[Westheim]

January.

The Knights were happy to make that Palacios/Ingall/Reyes trade, but I wasn’t and they couldn’t. Trading them just Ingall and Reyes didn’t work, because they were overbudget and could not take on any salaries, and Ingall’s and Reyes’ deals combined exceeded Palacios’. So I needed a second player from them, and had my eye on something, but then they wouldn’t want to do the trade, and so on.

There are happier ways to spend one’s time, and this one started in early December… We got it done, though, eventually, but it did cost Ingall AND Reyes.

That left us two arms short in the bullpen, or one arm short if you counted on Marcos Bruno. Vince did, but shook his head when I asked him whether he would help with our vacancy at closer. We moved ahead quickly and added Marcos Bruno to the 25-man roster in late January, with funds chronically insufficient as things were. Bruno, 24, was one of our two first round picks in the 1999 draft, the other (and higher pick) being Darwin Tyler, an outfielder about to bust in A ball.

The Thunder made an offer to swap catchers, Jason Briggs for Julio Mata, but Briggs wouldn’t give us that much more either way, and I still hang on to hope that Mata has a better season than last year (we kinda have to). The only thing to be gained from Briggs coming on in a trade would be $63,000 more of salary to pay for.

I made a move on a potential closer in Nobuyoshi Matsui, but he was insisting on a deal upwards of $800k (yes, that’s for one year), and that was impossible for us. With the most excruciating pain, I could have made something happen for $600k, but that was just impossible for us (and he ended up with the Cyclones before the month was over, signing for $740k). There was one more option left at AAA in a healthy-again Manuel Martinez, but he pitched to a nifty 9.24 ERA last season. He has 27 walks and 16 K’s in the Bigs in 28.1 innings over parts of two seasons. And a torn triceps in between.

January 3 – The Buffaloes ink ex-ATL CL Roberto Delgado (46-40, 3.35 ERA, 132 SV) for a cost of 2-yr, $2.56M.
January 7 – The Raccoons and Knights agree on a 6-player deal, with the Raccoons sending 32-yr old INF Marvin Ingall (.281, 38 HR, 304 RBI) and 25-yr old MR Manuel Reyes (13-16, 4.33 ERA, 9 SV) to the Knights for an array consisting of 25-yr old 2B Jesus Palacios (.286, 32 HR, 207 RBI), 25-yr old INF/LF/RF Manny Gabriel (.500 in 2 AB), 18-yr old A level P Cesar Lopez, and 27-yr old AAA 2B Butch Kaustrop.
January 7 – The Titans and SP/MR Steven Snyder (54-49, 3.79 ERA) agree to terms on a 2-year deal. The 33-year old ex-Canadien will make $1.57M.
January 9 – Former Rebels fireman Lawson Steward (66-67, 2.20 ERA, 592 SV), who ranks second all-time in saves, moves over in the FL East, signing a 2-yr, $3.1M contract with the Buffaloes.
January 11 – Ex-TOP MR Nick Lee (32-20, 2.72 ERA, 79 SV) signs a 1-yr, $720k contract with the Crusaders.
January 12 – New record contract: 7-yr, $13.3M is the final prize the Gold Sox have to pay for ex-ATL C Johnny Johnson (.296, 30 HR, 305 RBI). The 26-year old’s market value thus beats out Sonny Reece’s $12.48M deal.
January 12 – The Warriors are not idle either in the busy FL West and add former Bayhawks CL Ryosei Kato (25-30, 3.02 ERA, 108 SV) for 3-yr, $4.32M.
January 13 – The Indians trade SP Steve Holcomb (24-55, 4.39 ERA) to the Thunder for INF/LF/CF Mike Jones (.291, 11 HR, 121 RBI) and pitching prospect Carroll Patterson.
January 25 – The Raccoons flip AAA 2B Butch Kaustrop to the Thunder for 20-yr old AAA MR Lawrence Rockburn.
January 25 – The Loggers add a reliever in former Condor Juan Gomez (42-52, 2.79 ERA, 120 SV). The 35-yr old will net $1.4M over two years.
January 29 – Veteran SP Jon Robinson (155-137, 3.81 ERA) signs with the Condors after two years with Sacramento, and will make $2.91M over three years.

Palacios is our new 2B starter, and I intend to keep Gabriel on the 25-man roster as second backup. He also bats left-handed (like Palacios) and will basically take over from Steve Caddock, and hopefully hit 100 points more than him. Also, our other backup infielder, Max Heart, bats right-handed.

Kaustrop is a filler in the deal (and was flipped to the Thunder after we refused their catcher swap that would also have swapped AA CL Sergio Vega for Rockburn, and they didn’t accept Gary Fifield for just Rockburn), but Cesar Lopez is an interesting beast. This 18-year old Puerto Rican has mostly pitched in relief in A ball for the Knights, but Vince thinks it would be worth the hassle to convert him to a starter. He’s not like Wade (he has three pitches), nor like Donis (he has stamina). It should be an interesting experiment, and we will start him in A ball again in 2001, this time as a fixture in the rotation.

In the end, the deal was almost salary neutral. Marvin Ingall was pissed to be traded to a different last place team, though.