Orcin's Story

[Orcin]

December 1, 2007

Subject: Rule 5 Draft

Leading up to the draft, I protected some AAA players that might be useful next season.
• SP Will Spencer (borderline prospect)
• SP Luis Gonzales (veteran emergency starter)
• CL Jorge Merced (good closer prospect)
• RF Gerald Blair (could make a weaker team)

This brings the 40-man roster up to a total of 37 players. I could have protected a couple more, but frankly there was no one left that I was concerned about losing.

We did not take anyone in the draft.

Providence selected the AA Player of the Year, LF Lucio Borges, in the second round. Borges had been stuck at Dayton for the past three years with no room for him at AAA. He is a good defensive outfielder with good speed, but his bat is capped out at AA in my opinion. He had no chance of being anything other than minor league filler for us.

[Orcin]

Notable Trades and Free Agent Signings prior to the Winter Meetings:

11/28/2007: RF Brock Richardson, probably the #1 free agent available, signed a 6-year contract worth $120 million to play for the Orlando Sharks. Dallas will miss him.

11/28/2007: Tomas Barron, former Salt Lake City star and the #2 free agent, signed to play 2B for the Detroit Titans. Barron will receive $92 million over 5 years.

11/29/2007: New York signed former Washington and Louisville closer Lucas “Country Boy” Sanders to a 3-year contract worth $36.6 million.

11/30/2007: Orlando traded veteran RF Girard Maini to San Diego for 19-year-old 2B Sergio Rivera and a backup catcher. Maini was pushed out of the lineup by the Brock Richardson signing. I had no interest in him because his defense is sub-par. Rivera was traded for the second time in a few months, having come to San Diego from Charlotte in the Payne-Mullett deal last July. Odd to see a Top 10 prospect traded so often.

12/02/2007: Atlanta signed SP Manuel Yan to a 3-year contract worth $44 million. Yan may have been the best starter on the board but he is also 36 years old.

12/07/2007: Former Atlanta SP Mario Sandobel signed with Charleston, getting $66 million over 5 years. The Flames would have been smarter to sign the 29-year-old Sandobel instead of Yan.

[Westheim]

I just returned to page 1 of "Louisville Dynasty: The Early Years" here. Kinda interesting to see, where and when some of those star (or bust) players were washed ashore six years ago.

[Orcin]

December 10, 2007 (BNN)

Subject: Winter Meetings Begin

The flights have arrived, the check-in at the hotel has been completed and the bags have been unpacked. With that, the annual congregation known as the Continental Baseball Association Winter Meetings can now begin in earnest. General Managers from across the league will engage in three days of talks, and fans, reporters and rival ball clubs will all await the developments with keen anticipation. Trade and contract talk will no doubt be heard almost everywhere a team GM can be found and the close proximity of so many club officials will make for rapid feedback on any proposals.

12/10/2007: The San Diego Stallions and Charlotte Knights opened the meetings with another big trade. The Stallions swapped 31-year-old 1B Alejandro Fernández and $3 million in cash to the Knights, getting 25-year-old LF Ed Hayes and 19-year-old minor league CF Kurt McNee, an outstanding prospect, in return. Lifetime Fernández is batting .283 and has hit 138 home runs. Hayes is batting .308 with 49 home runs and 201 RBIs in three years as a starter.

12/10/2007: Milwaukee signed closer Rafael Salinas to a 2-year contract worth $26 million. It is a very curious move considering that the Eagles already have top closer David Hanna (40SV, 1.46 ERA in 2007). Salinas will apparently be a setup man.

12/11/2007: The Louisville Colonels made two minor but important trades today. More information about those deals will be provided in the next couple of posts.

12/12/2007: Washington signed 41-year-old Jonathan Thomas to a one-year contract for $6 million. The Admirals are apparently planning to play Thomas at shortstop, where he is rated slightly higher than a statue in range.

A few other minor trades were completed during the meetings, but nothing that will change the competitive landscape. The team to watch so far in the off-season is Orlando with their free agent acquisition of batting champion Brock Richardson.

[Orcin]

December 11, 2007 (cbatraderumors.com)

Subject: Louisville Trades Mata for Seattle’s Sweeney

After a quick round of negotiations that began yesterday, the Colonels and Falcons have come to terms on a deal that will send 24-year-old minor league shortstop Octávio Mata, 23-year-old minor league second baseman Juan Luis Burgos, and $250,000 in cash to Seattle for 24-year-old left fielder Tracy Sweeney.

