WELCOME TO 2048, or, Off-Season Report Part 3
2048! Amazing! How are we all still alive? Sure, it's hot out all the time now, and high tide is lapping at my front door, but it's almost baseball season again!
...so yes, the Dodgers kick off the new year by signing two relief pitchers to a total of $4M per season. They've added five relievers to the payroll this off-season, three by free agency, one by trade, and one in the Rule 5 draft. This brings their team payroll to $253M, tops in baseball. They have 21 players making over a million per season, and an amazing six over $20M. In addition, their starting infield payroll adds up to nearly $98M. When you're rich you're not poor.
...Hall of Fame votes are in, and we have two new members. As expected, 2B Ty Cobb goes in with 97% of the vote in his first year. He'll be joined by OF Kelvin Robinson, in his second time on the ballot. No one else was that close, with pitcher Orlando Ramos (63%) and catcher Tyler Markey (62%) gaining votes, but clearly not enough. With only one player in 2049 looking close to a sure thing--3-time MVP Preston Sorensen--those two might just get in next time up.
...the Yankees signed longtime Islander RP Pat Stanley, to $5M over 2 years. Stanley was subpar for us the last two seasons, and at 34, I wasn't willing to extend him any longer. Good luck in the Big Apple, big guy.
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Back to us for a moment. The 2048 season will be our 15th in MLB, so to celebrate we're changing our logo and uniform. Some guy from Texas did the redesign, and I'd like to think we paid him handsomely for it, but I'm not sure... Anyway, take a look:
[honestly: THANKS Txranger for the great work. And see player pics in previous post for new unis.]
Also, we talked OF Cameron Daley into giving up some arbitration years by signing him for five more seasons. He'll make $500k this season, then $3.63M for each of the next two seasons, then two at $4.63M, and then one last year at $5.63M. He wanted just one year, so I'm a little surprised he went for the longer term. Even if he doesn't consistently live up to last year's Rookie of the Year totals, that contract is quite affordable. But I'm convinced he's not a one-year wonder.
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More free agency and whatnot...
...San Diego just inked 39-year-old pitcher Levi Brady to a three-year (!!!) deal. Brady still has good stuff and control, but his movement is nearly worthless, as witnessed by his league-leading 49 dingers yielded last year. So he'll be an over-slotted #2 guy, or a sometimes-has-it #4 guy, reach 3000 career strikeouts, and ride off into the sunset at 42.
...still some top names available. Mike Wiater has won 78 games over the last six seasons, piling up over 30 WAR, but no one has bitten yet. Maybe it's because he's a clubhouse cancer whom no one likes, despite his 300 K per season. No surprise that Boston is rumored to be interested. Catcher Arturo Sena, who's only 29 and hits over 30 HR every year, is also waiting for the phone to ring. Maybe it's because you throw like a five-year-old and want $22M per season? Just a guess. Then, way down the list, there's 37-year-old SS Pablo Delgado. He's played for 18 seasons, yet has just over 1900 games to his credit. Injuries, man, injuries. With a career average of just .258 he's managed to amass 81 WAR and over 300 HR. He reminds me of guys I used to watch as a kid, like Darrell Evans or Gene Tenace, who didn't hit for average but hit for power and got on base. (Delgado's career OBP is 130 points higher than his BA.) He's one of the crop of stars from the Pirates dynasty of the '30s, that I really need to write more about one day. The amount of hitting power they amassed, all through the draft, was truly astounding. Oh, and then there's our old closer Dan Brown, who wants less than $6M now and has three teams rumored to be sniffing around him. So no compensation pick for me, and some angry fans when he signs. Cool cool cool.
...the Dodgers just inked two more relievers, bringing the total to seven this off-season. Both signed for under a million, so LA must think they're minor leaguers.
...one day later, make it eight relievers for LA now
...another day, another two relief pitchers for the Dodgers. Although one, Chris Wead, is an extremely-low-stamina starting pitcher who's best years have come as a swingman rather than one role or the other. He'll make over $8M for the next three years, and could actually fare well in that park.
