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September 1, 2031
We head into September with 84 wins, tied with the Cubs for best in baseball. It could be quite a showdown for the NLCS if both teams keep up this pace. I made two trades to shore up the team for the playoffs. The first saw Chris Kambic and Jonathan Ferguson, two pitchers acquired in the offseason, go to the New York Mets for Ian Anderson (who of course had spent three excellent seasons in our bullpen) and starting pitcher Eric Vaughn. The 29-year-old Vaughn was not highly regarded coming out of college, but rose through the ranks to eventually become the #12 prospect in baseball. He spent five good but under-the-radar years with the Mets (37-39, 3.99 ERA) and is making $8.2M in his first year of arbitration. Adrian Morejon will miss the rest of the season with a torn labrum, so Vaughn will replace him in the rotation.
The other deal saw left fielder Jordan Anderson join the Expos in exchange for infielder Tristan Hanoian unremarkable minor leaguers. Anderson is a masher, a four-time all-star and three-time Silver Slugger who has a .373 OBP, 253 home runs, and 40 WAR in nine seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The 32-year-old Anderson makes $45M in his walk year, but the D-backs will pick up 2/3 of the remainder of his salary. He'll immediately slot into the middle of our lineup as a fearsome right-handed presence, as we otherwise are stacked with lefties. Hanoian played fine for us, but his ratings were starting to drop, and this gets us off the hook for the $27M we would owe him over the next two seasons.
With just a month to go, Luis Salazar and Juan Vega are both in the Cy Young hunt. Jose Altuve is hitting over .300 for the millionth year in a row. We now have a very deep team, both with respect to our lineup and our pitching staff. Could this be the year the Expos win it all?
Around the league:
-The Blue Jays and Angels lead their divisions in the American League.
-Chad Workman (CWS) leads the AL in WAR yet again, and just hit his 300th career home run.
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