[Sundance]

Extensions

3B Manny Machado - Opted out, re-signed for 6 years, $210,000,000
SP James Paxton - Opted out, re-signed for 5 years, $110,000,000
SP Blake Snell - 4 years, $65,000,000
SP Chris Paddack - 5 years, $60,000,000
1B Tucupita Marcano - 4 years, $41,000,000
RP Tim Hill - 2 years, $6,200,000
RP Seth Elledge - 1 year, $3,000,000
SP MacKenzie Gore - 1 year, $1,000,000
SP Jacob Nix - 1 year, $900,000

Transactions

To Pittsburgh Pirates - RP Keone Kela, minor league RHP Michel Baez
To San Diego Padres - RHP Blake Cederlind

If I had to name my philosophy when running a club, it would be this - I may not always have the best teams, but I will have the hardest working ones. Unfortunately, Kela doesn’t fit that philosophy. He’s served as well, but I think there are better options out there. Michel Baez spent some time with the big league club last year, but unfortunately, I just don’t see a spot for him on our roster going forward.

Cederlind is the 2023 NL Reliever of the Year (I still maintain that Elledge was robbed). He led the league in saves with 41. I had thought about giving the closer role to Elledge, but I think it makes more sense to have him in a position where he will see more game time. Cederlind will start as a closer and gives us the option to move Elledge around as needed.

To Boston Red Sox - LF Greg Allen, minor league C Grayson Geiner, minor league LHP Aaron Leasher, minor league CF Jawuan Harris, $10,000 in cash
To San Diego Padres - Minor league 1B Dante Bichette Jr.

The driving force behind this move was that I wanted to clear some room off of our 40-man roster. Did we give up a lot for a 31 year old minor league who will never see time with our big league team? Yea probably. But Bichette Jr. brings some solid leadership to our organization and should serve as a role model for our prospects moving through the minors.

To Toronto Blue Jays - RHP Jacob Nix, RHP Shohei Ohtani (Retain 40%)
To San Diego Padres - RHP Elvis Luciano

A new arrival to our starting rotation meant one less spot for everyone else. Unfortunately, Nix was the odd man out. The Ohtani experiment was fun while it lasted, but the simple fact is that he’s just not that good right now. We had to eat a big chunk of his contract, but we needed to deal him. We don’t have to worry about him anymore, and the Jays get a player they can market like crazy.

Luciano is a 24 year old righty that worked out of the pen last season. He had a pretty average season last year. He falls in that gray area where he could be a back end starter, or he could come out of the pen. We’re going to utilize him as a reliever, but if we’re hit with injuries again, he might get a few spot starts. He has a power fastball, a devastating changeup, and a plus slider.

To San Francisco Giants - CF Ian Miller
To San Diego Padres - Minor league RHP Ryan Conroy

Miller broke into our team in 2022 and was the biggest surprise of the year. Unfortunately, he couldn’t replicate his success in 2023. His line dropped to .248/.299/.322 and he stopped being a threat on the base paths. In 2022, he stole a base once every 14 at-bats with a 75% success rate. In 2023, those numbers dropped to 1 steal per 23 at-bats at a 65% success rate. Ironically, just like he forced his way into the lineup in 2022, another outfielder forced their way into it in 2023 and claimed Miller’s spot.

Conroy is a pretty average pitcher who still has a little bit of room to grow. If he maximizes his potential, he should be a slightly above average starter. For now, he’ll be stuck in AAA and will probably only see time at the big league level this season if we are once again hit with injuries.

To Houston Astros - Minor league 2B Kevin Merrell, minor league CF Jake Mangum
To San Diego Padres - RF Chas McCormick

Oh Jake Mangum, what a player you could have been. All of the potential in the world to be a top contact hitter. Good contact, good eye, great speed, and one of the toughest batters to strike out. He found success in the Mets organization, but unfortunately, the move to the Padres just didn’t seem to suit him. We needed to explore other options.

Chas McCormick will assume Mangum’s place on the bench as a backup outfielder. Mangum is probably the better player, but he just wasn’t cutting it. McCormick might develop above average contact ability, he has more power, a better eye, and the same toughness at the plate. He’s got above average speed, although nowhere near as fast as Mangum, and he’s also a bit worse defensively. But we needed another option on the bench, so we’re going to give him a chance.

To Jacksonville Warhawks - RHP Carlos Belen, minor league CF Jose Azocar, minor league 2B Otto Lopez, minor league RHP Reiss Knehr
To San Diego Padres - Minor league LF Brayan Buelvas

When it came time to settle on my final roster, I found Belen surplus to requirements. He’s a good reliever in my opinion, but I felt that I simply had better options to go with. The rest are middle of the road prospects that we can do without.

