[pauwoo]

A bit of a long-winded off-season post here…. Proceed with caution (if you proceed at all).

Early offseason notes:
Pepper Grant – We have a team option on him; if we elect to take it we’ll be committing $7M for him next year, or, we can buy him out for $3.5M. I love Pepper – which should be obvious to anyone who has read any of this drivel – but, he made it difficult this season. Great in the field, sure, but decidedly ho-hum at the plate… and he’ll be 33-years-old at the start of 2076. That’s not old, really, and we can probably squeeze another adequate season out of him… still, this is a tough one for me. He was something of a de facto Captain on our club in 2075 – well-liked, with a superb work ethic – and $7M is, really, a small price to pay for what he brings to the table in that regard. I’ll exercise it, see what I can get in FA at the position and offer him up in trade if I find a worthwhile upgrade there.

2076 Budget – Phil Murray doesn’t hate me, in fact, he still believes in my ability to build this thing into a dynasty. That’s high praise from such a successful businessman. He’s established a $200M budget for the club this year – which would rank us at #9 in the MLB (tied with 5 other clubs). So, if we want to buy a ring, we will need to be low-key creative to do it. Note: The Jaguars have a $238M budget for 2076, which ranks them at #3.

Skipper Ryan Rudnick – I think that this guy makes questionable decisions, like his insistence on using Kawka in high leverage situations while Saul Guzman was sitting in the bullpen. His contract has expired, but I’ve offered him a 1-year contract that matches his asking price – I expect him to take the offer. One thing is for certain, he won’t have Kawka to go to in those situations in 2076 – that guy’s dismissal is priorities #1, 2, and 3. RR is tactical, has a track record of success, and won a ring with the Sounders in 2073 – one more season is a sound decision, I think. It will give off an air of consistency for the club before I start wheeling and dealing.

Compton Personnel – I’ve hired a new hitting coach, Ike Bohuslav, who is an unproven native Los Angelino that I think will fit in well with the culture we’ve established in Compton – let’s hope he’ll be as good as I think he is. I’ve also hired a new pitching coach – 52-year-old Bernard Heiser out of Tacoma, WA – he’ll fit in for us in Compton for sure – and his reputation among baseball purists is stellar. He’s spent the last 3 seasons working as the Pitching Coach in Sunrise for the Supremos of the Bush League. Welcome back to the Majors my man.

2075 Awards:
AL Boyce Rigg: Green Bay’s Jackson Walsh (SS, 28yo, 6th overall pick in 2069 out of St. Mary’s) - .343, 14 HR, 96 RBI – Aitor Cubas (SEA) finished 2nd, while Rich Hamilton (NYJ) finished 3rd in voting. Jackson getting the nod here is somewhat surprising, not outlandish exactly, but I thought Aitor had this one locked up.

NL Boyce Rigg: Our own Otto Isaac (CF, 27, 15th overall pick in 2070 out of Pennsylvania) - .304, 35 HR, 89 RBI – Arthur Grant (VAN) finished 2nd in voting. Grant is an interesting one as he played out of his mind in 2075 during a contract year – it’ll be fun to see where this guy lands. Somewhat bitter sweet win for Otto. For as great as he was in the regular season, he sure pulled an Alex Rodriguez in the World Series. No one wants to see that – you should never go full Rodriguez when death is on the line.

AL Pacheco: Seattle’s Bradley Hughes (SP, 27, 2nd overall pick in 2069 out of Michigan State) – 20-8, 2.73, 309 K’s. No surprise here – a well deserved 2nd Pacheco for the undisputed heir to Josiah Weber’s crown. I suspect that Bradley has a few more of these in his future. He’ll be a free agent after next season – curious to see where he ends up for 2077. Hopefully, he stays put, but you never know.

NL Pacheco: San Francisco’s Matthew Townsend (SP, 37, drafted in the 7th round in 2060 out of Wyoming) – 19-8, 2.97, 201 K’s. A bit of a surprise, but good for him – the old man still has it. He’ll be a free agent, so this should net him a few more high paid years in the sun, I think.

Arbitration:
Guys I made offers to…
SP Michael Brisk – 9.5M
SP Dejuan Burns – 4.6M
SP Case Tunnell – 3M
LF Joshua Newman – 7M
CF Otto Isaac – 12M
RF Ethan Mullens – 7.2M

Notable guy that I did not make an offer to…
SP Julen Morales – I can’t really defend my thinking here. He’s 30, so there is that.

What they got…
SP Michael Brisk – 11.4M (Offered 9.5M)… Ouch.
SP Dejuan Burns – 5.5M (Offered 4.6M)
SP Case Tunnell – 3.4M (Offered 3M)
LF Joshua Newman – 7M (Offered 7M)
CF Otto Isaac – 15.7M (Offered 12M)
RF Ethan Mullens – 8M (Offered 7.2M)… A bargain, you ask me.

