunn for futures.
I do not believe that is in the cards with where ownership is. If Dunn is moved out I think they try to trade for a replacement, (if one is not included in the deal). Those types of deals rarely favor the team looking to move on from an individual player due to contract issues.
You keep referencing that they have all this cap space this off-season, and you have called me out on saying that cap is tight multiple times. I agree with by and large the majority of your takes here, but Francis spent 5.4 million on replacements for Geekie, Sprong, and Soucy (which is not much, relatively speaking), and the team now has 9.2 million in available cap with Dunn yet to sign, who may get close to 8M in arbitration.
Where is this cap coming from that they didn't use? What realistic moves were actually available to Francis given the current cap and team structure?
I think he has widely avoided making moves for the future which would be the patient build approach, and has instead switched gears to compete and benefit the present. He hasn't made big splashes, but he is not slow building this thing the same way he seemed to be in expansion and up to the trade deadline in the first year since ownership came out on record stating that winning now was a priority.