I have no problem dumping Hellickson, Nava and Kendrick.
Eflin/Leiter/Lively/Eshelman can probably pitch as well as Hellickson (4.73 ERA/5.51 FIP).
DUmp Benoit as well and bring up Therrien/Ramos.
Certainly would prefer to go with Williams - Herrera - Altherr with Perkins and Stassi the rest of the season.
I would keep Joseph at 1B, he's gradually raised his OPS, and if he finishes above .800 at age 26 with serious upside, he may increase his trade value.
As frustrating as it is to watch him chase bad pitches, I have to remind myself that he lost three years of development to concussions.
Offseason should be approached with caution, Rule 5 sounds nice, but will any player available be as good as our own prospects who need to be on the 40 man and given PT at the ML level? So we shouldn't take anyone we don't think can play this year. Perkins for example turned out better than Goeddel.
Trades should be made strategically, we don't HAVE to do anything in December, we could wait until July, we'll field a solid lineup next year without moves - so deal from strength:
C: Knapp,Rupp,Alfaro - with Knapp backing up 1B and RF when he's not catching
1B: Joseph/Hoskins - yes, one must go, but we don't want to be pressured into giving Joseph away
2B: Hernandez/Kingery - see how Kingery finishes, what we're offered for Hernandez
SS: Galvis/Craword - see how Crawford finishes, what we're offered for Galvis
3B: Franco
LF: Williams, Stassi
CF: Herrera
RF: Altherr, Perkins
Basically, to start the season, they just need a utility IF to replace Blanco
SP: Nola, PIvetta, Velasquez, Eickhoff, Eflin/Lively/Eshelman
RP: Garcis, Neris, Ramos, Therrien, Morgan, Milner, Leiter
Lehigh (to start the season):
C: Numata
1B: ---
2B: Kingery/Mora
SS: Crawford/Canelo
3B: Walding??
LF: Pullin/Coppola
CF: Quinn/Tocci
RF: Cozens/Rodriquez/Tromp
SP: Eflin/Lively, Thompson, Eshelman, Anderson, Leibrandt
RP: Rios, Davis, Rivero, Arano, Watson, Nunez
So we can sign a FA, trade for a veteran, package players for an upgrade, or deal guys we can't protect for A ball players.
Or all of the above.