minihouston - editor-in-chief
Intro
I did an article similar to this one just before S52; two years before I won the World Series and left the world to concentrate on the blog. I figured why not do the same, but this time I'll write it as the seasons progress. Might give a little more insight, feel free to breeze over this one.
Having 'retired' after winning it all in S54, I was convinced by a few owners to return and so I did in S60 when an opening with a team in our commissioner's division. Most of you might know, he and I are friends; and I couldn't pass up the chance to add that extra competition. Not only are we both competing for the World Series and the NL Crown, but now also the NL West division title. And you better believe there is some major trash talk and bragging going on between us. USA! USA! USA!
Naming the team. With another friend still running the old franchise, it felt weird to bring back the Old Fashioneds name; especially since they wouldn't be in New Orleans anymore so I had to think of a new one and to decide on where to start the franchise. And besides no abbreviation was going to live up to the NOOFs. Seattle became a frontrunner because I'd be on the US side of the border of Vancouver - further pushing the competition between those two teams but also because there is some good challenges going on with Tacoma as well. But I wanted a similar park to New Orleans; one that leaned in favor of hitting but nothing drastic; and that wasn't going to work in the heavy pitching leaning Seattle, so we moved the team to Scottsdale - which is also a decent party city that comes alive at night (or so I've heard). Now I'm not much of a drinker, and when I do it's an Old Fashsioned; but like I said that name was in still in New Orleans for me; so I shifted slightly and chased the Green Fairy, naming the team the Sazeracs. Which is actually the official cocktail of New Orleans, so another great tie into the old franchise I had previously. Check out the history of the Sazerac House if you have time. And if you are ever in New Orleans, it's a free museum with samples. And just like the Sazerac Company fought the US Government and the Prohibition, we too will fight the evil empires of the Houstons, Huntingtons, Atlantas, and the rest of the American League!
Season 60
Now my goal wasn't to improve upon last season because I wasn't counting on making the playoffs like foster did before me. I took over an aging team with quite a few FAs but also a couple of bad contracts with guys who were about to be on their deathbed but still on my roster for the next 3 seasons. No wonder foster left when he did. Now I could have gone big budget, but another rebuild sounded better. My goal during this rebuild is to win at least 63 games; keeping me out of the 100+ L club. With a clearer idea of how the game works, that shouldn't be a problem right? Stayed tuned for that, but figures crossed. (S62 EDIT: YIKES!!!)
Existing Players
I started the season by declining the $20M option on Bernie Mendez, who had declined in skill that when he resigned a new deal with Anaheim it was only for 2/12. S60 he hit .232 with just 16 HR and 12 SB, and S61 he hit .253 with 8 HR and just 1 SB in 7 tries. I consider this a big win and starting strong. The returning positions were: Spud Campbell, Bob McDade, Paco Garces, Jackson Benson, Tyrone Greer, Kiki Guardado, Luigi Gil, and Lance Gilmartin. I knew I had to accept Garces option and if I couldn't trade him, at last he'd help me not bottom out like I did in Florida. Kiki and Luigi were platoon SS and defensive guys for late game, though Luigi was going to be gone soon as he was coming up on Arb3 and getting pricey for his value. Greer I wasn't a fan of and actually surprised at his production give his ratings but I resigned him in the offseason anyway to a 2/9.6 deal.
The returning pitchers were the aging JC Wall and Dilson Melendez, both of whom had HUGE contracts for their worth. But we also had Bonk Geer who went through Arb2 and then signed 5/27 to ensure he could help shore up the rotation while we rebuilt the franchise - though we had a deal we couldn't pass up and he was later traded. Another win to get me a decent SP for the foreseeable future. The existing bullpen wasn't awful with Allan Hemphill, Don Nation, and Edgmer Fernandez. After trading Wall and Melendez, while not great they filled innings so I switched it up and went with tandem pitching for the second half of the season. I sometimes went more defensive minded to rest starters, though I wasn't making the playoffs I didn't want them getting injured because they were tired.
Free Agency
Compared to my initial start with HBD, now I knew a little more about the free agency system and what to expect. I signed Yan Ozuna, Domonic Malone, Grayson Lowry, Wil Johnston, and Randal Foster to fill some holes and they all played as expected. The team wasn't in full tank mode as they say, but I sure wasn't going to be close in the division title race.
Rule 5
Nabbed two defensive shortstops at pick #25 (Timothy Norton) and #57 (Blade Gonzales). Both in my opinion very useful as late game defensive replacements and cheap for the next few seasons. Norton offered the better defense but Blade had the option to use as a platoon vL. The plan is likely to keep them through Arb2 and drop prior to Arb3. Norton's OAV is low enough that depending on his asking price for Arb3, he might stick around a little longer; but that also depends on where the team is by then and if there are any other defensive guys in future rule 5s to replace them.
Waivers
Started this article midway through S61, but I don't recall many waivers that happened that year of interest. Maybe a few small pieces here and there but nothing worth mentioning.
