OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post

Elendil · 05-08-2007, 03:41 PM

Front Office Bloodbath!

Teams that lost a lot of money and/or games during the 2007 season ditched their general managers with reckless abandon. GM's were kicked out in Anchorage (both Pilots and Bucs), Peninsula, Eagle River-Chugiak, Fairbanks, Kodiak, Sitka (this was the real shocker), and Ketchikan. North Pole and Juneau hung onto their GMs for their financial acumen, while Valdez's owner held onto his GM, because the move to Bethel was going to stress the organization enough, without a front office job search. Alaskan champions Mat-Su of course held onto their staff. The Bucs, Jets, and Grizzlies also fired their managers.

Fairbanks ended up getting Yancey Norlander after his departure from the Glacier Pilots, but the other clubs all hired rookie GM's.

The Bucs' massive losses were a particular fiasco, even though player-owner Ron Bishop's big contract was far from the only reason for the team's woes. Bishop had hit .264 in 349 AB with no homers and was roundly booed by the home fans throughout the last month of the season. Bishop sold his stake in the team and asked for a trade.

Offseason Hot Stove

The league quickly discovered the next big obstacle to its continued survival. With teams cutting back, a lot of guys who played in the league for a pittance last year in hopes of playing well and getting a big contract this year simply left the league when that didn't happen. Most of the league's superstars came back, and in fact, some of the best ballplayers in Alaska who'd stayed out last year signed contracts for the '08 season. For instance, righthander Brad Morris, who had been clocked in the low 90's, signed on with Juneau to be their closer; slugger John Horswill, an Alaskan-born college star in the Lower 48, signed a one-year, $40,000 deal with Ketchikan; and 26-year-old pitcher Tom Pick signed the biggest free agent deal of the offseason, $145,000 over 2 years with North Pole. (The biggest contract in the offseason was an extension for Mat-Su's catcher, Pierre-Alexandre Langlois, who would make $407,991 for the 2009-2011 seasons.)

No, the biggest problem was not with the superstars but with the role players. The league's minimum salary was a paltry $2000, which meant that for the most part, the benches and bullpens of every club were stocked with young kids looking for a break, washed-up coaches and teachers with the summer off, shift workers, and sundry roughnecks who would play a few weeks on, a few weeks off. [For those interested: I model the shifting rosters by setting injuries to High but position player fatigue to Low. Regulars seem to get lots of playing time, while bench players move on & off the roster frequently, which is what I was aiming for here.]

To get their financial ships in order, the overextended clubs made some deals with those few teams who were actually in the black. Interestingly, this meant that some of the smaller markets, who had spent frugally last year, got some real bargains.

The first big deal to go down was between the Panners and Oilers. Fairbanks sent their starting center fielder, Art Johannson (.310/.376/.518 with 16 HR in 326 AB, $44K per year for the next 3 years), to Peninsula for reliever Wes Dionne (6.14 ERA, 29 BB, 17 K in 44 IP, $14K/year for next two years). On the surface, Peninsula absolutely raped Fairbanks, but it was a salary dump. The Goldpanners had dug themselves a deep hole, and this was a move born of desperation.

That opened up the floodgates. Two days later, the Miners sent 29 year old CF Derek Jenkins (.324/.386/.433 in 275 AB, $9K in '08) to the Glacier Pilots for 27 year old MR Waylon Ellsworth (3.45, 16 BB, 34 K in 44 IP, $37K in '08). Ellsworth was one of the hardest throwers in the league, known to hit 93 MPH.

The Jets then traded the bitterly disappointing Alan St. George (recall that he'd been traded for Doug Beard, then put up a 5.12 ERA in 123 IP) to Peninsula for the rights to one of the better prospects around, Japanese teenager Kisei Suto. (Suto was a student at UAA and had not yet signed a pro contract. [Note: since the Alaskan Training League is mostly amateur, most prospects do not have pro contracts - in game, they appear as having "minor league contracts."])

The biggest blockbuster of the offseason came in October, when the unhappy Ron Bishop finally got his trade, moving to the cash-flush Nicks along with North Slope roughneck Pierre Rheault, who as a reliever had posted a 7.82 ERA in 44 innings with the Bucs. The Nicks also got two extremely marginal prospects' rights. The Bucs got third baseman Nick Bedford, who had put up a decent .288/.336/.476 line last year (18 HR). On the face of it, the Bucs had probably done surprisingly well for their discontented shortstop, although Bedford was probably overpaid too ($120K/year).

There were a couple more important deals before the preseason officially got underway. The Mat-Su Miners sent promising 26 year old 1B Lindsay Beals (.302/.408/.457 in 129 AB) to the Nicks for 33 year old SP Chris Fry (8-4, 2.72 in 109 IP). Pretty clearly a retooling move for the Nicks and a win-now move for the Miners.

