re: LSU Baseball 2022 (and beyond) Recruiting Thread (OLD THREAD, PLEASE STICKY NEW ONE)

I'll just be a reader for awhile. I didn't realize how tough off season was to process.

You don't hang onto guys just because you won't have to cut them. You get the best guys in as you can then figure it out. If that means getting Cranford and Merrifield in, then cutting Merrifield bc Cranford is better...do it.

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You don't hang onto guys just because you won't have to cut them. You get the best guys in as you can then figure it out. If that means getting Cranford and Merrifield in, then cutting Merrifield bc Cranford is better...do it.

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I think the part of this you are missing is that if you don’t have any +5 guys in your top 35, you can’t just keep the 36th best player because he’s better than a +5 guy. You can only add +5 guys at that point. The calculus on this is really pretty simple. You figure out who your 40 best players are and try to keep those first. If at least 5 of them are +5 guys, then you’re done with roster building. If you don’t have 5 guys who are +5, then you have to cut back until you have only 35 who aren’t +5. At that point, you can add back some +5 guys who weren’t in your original top 40. That means you might end up keeping some +5 guys who aren’t as good as some other players who aren’t +5. You don’t cut a Cranford to make room for a Merrifield. You just keep a Merrifield because there is extra room for him not available for a Cranford.

Im under the impression that you have been huffing paint the last few days to cope with your constant melting. You are clueless and talking out the side of your neck.

Let's say Young doesn't come. You have 3 choices for infield help. Roster spot, redshirt, plus 5 guy. If you choose a roster spot guy (Cranford), that changes how you choose to structure your redshirts and plus 5 guys. Meaning, maybe you choose to redshirt more pitchers and fill your plus 5 pool with covid senior pitchers. That would mean Merrifield might not fit. And, yes, you could choose to do nothing about the infield and just sit on who you already have as plus 5 guys, too.

We can do the same exercise with Skenes, and a Skenes/Young combo.

The point is that every move changes how you structure other areas. And, the strength of the structure requires alot of options and some tough decisions. Merrifield isn't safe just because he's a plus 5 guy and we don't even have 5 yet. It depends what happens with Young and Skenes and the structure of the roster.

Nothing happens in a vacuum.

From a roster construction standpoint in 2023, Merrifield would be the easiest INF to hold onto of the guys in the portal (he's not in the portal, but that's what the conversation is).

So the evaluation has to be: Does he offer the most upside? If he doesn't, is it close enough that the roster impact put him over the edge?

I don't know other guys scholarship allocations, but Merrifield is a walk-on and a COVID senior, so he wouldn't take up money or a 35 spot.

If we want to bring in other 5th year guys, we have to go find them, we have to bet that they will contribute more than the guys we're pushing out and more than the guys already in the bag that they'd step in front of, and we'd have to hope they'd pay to do it. I don't think the likelihood is there.

That's the biggest roster construction reasons I think Merrifield is safe.

But, that all goes out the window if the idea is to simply get the best 35-40 players on the roster for 2023 without regard to the long term roster impact.

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You could have Covid seniors pop up that get waivers.

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OK. But that is a universe we aren't currently living in. If that happens, then it happens. The likelihood just isn't high, in my opinion.

I understand what you were saying now. Still don't agree with it because of most of the points Project made. You have a very confusing way of explaining your thought process.

A lot of moving parts would have to end up happening for Merrifield to get pushed out I think.

Can we bring Bianco back as the fifth covid senior just for ell.

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Because it changes how you structure the plus 5 spots. With Young and/or Cranford on the roster, maybe you don’t use a plus 5 spot for an infielder like Merrifield and instead find Covid senior pitchers and redshirt pitchers instead.

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Not really. The assumption right now is that Young will be here. If he isn’t his spot will be filled by another infielder. So there is no impact to numbers allocated to pitchers in the 35. You’re overthinking this.