[Westheim]

The arrival of free agency has slashed a few pieces off the expanded roster. This concerns position players mostly. Where do we stand on this November 13?

SP: The rotation is set to contain Ford, Farley, Bean, Brown in whatever order. Garcia and Meza don’t figure to be prudent choices for the fifth spot, but both have options. No other starters on the 40-man roster.

RP: Nordahl, Bruno, Martinez, Huerta, Moreno – that’s quite a good group to start with. We might want to add a proper closer and a strong lefty to that. We can expect no help from Perez and the walk machines Joly and Vega. Kichida was mostly meh in his cup of coffee and will restart at AAA. Joly and Perez have no options. In AAA, Diaz and Rodriguez are still around because nobody offers even half a bag of baseballs for them.

C: Fifield has no options. One in five of his hits go deep for his career, but the problem is that he has significantly more strikeouts than hits. Thomas and Fernandez were both even more awful than Fifield, who had at least the shots going for him, and didn’t even come close to bat their own weight. In a perfect world, we’d add TWO new catchers to replace this corps. Nothing coming forth from the minors, either.

INF: Behind Martin-Palacios-Guerin-Sharp there are only McLaughlin, Ramirez (.025!), and in AAA Gabriel left on the 40-man roster. AAA contains a few more failed prospects (Love, Morris). The first suit around the diamond fits tremendously, but there is zero depth behind it.

OF: Seven 40-man guys on there with Roberson, Reece, Brady, and Torrez set for Opening Day. Parker might survive, but most likely will not. Lyon and Beairsto are left. Lyon will never get it done, and Beairsto will try to get it done in AAA. No additional prospects higher than AA.

We have only $1.2M of budget room available right now, so it already looks like we can at best pick what other teams leave over at the free agent buffet, while having to look for our short-term salvation in trades, which will not be easy, since among our eight players receiving $700k or more (Reece, Palacios, Brady, Bean, Farley, Guerin, Ford, Martin) to pick and trade one is like deciding whether to cut off your own arm or leg. Last year it was “oh yeah we’re trading Cavazos, we have enough outfielders”, but this year it is not this easy AT ALL. First, we don’t have ANY spare parts laying around. Second, we can’t possibly trade a starting pitcher in our situation unless we want to sink even deeper. Third, Reece has a no trade clause. Fourth, this leaves only Palacios, Brady, Guerin, and Martin. We just established that we have no infield replacements at all. So it’s Brady? We don’t want to trade Brady!

Yeah. Cut off your own arm or leg? You decide!

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So, what is the ONE most dire need we have? Is it a starter? Is it a left-handed reliever?

In practical terms, if the Coons had a $25M budget, and had $7M spare right now, we’d go out and sign one of the TWO reigning Triple Crown winners on the free agent market, plus closer Dane Sanders, plus Leborio Catalo, plus …

But the Coons don’t. The Coons have $1.2M left, and that will at best buy ONE piece, and none of those pieces is named Sanders, Hamlyn, Castro, or Catalo. So, what is the ONE thing we need most? The starter? The left-handed reliever? The catcher? It’s got to be one of those, because if your biggest need is a backup infielder, we’re probably talking about a winning team. The last time that happened on the Willamette the Y2K problem was just beginning to be discussed. We’ll have the year two-thousand-and-****ing-three in less than eight weeks comin’ ‘round the corner!

The biggest need might be the catcher. Fifield hit homers, all well and swell, but MORE STRIKEOUTS THAN HITS. There are four big names on the market:

Ex-PIT Rob James (33) - .278/.390/.427 with 102 HR, 802 RBI in 1,401 G (type A)
Ex-LVA Antonio De La Parra (28) - .284/.345/.381 with 43 HR, 394 RBI in 872 G (type A)
Ex-RIC Arturo Aguilar (36) - .259/.374/.382 with 127 HR, 799 RBI in 1,790 G (no comp.)
Ex-OCT David Vinson (37) - .238/.367/.386 with 150 HR, 718 RBI in 1,748 G (type B)

James asks for $3M a year, which is just ever so slightly out of our budget, but we might be able to work out a deal for De La Parra. Aguilar has been hampered by injuries both of the last two seasons, OPS’ing .715 and thus 41 points under his career average in that time frame. At 36, you wonder what he has left. I’d hate to find out on a $1.5M contract or so. Anyway, before we can even add $1.5M in salaries, we have to shed something…

And yes, old David, who’s been around since the Old Testament, is the fourth-best catcher on the market, and below that it is getting even thinner. We won’t re-sign Vinson. I spent most of the 90s tossing and turning at night because he had left six men on base YET AGAIN. I’m getting older too, I need my sleep.

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A few days after the free agency deadline, I got another trade offer. This one came from the Buffaloes and they offered 32-yr old C Jorge Lopez for scrubs. They tried to dump his $550k salary it seemed, as they had used him as a backup while he batted .952 OPS last year. Now, that .952 is way off. WAY off. Lopez was the starting catcher for the Canadiens in the late 90s, and he was NEVER a guy we thought of as “oh we gotta watch him, HE’S dangerous!”. Not by a mile. Is he better than Fifield and Thomas or Fernandez? Probably. Is he worth $550k? No. His career OPS is .727.

The Condors offered Joe Morton, an outfielder, for Pablo Fernandez and an AA first baseman with little upside. Morton is due $900k and doesn’t move us along a bit, so this one was swiftly rejected.

Still not getting any easier…