Sweeney is the #22 prospect in the CBA, according to the latest BNN rankings. He was drafted in 2005 round 1 by Seattle out of college (Stanford). Sweeney was an All-Star at AA in 2006, where he hit .260 with 29 HR and 72 RBI. He made the AAA All-Star team in 2007 with a stat line of .293/.405/.605, 32 HR, and 98 RBI. Sweeney is a RH hitter with a high ceiling on power potential, above average speed, and Gold Glove defensive ability. He is not on the 40-man roster yet, and the Colonels say that he will start the season at Lexington.


**********


Mata was the AAA shortstop but I didn’t see him as a long-term solution if Rodriguez went down with an injury. Burgos was a prospect that the AI liked a lot better than me. Seattle did not need cash to balance the deal, yet they insisted on a small amount being added. That was weird, but ok with me.

Sweeney is the long-term answer to that RH power-hitting corner outfielder to backup, and eventually replace, Morgan. Sweeney and Valdez give me two great prospects that are still one year away from Rule 5 draft eligibility. That means they can stay in the minors until they are ready to compete with Morgan and Dominguez at the major league level. Sanchez and Hartman can battle it out in right field. Brown and Guy are set up to compete at first base. Kevin Thomas has a few years to develop before Bland needs to worry, but at least there is a prospect identified.

I still need infield depth. The problem was made worse by trading Mata and Burgos, so a second deal was immediately negotiated to get a top infield prospect.

[Orcin]

December 11, 2007 (cbatraderumors.com)

Subject: Louisville-Houston Swap

The Louisville Colonels have acquired 24-year-old shortstop Alexander Mooney in a trade with the Houston Stars for 19-year-old minor league center fielder Edward Brooks and 20-year-old minor league starting pitcher Kevin Morse. The Colonels General Manager Otto Orcin confirmed the deal in an announcement this morning.

Mooney, a right-handed batter, hit .324 in 81 games with Houston last season. He has good speed and excellent defensive skills. Mooney plays primarily at the middle infield spots, but he can also play the corner infield positions and center field. Mooney was a first-round pick of Houston in 2004 out of Washington State.


**********


Villa says Mooney is an elite contact hitter, albeit with no power and an average eye. His defensive versatility makes him a good candidate to replace Bennett, and Villa rates him higher than John or Rodriguez in most offensive categories. He has three options left, so there is no pressure to keep him on the active roster.

Mooney could press Rodriguez for the starting shortstop position from an offensive standpoint while not killing us defensively. He could also be a nice substitute for Simon as a #2 hitter, and perhaps even the eventual replacement. He could play second base against left-handers, giving John a day off.

The two players that I sent to Houston were good prospects at Evansville, but the Stars were insisting on those two players and no one else. I wanted Mooney bad enough to let them go.

[Orcin]

Notable Trades and Free Agent Signings from the rest of the winter:

12/26/2007: The Atlanta Flames signed former St. Louis and Baltimore pitcher Charles Combs to a four-year contract worth $42 million. The 32-year-old right-hander is in decline according to my scout. Atlanta plans to use Combs as their third starter.

12/27/2007: Salt Lake City re-signed their closer Hunter James to a three-year deal worth $17 million. It looks like the prices are beginning to come down on relievers and there are still some big ones out there.

01/06/2008: Salt Lake City continued to strengthen their bullpen (a weakness last year) by signing setup man Scott Young away from Charlotte. Young will get $13 million over 3 years from the Bees.

01/14/2008: Baltimore kicked their rebuilding into high gear by signing RF Yann Rey, formerly of San Diego. The 29-year-old left-handed slugger will receive $92 million over 6 years. Rey will bat cleanup for the Robins, behind top 1B prospect Dustin Carroll.

01/16/2008: New York continued to stockpile relievers, signing top closer Eric Alford to a 1-year contract at $14 million. New York had already inked Lucas Sanders to a long-term deal. This deal pushed the Monarchs to the top of the payroll chart at $215 million, and also to the top of the off-season “WAR gains” list.

02/07/2008: Denver signed 35-year-old SP Wendell Klein to a 3-year contract worth $31 million. Klein was 12-17 with a 4.53 ERA for Boston last year. Is that what $10M/year gets you these days? Denver expects Klein to top their rotation. Good luck with that.

[dynaboyj]

Originally Posted by Orcin

THE THREE-RING CLUB

The following players now have three World Series rings with the Colonels:

SP Ray Alexander
SP Robert Westaway
MR Bruce Brooks
MR Edgardo Garza
MR Nathaniel Jones
MR Jesus Trejo
C Duncan Bland
1B Chris Brown
2B Tom John
3B Lucio Martinez
3B Pierre-Louis Simon
LF Dennis Morgan
RF Jeffrey Jackson

For fun and for other people's convenience, I decided to see what post number all these guys were first mentioned in.