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It's the second week of January, and time to cull some more non-prospects from the ranks. I did a bit of pruning back in November, but my six minor league teams still have 23, 26, 27, 22, 25, and 37 players on their rosters. Add in a number of guys pushing up from the int'l complex, and then the crop of guys coming after the June draft, and you can see that I'll have way more players than I know what to do with. My problem has always been that since I draft for intangibles so often, I get these guys in the mid- to low-minors that I still think can get a boost and become interesting prospects. And cutting a guy at 21 who you think will never have it, only to see him go off to Italy or Korea and bash 500 home runs and come back an all-star at 28 would be no fun. Still, it's gotta be done... Update: I released about 15 or so guys, most of whom it was easy to let go. One 6th round pick, a couple of 8th and 10th round guys, but no one who had ever moved the needle. Switched a few positions, saw a few guys whose ceilings looked higher than I remembered...I must be getting old. Anyway, early prognosis is that my low minors--short A, and two rookie ball--teams are going to be terrible. And I need to sign a AAA level catcher, since I got rid of a few guys at AA and A who were not worth keeping, and moved up my only two not-at-all-terrible-looking catching prospects to A ball. Last, I once had a glut of power-hitting 1B prospects. Eeechh...not any more. The upcoming prospect report is going to look a lot different than last year (when we were 7th).
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...Boston drops the mike on everyone and signs Mike Wiater, locking him up for $84M over 4 years. He'll fit right in with that always-bitchy clubhouse. (Although last year they seemed pretty content. This year they have no captain and a fresh crop of selfish and unmotivated players. Yippee!)
...as it stands right now, two weeks before pitchers and catchers report, only seven teams are in the "plus" for WAR added/lost this off-season. Boston leads the way at +8.9. The Dodgers, with their octad of relievers, have added just 0.7. Money well spent, there. (We're third from the bottom, btw.)
...Texas signed our former closer Dan Brown to a one-year, $9.8M deal. The fans may boo, but I don't hear them from my beachfront villa. (High tide is especially loud.) The Rangers now have, by my estimate, five or six extremely hard-throwing relievers, most of whom look pretty decent. Add in three actual MLB-quality starters, and they may
finally be building a pitching staff down there.
...SF signed former Yankees slugger Tony Flores to a cheap, 2-year $9.2M deal. Flores, 31, has popped 410 home runs over nine seasons, including years of 68 and 65. He's cheap, tho, because he doesn't bring much else to the table besides a sunny disposition and a strong arm in right field. Right now, OOTP has him starting over former Isle prospect Dillon Ritter, who doesn't hit for much power, but in three seasons with the Giants has batted .326, .303, and .322, while leading the NL in doubles twice. Their other OF starters right now look like Greg Tackett (aging but still effective slugger, when healthy), and 20-year-old superstar-to-be Drew Elliott. I think they ought to move Elliott to 2B, where he looks decent, and shore up that glaring hole in their offense. But no, they'll sit a quality OF and roll with half a productive infield, and likely barely improve on their bottom-five NL offense from last year. (I only bring this up because they shockingly won 86 games last year, ending over a decade of horribleness, and have a quality pitching staff again this year. I'm pulling for them over the Dodgers, because it's the Dodgers.)
...speaking of the Dodgers, as we end the month of January, I should note that they have now added 12 pitchers to their roster this off-season, all on major league contracts. Is this unusual? No, of course not. I bring this up with them every year. What is unusual is that they've only added one reliever who'll make over $1M. He's a closer, of course, but that they haven't added three or four more in addition is shocking.
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Now that it's February, preseason has started. Granted, that doesn't mean anything is happening, but there it is. Spring Training will begin on the 29th, and the regular season on April 6th. Next report, I'll wrap up our off-season signings, Spring Training developments, and preview the 2048 roster. Plus, any final before-the-season league developments.