Last week, it was reported by Matt Gelb of The Athletic that the Phils were giving some thought to trading outfielder Nick Castellanos, infielder Alec Bohm, prospect Justin Crawford or left-hander Ranger Suárez as they look to shake up their roster. Today, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports along similar lines, noting that the club is making Bohm available and is expected to look to free agents Alex Bregman or Willy Adames if they succeed in trading Bohm.
As the Phils look to make some changes, they only have so many avenues. Many of their position players are expensive veterans who are entrenched on the roster, either due to their performance, their contracts or both.
Bohm, on the other hand, is still in his arbitration years, slated for free agency after 2026. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a salary of $8.1MM next year and Bohm would be due another raise for 2026.
On top of that, his performance has been more good than great. To this point in his career, he has a batting line of .277/.327/.416. That translates to a 103 wRC+, indicating he’s been 3% better than the league average hitter. He did have a 115 wRC+ in 2024, but in lopsided fashion, with a 128 in the first half and a 90 in the second. Also, most of his damage has been done with the platoon advantage. He has a career 135 wRC+ against lefties in his career but a subpar 91 wRC+ against righties.
Defensively, he hasn’t been great overall, though he has shown signs of improvement. Defensive Runs Saved gave him a grade of -46 over the first four years of his career but then had him at league average in 2024. Outs Above Average had Bohm in negative territory from 2020 to 2022 but slightly better than par in the past two years.
Overall, he’s been a useful player but something below a star, and either Bregman or Adames could be seen as a clear upgrade. Bregman has hit .272/.366/.483 in his career for a 135 wRC+ and has been a considered a strong defender at third base to boot. Adames has hit .248/.322/.444 for a 109 wRC+ in his career while providing strong shortstop defense, but he’s reportedly willing to move to other infield positions. Most shortstops are capable of moving to other spots on the infield fairly smoothly, so it’s possible the Phils would expect Adames to provide better glovework than Bohm, even though it would be a new position for him.
Enacting these moves would have complications. Bohm’s modest projected salary is far less than what Bregman or Adames are likely to earn on their respective contracts. MLBTR predicted Bregman for $182MM and Adames for $160MM over six years, both for average annual values in the $26-27MM range.
The payroll could be a notable story for the Phils this offseason. Chairman John Middleton has said he expects payroll to go up but it already has, in a way. RosterResource projects the club for a payroll of $263MM next year, which is $15MM higher than 2024 before they’ve even made any moves.
Their $282MM competitive balance tax number is already projected to be above the third tier of penalization. As a third-time payor, that means they are already looking at a 95% tax on any money they add up to the final line of $301MM. Anything they add beyond that line would have a 110% tax rate.
Swapping in Bregman or Adames for Bohm would make those numbers go up but it seems the Phils have at least some hope of making up the difference elsewhere. Nightengale notes that they have tried to use Bohm and Crawford to pry Garrett Crochet loose from the White Sox. Crochet had a massive breakout in 2024, tossing 146 innings with a 3.58 earned run average, 35.1% strikeout rate, 5.5% walk rate and 45.1% ground ball rate.
That performance will make Crochet very popular on the trade market, but so will his salary. Since he spent the early parts of his career either injured or working out of the bullpen, he’s only projected for a $2.9MM salary in 2025, with one more arb pass after that. The Phils have a strong rotation with Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez, Suárez and Taijuan Walker, but Walker has fallen out of favor with the club, getting kicked to the bullpen for a time in 2024. Andrew Painter could be a factor in 2025 but he’s a big unknown since he still hasn’t made his major league debut and is coming back from a long Tommy John surgery layoff.
It would obviously be a wonderful series of chess moves if the Phillies could use Bohm to add a cheap ace to their rotation, perhaps finding a way to unload the two years and $36MM left on Walker’s contract, and then use the cost savings to get a star like Bregman or Adames to replace Bohm at third.
However, doing all of that would require the agreement of other teams. Bohm’s trade value won’t be that high on account of his aforementioned deficiencies. Nightengale adds that the Sox are worried by Bohm’s performance in the second half of 2024. He also wouldn’t have much value to the Sox anyway, since his control window is so short. After Chicago’s record-breaking loss tally in 2024, it’s hard to envision them return to contention in Bohm’s two remaining years of club control. The Phils might have to include some more prospect talent to get a deal done, which they might not want to do right now, given how much of the roster is filled with expensive veterans.