By April, most of the remaining big free agents had discovered that salaries were going to be low, and had either signed at reduced rates or taken themselves off the market. The biggest free agents not signed were the following:

* Jason "Pitbull" Hilton, an Anchorage-born reliever who'd been released by the Phillies after a brief stint in the majors: at 27, he was willing to consider offers from the AKL

* Erik Boone, third baseman & one of the stars of Sitka's division-winning club last year (.305/.377/.458, 367 AB)

* Don Goodyear, a decent first baseman who had gone .270/.336/.456 with the Glacier Pilots last year, still just 25

* Ron "Nutball" Yuke, a flashy pitcher with a wicked splitfinger, had been injured most of last year & pitched just eight and a third innings with Peninsula

* Toby Burns, 21 year old shortstop at UAA, had refused to declare for the draft, which meant that he could only be considered for free agency after he graduated this year, was being scouted by MLB

* Scott Hillier, came off the bench last year for the Oilers & hit .364/.440/.477, but in just 44 AB, was working for the Forestry Service

* Fred Dempsey, OF who hit .285/.407/.454 for the Nicks last year and went to the All-Star Game, had gotten a state government sinecure & was going to be tough to persuade

* Henry Mansel, sparkling defensive CF (in fact, he won the Glove Wizard Award at this position) who also hit .292/.379/.464 for the Oilers, who had simply run out of money - offseason injury made him a question mark for other clubs, though

* Bob Horton, slugging left handed OF who hit .302/.401/.530 for the Bucs but was demanding too much & insisting he would wait until Opening Day to sign if that's what it took

* Scott Bradley, a Native American first baseman who had hit .292/.363/.471 for Kodiak, was thought to be available

* Reverend Walt Nippard, the Kodiak closer and Baptist preacher who went 1.43 with 18 SV in 44 IP - he was once reportedly clocked at 95 MPH. But he just couldn't feed his family with a reliever's salary, even with the pittance he got from his tiny Dillingham church

* Last year's Reliever of the Year, Raleigh Murdock, who at 27 had gone south to try out for MLB.

* Tim Rigg, the Oilers' #1 starter last year, went 8-11 with a 2.91 ERA in 155 IP. Had gotten married & was unreachable most of the offseason.

Literally dozens of role players and even some bottom-of-the-order starting lineup types were sitting this season out. Some of the teams were likely going to struggle to keep their active rosters filled once the summer jobs started to lure players away. One change the league made early in April to attract more youngsters to entering the draft, rather than holding out until graduation for a "big" FA payout, was to change the amateur rights expiration period from three years to two. That meant that prospects could hit the free agency jackpot sooner, while spending a year or two playing in the training league - and probably getting called up on a league-minimum contract when the older guys took off for shift work or just dropped out.

The next two months, through the draft, would be particularly critical.