Trades
I still love to trade, so I'll always be open to offers - some of which I should probably decline but that's on me.
Deal 1: Bob McDade for Emilio Santana + Junior Guardado
My first deal back and maybe not a Win for me, McDade is young and still had quite a few years of control before he hit arbitration; but I was trade happy being back in the GM seat for the first time in awhile. Emilio was a stud RP prospect still in the minors but by age he was ready to be promoted so that delayed the timeline a little but he needed to be promoted which lead to another trade in S61. If you count the S61 deal with this one it becomes McDade for Jerome Baez + Guardado; and that deal makes A LOT more sense. Baez is similar to McDade and Guardado offers the team a role player or platoon bat against lefties with great contact and an eye; though he'll struggle defensively. This deal is only a win because Santana was flipped the following season.
Deal 2: $3.3M + Paco Garces + JC Wall for Chris Sinclair + Daniel Barrett + Apollo Scott
Garces was going to be a FA that could bring back another draft pick but being able to package JC Wall's contract which goes through S62 as a mutual option that will surely be declined - costing $3.5M. Though I still had to take on what would half of that contract in Sinclair and Barrett. Scott should have some value as a role-player so it wasn't completely shedding contracts. I'd think this one more of a wash than a win or loss. Garces is talented and took giving up him and cash to get rid of Wall and his declining ratings. The Garces comp pick ended up being #42 & 83. How that effects me? Appears I would have nabbed RP Wilmer Caballero (#58 Boston) at 43 and then Wesson at 83 (instead of 85) and then SS Yadiel Ortiz (#100 Montreal) with my #85 pick. I really liked Caballero as an RP, though his stam was extremely low and likely a 10 pitch type of guy. This is one of those where I like the trade better.
Deal 3: $5M + Dilson Melendez for Orlando Samuel + Joe Bartlett + Daryle Wilkinson
I think this was a great move for me, not only did I drop Melendez's contract but I picked up a defensive catcher in Samuel who could help keep my current C Benson rested and be a spot filler if I decide to move Benson later. Bartlett's only value is as a possible DITR which is still unlikely. Wilkinson performed well and even signed a 1 year extension to stay in Scottsdale. Melendez was signed through S62 as a $12M mutual option. I consider this my first winning trade of the season. Melendez dropped significantly in S61 and likely starts S62 with an OAV in the 50s when he'd cost $3M to decline the option. Still not sure what fosterdj3 was thinking when he signed that contract. Huntington would later regret the trade and work some back room deals to get around Melendez's no trade clause via a waiver claim agreement and trade. Dilson remained unsigned for S62.
Deal 4: Graeme Blue for Edge Pillar + Alejandro Ramirez + Vinny Febles
Who? Exactly, ignore this late season trade.
Deal 5: Freddie Seager for Hideki Nakajima + Pepe Osoria + Enrique Saenz
See text for Deal 4.
Deal 6: RA Kotsay + Kes Hawkins for Didi Javier + Gary Zentmeyer
See text for Deal 4 & 5.
Rule 4
With a few Type A & B free agents leaving (Omar Gonzalez and Bernie Mendez), I was lucky to have some additional picks (4 in the top 43). P Rudy Mittelstaedt, RP Jim Knight, RP Mark Ryan (who would take a decent hit on the DL the following season) and DH Butch Goodwin, who was used as trade collateral the following season to acquire a former draft pick from the New Orleans days, see the following seasons trades for that review. I remember being pretty happy with the turn out considering my first pick wasn't until #25 with limited scouting; and it's basically 3 bullpen pieces.
Diamonds
Just took over the team and they've lacked any sort of minor league system, I figured this season was a loss for any kind of DITR that might show up. Ended up with Ham Easley (SP), not a great find because of his control; but it is what it is. I did weed through the roster to set them up for future seasons.
IFA
Got to experience the new IFA market for myself rather than just writing about it and boy is it crazy. I clearly didn't have the scouting or budget ($10M) to make much of a splash. The best I can hope for out of the many signings I made is a future diamond in the rough - still a long shot. Some of the signings were just to fill minor league gaps as the franchise's minors had been ignored for quite a few seasons; perhaps 10 even. I made one big signing in Xander Palmeiro and looking back, I'm not sure what my scouting saw in him. Initial thoughts were: he's slow, doesn't offer much power, might just be a DH, and at best a platoon vR. Everything you love in a player you spend money on.
Results
77-85. Not too far below .500 so I'll take it. For a bit I was a little concerned since I had traded so many of the bigger names on the team with very little in Free Agency to backfill with. 11 teams finished worse than the 'acs, so I consider that a win for S60. The whole minor league state was miserable and worst in Cobbfather so we could only go up from there, even had a winning record this season in High A; but gone are the days of the Florida minor league titles in the mid-40s. Now I'm going to concentrate on a few different things - testing theories and strategies out at one level, developing prospects in another level, and might even dig for diamonds in another.
