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November 4, 2024: We’ve signed a handful of additional minor league deals, including Trevor Boone, a 27-year-old utility outfielder who has aggressive running skills and the ability to hit for power as a right-handed pull hitter. He’s a real “get,” as early in the free agency process he was looking for several thousand in guaranteed money, but our reputation -- and the players we return to the club who ARE on guaranteed deals -- must have made us difficult to pass up.
November 12, 2024: We’ve been getting most of our work done in the trenches this offseason, but after talking with our owner, who wants to make a big splash, we decided to burn some of the cash he’d been stockpiling and bought the contract of a stud player from the Charleston Dirty Birds. It took $250,000 to purchase Cam Eden’s $8,000 contract from the Atlantic League, but he hit .334/.414/.469 last year with 119 hits, 28 doubles, 45 RBIs and 68 stolen bases! He’s also an excellent center fielder who can defensively handle every outfield position as well as shortstop, and both I and our owner love his potential as a pure contact hitter in this league. He’ll be an immediate asset, and even if the rest of our offseason goes off the rails I think we’ve made a big move toward improving our offense. He has agreed to an extension to his original contract which will keep him here at least through 2026, by which point hopefully he’ll already be an Otters legend.
At this point we have four remaining pending offers out for minor league free agents, and if they sign, we should have a roster worthy of spring training in a few months, and then the annual process of whittling down and finalizing things will begin. But I’m confident we’ve put together a team that can keep up what we started in 2024 and get Evansville into the playoffs.
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