05-08-2007, 03:41 PM	#30
Elendil Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: the dynasty forum Posts: 2,318	2007-08 Offseason Front Office Bloodbath! Teams that lost a lot of money and/or games during the 2007 season ditched their general managers with reckless abandon. GM's were kicked out in Anchorage (both Pilots and Bucs), Peninsula, Eagle River-Chugiak, Fairbanks, Kodiak, Sitka (this was the real shocker), and Ketchikan. North Pole and Juneau hung onto their GMs for their financial acumen, while Valdez's owner held onto his GM, because the move to Bethel was going to stress the organization enough, without a front office job search. Alaskan champions Mat-Su of course held onto their staff. The Bucs, Jets, and Grizzlies also fired their managers. Fairbanks ended up getting Yancey Norlander after his departure from the Glacier Pilots, but the other clubs all hired rookie GM's. The Bucs' massive losses were a particular fiasco, even though player-owner Ron Bishop's big contract was far from the only reason for the team's woes. Bishop had hit .264 in 349 AB with no homers and was roundly booed by the home fans throughout the last month of the season. Bishop sold his stake in the team and asked for a trade. Offseason Hot Stove The league quickly discovered the next big obstacle to its continued survival. With teams cutting back, a lot of guys who played in the league for a pittance last year in hopes of playing well and getting a big contract this year simply left the league when that didn't happen. Most of the league's superstars came back, and in fact, some of the best ballplayers in Alaska who'd stayed out last year signed contracts for the '08 season. For instance, righthander Brad Morris, who had been clocked in the low 90's, signed on with Juneau to be their closer; slugger John Horswill, an Alaskan-born college star in the Lower 48, signed a one-year, $40,000 deal with Ketchikan; and 26-year-old pitcher Tom Pick signed the biggest free agent deal of the offseason, $145,000 over 2 years with North Pole. (The biggest contract in the offseason was an extension for Mat-Su's catcher, Pierre-Alexandre Langlois, who would make $407,991 for the 2009-2011 seasons.) No, the biggest problem was not with the superstars but with the role players. The league's minimum salary was a paltry $2000, which meant that for the most part, the benches and bullpens of every club were stocked with young kids looking for a break, washed-up coaches and teachers with the summer off, shift workers, and sundry roughnecks who would play a few weeks on, a few weeks off. [For those interested: I model the shifting rosters by setting injuries to High but position player fatigue to Low. Regulars seem to get lots of playing time, while bench players move on & off the roster frequently, which is what I was aiming for here.] To get their financial ships in order, the overextended clubs made some deals with those few teams who were actually in the black. Interestingly, this meant that some of the smaller markets, who had spent frugally last year, got some real bargains. The first big deal to go down was between the Panners and Oilers. Fairbanks sent their starting center fielder, Art Johannson (.310/.376/.518 with 16 HR in 326 AB, $44K per year for the next 3 years), to Peninsula for reliever Wes Dionne (6.14 ERA, 29 BB, 17 K in 44 IP, $14K/year for next two years). On the surface, Peninsula absolutely raped Fairbanks, but it was a salary dump. The Goldpanners had dug themselves a deep hole, and this was a move born of desperation. That opened up the floodgates. Two days later, the Miners sent 29 year old CF Derek Jenkins (.324/.386/.433 in 275 AB, $9K in '08) to the Glacier Pilots for 27 year old MR Waylon Ellsworth (3.45, 16 BB, 34 K in 44 IP, $37K in '08). Ellsworth was one of the hardest throwers in the league, known to hit 93 MPH. The Jets then traded the bitterly disappointing Alan St. George (recall that he'd been traded for Doug Beard, then put up a 5.12 ERA in 123 IP) to Peninsula for the rights to one of the better prospects around, Japanese teenager Kisei Suto. (Suto was a student at UAA and had not yet signed a pro contract. [Note: since the Alaskan Training League is mostly amateur, most prospects do not have pro contracts - in game, they appear as having "minor league contracts."]) The biggest blockbuster of the offseason came in October, when the unhappy Ron Bishop finally got his trade, moving to the cash-flush Nicks along with North Slope roughneck Pierre Rheault, who as a reliever had posted a 7.82 ERA in 44 innings with the Bucs. The Nicks also got two extremely marginal prospects' rights. The Bucs got third baseman Nick Bedford, who had put up a decent .288/.336/.476 line last year (18 HR). On the face of it, the Bucs had probably done surprisingly well for their discontented shortstop, although Bedford was probably overpaid too ($120K/year). There were a couple more important deals before the preseason officially got underway. The Mat-Su Miners sent promising 26 year old 1B Lindsay Beals (.302/.408/.457 in 129 AB) to the Nicks for 33 year old SP Chris Fry (8-4, 2.72 in 109 IP). Pretty clearly a retooling move for the Nicks and a win-now move for the Miners. By April, most of the remaining big free agents had discovered that salaries were going to be low, and had either signed at reduced rates or taken themselves off the market. The biggest free agents not signed were the following: * Jason "Pitbull" Hilton, an Anchorage-born reliever who'd been released by the Phillies after a brief stint in the majors: at 27, he was willing to consider offers from the AKL * Erik Boone, third baseman & one of the stars of Sitka's division-winning club last year (.305/.377/.458, 367 AB) * Don Goodyear, a decent first baseman who had gone .270/.336/.456 with the Glacier Pilots last year, still just 25 * Ron "Nutball" Yuke, a flashy pitcher with a wicked splitfinger, had been injured most of last year & pitched just eight and a third innings with Peninsula * Toby Burns, 21 year old shortstop at UAA, had refused to declare for the draft, which meant that he could only be considered for free agency after he graduated this year, was being scouted by MLB * Scott Hillier, came off the bench last year for the Oilers & hit .364/.440/.477, but in just 44 AB, was working for the Forestry Service * Fred Dempsey, OF who hit .285/.407/.454 for the Nicks last year and went to the All-Star Game, had gotten a state government sinecure & was going to be tough to persuade * Henry Mansel, sparkling defensive CF (in fact, he won the Glove Wizard Award at this position) who also hit .292/.379/.464 for the Oilers, who had simply run out of money - offseason injury made him a question mark for other clubs, though * Bob Horton, slugging left handed OF who hit .302/.401/.530 for the Bucs but was demanding too much & insisting he would wait until Opening Day to sign if that's what it took * Scott Bradley, a Native American first baseman who had hit .292/.363/.471 for Kodiak, was thought to be available * Reverend Walt Nippard, the Kodiak closer and Baptist preacher who went 1.43 with 18 SV in 44 IP - he was once reportedly clocked at 95 MPH. But he just couldn't feed his family with a reliever's salary, even with the pittance he got from his tiny Dillingham church * Last year's Reliever of the Year, Raleigh Murdock, who at 27 had gone south to try out for MLB. * Tim Rigg, the Oilers' #1 starter last year, went 8-11 with a 2.91 ERA in 155 IP. Had gotten married & was unreachable most of the offseason. Literally dozens of role players and even some bottom-of-the-order starting lineup types were sitting this season out. Some of the teams were likely going to struggle to keep their active rosters filled once the summer jobs started to lure players away. One change the league made early in April to attract more youngsters to entering the draft, rather than holding out until graduation for a "big" FA payout, was to change the amateur rights expiration period from three years to two. That meant that prospects could hit the free agency jackpot sooner, while spending a year or two playing in the training league - and probably getting called up on a league-minimum contract when the older guys took off for shift work or just dropped out. The next two months, through the draft, would be particularly critical. __________________ Heaven is kicking back with a double Talisker and a churchwarden stuffed with latakia. Last edited by Elendil; 05-08-2007 at 03:51 PM.