Catherine Trammell - contributing reporter
(starting a new series on the blog that I'm thinking we will post once a season with a new team. Starting with New Orleans given the recent trade and my familiarity with the players - more so than any other team.)
Dear Owner of the New Orleans Hurricane Dodgers,
Your franchise was just hit with a Category 6 hurricane, so much for dodging this one and from one New Orleans based business to another we felt the need to share this open letter with you. This is your sign to rebuild! The franchise has won two of the last three world series, but your latest move has left the fanbase reeling and a third title for this core group now out of the question. Yes the playoffs shouldn't be tough, but the franchise is currently in one of the; if not THE weakest divisions in Cobbfather at the moment. After all your competition had picks #3, 12, and 13 in this season's draft - all protected first round picks. With no offense to them, as they are retooling from high contract seasons, just winning the division isn't enough for this great city of New Orleans, for the birthplace of Jazz! That's like choosing Roseanne Barr to single the national anthem over Whitney Houston. Just because she knows the words doesn't mean she should sing it. Take a page out of the Columbus Corgis handbook, build on top of this first trade and have a quick fire sale to replenish the young talent in your organization and be back to a championship contender in no time. After 36 seasons (1-17, 24-25, 27-32, 44-47/47-52, and your current run of 55-57) we all know, or rather hope, you have a few tricks up your sleeves from all that experience! Moving into a fire sale just makes sense, as this first deal was quantity over quality very similar to what Columbus received a few seasons ago.
We assume part of the reason for this deal is resetting and/or lowering the team's payroll; but for what? We don't anticipate you shifting to the International market given the recent price tags and based on your IFA spendings over the years - once over $10.3M on a single player and only 7 times spent over $3M. We haven't seen too high impact draft signings after pick 20, but there are some if you decide to shift that savings into College and/or High School scouting. But did the team clear enough payroll that gives the New Orleans scouts enough budget to find those players? You'll generally be adding role players, which isn't bad to keep payroll down and supplement the main roster with talent whether it's a pitch hitter, bullpen arm, or defensive specialist.
Steer into the skid, make that move to sell. Deal CF Yan Ozuna (.270, 15 HR, 15 SB), 2B Javier Quevedo (.295, 25 HR, 50 SB), 1B Keith Halter (.270, 35 HR, 20 SB), RF Douglas Laxton (.310, 40 HR, 7 SB), and C Gregorio Cordero (.295, 40 HR, 2 SB - second best pitch caller in all of Cobbfather) and the market; and that's not mentioning some of the older pitchers like Costilla, Andrews, and Martin that could be packaged with those hitters to improve the prospects returning to you. Slicing payroll and quickly rebuilding! We can only imagine the type of prospects you'd get for some of those names - specifically Laxton whose been on the MVP ballot multiple years since his call up. Looking back at the last power rankings on the blog, Columbus, Oklahoma City, and especially Philadelphia are top tier teams who appear good fits to improve their bats. Philly ranked as a 45/80 and currently tied for their division; though they might not have the prospects to come back your way as they've been competing in the top of their division for a few years now. Salem should be your first target, they are just 2 games back and young. Add a power bat like Laxton who hits .300+ would pair nicely at 1B with 2B Rojas, CF Bonk, LF and All-Star MVP Timothy Wright. Checking in on Tacoma to see just when they are expecting to turn the corner and hit the NL North hard would be ideal too. Hartford and Chicago are getting older, Montreal isn't ready to compete just yet; convincing them next season is their year and dealing for some top names to pair with some of their rookies could go a long way in moving them from 4th in the division to a wildcard contender to a division winner.. A plus to Tacoma, they've drafted a lot of pitchers in the recent early drafts.
Let's take a look at the latest deal.
- GOING
- Juancito Martin - S53 Co-MVP, 3x All-Star, 2x Gold Glove, 2x Silver Slugger, and 2x Champion who has a career .313 batting average, averages 20 HR w/ 25 SBs, and has 4 200 hit seasons under his belt out of 7 and one of those non was 5 hits short.
- Josh Hunt - 1x All-Star, 2x Silver Slugger, and 2x World Champion whose averaged 35ish HRs a season on a .278 average with 24 stolen bases. He once gave the franchise a 40 HR / 35 SB season from the hot corner.
- S58 salary: $18.3M
- S59 salary: $17.8M
- Analysis: Martin was the perfect leadoff/#2 hitter paired with Quevedo and Hunt has been great in the 5 hole slotted behind other power hitters like Laxton, Halter, and Cordero. Hurricane row as the fans reference them. The offense has struggled a bit over all and dealing two of the main bats will hurt going forward. Who knows if either man will be willing to sign an extension to continue their careers in NO, but now we'll never know!
- COMING
- Roger Stinnet (2B) - 2x All-Star, .250 hitter, 35-40 HR but strikes out nearly 130 times a year. 15 SBs. Quevedo is the better defender so he likes shifts to LF to replace Martin. He's the lesser version of Hunt - slightly less power, about 20 points lower in average, 2/3rds the SBs, and weaker defensively.
- Mike Lobstein (SP) - 1x All-Star who has been a 1.30-1.35 WHIP, 3.50-4.00 ERA; though this year (his age 35 season) is up at a 1.41 WHIP and 5.14 ERA. I'd expect him to improve on those numbers for the second half in NO, but just how much is to be determined. The control isn't great and keeps him at the back of the rotation.
- Rubi Pujols (SP) - With Gutierrez, he's the other prize of the deal and looks a lot like SP Danys Solis who already pitches for the NOHD or even Buffalo's Miguel Castillo. 1.20ish WHIP, 3.30 ERA, 20-30% better than league average it seems. Though Castillo's numbers are out of the pen.
- Giancarlo Gutierrez (3B) - He's been labeled as a Shortstop but not quite league average; either he or current SS Bubba Alexander will shift over to 3rd to fill Hunt's void. He doesn't offer much power, but neither does he have the speed to supplement that lack. He's basically a 3B/SS version of Turner Pryor - who funny enough traded Hunt for back when he owned the Mexico City franchise (then in El Paso) back in Season 52. In a good season he's a .270 hitter with 15 HR and 10 SB.
- S58 salary: $13.8M (saves $4.5M)
- S59 salary: $8.2M (saves $9.6M)
- S60 salary: Beginning of Arb years for Pujols and Gutierrez.
$5M next season and $10M the following isn't much of a savings but could mean the world of difference in scouting, assuming that's where it's going. Overall still a solid return if you are selling two All-Stars, but was it enough and is it the right direction for the franchise? Only time will tell. But if you do decide to sell, please for the sake of the NO fans; go against your norm - go for quality over quantity!
To Martin and Hunt, we wish you both the best of luck in Salt Lake City. Looks like they might be hitting #2 and 3 behind Paco Garces and in front of Ehire Cruz. As it stands today, SLC is outside the playoff picture looking in but they only have 2 games to make up in the division and were 5 games out of the wildcard with 67 games to play.
-a New Orleans fan through and through