Alexander: #242--in AAA, said to improve the rotation
Westaway: #99--in the All-Star Game for Houston
Brooks: #606--69th overall pick in 2004 draft
Garza: #390--50th prospect for 2003 and a find by Candelaria
Jones: #461--traded from Pittsburgh for Mike McIntosh
Trejo: #378--an international free agent
Bland: #102--the trade with New York
Brown: #25--one of Orcin's first moves, a trade with Milwaukee
John: #52--79th prospect in 2001
Martinez: #229--waiver claim from Nashville
Simon: #99--in the All-Star Game for Boston
Morgan: #52--1st prospect for 2001! Became a Colonel 150 posts later.
Jackson: #603--traded from San Diego

Even with all your work, I'm kind of amazed that none of these guys were on the original roster, and the humble beginnings that most started out from. It's strange to think sometimes that Westaway wasn't always on your team.

[Westheim]

It certainly felt like Bland and Simon had been on the team forever, but I was very surprised to see just today that none of them were with the team that by luck came to win the division in 2000 before the takeover. In fact, I didn't remember half the names on that roster.

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by dynaboyj

For fun and for other people's convenience, I decided to see what post number all these guys were first mentioned in.

It was fun for me too. Thanks for doing this!

P.S. I will be out of town this weekend, so no updates until Monday. Sorry.

[gehrig38]

Originally Posted by Westheim

To be honest, baseball players are vastly overpaid today

I'm assuming this is meant as an 'in game' retort

If not I'll certainly join a separate thread to explain how this is not even remotely true.

[gehrig38]

Originally Posted by Orcin

December 10, 2007 (BNN)

Subject: Winter Meetings Begin

The flights have arrived, the check-in at the hotel has been completed and the bags have been unpacked. With that, the annual congregation known as the Continental Baseball Association Winter Meetings can now begin in earnest. General Managers from across the league will engage in three days of talks, and fans, reporters and rival ball clubs will all await the developments with keen anticipation. Trade and contract talk will no doubt be heard almost everywhere a team GM can be found and the close proximity of so many club officials will make for rapid feedback on any proposals.

12/10/2007: The San Diego Stallions and Charlotte Knights opened the meetings with another big trade. The Stallions swapped 31-year-old 1B Alejandro Fernández and $3 million in cash to the Knights, getting 25-year-old LF Ed Hayes and 19-year-old minor league CF Kurt McNee, an outstanding prospect, in return. Lifetime Fernández is batting .283 and has hit 138 home runs. Hayes is batting .308 with 49 home runs and 201 RBIs in three years as a starter.

12/10/2007: Milwaukee signed closer Rafael Salinas to a 2-year contract worth $26 million. It is a very curious move considering that the Eagles already have top closer David Hanna (40SV, 1.46 ERA in 2007). Salinas will apparently be a setup man.

12/11/2007: The Louisville Colonels made two minor but important trades today. More information about those deals will be provided in the next couple of posts.

12/12/2007: Washington signed 41-year-old Jonathan Thomas to a one-year contract for $6 million. The Admirals are apparently planning to play Thomas at shortstop, where he is rated slightly higher than a statue in range.

A few other minor trades were completed during the meetings, but nothing that will change the competitive landscape. The team to watch so far in the off-season is Orlando with their free agent acquisition of batting champion Brock Richardson.

Given the work I've put into my schedule this week this as nice to read. Meaning now I have a better handle on how to report my winter activity. With no history when I started I felt it was important for 'fans' (if any really read the thread) to get to 'know' the stars.

I'm still flummoxed that I didn't realize one of the early Koufax contenders was a knuckleballer....... You can miss so much of the 'cool' stuff if you don't stop to smell the roses in this game.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by gehrig38

I'm assuming this is meant as an 'in game' retort

I'm not sure whether anybody has to make $20M a year for throwing (whatever kind of) balls.

There may or may not be an unhealthy amount of envy involved in this.

[gehrig38]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I'm not sure whether anybody has to make $20M a year for throwing (whatever kind of) balls.

There may or may not be an unhealthy amount of envy involved in this.

Then who should 'make it'? Throwing the ball, and whatever we did on the field, creates enough interest to generate 6+ billion dollars a year, who should the money go to?

[Westheim]

Nobody positively *has* to make that much money a year. And I don't know enough about baseball's economics to confidently go to war about it, so I won't.

[dawg_gone]

Edit to return to topic.

Mr. Orcin, would you give us your assessment of the biggest winners and losers in this off-season? Could this be the Bees' year?

[Orcin]

February 7, 2008

Subject: CBA Preseason Begins

Preseason activities begin in earnest today as the Continental Baseball Association teams prepare for practice sessions, scraping off the rust and polishing their skills for the new season.

