Gabrielle O. Alvarez-Tillman - Contributing Reporter
1. Louie Weiss (1B/DH) - Huntington $20.6M - He's a weak defensive 1B and not many great comps with the lack of superb talent in the league right now, but looking at ratings as of today; he's actually similar to teammate Wei-Yin Wan, except he came MUCH cheaper than WYN did. Weiss should hit for a .330+ AVG most every season with a few above .350, smash a bunch of HRs, and knock in a TON of runs. Well worth the money he was paid and Huntington better be thanking the Cobbfather gods for this gift so late in the season. This might create the best 3-5 hitters ever in Cobbfather. I'm not sure what all he has in the farm, but Weiss (1B), Wan (LF?), this year's #28 pick Julio Valdes (DH), and S53 50+ HR Lowry (3B) gives them a lot of power or trade bait. Once they are all in the majors, with Simon leading the rotation; if they don't win more than 4 titles I'll consider it a failure on ownership.
2. Alcides Johnson (SP) - Atlanta $31M - How does this club do it? They continue to dominate, yet still find ways to spend extra on IFAs. Pitching is always needed and everyone thought this was going to be the last big IFA signing of the season until the pot of gold was found at the end of the S53 rainbow. Johnson's comp is Atlanta's own future ace, Damaso Ethier. Very solid, future rookie of the year and candidate for the AL Cy Young.
3. Garabez Castillo (SP) - Vancouver $10.1M - Poor sap is one of the better IFAs, got less money than others and has to play in Canada. You know he regrets leaving the Dominican. But enough about his poor choices. It will be hard to beat this guy's best pitch, which is a 4-seam fastball. It will also be tough to beat his ability to strike out players and keep the ball on the ground. The top three could easily be switched up in any order depending on what your scouting department prefers. Not many good comps, not enough that I felt comfortable sharing one. Ah what the heck, that's use Mac Inouoe as his floor. His weak point will be his ability to face righties, but with his pitch quality, already spoke about his first pitch but his second, a slider will be top of the league as well.
4. Jhonatan Castro (SS/3B) - Houston $32M - The one who signed for the most for a Houston team ready to make a run with recent promotions of a lot of their young talent. Though Castro likely shifts off Short due to a slight below average range and an even further below glove. But that power shifts well over to third base. Think of a slightly lighter hitting Roger Hermann; great comp should next 35+ HR a season most of his career, with a chance to knock in a bunch of runs. But he has a chance to be a slighter better hitter than JB Bradford, let's hope he develops through the Houston system. With that speed, I see him being a little more Hermann than Bradford.
5. Louie DeLeon (SS) - Mexico City $23.4M - You don't pay this much money for a Gold Glove SS, but you do for one whose contact and ability to hit righties is so high. Especially one so healthy and durable as this one. The down side he'll rarely hit more than single digit home runs in a single season and doesn't offer much in terms of stolen bases. Sydney Houston was the best comp I could find, and for what Houston does better against Lefties, DeLeon will do that much better versus Righties.
6. Max Escuela (RF) - Helena $30.8M - Another one with some tough comps, I'm not sure if that speaks to the talent or lack of talent in Cobbfather at the moment. His new owner will definitely keep an eye on how he develops facing lefties and if he doesn't learn much in the minors he could fall to a platoon type. I don't think that happens, after all look at Helena's own Marlon Fowler as a comp and he's hitting .275 against Lefties this year. But then again he's hitting .232 against Rights, that's like saying 1+1=5; something's not adding up. Escuela should have the leg up on Fowler with a better eye and handles righties much better. He'll top out at 20-25ish HRs and anyone's guess is as good as mine for stolen bases since every team manages the need for speed so differently.
7. Willie Machado (2B) - Boston $20.3M - Machado is likely the bottom of the IFAs this year, but he's no slouch. Any other year he'd likely be top 3-4. His comp would be a slower version of Nefi Sierra. While Sierra is having a career year at age 26, he's been a solid .255-.260 hitter in years prior with 20ish HRs, obviously as was mentioned the slower version; he won't match Nefi's 40ish SBs.