Top 5 WAR:
1. Lewes Braves (+12.4)
2. Virginia Beach Surf Dawgs (+9.9)
3. Newark Millers (+7.6)
4. Ocean City Tourists (+6.0)
5. Ellicott City Express (+5.9)
Bottom 5 WAR:
24. Milton Brewers (-14.7)
23. Chadds Ford Cannons (-8.6)
22. Milford Clippers (-6.5)
21. Richmond Cardinals (-5.1)
20. Annapolis Admirals (-4.4)
Around the League:
Still some aging big names on the free-agent board, but no one is bigger than SP Gonzalo Bustamante, who is still out for 6-months. He is a "fragile" player, but when he is on, he is on.
Others available:
1B Yann Gosselin, MR Orlando Ruiz, MR Vaughan Griffith, 1B Mike Ford, SP Ben Sanford, MR Yoo-hyun Kim, C Jesus Alarcon, OF Henry Hamer, and MR Luis Manuel Gonzalez. Have these vets seen their last days, or will there be a team out there ready to give them a shot?
Pre-season games are about to begin and the initial predictions are in:
Colonial: Milford Clippers: 108-54
Newark Millers: 93-69
Lewes Braves: 99-63
Wild Card: Georgetown Sixteens: 92-70
Beltway: Washington Senators: 93-69
Mountain: Richmond Cardinals: 100-63
Coastal: Norfolk Cavaliers: 97-65
Wild Card: Ellicott City Express: 90-72
It is always interesting to compare these predictions to the final spring predictions. There is always some kind of change, but this group of teams looks to be the best of the pact.
Trades:
Ocean City Tourists: Traded for MR/CL Roger Gentry (along with $2,320,000) from the King George Royals for minor leaguers OF Gabriel Medina (SA) and C Ray Cameron (SA).
Annapolis Admirals: Acquired minor league SP Ramon Sanchez (SA) from the Virginia Beach Surf Dawgs for minor leaguer SP Pablo Garcia (SA).
Ocean City Tourists: Acquired 1B Marcos Ramos (.242-37-106) from the Washington Senators for 2B Albert Velazquez (.244-3-28), 3B Diego Guillen (no exp) and $3,110,000 cash.
Notable Signings:
Annapolis Admirals: Signed the reigning MVP to a 7-year extension worth $18,257,142 per year. OF Lucio Pena hit .297-51-134 last year, his second season in a row with 50+ HR's. Oddly enough he has played in 130 or more games over the past 6-seasons, but is known to be "wrecked".
Milford Clippers: Signed SP Alfredo Mejia to a 3-year deal worth $35,700,000.
Richmond Cardinals: Signed MR Teo Ha to a 3-year deal worth $11,640,000.
Lewes Braves: Came to terms with 2B Claudio Flores on a 1-year deal worth $980,000.
Annapolis Admirals: CL Lazzaro Tadiotto signed a 1-year deal worth $640,000.
Wilmington Iron Pigs: Signed CL/MR Ramon Tirado to a 3-year / $12,040,000 deal.
Norfolk Cavaliers: Signed Japanese 1B Yasushi Fujimoto to a 3-year deal worth $12,760,000.
Washington Senators: Signed 3B Ken Holmes to a 2-year deal worth $10,900,000.
Georgetown Sixteens: Signed C Melvin Wright to a 3-year deal worth $15,680,000.
Norfolk Cavaliers: Agreed to terms with MR Richard O'Herlihy to a 2-year deal worth $28,000,000.
Washington Senators: Signed SP Ray Thompson to a 2 year deal worth $16,600,000.
Lewes Braves: Agreed to terms with MR Mike Orr on a 3-year deal worth $34,500,000.
Ellicott City Express: Signed MR Roberto Chavez to a 1-year deal worth $2,240,000.
Georgetown Sixteens: Signed 1B Woody Brown to a 1-year deal worth $900,000.
Chesapeake Blue Crabs: Signed MR Dani Rubio to a 3-year deal worth $5,640,000,
Wilmington Iron Pigs: Brought on SP Alberto Ramos to a 1-year deal worth $10,090,000.
Georgetown Sixteens: Signed SP Larry Moore to a 1-year deal worth $2,920,000.
Wilmington Iron Pigs: Signed OF Sergio Galvez to a 1-year deal worth $840,000.
Milford Clippers: Signed MR Blake Ballard to a 1-year deal worth $1,9000,000.
Norfolk Cavaliers: Brought back MR Claudio Perez to a 1-year deal $990,000.
Ocean City Tourists: Agreed to terms with 1B Francisco Gallegos to a 1-year deal worth $910,000.
Lewes Braves: Signed MR Gerardo Garica to a 4-year deal worth $23,100,000.
Milford Clippers: Signed SP Angel Rivera to a 1-year deal worth $720,000.
Georgetown Sixteens: Agreed to terms with SP Jim Moser ($1,160,000), MR Ray Sherman ($1,960,000), and MR Mark Clark ($750,000) to 1-year deals.