A far simpler outcome for Bregman would just be to re-sign with the Astros, where he has spent his entire career so far. It’s a far simpler fit and the two sides seemingly have had mutual interest in signing a new deal for years, but nothing has come together thus far.
It seems there might be a bit of a gap in terms of the financials, with Nightengale reporting that Houston wants Bregman back on a deal of about $156MM over six years but Bregman is looking to get to the $200MM line. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported last week that the Astros have made an offer to Bregman. It’s unknown what they put on the table but the fact that he hasn’t yet accepted it suggests that it wasn’t up to his expectations. General manager Dana Brown has suggested the club might need to be creative with the budget this offseason but owner Jim Crane has suggested there’s money available for the right players and all signs have pointed to Bregman being the club’s highest priority.
Bregman has also been connected to the Tigers and Red Sox in the past week, with the latter club considering a move to first base for Rafael Devers, in order to accommodate Bregman. Adames has also been connected to the Red Sox, in addition to the Astros, Atlanta, Blue Jays and Giants. Both players rejected qualifying offers and would be subject to associated penalties, unless they re-sign with their respective 2024 clubs.
For the Phils, since they paid the CBT in 2024, they would have to forfeit $1MM of international bonus pool space as well as their second- and fifth-best picks in the upcoming draft if they sign a player that rejected a qualifying offer. The Astros wouldn’t forfeit anything, apart from the compensation pick they stand to receive if Bregman goes elsewhere, which would come after the fourth round of the upcoming draft.
All bad ideas. Phillies need to keep young position players not sign overpriced players and certainly don’t need to waste prospects on Crochet. If going to make a change just to do something then fire the bad coaching staff and sign Tanner Scott.
Really don’t want them near Crochet. Guy seems like he is awful clubhouse dude.
I just don’t understand the hype machine in July after a meer 4 month in the starting rotation and even now for him with only 200ip over 4 seasons. Perhaps his agent has an incredible PR division.
Perhaps his agent has an incredible PR division.
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It depends on your assessment of his injury. Plenty of guys recover from TJS, though Crochet’s has had other problems.
There was another pitcher in the AL that had TJS, and then had flexor tendon repair, and still managed to win the CY award. And another pitcher who had TJS and threw 151 innings in four years, and he too won the CY this year
If I were the RS, I’d have the best doctors in the business examine him. And if they are okay with his elbow and shoulder check out, I’d not only trade for him, I’d extend him.
philliesfan215;
Where did you hear that?
Most of the Sox players loved playing with the guy.
Huh? Crochet is one of the best pitchers in baseball and a top ten (at least) value proposition, and I’ve never heard he was a bad dude.
@Phllies I’m assuming you’re clubhouse comment is based upon his trying to leverage an extension if traded last season. Considering he was already at a career high workload and the simple fact it was leverage that was available, can you blame him? If he was on a free agent deal that he agreed I’d say it would be a different story.
By all means teams use leverage and when feasible try and maximize club controlled years. With Crochet it was a rare situation where a player under team control had cards to play.
215, based on one comment that leaked from his agent to someone in the media? You sound like a simple fella.
ranger had 1.83 era thru 16 starts, then 6.54 final 11 starts
how’s his back doing? having an injury like that doesnt just go away
Nice take and I agree. Love the idea of moving crybaby bohm, Crawford and throw in Suarez and his blubber body for a controllable, dominant southpaw. Please sign Adames Dumbrowski and get a shut down closer.
Mariano Rivera is retired!
He found himself again in the playoffs, but yeah that injury was a concern.
Why all the bolm fallout ?? Chime in Phili phans
Apparently they don’t like his attitude at all. Self-centered jerk, perhaps.
Yes
Maybe he just hates the awful Philly fans who boo them during a playoff game
Boos only come if the team is playing lousy. This is the same in any northeast market, This is not a bad thing. Give your all, and the fans will love you.
You’re right, KJ. Yankees fans can be terrible, booing players who don’t need to be booed.
Imagine if the Mets fans booed Lindor instead of giving him standing ovation after his horrendous April?
The mets were sitting home in October.
Anyone have an article to support that?