AAA - 56-88
AA - 47-97
High A 77-67
Low A 70-74
Rookie 35-41
Overall Franchise Record: 362 - 452
Season 61
Alright, season one under my belt; but this is where things went wrong with my first seasons in HBD (Florida days). Started S44 and finished better than the previous owner did the year prior but S45 after deciding to cut budgets and not understand the FA market - I missed out on everyone I targeted; and I ended up going 50-112. No bueno! To add to the pressure, we also have the new MWR in Cobbfather so I need at least 55 wins this season; but as I mentioned prior to S60 goals - I'm aiming for no less than 63 Ws, so I stay out of the 100+ L club. That should....SHOULD net me a #5 or 6 pick without feeling like I'm bottoming out. The biggest difference in Florida vs Scottsdale will be player payroll - it dipped down to $22M in S45 and sits around $79M this season. I've decided to focus Rule 4 draft scouting on High School players instead of HS and College like last time; that should save some money for payroll and maybe a little bit for IFAs. In an ideal world, I have $25-26M for prospects, allowing me to sign draft picks and have about $20M for a future IFA. That doesn't compete with those who have $25M+; but that's alright should still keep me competitive. And sometimes IFA is a crap shoot, you never know whose going to find what.
Existing Players
Coming into the Season, my only real starting pitcher was Bonk Greer and a bunch of AAAA prospects that weren't going to cut it as we needed to get to 55 wins per the new Cobbfather rules. Even without that rule, there was no way I was going with those guys in much less than an injury spot start. The bullpen was Edgmer Fernandez, Chris Sinclair, Don Nation, Daniel Barrett, and Daryle Wilkinson; which we planned to run a few as tandems similar to what the team did towards the end of last season after trading away our two frontline starters.
In the field we returned C Jackson Benson, 1B Spud Campbell, SS Blade Gonzales/Kikie Gaurdado/Timothy Norton, CF Tyrone Greer/Yaz Ozuna, 3B Zoltan Shelby, and RF Grayson Lowry. There were plenty of discussions in trading C Benson, especially with the call up of C Orlando Samuel planned for after the first 20/25 games of the season. Samuel will platoon vL and be a late defensive replacement with better pitch calling; which also helps rest Benson and his lower than desired durability.
Free Agency
Had a few holes to fill due to some 1 year contracts last year. SP Randall Foster, SP Ron Hill, and SP Tim Timmons helped fill my void in the rotation. Hill and Timmons performed WAY worse than I thought, so the team took a deeper dive than expected in the standings. RP Dan Giles did something similar in the bullpen, though only slightly worse than expected. RP Benji Rodriguez was another decent bullpen add, who also signed for an additional year. INF Yusmeiro Del Rosario helped between 2B and SS as a platoon vR at times and defensive replacement; he's actually signed cheaply through S63. COF Turner Pryor was a later FA signing during a bit of an injury spell for the team, but I viewed him as a vL platoon - 79 contact, 58 power, 74 vL, and 80 eye; costing less than $1M.
Rule 5
I was only looking to grab Alex Terrero (pick #2) or Nicky Anderson (pick #3), nobody else seemed worthy from a rebuild standpoint and I had plenty of defensive guys so I didn't even target one of those this season. Not sure how Terrero slipped through the cracks, it cost $29.1M to sign him in IFA back in S57 and Anaheim had only just acquired him in S60 when he gave up Leon Beck & Mo Workman. Imagine if the Cincy Reds had selected either of them with his #1 pick instead of opting out. The best team in the NL, just gets better. We also didn't lose anybody in the Rule 5 this season.
Waivers
Grabbed Dwight Roth early in the off-season. He was hitting .287 through 87 ABs and 11 SB as a platoon vL until he went on the 15-day DL. As a platoon I really like this guy - 73 contact, 86 vL, 38 eye, 78 base running, 99 speed. Plus he adds a late pitch runner if needed....and he's cheap with years of control remaining. I wish the eye was better, but then again if it were higher, I doubt he'd have been waived. This claim slightly changed my FA targets and saved the team some money. There were some missed claims in the first half but nothing ground shattering, just nice to haves as we rebuild the franchise. We thought about a claim on Stretch Story; who would have offered up a Comp pick next season when he signs elsewhere; but similar to OKC - we wanted the money for prospects. Had I not already transferred the money, I might have done it. But having already transferred for an IFA; I ran the risk of doubling up what I forfeited for transfers. By his time I was especially nervous that there wasn't going to be an IFA signing in Scottsdale's future; with so many other teams who still had more money to spend than us. When I start the write up for next season, I'll try to remember to come back and see who my Comp pick would have been, had I made the claim. Stretch signed with Columbus in the off-season and with a few other FAs ended up being an 3rd round pick - so I'm glad we passed and kept they money instead. Specifically picks #35 and #98. At #35 we would have just taken Justin McQuillan instead of him slipping to Washington DC at pick #39. Pick #98 turned out to be 1 pick after our original Round 3, we would have just selected our 4th round pick, Braxton Ducey a round earlier. Not much change, but adding McQuillan would have been nice - though would have cost us the IFA we signed this season. More on that later. We passed multiple times on Chris Gore, who started the season with Austin, then claimed by New York > New Orleans > New York (again) > Tacoma > Chicago > Philadelphia.