Off-Season Profile:
Budget: $62,000,000 (22nd)
Payroll: $37,465,900 (23rd)
Money for Free-Agents: $464,100
Money for Extensions: $0
Fan Interest: 54
WAR Gain/Loss: -8.6 (23nd out of 24) << yikes
Players Added: OF Julio Casanes (.233/.310/.398, 12 HR, #2 prospect), 3B Howard Porter (.245/.306/.404, 25 HR), SS Jose Ayala (SA), SP Joey Hamrick (3-6 4.43, 3 SV), MR Tomas Ramirez (SA), MR Jesus Gonzlaez (AA, #95), 2B Geoff Vaughan (SA), OF Russell Worsfold (SA), SP Nobukazu Higashi (Japan)
Players Lost: SP Carl Oulton (4-6 4.69), SP Alonso Reyes (AA, #211), OF Tim Burman (.254/.299/.396, 19), SP Carlos Sanchez (15-11 3.58), C Leo Fountain (A), SP Jason Lancaster (11-13 4.79) , OF Juan Gallegos (SA), Manny Hernandez (.210-0-13), Vaughan Griffith (0-0 2.95)
Trades:
none
Free Agents:
Couldn't, don't have any money, but I tired, and Ralph Corbin kept saying "NO!". Oh well, what we have is what we have... This is painful, too many decent players that could help just want a little too much money. Villalobos and Denton are the only players on this roster making over $4M. Makes it hard to compete.
My Notes:
I talked with SP Alberto Ramos who told me he has a solid offer from the Sixteens in, but would rather play for me. It is so tough not having the $7.5M that it would take to get him here. I have my eye on some many free-agents, who would be great additions, but just want too much money. This is why I focus on the international free-agents, which doesn't always pay off... along with Ramos is 1B Yasushi Fujimoto who is going to be a star in this league. At 22 he is ready to make a difference as he enters the league from Japan. But again I don't have the $5M for him. I can't even make that money up somehow...
I really hate that I can't get a budget here in CF. We brought in $20M last season with a $28M payroll! I can't get a bump at all? After 5-seasons in CF we have a +84,827,805 balance and nothing to show for it.
We are predicted to come in second in the Northern Division coming in 9-games behind the Newark Millers. The 84 W's looks pretty solid, but I still think we can do better that that. This is also the first time I remember seeing our players in the top 10 Hitters category, check this out: Hank Davis: .263-46-133, Harry Porter: .305-20-68, and Matt Douglas: .320-8-72 (who won't be there at the end of the spring predictions, he still has 3 months to spend on the DL).
This is an exciting time for this young team and I am excited to see what we can do during spring training. There arne't a whole lot of battles going on, but there will be some...
Back-up Catcher: Alton Howard, Patrick McGee or David Cornett
2B: Stanton Anderson or Juan Guzman
SS: Francisco Villalbos or Zach Davenport or Melis Collin
IF Bench: Dragon Karadzic, Stanton Anderson, Zach Davenport, Ricardo Bravo, Juan Guzman
CF till Douglas Returns: Henry Gilmore, Pablo Rivera
OF Bench: Bo Keller, Pablo Rivera, Bryant Montes, Eugene Todd, Armando Martinez
On the pitching side is where things get a lot more interesting. I will have to see what my starting pitchers have to bring. I'd like to see Tony Cox, Mike Quinn and Tadasuke Uenohra compete for a starting spot, but right now I already have 6-qualified. This may mean that one of my lefty's Jose Lopez or Jesus Lugo might get dealt, most likely Lugo with his "fragile" rating.
SP4 & 5: Eric Harmon, Nobukazu Higashi, Joey Hamrick, Tadasuke Uenohara, Tony Cox and Mike Quinn
End of BP: Matt Noble, Cox, Quinn, Dan Kessler, Pepe Martines, Tadasuke Uenohara, the other SP's.
I will carry 11 pitchers again this season and right now we have 16 in spring training. Moving 5 pitchers around shouldn't be a problem, but which one is going to be tougher. Only 4 have used all their options up (Hamrick, Kessler, Martines and Noble).
Again I may have to pull off some deals, and if I do I will be aiming for prospects.
This offense is looking good, I believe, the pitching is starting to come around. I actually think I have more depth in the pitching than I do hitting... and I need to grow some more players, being a low budget team I have to grow to stay alert and be able to contend.
My hope is to build up a team that can win the title and then get out of CF. Not that I don't like it here, but these budget restrictions make the job tough. Yes it is a challenge, but sometimes it isn't as much fun. As you sit that and watch average players sign for $9M knowing that you aren't willing to pay 1 player that much. I don't want one player making 33% of my payroll. How does that help?
Other things to keep in mind, next season Villalobos has a $5.0 vesting option, and then in 2037 and player option. You may see me try to pull off a move if we start to slump. He has notoriously been a slow starter though so that might hamper that idea.
Somethings to keep in mind:
Hot Seat for this season are Villalobos, Lugo, and Dano Dasmarinas, all with tradable talent. I will be keeping an eye on this players and checking out other teams in search of some prospects or a star SS. I have pieces to be able to make a move here or there, so you never know... Lugo was shopped around and there is some talent there, however the "best" option was a guy who 'could' be a start and that has a 'very low' work ethic, and that could spell disaster in CF.
2035 will be a season we make a move, we build, we get better and in the end we make another run at the playoffs.
Let the 'games' begin!
Coming Up:
04/01/2035: Final Spring Training Report
04/02/2035: Top Prospects / Minor League Systems
04/02/2035: 2035 Predictions
04/02/2035: Opening Day!