Philly media nonsense. Bohm is simply on the market because he’s one of their few tradable pieces. The rest are overpaid or not going to warrant any return. The Bohm bashing is just pure BS. You don’t bash a player you want to trade.
I wonder if the team feels he outperformed his talent level last season and are trying to trade him at what they view as peak value.
Even if his defense improvements hold, they still could easily upgrade over that. Might not be a direct upgrade for defense in the OF, but they seemingly would benefit much by anything that’s net positive defensively.
I think it’s because he doesn’t button his jersey all the way up???
The Astros actually played better with Kyle Tucker. Tucker (18mil) & Ryan Pressly (15mil) are expensive luxuries for an Astros club that has the 30th ranked farm system in baseball, and needs corner INF & SP help. They could free up 33 million and may take a 40 man guy or two like Kody Clemens & Johan Rojas, plus a couple 2nd tier prospects – if a trade partner was willing to take both players (and their high salaries).
They aren’t trading Kyle Tucker for salary relief, Kody Clemens, and 2nd tier prospects
Bro doesn’t know trades. Here’s a better one: Crawford and Jean Cabrera is your starting point. Maybe add one way or another to even it out, but that’s the backbone of the package.
609…….Same guy who suggested signing Joey Gallo
Surely you don’t think they’re actually better off without him. It would be criminal to trade him for second-tier prospects and a couple of castoffs. If he’s being traded to Philly, it should be for nothing less than one of Painter, Miller, or Crawford and two more back-end top 10ish guys like Nori and Cabrera. Might even have to throw in a lottery ticket. He’s an MVP-level player and Houston wants to win.
That said, I hope they do your deal so he can stop terrorizing the Mariners.
One year of Tucker would cost the Phillies Andrew painter, mick Abel, Justin Crawford, etc
Tucker is probably going to get a 300 million+ deal assuming he has a decent walk year so I wouldn’t be surprised if the astros were bad in July and traded him
No, it wouldn’t cost nearly that much. There’s about a dozen teams in all of baseball, that is even authorized to add $30 million in salary to their payroll. So if the Astros are really motivated to move them and open up that space for Bregman, they also need to “get creative”.
Nonsense
If they really want to sign Bregman to bookoo bucks, they’re going to have to trade either Tucker or Pressly or both. Astros would be very tempted to free up 33 million if a powerhouse like the Phillies came calling and said we’ll take that. Pressly has negative value at 15mil. However he and Tucker are battle tested in the post season and that’s exactly the kind of players the Phillies need.
How about this trade:
Astros get:
Nick Castellanos RF (2/40mil)
Johan Rojas CF (league minimum salary)
Kody Clemens (long term 1B/3B for pennies)
Mick Abel RHP (#6)
Michael Mercado RHP (#19)
Griff McGarry RHP (#20)
Phillies get:
Kyle Tucker (2/40)
Ryan Pressly (1/15)
Two league minimum salary 40 man players better than their in house options at CF (McCormick) & 1B (Singleton). Plus a middle of the order (albeit overpaid) bat in Castellanos and a major shot in the arm to their upper minors pitching depth. Heck well even throw in Darrick Hall.
Or same deal to the Guardians for Emmanuel Clase (2/30mil) & Myles Straw (3/21mil).
If anyone on planet earth would take Myles Straw contract (which isn’t cheap for the low budget Guards) – they would take quantity over quality in a trade for Clase – who blew two crucial games for games for them in the past season and salary is due to nearly triple in 2025. They would sell high and on Clase and kiss Straw goodbye if this opportunity (or something similar) was presented to them.
Without Tucker*
Bohm is washed, no one wants him
I would take him as our 3rd baseman he’s an upgrade to… wait who’s a 3rd baseman on the ML roster for Seattle?
Lol probably 25 teams would be glad to find a spot for Bohm
If the RS could move Yoshida reasonably, I’d DH Devers and trade for Bohm in a heartbeat.
Not true KC Royals offered 2 MLB pitchers for him and the Mariners were considering a one for one swap of Andres Munoz. Bohm is valuable commodity on the trade market. It’s not often a club makes a 27 year old Allstar 3B with multiple year of control, available. Only reason the Phillies are even considering it is because they think that Edmundo Sosa could hold the hot corner down until Aiden Miller arrives on scene.