Trades
Didn't expect much this season in terms of trades as I knew my ML team didn't have a ton to offer outside of the guys I need to stay on the team to reach the new league rule of 55 wins (as I've written about a thousand times now)
Deal 1: Josh Hannermann for KJ Coolbaugh
Started off with this banger of a deal - but it helped fill a role I needed in the minor, plus Coolbaugh is a cool name. He retired after the season. Boo!
Deal 2: Butch Goodwin + Larry O'Brien + Rosell Perez for $3M + Juancito Martin
Call this nostalgia, Martin was an early draft pick of mine and key part to my S54 World Series win in New Orleans - he was also a 200+ H bat, though aging. He was due a pay increase to $7.5M next year as well. And while I didn't need him, I thought it'd be fun if the price was right and I didn't give away anything too important for the rebuild. He'd also help me get to the min 55 wins quicker. I had no plans to deal him away. Perez was likely the key piece, a decent RP prospect - but those are easy come easy go; I was hoping to get a replacement elsewhere. His inclusion was almost the reason I didn't do the deal. O'Brien felt like a AAAA COF, so easily replaced and not missed - though his cheap contract would be missed during the rebuild. Goodwin belongs in the AL, limited every green rating. So I didn't mind including him either.
Deal 3: Emilio Santana for Jerome Baez
Emilio was 25, done growing as a prospect and needed a promotion to the majors. I knew Washington DC was in that area where they could shift gears and gun for the division so I offered up some bullpen help with lots of years of control for a future 3B prospect that fit better with my timeline. He was also a former #10 pick back in S60. Unfortunately Baez started the season with 89 health yet he still found the DL twice this season....and again the following season.
Deal 4: $4.5M + Juancito Martin + Bonk Greer + Vic Shields for Albert Dykstra + JJ Durham + Alex Kuo
Took a bit to get this deal done because of an initial budget issue but as I mentioned I had not intended to trade Martin; the opportunity came up to acquire both Dykstra and Durham, I had to jump at it. Kuo was added to help balance the contracts of Martin and Greer, since Austin was so tight up against their max. Kuo was used out of the pen and decently successful so he wasn't completely useless, even though he eventually was sent back down to AAA. Durham was thought to be a key part of the future bullpen and Dykstra should compliment the addition of Baez nicely. The goal is to use Dykstra at 2B as a possible GG winner and maybe even a Silver Slugger or two. Fingers crossed. Combining this with my first deal, it basically becomes $1.5M + Goodwin + O'Brien + Perez + Greer + Shields for Dykstra + Durham + Kuo. Long term it was Goodwin + Perez for Dykstra + Durham. Easy win on that deal.
Rule 4
New Rule, don't stay up overthinking your draft picks the night before. I completely flubbed this season's draft in the last hours leading up to it. Just before signing off and going to bed, literally 3 hours before the draft; I adjusted by moving Cheslor Duckworth WAY up my order because I liked his bat. I completely forgot about his lower durability and the fact that he's really a light fielding 1B - more so a DH. And durability will be an issue that I'll have to manage with solid backups. Don't get me wrong, my scouts say he'll hit well; but a power hitting COF/1B isn't tough to find these days and feels like there are better options at my pick #13 like Mike Brewer who went at 17; he was a late demotion down the rankings. My #1 (Bunny Goodwin) slipped to pick 7 and my #2 (Grant Becker) slipped to pick 11. With Buffalo being pick #12 and a pure college drafter; I nearly had my #2 - but thanks to Top; my draft was completely changed. Solid move for him. I like to imagine had I grabbed Becker at #13, maybe Duckworth would have been available at 85 - probably not. With no comp picks this season, my 2nd pick wasn't until #85 and I was pretty happy with Justin Wesson - he was projected to be a solid (though not gold glove) shortstop and not awful at the plate - though not great either. Enough that you feel like you aren't completely punting the position. That also allowed me to move some of the recently acquired prospects in the trades mentioned above to other positions where their defense even further improves the team, a shortstop to 2B type of move. Plan as of completion of the draft:
1B/COF Duckworth - .290-.300, 40-45 HR
2B Dykstra - .290, 25-30 HR, GG @ 2B.
SS Wesson - .220-.230, 5-10 HR - will look to see who else can be signed and picked up.
3B Baez - .265, 30 HR (injuries after this writing will dampen this projection)
Will likely move Duckworth to COF, would hate to lose a World Series because of a dropped double play at 1B or worse a groundball through the legs of my 1B - can you imagine that?
