[Westheim]

In mid-January, I became convinced that our current rotation was insufficient to make another run for the division. Brownie is amazing, Umberger is usually pretty darn good, but after that you enter “Yes, but…” territory for three days, and it can be three long days, without water, without conveniently spaced restrooms, and with rattlesnakes along the way.

The key was to find a rebuilding team that had a starting pitcher of at least Umberger quality, who was not on a minimum salary, because we didn’t have enough prospects to ice a minimum salary #1/#2 starting pitcher from any team.

First, one that might not be obvious: Juichi Fujita, on the Canadiens. The Canadiens had finished the 2010 season over .500, but had lost a few key free agents, including half their lineup (Josh Thomas, Tom Johnson, Julio Mata, and others, plus starter Dave Crawford) and were now recognizing that they were drifting backwards. And Fujita, the 29-year old right-hander, was as good a #1/#2 starter (more #2, especially when compared to Brownie), as you could have. His numbers were virtually unchanged since 2004, his sophomore season (all with the Elks). He would put up 250 innings (leading the league three times), win 16 games (leading twice in the last three years), have a low-3 ERA, 60-some walks, 180-some strikeouts, and a 1.20-ish WHIP. Every. Year.

Fujita was due $2.48M annually from now through 2013, but the Raccoons, after giving up on Takeru Sato, who was almost ten years Fujita’s senior, and certainly not any better in any category, could actually take on the salary – just barely. We would try to send one major league player back to keep the budget damage at least for this year down a bit.

And I was after Fujita rather than their other top notch starter, Rod Taylor. While Taylor had blistering stuff, regularly out-whiffing Nick Brown, he also had led the league in home runs allowed three times in the last six years. I didn’t like that so much. No, I liked Fujita.

The other two pitchers I had focused on now where Salem’s Max Shepherd and Tijuana’s Jaylen “Midnight” Martin.

The latter was 27 years old and pretty much a copy of Fujita for most purposes, the main difference being Martin’s changeup being much better than Fujita’s, who hardly ever used it. Their stat output was largely identical, but “Midnight” had been to arbitration for the first time this fall and was going to make $610k. The Condors were loaded with bad deals, and were $2M over their budget at this point. Icing off Martin would probably meaning to take on a broken wreck along with him to free them up a bit. I’d rather have Martin than Fujita, but I’d rather pay $2M to Fujita than to SP Harry Wentz, who was hardly ever getting a ball past anybody.

Max Shepherd was a different story. He was 31, and also a right-hander. His raw stuff wasn’t as good, but he used six different pitches more or less well, and was always able to keep hitters guessing. He was a groundballer, but his stamina was on the short side. He was due $1.22M in 2011, and would be a free agent afterwards.

My top target would be Martin, but Fujita was nothing to shove off a bridge, either. Shepherd, while largely consistent apart from a spotty 2006 season, was the oldest of the group, and the most mysterious, if not to say strange.

Which is an awfully long way to introduce the sad fact that our farm system was hardly worth the oxygen they were consuming. This was especially alienating to the Condors, who quickly made it clear that we didn’t have anything that could net us Martin. The best pieces I could find in our system, all three of Rich Hood, Jason Seeley, and Ricky Moya (excluding 2010 picks who weren’t trade eligible), weren’t nearly enough to even get them talking. So, “Midnight” Martin wouldn’t become a Coon, that much was clear.

The situation wasn’t much different with the Wolves, although they were well aware they weren’t going anyway in 2011, and Shepherd was gone afterwards anyway. But even they weren’t pleased with Moya and Seeley alone (I wasn’t offering them Rich Hood, since we were also only in for one year of Shepherd after all), and I couldn’t seem to throw in enough extras for them.

No, we were really down to Fujita and the Elks.

Jason Seeley, who really hadn’t set anything on fire since getting taken #21 in the 2008 draft, roused their interest, but one youngster wasn’t going to be enough for them. We had shortstops to spare, and they were wondering what in the heck had happened to Gary Rice in 2010, dropping 70 points of average and almost 100 points of OPS since 2008.

But Seeley and Rob Howell were by far not enough to get this deal done. Again, the shallowness of our farm system hurt us greatly.

We had only eight top 200 prospects before the 2010 season, and of those, four of the highest five were no longer eligible, migrating to the bit league roster on a permanent basis (Thrasher, Canning, Slayton), and in one case right onto the DL (Santos). We were in for a drop right to the bottom of the prospect rankings come Opening Day anyway, and basically the Elks were asking for all that was left right now.

After some good long deliberations, the deal fell apart. They were pretty much asking for Rich Hood on top of Moya and Seeley, AND Rob Howell. That was just too much. Another option would have been to include Colin Baldwin or Angel Casas in the deal, and I wasn’t willing to do either.

The only signing that happened in January (outside of Ricardo Huerta) was on the 31st, when we added a minor leaguer, 21-year old southpaw Francisquo Bocanegra, a Venezuelan international signing by the Wolves, who had released him late in the minor league season in ’10.

Which is a very long story that could have been shortened to “January sucked”.

…

January 11 – The Indians ink ex-NAS LF/RF Clyde Brady (.258, 143 HR, 667 RBI). The 34-year old will earn $1.12M over two years.
January 14 – 33-year old ex-DEN/IND 1B/3B Daniel Sharp (.279, 61 HR, 498 RBI) lands himself a 2-yr, $2.92M gig with the Loggers.
January 24 – The Crusaders sign 38-yr old ex-OCT SP Takeru Sato (167-158, 4.28 ERA) to a 2-yr, $2.62M contract.

…

Okay, I failed the entire offseason. I should have realized earlier that our entire farm was ridiculously shot and that we weren’t going to trade for a starting pitcher. I should have been after the top level guys earlier. Well, except Hamlyn, whom we just couldn’t hope to pay. Terrible shortsightedness, and the team will pay for it. And the fans, I guess. It’s not like we’re cheapening the food and drinks just because we have a soft middle and bottom of the rotation.

I failed, and now I will get to complain three out of five days for an entire season. Poor Coons.