Royals are dumb
Bohm was toast after the Home Run Derby. He should not have been there. This team is starting to remind me of 2010-2012 let’s keep the band together and get old at the same time.
Stott needs to step up on offense.
He had a significant hand injury. It’s fun to blame the Derby, but the injury is the more likely culprit.
How dare you bring facts to the mix!
The injury occurred late in August. His power was gone after the all star game..
I really liked the 2009 Phillies.
Bohm had a hand injury during the second half of the season. That continues to be overlooked.. Bregman had more homers than Bohm did last season, but Bohm had a better On-Base percentage & OPS. he also had more RBI’s. Is it really worth it for the Phillies to pay Bregman significantly more than Bohm to be their third baseman? I would argue that it isn’t
The Phillies need right handed pop. They aren’t going to get it from Bohm. Bregman might provide it, adames might.
Bohm wouldn’t be traded for Bregman since Bregman is a FA. So it’s pointless comparing the two. The unknown return for Bohm is what would warrant the Bregman signing because you’d need to fill the void.
Here I go with purple again. Obviously purple I’m aware Both are Free agents. Include Bohm the baby if possible in a crochet trade. Sign Adames if possible preferably not bregman.
I wasn’t even responding to you, my friend. The previous poster was comparing Bohm to Bregman. I was saying it’s silly to compare them because the Bregman signing relies on a Bohm trade. So you can’t judge the move in a vacuum.
Von purple Hayes stay in your little moves world. It’s why your Phillies keep coming up Short friend. My Phillies always won with slugging, dominant pitching and always a dominant closer. Not closer by committee. Not 1 Dominant starter and let’s go 5 maybe. Nick castallanos our right handed slugger?? Outrageous. Even von Hayes who was a bust , would mute you
In order for PHI to get the best return for Bohm (if traded) he needs to be traded before they sign Bregman or Adames or someone else for 3B.
Adames could probably handle it but 3B is probably his 3rd worst position after 2B and SS
Von obviously.
I know it wouldn’t be a trade, but you’d be swapping out Bohm for a declining Bregman and paying Bregman significantly more than Bohm. If the White Sox don’t want Bohm as part of a Crochet deal, who are you going to get that is going to be a needle mover? That’s the issue for the Phillies. Adames can’t hit left-handed pitching. Never has. He’s a career .220 hitter with 33 homers against lefties. You’d be paying him more than Bohm to only hit righties
The Phillies have Miller waiting in the wings for 3rd base. Bohm is only under 2 years of control. So trading Bohm and having Bregman as a stopgap makes sense. I prefer Adames myself, and perhaps you can move Turner to the OF in that case. But there is some logic in trading Bohm.
Von;
Scott Boras is not getting Mr. Bregman an eye-popping multi-year contract to be a stopgap.
Bergman and/ot Adames are not stop gaps. They would be signed to 7 to10 year deals. It could mean Miller is involved in Crochet trade.
Point being, Bregman could ve moved off 3rd down the road if he declines. 7 year deal for Bregman is stupid though. He’s no spring chicken.
Bregman isn’t signing a 2-year deal. You sign him to a six-year deal, where does that leave Miller when he’s ready in a year and half? Signing Bregman to a long term deal makes zero sense for the Phillies if they really think Miller is the real deal.
I agree w devil. I like Bohm but Phili is the one place Bregman makes sense. Prob still not financially, but love him in that lineup !
Sorry whiff but I like Adames pop a bit more but like bregmans glove. Purple loves stagnant.
What are you talking about? I didn’t say anything about being against the trade. Phillies need to shake it up.
Bregman makes sense in others places also like DET
That’s where I have him in the FA pool.
Making moves just to make moves.
Wrong
Did Bohm do something in the clubhouse or say something about the front office? He’s had some good seasons for the Phillies, so I’m not sure why they’d want to move on from him…
No. It’s as simple as Bohm is really the only tradable piece on the Phillies roster. He isn’t locked up long-term. One of the Phillies’ best prospects plays 3rd base. Bohm is just in a position where he’s the easiest guy to trade and the lineup needs tinkering. Philly media is trying to start some nonsense about Bohm’s personality, but that’s just silliness. Bohm is on the market simply because of business reasons.
Okay, that checks out then. Bohm would certainly bring back prospects to the Phillies. If the Cubs didn’t have Paredes at 3B, I certainly wouldn’t mind him, plus Cubs have prospects to trade, so Phillies might have gotten young position players back but that’s my two cents. Thank you for the explanation on Bohm!