Other current prospects are:
COF Apollo Scott - likely a lefty platoon with good speed and solid eye.
COF Orval Lankford - great speed, solid contact, practically blind but runs bases well.
DH Junior Guardado - lacks defense, platoon lefties well. Might platoon with Duckworth on rest days.
INF Orlando Bennett - doesn't have the glove for SS but fantastic everywhere else. No power and limited speed. Purely a 1 inning defensive guy, if he bats - it's a free out for the other team. But as Norton and Gonzalez get into their Arb years - Bennett will be the defensive promotion to keep costs down.
Everybody else is just waiting to be discovered as a Diamond In The Rough or waiting to retire, one of the two.
At the time I considered this one a big win. The team was set up the way I'd like for landing a possible diamond, and it just so happened to be someone I drafted this year - which is the added bonus of being able to go back to his draft scouting to see it updated (which is based on 20M). Dillon Wall (P) - was the only find but I'll take him. I've heard the system I've got set up with only find 1, maybe 2 instead of a possible 2-3; but if the talent is there that's okay with me. I'd much rather someone useful than two guys who are AAAA prospects at best. He took a little extra money to sign and was actually the first DITR target on my draft board, taken in Round 4. Early signs point to him developing into a high 70s / low 80s type of pitcher. Consider the other HS pitching prospects my scouts found, he immediately become a top 3 option. He'll pair up nicely in the bullpen with Durham; who was picked up earlier this season. But now I need some starters!
IFA
Got the scouting budget up to 15M this season so I expect to see a few more and more accurate projections. Aside from better scouting, I also have more prospect money to spend; but with an oversaturated number of teams vying for a quality IFA, the chance to be left holding the bag is high. The early signings were about defensive SSs, you know the type. Maikel Silva should be fine as long as he reaches projections to stay as a defensive replacement. Joseph Chang has the better glove, arm strength, and accuracy, might be sub average in range. Guess we'll see how they progress. Signed them both before the Rule 4 draft for a combined $320k, so definitely worth the value. Probably could have gotten them a bit cheaper too as people looked to save for that big prospect. But even if I have left over money, I'll take these guys as cheap role players. At mid-season there were 7 teams with more prospect money than myself, so chance were slim that I find them and am able to outbid someone for them.
D'Angelo Ordaz signed early for $43.2M but my scouts missed out on him. Pedro Pena was the next big signing at $16M, and while my scouts found him - they didn't like him much. His splits will need to make projections to be useful in the back of a rotation. But the good thing was, both teams that signed those players were ahead of me in remaining budget and after the signing moved behind me; so perhaps a better chance to sign someone later in the season was my initial thought. After those two it was Louie Prieto, who looked like he could stick at Short with potential for a silver slugger at the position - but my initial bid of $22.1M was already not high enough from the first offer. With no money stashed away in pillows, all I could do was wait to see who ended up with him. At least they'd end up following behind me for the next prospect. The guy with the most money, New York, landed him for $30.4M. A few days later a hitting coach's dream hitter landed...BUT he's an awful catcher/1B and likely intended to play DH and I'm an NL team. It's late in the season, I can either have a chance to land a DH or be caught with money in my books so I went all in on Vin Campos for the $22.2M that I had remaining. After some back room conversation, I confirmed that two of the four teams that still had more money than I did, didn't have him scouted. And another team had him scouted but had him scouted for nearly 15 OAV less; even though our scouting budgets were only $1M a part; but he was passing on him. So that left just one team - the team with the most money to spend. My scouts comp was reigning 2x NL MVP Ernest Page. But like I said, if the other team's scouts were right, 15 OAV lower is definitely nothing close to 45-50 HR with a .300+ average. None the less, Sazerac fans were drooling at the potential of him and Duckworth our S61 draft pick hitting back to back - combining for 80-90 HR with both hitting .300+. Baez and Dykstra should be solid, but I need a fast leadoff guy to hit in front of the two. Aside from him, I nabbed a couple of possible DITR players / minor league filler. Rumor has it, by the time he's ready for the ML promotion there will be DH in the NL. One can hope!
Louie Font was signed between the two SSs and Campos as a possible DITR and we hit on him in S62 - more on him below.
Extensions
Only player we looked to extend was Ron Hill, who we had signed this previous off-season. He's nothing special but we need starters next year. Doesn't feel like he's worth the 1/$5.2M we offered; but there are limited pitchers available next season and we didn't want to get into a bidding war. That said at the last minute we decided to extend Tim Timmons on the same deal for the exact same reasons. This leaves us with fewer holes to fill the following season in our rotation. Could I have signed them both for a combined $5.2M, maybe. But I didn't want to go into the offseason with 0 starters.
Results
With the future bullpen lined up and our infield now acquired, I can concentrate on a future Catcher, Outfield, and Starting Pitching.
