Quote:
Originally Posted by ayaghmour2
Well this Herrera guy looks mighty fine! Excited to see what he can do!
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Knowing our luck? He catches the weekly rain delay in the third inning in Portland at least five times a year, probably.
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The Raccoons were leaning in on a big-name free agent (several actually, including a type-A starter, because we needed at least two warm bodies in that rotation…), but first there was fiddling around on the fringes on the roster.
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November 28 – The Cyclones add right-handed closer Willie Cruz (41-41, 3.16 ERA, 231 ERA), formerly of Sacramento, on a 3-yr, $4.26M deal.
November 28 – Indy deals 1B Kevin Price (.246, 2 HR, 33 RBI) to the Miners in exchange for a prospect.
November 30 – The Raccoons trade RF/LF/1B Jake Griggs (.262, 0 HR, 21 RBI) to the Scorpions for right-hander Mike Siwik (15-11, 3.89 ERA, 10 SV).
December 1 – Rule 5 Draft: 15 players are selected by the various organizations. The Raccoons draft INF Tyrese Sheilds (.265, 12 HR, 119 RBI) from the Condors organization and 1B Toushi Imai (.253, 27 HR, 109 RBI) from the Wolves organization. The Knights draft the Raccoons’ AAA SP Jose Villegas.
December 1 – The Buffaloes sign ex-OCT 2B Jonathan Ban (.317, 84 HR, 968 RBI) to a 1-year deal that will pay the 35-year-old $2.76M.
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The rule 5 picks present some options. Imai mostly wasn’t that bad whenever the Wolves bothered to play him upstairs, and the Raccoons sure had an opening at first base for the time being. Sheilds looked like a superior backup infielder compared to the lackluster Daniel Espinoza. Sheilds had a .239 BABIP in 2057 so those stats needed to be taken with a grain of salt. Oh well, at least they were easily disposable in case something better came up. Their acquisition did fill the 40-man roster at least (along with the sole addition of SP Chance Fox to protect him from the Rule 5 draft).
Getting an experienced right-handed reliever in Siwik sure beats the seventh outfielder on the depth chart. Siwik had made some spot starts in the past, but was not going to be a regular component of the rotation. That of course removed a right-handed outfield option from the mix. Brass and the new arrival Martinez remained, along with expensive switch-hitter Steve Royer, who wasn’t going anywhere, except in exchange for another expensive and mostly superfluous player elsewhere. Left over were the Puckses, Oley, Johnsons, and Solorzanos on the roster.
What next? Well, the Raccoons made the first big splash at the annual Winter Meetings!
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December 3 – The Raccoons pounce on 28-yr old ex-SAL CF/1B Noah Caswell (.289, 38 HR, 296 RBI), who signs a 6-yr, $36M contract.
December 3 – The Thunder ink ex-NAS SP Mike Chartrand (49-42, 4.07 ERA) to a 3-yr, $7.32M contract.
December 3 – The Wolves have a new closer with former Pacifics right-hander Jason Posey (48-40, 3.03 ERA, 181 SV), who missed most of 2057 with injury, signing a 3-yr, $8.52M contract.
December 3 – Former Salem starter Pablo Paez (111-125, 4.18 ERA) gets a 3-yr, $7.68M deal from the Miners at age 35.
December 4 – Pittsburgh signs former Titans SP Kodai Koga (132-139, 3.77 ERA) to a 4-yr, $14.96M contract.
December 4 – The Rebels deal C Chris Maresh (.237, 27 HR, 156 RBI) to the Pacifics for reliever Willie Mendoza (7-5, 3.37 ERA, 3 SV) and a prospect.
December 5 – The Titans also lose SP Medardo Regueir (67-87, 3.93 ERA) form their rotation in a trade with the Stars. Boston receives 1B Manny Rubin (.281, 10 HR, 35 RBI).
December 5 – The Pacifics snatch up ex-Crusaders CL Ryan Sullivan (39-35, 2.90 ERA, 127 SV) for $6.72M over two years.
December 7 – The Titans get middle infielder Alan Leitch (.259, 7 HR, 73 RBI) from the Blue Sox for 37-year-old left-handed reliever Donovan Little (6-8, 3.66 ERA, 6 SV) and
#5 prospect CL Alex Flores.
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First off – Caswell wasn’t even a type A free agent! He came expensive, though… my eyes were all watery when he signs, only partially from joy. Elite centerfielder – four Gold Gloves in the FL in a row – and also a Platinum Stick last year. Boy can pick, and can with the stick. And he’s only twice as expensive as Steve Royer! Yes yes, I know, the Agitator is piping that with his all-out style in centerfield he’s a broken neck waiting to happen, but this time we bought insurance, isn’t that right, Steve? – (Steve from Accounting looks up from his newspaper with an “oh ****, I left the oven on” expression)
With this, the lineup began to take shape. The middle infielders on top, and then Brass, Cas, Martinez, and Pucks, which alternated paws perfectly from #3 through #6. Or we could swap the 3/4 and 5/6 pairs and alternate paws from the very top of the lineup. This didn’t even include Brobeck’s switch-stick yet. Marcos Chavez? Somebody’s gotta bat eighth. Surely this lineup wouldn’t finish 21st in runs scored in the league!
Of course, cramming in four outfielders in the middle meant that one of them had to play first base, but we weren’t gonna send back Toushi quite yet. Aaron Wade (.155, 2 HR, 9 RBI) was waived and designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster, though.
Speaking of Royer, who was mentioned as often as actual stars these days, the Miners made an interesting offer, presenting C Eric Monaghan, an all-or-nothing power hitter, who had mashed 20+ bombs three times in the last four years. He was better defensively than Chavez, but he was also already 33 and signed for $3.24M annually through 2060 – last year was a team option, though, taking the sting off a bit. The main drawback, however, was that there was a third player in the deal, AAA CL Elijah LaBat, the #36 pick from the 2056 draft. The lefty had moved up to AAA mid-season, and had struggled with control, but the stuff and talent were definitely there, even though he was not a candidate for promotion before maybe September. The deal fell through, because while the Miners would also have taken other players in the deal, I was not ready to part with Bobby Herrera just yet.
Not even Ricky Herrera.
While all that was going on, we were also in a bidding war for a veteran starter to keep order in the bickering flock that was our rotation, but we were far from the only ones. My first offer to Milt Cantrell of the Bayhawks had been $16M over four years, but that escalated into the 20s by the Winter Meetings, but no deal was signed for the 9-year veteran right-hander that would turn 31 in January. If we signed him, we might actually be the team that rocked up without a left-handed starter in 2058, with Carreno, DeRose, and Sensabaugh still scheduled to fill up the rotation.
What else? One other former Critter (blink and you missed him) signed a new deal during the meetings: Roberto Oyola fleeced the Indians for $4.02M over three years.