Leroy, we aren’t trading Murphy. We need to sign an upper level FA starter. Arietta and Darvish are out there. Lance Lynn too.
Why not trade Murphy? He'll be 33 next year, his offense is still excellent but the drop this year is likely a sign of decline because of age, and he's a liability on defense. I'm thinking he's the best option to bring in a SP good enough to replace Stras if he leaves after 2019, and we have an in house option in Difo to replace him.
Arrieta is breaking down. His IP and overall numbers have dropped sharply the last couple of years.
Darvish is interesting. He looked fully recovered, but that's going to be a huge bidding war and I'm not sure we win it with the money already sunk into SP.
Lynn seems the most realistic of the FA options. If he's fully recovered, like the 2nd half of the season suggests, I'd be pretty happy to see him picked up and slotted into the #3 SP role.