ML - 66-96 - 4th in division
Record against Vancouver: 5-5 (runs: 44-49)
Record against Montreal: 3-7 (runs: 42-56)
AAA - 51-93 - 4th
AA - 72-72 - 3rd
High A - 78-66 - 3rd
Low A - 70-74 - 3rd
Rookie - 27-49 - 4th
Overall Franchise Record: 364-450 (2 games better than S60)
Season 62
Last year's goal to not lose 100+ games and work on rebuilding the franchise was a success; though due to the quantity of perpetually rebuilding teams, we finished just outside the top 5 picks; which also doesn't help because Chicago owns pick 4 as a Type D draft pick; so we'll slip one more slot. This year we will continue to rebuild with the same goals in mind from last year, let's not have a 100+ Loss season. 66 Wins last year means we only need 55 this season to stay within the MWR; but shooting for at least the 66 again; would really like to push that to 68-70 Ws. As mentioned above, I'm hoping to concentrate on a true Catcher, my OF, and some starting pitching prospects, but we'll see what shakes out.
Existing Players
Our main two bats, Campbell and Benson, return along with our defensive Shortstops, defensive / platoon vL Catcher in Samuel, and last year's waiver pickup Dwight Roth; which means we'll have holes at 2B, CF, and RF. Though the initial plan was to deal Benson if we can get a good enough prospect back. Pitching on the other hand is a big hole that needs to be filled. The key returning pitchers include Ron Hill, Tim Timmons, Franicsco Ramirez, Don Nation, and Justin Carson. Daniel Barrett is a hold over from the Melendez deal - the contracts worked out in our favor last year; but we could have cut Melendez for cheaper than it costs to keep Barrett this year. That's oaky, Barrett can at least fill some innings unlike Melendez this year. That was an awful contract given out by our previous franchise owner. Hill and Timmons were signed to an extension during the playoffs as we saw limit SPs in free agency, especially if we needed to fill 5 of them and didn't want to get into a bidding war. Still sorting through which players might get call-ups. We probably won't start the stream of higher level prospects being promoted to the majors until next season. Benji Rodriguez declined his half of the mutual option so he did not return. Rightfully so, the option was for less than $2M and he was rather productive the last two years, though aging. This did however give us a Type B FA - assuming he signs. Chris Sinclair is a Type B as well but we let him walk and didn't think he'd sign anywhere - which he did to our surprise.
Free Agency
2B is looking rather thin this off-season and while Ozuna and Greer performed decently well last year, they weren't targeted to return. Pitching remained a big focus, and entering the off-season we are a bit nervous given the lack of quality out there; and majority are up there in age as well. After reviewing our budget, we left enough to transfer to prospect spending, to allow us to land a ~$20M IFA, but sadly that's about it - the rest of our prospect money will go towards the Rule 4 draft. The Quevedo deal started early in the off-season, and that shifted gears in FA for the Sazeracs a bit. Knowing we'd fill the 2B role, albeit expensively; we decided to go with S60 acquisition Apollo Scott in 3B. But seeing franchise favorite, Omar Gonzalez still sitting in FA for basically league minimum, we had to jump at letting him retire with us and hopefully bump a few spots in career leader charts. They aren't all-stars but hopefully will get the job done. We picked up Hank Dougherty for CF on a one year deal, added bullpen pieces in Daryl Wilkinson (again) and Henry Wieland. Also added aging Jiovanni Poole to help with the rotation. We still needed another starter when we noticed Austin had waived Tomas Benitez, and rightfully so; the guy wasn't much more than a back of the rotation or tandem type. We inquired about a trade that had Austin covering $5M of his $7.85M; leaving only $2.85M for us and at that price, I'd take him as a pitcher - at least at his career norms. We lost out on Charles Loewer and Roanld Yearwood, but in truth we didn't push them too hard because they felt similar to the others we signed. We checked in with Turner Pryor, who was a steal last season, but his demands had come up from last off-season and we were worried about how he'd age. Ernesto Johnson and Alex Perez were other ones we looked at but similar to Omar, where do they play? Ernest funny enough was eventually signed to help boost the bats when Omar went down with an injury. We think a few of these names will be available after the Rule 5, so we can see what shakes out there as long as we get one more pitcher - either Benitez in a trade with Austin or signing in FA.
Rule 5
Didn't see anybody worthwhile so we passed this season....for the second year in a row. Props to all the other owners, protecting even their role players.
Waivers
A few guys on waivers that we came close to claiming but there was always something about them that prevent it, Henderson Ramsey - he's cheap and a great glove, but we have enough of those right now. Tomas Benitez - contract would make him a Fat Cat (well overpaid) so we turned to acquiring him via trade with Austin covering a majority portion of it. By midseason we stopped paying attention to the waivers.
