Week 27 – October 17- 23: International Amateur FA Showcase Opens; World Series Starts
October 17:
The league has hosted its annual international showcase featuring top prospects from around the world. It's the most important time of the year for prospects everywhere, as they get noticed by scouts across the league.
This year, the following players should be among those drawing the most attention from teams:
LF Jesus Condz, 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic
RHP Juan Garcia, 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic
RHP Robert Garcia, 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic
RHP Humberto Jaime, 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic
RF Julio Lucero, a 16-year-old out of Venezuela
RHP Armando Mateo, 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic
1B Jose Higareda, a 16-year-old out of Venezuela
CF Nelson Gregoretti, a 16-year-old out of Venezuela
2B Victor Cruz, 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic
RF Hector Alvarez, a 16-year-old out of Mexico
I’ll need to connect with Jason McLeod and J.J. Picollo to determine our major needs and see if we can find any IAs that will be top prospects for filling those gaps. We have a $4.750 million budget to spend on IA free agents starting January 15, 2025, and I hope we can identify at least a couple of valuable options.
October 18:
Our Dillon Dingler waiver claim was successful, and he is now a proud member of the Royals organization. This means I need to waive and DFA the consistent but aging catcher Austin Nola from our roster. He’s been a solid contributor to our lineup this year, but with him and Salvy being the same age, it’s counterproductive for me to keep him as a backup for Salvy. Dillon has the qualities and catching abilities that Austin has, but he is much younger at 26. Nola was also planning to ask for a salary increase, which I could not justify with much younger talent like Dillon coming into the league.
October 21:
WOW!
Saying he doesn't have the passion to keep playing or the greed to play without it, top prospect Bryce Rainer decided to hang up his cleats before ever setting foot in a major league stadium. Rainer said, "I have a lot of plans for my life, and being on the road away from my family for years on end isn't one of them."
On July 11th, 2024, Bryce Rainer was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 2024 first-year player draft out of Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood, CA, as a Round 1, Pick 4, 4th overall pick. On September 3rd, 2024, he then signed a minor league contract with them, with a signing bonus of $11,000,000. Now, less than two months later, he announced his retirement from professional baseball. Bryce was on our draft shortlist. I suppose it’s fortunate we didn’t choose him, or he might have asked for more money than I was willing to pay, yet I still did, hoping he would succeed. Our lucky break.
October 22:
The World Series contenders were decided Sunday night, October 20th, after the Minnesota Twins eliminated the Houston Astros in game 6 by a score of 6-5 in extra innings. The Twins needed 11 innings to seal the deal, with C Christian Vazquez earning the MVP trophy for his performance, hitting a remarkable .409 average, driving in 6 runs, and scoring 4 times.
The first game of the series played tonight went to the Minnesota Twins, beating the St Louis Cardinals 2-1 in regulation.
October 23:
Minnesota Twins beat St Louis Cardinals in game 2 of WS 4-3.