I voted LaRoche originally as well but now I'm pretty split. I won't be unhappy whichever way this turns out.
Losing LaRoche and keeping Morse gives us a nice comp pick to help rebuild the farm and probably better offensive numbers from first (assuming a healthy Morse) and cheaper to boot. Morse is certainly a big downgrade defensively at first but it's at the least important position. Simply keeping him out of the outfield will save some runs defensively overall. My biggest issue with this decision is health as Morse has struggled with it all his career.
Losing Morse and resigning LaRoche is more expensive but assuming it's only on a two year deal I think we won't hurt too much from lack of production due to his age. Also if this means we can flip Morse for prospects then that should be roughly equivalent to whoever we may get from a comp pick. And as much as I disparaged defensive value at first base when discussing Morse, keeping LaRoche means we have gold glove caliber defense at every position (assuming Werth can bounce back which is admittedly a stretch).
Both guys are great in the clubhouse so I consider that a wash as losing either one will suck in that department.
So all in all I don't think we can go wrong with either decision.
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