Trades
The goal in the early off-season was trading some of the roleplayer type prospects for an improvement, though I kept busy with real life and didn't get a chance to attempt any trades. Trading Apollo Scott, Orval Lankford, Junior Guardado, and/or Orlando Bennett would be ideal. And I'm always entertaining ideas to trade Benson or Campbell - though both we feel are needed to ensure our 55 game winning season. Given their existing OAVs, I'd only expect Campbell to land as a Type B Free Agent, but he's also locked up through S64. (Mid season EDIT - well that didn't go as expected, had to trade Campbell for pitching help)
Deal 1: $10 + Victor Phillips for Javier Quevedo
Just like last season's acquisition of a former New Orleans Old Fashioneds player, we picked up Q from the old days. Except this time there is 0% chance he gets moved because while his salary this season hurts the books, the comp picks he brings next year will be much better...assuming he signs somewhere. That's the big reason we took on the money, but also to fill the 2B void with limited options in FA. The $10 add on our side was just an inside joke between owners. Phillips was one of the few kept down in rookie ball, so no value there.
Deal 2: $5M + Tomas Benitez for Albert Sherman
Benitez for under $3M to help fill our pitching staff made sense. Sherman has solid power but a 6 contact with 33 speed. He'll be a minor leaguer for life.
Deal 3: Spud Campbell + Kiki Guardado for Leo Newcomb
We didn't really like this deal but the team's pitching was floundering and we were trying to keep the team respectable. We asked around but everybody knew we were hurting for pitching so the cost went up a bit higher than normal if you ask us. Got close on a few deals and then out of nowhere the opposing owner would go off base and throw in one of our top prospects with some other pieces. We weren't going to sell the farm to improve the team this year, knowing full well that as an owner I wasn't going to be back next year. 55 Wins or not, there will still be a new owner taking the reigns and we wanted to try and leave what we could for them. For the production Campbell is solid production - signed for $5.8M through end of S64; but like I said we needed to make a move and improve the pitching. Guardado is a defensive SS and Helena just took an injury to theirs so even though he can't hit much he'll hold his own defensively while their usual starter comes back. Newcomb was having a career year and will be 33 next year so the new owner can possibly resign on a 2/$10.8M to keep some form of pitching on the staff. In Newcomb's first 8 games he completely bottomed out, 1-5 with a 7.50 ERA!!!! OUCH, did we trade Campbell for nothing?
Rule 4
Chris Sinclair left us as a Type B that we didn't think would end up being signed, but as we mentioned Anaheim nabbed him so we'll gladly accept the comp round pick. Benji Rodriguez also signed with division rival Salem, but we'll be happy with the extra pick that will be before pick 59 which is when Round 2 starts this season. Our first pick shifted a pick due to Chicago's Type D from last season not signing; which hurts even more because Chicago is one of those High Schooler drafters (like us) - so limits our pool a little bit. We had hoped maybe our scouts would find someone he didn't. And sadly our HS scouts didn't find a whole lot of prospects this season; so pre draft we weren't looking forward to those extra Comp Round picks. We did however reach out and felt Chicago was punting the draft for Type D's next year which changed our direction as we thought about the same ourselves. We listed a bunch of players, weeded out the bottom feeders - minus those we thought might good DITRs. We truly only liked about 4-5 names on the board with 4 picks in the top 65. Our first pick ends up being our #1 choice - Lefty SP Lay Brown. Amazing control, great velocity, fantastic against lefties with a potential 90 P1 and 80 P2. But reality says league average against righties. Surprisingly our #2 choice, Lefty SP Justin McQuillan ended up going pick #39! Told you our scouts found nothing. If only he had lasted another 10 picks, we would have gotten our #1 and #2 choices in the draft. Brown will be good but he's not the ace to lead our staff. At pick #49 we snag out #6 option, Righty SP Diory Rosado who has great numbers but really wish his pitch quality was better. Having a good pitch calling catcher would help; but his lack of pitches might move him to long relief. Pick #57 we snag our #11 choice, RF Howie Collmenter who has his own flaws. Solid power and speed, league average eye, but lacks contact; BIG TIME. Given Campos, Duckworth, and the lesser extents of Guardado; we'll have to find spots for them all. Having DH in the NL would surely be helpful but some of the others are not the most durable, so playing time should be fine to keep them all rested as well. Round 2's pick #65 you can ignore, lefty SP (Cory Karstens) who cannot handle AA righties. He'll be in the majors but as a LRB, SuB type, or more likely lefty specialist where he could excel. Moving on to Round 3, pick #97 was us testing a theory - it bombed, theory busted. Tweaked the theory and should be ready to go next season. Moving on. Round 4 we started our shift to possible DITRs, it worked well last season with Wall - only days before we know the success rate this season; our favorite was Braxton Ducey.