A team like SEA might take Bohm but only at a decent return NOT top prospects, more like 2 or 3 of their top 50 maybe
The Phillies messed up spending all that money on Trea Turner. He’s not that guy, especially at $300M
When Soto makes 600, turner will look like a steal
Trea Turner does not hit playoff caliber pitching. For a contender, he’s a liability.
I agree, but dudes like Soto are projected to get 600 now. 300 seems less painful.
Castelanos,turner,walker,.no closer,by Hoskins.
I would be THRILLED if I was the ChiSox getting offered Bohm and Crawford for Crochet. That deal should have been done yesterday Just compare it to the relative sack of garbage they got for Dylan Cease.
I like Bohm, but he wouldn’t help the White Sox. They’re in no real proximity of contending, and Bohm wouldn’t help a team going nowhere. White Sox need young prospects to see who sticks. Still at the tryouts phase.
He would cover third. They just lost Moncada and need someone there. They need a third baseman in 2025 before they need one in 2028. He is only 28 and has two full years of control remaining. He is young enough to potentially still be a building block, but could easily be a trade chip at the deadline, either in 2025 or 2026. He is exactly who the White Sox should be acquiring alongside prospects like Crawford.
Trying out prospects is fine, but you also have to maintain a semblance of a big league roster as well. Otherwise, what is the point of having a major league team.
There is a -0- chance of the WS trading for Bohm, unless there is a 3rd team involved. They will still be in last when his control years are over.
Or unless Bohm is part of a larger package that includes prospects.
Ummmmmm looking to upgrade?
Bohm and Crawford for Logan Gilbert
Who needs to add more?
SEA would laugh and hang up the phone
Philly
Trade Bohm for Devin Williams, sign Adames to play 3rd and eventually move him to 2nd when Miller is ready for 3rd. Plan on Crawford in Lf with Rojas and marsh CF. The other option is sign Adames for SS, send Bohm to Cards for Arenado and move Turner to CF.
This is a dream scenario, but I don’t think Bohm gets you Williams.
Dom-Won always hustling!
If moving Adames to 3rd then he’s really only a slight upgrade over Bohm offensively, much of his value is being a good defender at SS. Why would they pay Adames 150 mil to be 6 WRC+ points better than Bohm on offense? Yes he’d be better defensively but that isn’t worth that much and he’s a few years older. And I like Adames, but trading Bohm and signing Adames doesn’t make sense to me unless someone overpays for Bohm in the trade scenario.
Perhaps Turner moves to the OF in this scenario. His defense has been brutal.
Von;
Stop (along with others) with the Turner to the OF stuff.
Years ago the Nationals tried that with him and it was a disaster.
The Dodgers tried him at 2B. He wasn’t comfortable there.
Well Turner at SS has been a disaster. Dude is an error machine.
Best post of the thread.
My guess is that Bregman has between a 1.0-1.5 better WAR next year, and then it goes down hill from there. And for that privilege, you pay an extra $18-19M. That puts you close to the top cap number, and you need an outfielder, a low-end #5, a closer, and probably another RP.
The Phils are fun to watch but they always seem to lack something in October. And I don’t get the fascination with the Stros signing Bregman when over the next few years you have 2 players in Tucker and Alvarez who are going to cost a small fortune. The Stros are old, expensive and their farm system sucks. Truly hoping the Tigers sign Bregman to be the clubhouse leader they may lack at the moment. With the kids we have coming (or already on the roster) it could be fun times at Comerica in the near future.
Dtownwarrior78;
Exactly.
I wrote a long post on this the other day, and mentioned it in the post below.
A team can’t keep overpaying FA’s, giving them an additional 2-4 years on a contract that they know are going to be sub-standard because the team wants to win now. That’s exactly what Mozeliak
did with the Cardinals for years, and look at that mess.
Will add…..
This is also what the Blue Jays have done to themselves, and from recent rumor’s they’re trying to do it again. They don’t know what else to do.
This stuff goes on till the owner intervenes….as happened in St. Louis.
Have been a big DD backer with the Phillies. But am sorry if these sorts of rumors are true. DD’s history is that he’s done this before. It’s a bad pattern – one the Astros are in now with no way out…..