Buelvas is a 21 year old outfield prospect. His ceiling is pretty average, but I see a lot about his game that I like. He should be a good contact hitter that can work line drives gap to gap. His speed is ok and he’s a slightly above average defender. If he hits his potential, he has the type of skill set I wouldn’t mind seeing in our 2 spot.

To Los Angeles Dodgers - SP MacKenzie Gore
To San Diego Padres - Minor league C Diego Cartaya

I really was hoping that Gore would work out, but he’s simply too injury prone. Even worse, because of the surgery on his throwing arm to remove bone chips from his elbow, our scouts don’t believe that he’ll ever reach the potential that he once showed. Dealing him to the Dodgers was like rubbing salt in our wound, but there weren’t many willing to take a risk on Gore.

All I can say about the 22 year old Cartaya is that he’s average. Average in every way. But that isn’t always a bad thing, and with a lack of decent catching prospects in our organization, he’s a nice addition.

Additions

SP Shane Bieber - 7 years, $161,000,000

Going into this off season, I didn’t have plans to sign a big free agent. We needed some small improvements to our roster, but I thought our squad was in a pretty good position. But the owner gave me the green light to spend this off season, and I’m taking advantage of it.

A pitcher of Bieber’s quality doesn’t come around too often. He’s won three of the last four AL Cy Young Awards. With money in the bank, I had to go after him. We’ll now have a one-two-three punch of Bieber, Paxton, and Snell at the front of our rotation. Opposing teams are going to dread our rotation.

RP Robby Butron - 5 years, $26,400,000

Butron is a 26 year old reliever out of Cuba. He has a power fastball and a nasty splitter. He should be able to rack up the strikeouts with his nasty stuff and decent control. What can I say, I can never have enough arms at my disposal.

RF Franmil Reyes - 5 years, $58,500,000

La Mole returns to San Diego. We needed an outfielder and Reyes was on the market. He led the AL last season with 126 RBI for the Royals. Consistency has been an issue for Reyes. In a good year, he’ll hit .270-.280 with 35+ HR. In a bad one, he’ll hit .250 with 20 HR. I think we have enough dangerous batters around him that he should be productive in our lineup.

Departures

C Cam Gallagher - Free agent, unemployed

That was a simple one. As much as I value his leadership, he simply wanted more money than I was willing to pay for a backup catcher. After hitting .297/.345/.386 for us in 2022, his numbers dropped to .189/.265/.255. Aside from his leadership, there really isn’t any reason for him to be in our lineup at this point. We can get his offensive production from anyone, and he’s not particularly useful as a defensive sub either.

Minor League SS Nick Gordon - Rule 5 Draft, Cincinnati Reds

I’m not sure what the Reds see in Gordon that we don’t. They picked him in the Rule 5 draft just 7 days after we signed him to a minor league contract. He’s a below average hitter, but above average on the base paths and in the field. The reason why we gave him a contract was for his mental makeup. Gordon is a natural leader. But there’s not enough there to keep him on a MLB roster for a full season.

RF Alex Verdugo - Free agent, St. Louis Cardinals - 8 years, $142,600,000

How can you let the man who was the MVP in two of your playoff series walk away from the team? Well, you can do it when he wants a King’s ransom. I was actually willing to pay him close to the yearly salary that he demanded. What I wasn’t willing to do was give him an 8-year contract. Ultimately, that was the divide we couldn’t close. To be honest, I just couldn’t bring myself to sign a player with questionable work ethic and be stuck with him for years on end.

Owner Goals

2024 - Upgrade at Center Field this season
2024 - Extend Blake Snell’s contract (Completed)
2025 - Win the Championship
2025 - Bring more drafted players into the team
2028 - Build a team that can bring a championship home

Outlook

Having been crowned the 2023 world champions, all eyes will be on us this upcoming season. Our goal is simple, to defend our title. The bookies have us as the best team in the league, predicting us to finally topple the Dodgers during the regular season. With Bieber, Paxton, and Snell leading our rotation, few teams will relish seeing us on the schedule. Surprisingly, the odds makers see Weathers, and not Paxton, joining Bieber and Snell as one of the top 10 pitchers in the league.

With a series of big money moves to both re-sign players and to bring in a few new faces, can we live up to the hype? Can we repeat as champions? Has the Slam Diego dynasty finally arrived?