IFA
We don't do it often, but we signed two early players, neither is much more than a possible DITR; but they were also both borderline and might actually have higher OAVs that prevent them from becoming diamonds. Only time will tell. Either way, they signed at asking price. We passed on a few of the early signers, including Pitcher Cookie Goya who signed for $11.4M. A few guys signed for $500-900k but did not pay enough attention to know if we scouted them or not - if we did, we weren't impressed and passed on their stats. Mariano Merced, who was projected as a defensive gem, with 90+ ratings across the board though he'll struggle against Low A pitchers. Decided to chase after him as a defensive replacement for the 9th inning. Why not improve our bullpen arms by improving the defense around them? But we stopped around $300k, after all we wanted to save some coin for hopefully a larger prospect even though we ended up signing two more possible DITR for $130k. Probably should have kept on Merced a bit longer. Our scouts missed out on $33.7M SS Enrique Margot but we didn't have the money to compete with that anyway. $15.3M RP Omar Jamie, but even had we seen him we'd question it because of our backlog of RPs. Ditto on $21.3M RP Ricardo Noesi. What exactly did our $20M in IFA scouting get us this year? I found SS Albert Johnson but by my projections he won't make SS or CF. Nor will he have the range for 2B. I like him at 3B but he's definitely a speed guy, very limited power. Though I could decide to shift him or Baez (current projected 3B) to a COF and the defense further improves with another possible Gold Glover. We went all in and was even the top team for a small amount of time but was quickly outbid. On to hopefully the next target. All-Star game just happened and making this post, so we'll see who gets added to finish out the season. Last year we snagged Campos late, hopefully we get lucky again.
Diamonds
We didn't feel this group of rookies coming in provided as solid DITR options but knew the rest of our minors were set up to have a few decent option. Another year where we only found 1 diamond but again I think it's a useful piece. RP Louie Font, who was a S60 IFA signing for $60k. He's a 21 yr old, 1 year pro, so we cannot look back at our draft scouting for his updated ratings, but our 0 Adv Scout of him looks promising. At the time of the bump his control is already a 77 with a P1 of 73 and P2 of 52. Given the time he has to grow, I imagine both control and P1 should be high 80s and maybe reach 90. His current Stam is 50 and durability 58; so he'll remain a bullpen piece and will come down to his splits. My limited review of DITRs over the last couple of seasons, he should go +20 at a min in OAV; which puts him at a 73-75.
Major Injuries
Prospect Baez, even though he has been up 80s in health; has taken crucial injuries last season and this one; definitely stunting his growth as a prospect. That trade might now turn out as an L. Even with 20M in Training, we don't have the 20M in Medical to help recoup some of that.
Prospect Durham, took a slight hit - but he'll still be solid.
Results
TBD - posting this before the end of the season.
Future Roster
Here is the best solution for the current roster
- AAA
- C Howie West - Could provide rest for prime prospect though doesn't offer an arm or PC.
- 1B (vL platoon) Junior Guardado - should be solid against lefties and give rest to more of the prime prospects like Duckworth and Campos while still producing results.
- 3B/COF David Parrott - defensive replacement
- SS Orlando Bennett - late inning defense though lacks glove for SS/CF.
- COF Orval Lankford - he's a pitch runner at best
- SuB Roland Lambo - His vR makes him a AAA player.
- AA
- C Vin Campos - He's a DH but the guy will hit. Hopefully WIS adds the NL DH to HBD before he's ready for the majors.
- 1B Cheslor Duckworth - Lacks defense but should put up .290+ and 35+ HR numbers. Will need plenty of rest days with Guardado.
- 2B Albert Dykstra - Should be fine at 2B. Check out his draft recap writeup - here
- SS Justin Wesson - hopefully gets to his above league average defensive ratings and should hit okay for a shortstop.
- 3B Jerome Baez - I liked him a lot more before his injuries. Check out his draft recap writeup - here
- P Rudy Mittelstaedt - Lower stam+durability likely pushes him to the pen but could make a case for a 5 man rotation or tandem starter.
- RP JJ Durham - Check out his draft recap writeup - here
- RP Jim Knight - Have received lots of interest in this one from teams.
- RP Dillon Wall - Between him and Durham should help shorten games to 7 innings.
- RP Mark Ryan - Isn't Durham or Wall but still a useful piece.
- A+
- Some diamond options but that's about it.
- A-
- SS Joseph Chang - Won't hit much but will give you late defense further improving Durham and Wall in the bullpen.
- SS Maikel Silva - See above, was signed at a similar time with Chang in hopes one would pan out.
- SP Lay Brown - His vR is slightly slacking but early projections had him with a solid pitch selection, great control, well above average velocity and a ground ball pitcher. Lots to like here.
- P Diory Rosada - Mid to back of the rotation arm. His pitch quality will hold him back and might push him to the pen. If only he or Rudy were lefties, they could tandem together.
- RP Louie Font - S62's DITR, assuming those splits develop, he'll be a future ML piece.
- Lots of diamond options here.
- Rookie
- Some diamond options but that's about it.
This our last season in Cobbfather so good luck to the owner who takes over the franchise. Hopefully this post helps them hit the ground running on what we were doing with the team. Paired with what will likely be a top 5 pick in next year's draft, the new owner can hopefully pick up an Ace to lead the rotation, allowing Brown to shift to the #2 role.
Good luck!