At some point teams have to develop their own star players.
I like Bohm, Stott, and Ranger. Now it appears the Phils FO is losing patience with them. They gave up on Hays after half a year in which he was hurt. No problem as they gave up on Seranthony Domínguez to get Hays. But therein lies the problem: the O’s pitching coach (Drew French) actually had Seranthony saving some games as their closer which the Phillies could not do with him after multiple tries over the last 2 years. Even more exposing was what happened with Gregory Soto. They stick him on the O’s and he immediately proceeded to blow some games as he couldn’t throw the ball over the plate. But I watched French listen to him and be patient. and slowly Soto started straightening out – pitching well in relief. Meanwhile, what did the Phillies do? Brought in Carlos Estévez to be their closer for the stretch run, after he’d been killing it all year with the Angels. Estévez almost immediately went backwards and was blowing games at a surprising rate.
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Contrast this with what David Stearns did with the Mets. He found Jose Iglesias on the scrap heap – a solid player – that because a stabilizing force for the Mets in 2024. He gave Brett Baty a shot, cut bait when it was clear that the man isn’t ready…and may never be. Had the coaches work with Francisco Alvarez and Mark Vientos that were solid in 2024 and look at this point they they’ll have good futures with the Mets. Brought in Jesse Winker that produced, and promoted Luisangel Acuña during the stretch run when hit with injuries, and the young man did a solid – although not eye-popping at this point – job.
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So what is DD doing? Dumping youngsters that he can’t develop, and looking for more expensive veterans that will join others with large long-term contracts that some point are going to go sour and the team will be stuck for years waiting for those contracts to expire (think John Mozeliak with the Cardinals and what is happening to the Astros today).
Not good.
I disagree Samuel. The Phillies farm looks better than it did in a longtime. Bohm is only under control for 2 years, and one of our better prospects is a 3rd baseman. So trading a 28 year old Bohm for a veteran makes sense for a stopgap while Miller is waiting.
I’d also add that the Phillies window is about 2-3 more years. This is a team that had the longest playoff drought in baseball before 2022. They need to win now while their aging stars still have juice. They may have to part with some prospects, but so far they haven’t lost any of their best farm pieces.
To add……
The Taijuan Walker signing stunned me. I figured maybe they
knew something I didn’t see watching him try to pitch his 5
innings. They’re stuck with him for 2 more years.
That was the red flag, and where the momentum turned.
This is an opportunity to use your ego management skills.
T Walker still has some value and you are kind of stuck with him so kill him with kindness, encourage him in every way, hopefully good preparation in spring training and another cliche – make lemonade from lemons.
He’s not the first player, team management relationship that has gone sour. Walker in some minds may have said some unforgiveable things and his results have gone south.
Many coaches are getting paid big $ I think.
Do Your Job. Figure it out.
Also maybe a teammate (or two) could step up and make a bad situation better and be friend T. Walker. The Past is Gone.
It’s called maturity and Leadership.
You don’t have to be Dr Phil or have a Masters in Psychology.
do you think the Phillies would accept Carlos Hernandez for Alec bohm? I’ll also throw in a cousin of Ronald Acuña Jr.
Dombrowski will add a major player, this team has been knocking on the door for the last 3 years and the window is still open. He will be looking for players that will put them over the top.
It seems to me that the Phillies competitive window is in danger of closing, what all with the older ages of the heart of their roster. Going after these notable FA’s is not going to help overcome that trend..
If they deal Bohm, they only need a filler at the position for 1-2 years depending on Aiden Miller’s development curve. I do not see a long term contract going to anyone to play the hot corner regardless. No one is blocking Aiden Miller. The need is in LF, RP {need 2} (Topper will never use a full time closer). Marsh and Bohm are the tradable pieces and if they can find a taker for Nick C, I am all for it. He has given his all and is always in the line up (only guy Topper will play everyday) They need full TIME OF’s to limit Toppers messing around. Ideally they’d find another Sp as well because Painter will not be allowed to throw too many innings. Bohm, Marsh, Nick C, prospects not named Miller/Crawford and Painter can be moved. Everyone keeps pointing to Dombrowski’s earlier years of deals. He is not the same man. He is much, much more conservative and too willing to give out massive $ to homegrown guys to his and the teams detriment (NOLA).