So you like Elias expect that all those players will repeat last year's numbers and Grod coming off surgery will be a beast. Good luck with that.
Chris answered this a little, but let me add...
You have to make choices. You'll likely be wrong as much as you're right, but you don't know. Throwing money at some of the guys in this market doesn't improve either your ceiling or floor....but everyone wants to throw money at something.
We want top prospects, but we have THE top prospect and he's ready and he doesn't get opportunity? If you can't start Grayson Rodriguez....what young player could you ever start? If we can't start young players...why do we care about MiL Talent? IL Hall is in a similar, but lesser, boat right now. Some people have suggested he's actually better and OPaCY is certainly better suited for anyone pitching with the wrong hand.
Kremer throws 21 starts of 3.23 ERA ball. What does he need to do to keep opportunity? He looked good, then looked horrible, now looks good. Is his performance unsustainable? I don't know. If we wanted to trade out his floor (ie risk) with someone like Brandon Woodruff (that was my thought) then do that. I wouldn't pay for Evoldi or Wacha or Tallion to push Kremer to AAA. Not sure any of them are better (same risks) and what message does it send to everyone in your organization? Your performance doesn't matter?
Bradish...same things. We saw struggles (even in the midst of an 8 inning gem in SEA), he got sent down (deservedly so) and came back nad pitched more like we expected for 13 starts. Why can't we pitch him?
I don't trust deGrom or Rodon with any of my money.
I am not going to chase Verlander's career season after being off for 2 (really 3 if you include 2020 limitations) at 40+ years old. He could convince me to pitch here, but it's not because I'm trying to bribe him with 50M. He's from the north of Richmond, he probably needs 4 years to get to 300 wins (244 today)...there's a different approach if he wanted it. But he has to want it. If he doesn't, good luck.
My "A" rotation for 2023 would have been
Woodruff (trade with MIL, extend similar to Castillo)
Manaea (1+, bridge back to Means, extend Means)
GRod
Voth (bridge to Hall, inning limits)
Bradish
There's plenty of depth...Wells becomes a high-leverage swing-guy. Watkins plus others at AAA.
No reason we couldn't have been in on guys like Manaea or Heaney. Both would have been good for those 1-year opt type deals. Bridge back to Means (remember when everyone was lamenting we didn't give him 150M?).