Free Agents…
Offered contracts to SP Max Harrington, SP Nat Millard (I don’t expect to land him, so for the lulz if nothing else), RP Steven Barbaccia, and Abe Meinecke (another one I don’t expect to land, but, it’s fun to pretend).

Some early results – Meinecke went to Portland where he will team up with Angry Eloy to wreak havoc in the AL West, presumedly. Nat Millard is digging what we are putting down – no decision yet, but he likes what we had to say… he’s probably gaming us. Which is fine. Max Harrington was a hard pass – apparently, he has a family to think about – Latrell Sprewell much? His chinstrap beard is douchey anyways. Seattle second fiddle, SP David Arney, signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy – that’s gross. They’ll drop 35M on him next season. Mmm-kay. Steven Barbaccia signed our offer, the 14th pick in 2064 out of Virginia is a fan favorite that will fill out a Purple and Gold kit quite nicely methinks… Nehemiah Jenkins went to Philadelphia – our fans are pretty mad, a noticeable dip in fan interest – but we are close to landing Larry Williams via trade with the Houston Dynamo. I just got to figure out the best group of prospects to spend on him… File under: Really?!? – We landed Laker killer Nat Millard. Craziness. Didn’t expect that to go so well, Jacksonville signed Matthew Krebs to offset the defection – they’ll be no worse for wear here. C Johan Somma signed with Montreal, our fans are shocked – well, get used to it guys there is more of that to come. SS Donny Jeter accepted a $15M deal with the San Francisco 49ers… Hmm, I wonder what that means for your boy Hamza? Questionable move from a suspect front office. Cl Saul Guzman signed with Portland, the fans couldn’t care less – I think that I blew this one though. Such a great ‘stache. We signed 3B Dontrell Gay to a minor league contract, grooming him as an eventual Pepper replacement… time will tell. SP Julen Morales went to Phoenix – that one stings a bit, I didn’t want to pay him his asking price, but certainly didn’t want him to go to a division rival either.

Some trades:
SP/RP Josiah Kawka & MiLB SS Seve Navarro to Houston for SS Larry Williams – an absolute coup if you ask me.

MiLB 2B Nicholas Rivera & MiLB 2B Jacob Stever to Minnesota for RP Bernard Desjardins and MiLB SP Kordell Littles – I got low-key fleeced here, but fell for the name Kordell Littles.

Additional notes:
Overall, I’m happy with our offseason – we’ve improved our pitching and brought in a really, really good SS to replace Nehemiah. Phil Murray just wants us to be better than .500 – weird. Baseball pundits have us pegged to win 87 games, finishing 2nd in the NL West behind San Diego. I disagree. I’m often wrong. I made a last minute trade for 2B Mario Marshburn – lost Clay in the deal, but I’m getting a super low-key offensive upgrade here.

We’ll get started off with a 3-game set against Phoenix at home – Julen Morales, their recently acquired Ace, gets his first crack at his old club. SMH… gross.

The 2076 Opening Day Roster…

Pitching Staff:
1. Nat Millard – a surprising but welcome addition – I expect our newly appointed Ace to be worth every single penny… if he’s not, I’ll… I’ll…. Well, I’ll eat his salary and look like a fool to my peers. Is normal.
2. Dejuan Burns
3. Michael Brisk – I like him in the #3 slot. This could work.
4. Case Tunnell
5. Phillip King – lost due to a torn rotator cuff for the entirety of the 2075 campaign, I expect King to work his way up or out of the rotation by the all-star break.

Notable Bullpen Hurlers:
CL Steven Barbaccia – No Kawka, no Guzman – Barbaccia better make things happen or we riot.
SU Merl Crawford – I like this role for Merl; he got the stuff but not the stamina to be a full-time starter.
LR Brent Durkin – He was great out of the pen last year, solid innings eater. We’ll take more of that, please.

The Offense:
1. LF Joshua Newman
2. C Dominic Cooke – started getting in a groove at the end of the 2075 campaign, looking for him to find that space earlier this season.
3. RF Ethan Mullens – My favorite guy on the squad, Mullens gave us some much-needed leadership when Otto went down with injury.
4. CF Otto Isaac – What’s not to like? He’s one of a handful of overpowered HR guys and won the NL Boyce last season – but, I’m having a hard time shaking off the Alex Rodriguez vibes he was sending out into the universe during the World Series… if the right deal comes along, I probably pull the trigger on it. No, I wouldn’t – that’d be career suicide.
5. 1B Ruben Zarate – Rock-solid glue guy. Everyone needs one of those.
6. SS Larry Williams – New guy, Nehemiah replacement. The jury’s still out. Not sure what to expect really.
7. DH Kyle Weaver
8. 3B Pepper Grant – His days are numbered, let’s enjoy it while we can.
9. 2B Mario Marshburn – slight upgrade over Clay and the result of a panic trade – hopefully I won’t regret it. He’s a good enough fielder and should get me more offensively than Daniels did – how much more remains to be seen.

Our MiLB system, BTW, is now ranked 6th. Dig.