The New York Monarchs and Orlando Sharks appear to be the most improved teams, while the Charlotte Knights and Philadelphia Firebirds have taken big losses. (Year of the Bees? I don't think so.)

The defending champion Louisville Colonels lost a total of nine players over the winter and gained two new players via trades. The Colonels are up slightly in total team WAR as a result of the changes.



Louisville Colonels Financial Report
Projected 2008 Revenue and Expenses

Projected revenues (based on last year) are $130M, excluding post-season games. The current expense projection of $124 million is down slightly from last year. The payroll is estimated at $86M and the personnel salaries will be $8M, for a total of $94M ($6M below the target). The payroll ranks 16th and the $148 million budget ranks 14th.

The draft budget has been set by the owner at $7M. The scouting budget remains at $7M for domestic scouting, but international scouting has been reduced to $4M by dropping Panama and Costa Rica. The countries still covered are Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Player development remains budgeted at $12M (vs. league average of $8M).

[Orcin]

Notable Preseason Trades and Free Agent Signings:

Interesting free agents still available:

• SP Justin Bell, ex-Detroit, age 26, throws R, 1-time AS, career 58-51 with 3.85 ERA, think of a RH Chip Davidson, i.e. great pitcher that is frequently injured
• CL Ken Cushley, ex-Charlotte, age 29, throws R, career 135 saves with 2.73 ERA, rated 5-star by Villa
• CL George King, ex-Louisville, age 31, throws R, 2-time AS, career 210 saves with 3.23 ERA, rated 4-star by Villa, asking 2 years at $3M/year
• Ex-Louisville players Jeffrey Jackson and Russell Bennett are also still available.


02/13/2008: The Chicago Cougars signed former Sacramento and Louisville catcher Julio Martinez to a 1-year contract at $1 million. The Cougars had already signed ex-Charlotte catcher Nick Boyd to a 1-year deal at $750,000. That’s a really good pair of catchers, albeit 34-year-olds, for almost nothing.

02/17/2008: Washington signed CL Ken Cushley to replace Lucas Sanders for 2 years and $25 million. I just don’t believe that 50 innings per year is worth that much money.

02/19/2008: The Orlando Sharks smell blood in the water and are acting like a “win now” team. They signed 33-year-old veteran 3B Alfredo Luzuriaga to a 2-year deal worth $9 million rather than play a kid there.

02/20/2008: SP Justin Bell played it out to the end and got paid. Houston signed Bell to be their third starter for 6 years at a total value of $100 million. The Stars really have a strong rotation now and will be a tough opponent in a short series IF they stay healthy.

02/20/2008: Pittsburgh signed CL Ismael Carranza, formerly of Atlanta, to a 2-year deal worth $20 million. Pittsburgh is in “win now” mode, and they are looking for bullpen help. The Warriors are interested in free agent relievers George King and Bobby Moore. They are also rumored to be talking trade with several teams, including Louisville.

02/23/2008: Cleveland signed George King for two years and $6 million. The Rockers already have Angel Lozano (50 saves last season) as their closer, so King will be the setup man.

[Orcin]

February 23, 2008 (BNN)

Subject: Louisville, Pittsburgh Swap Players

Officials for Louisville confirmed that they have traded 25-year-old starting pitcher Juan Hernández, 25-year-old reliever Phil Davies, 30-year-old reliever Jesús Trejo and 28-year-old second baseman Ray Holliday to the Pittsburgh Warriors. In return, the Colonels will receive the CBA’s #11 prospect in 2007, 21-year-old starting pitcher Wallace “Spike” Trauttmann.

Since joining the league, Hernández has compiled an ERA of 3.97 with a career record of 17-10. He has 127 strikeouts in 195 innings and has held opponents to a .258 batting average. Hernandez was in the Colonels rotation for most of last season, but fell out of favor with manager Chad Byrne down the stretch. Davies and Trejo were mainstays of Louisville’s #1-rated bullpen in 2007. All three of these pitchers are expected to play key roles for the Warriors this season.

Last season for Pittsburgh, Trauttmann won 9 and lost 7 with a 4.40 ERA, while posting 87 strikeouts and 46 walks in 106.1 innings as a rookie. The strapping young German is 6’2”, 225 lbs. and throws hard (93-95mph). His cutter and slider have good movement and he compliments them with a nice changeup. Trauttmann was taken by the Warriors in the first round of the 2004 draft (9th overall).

Louisville General Manager Otto Orcin said, “We gave up a lot for Trauttmann, but we feel that he is the perfect right-hander to pair with (22-year-old lefty Edgardo) Ordonez at the top of our rotation in the future. We plan to give Trauttmann every opportunity to step into our rotation as the fifth starter, but we also have the luxury of being able to send him to AAA if he needs more development.”

The Colonels have now lost four key pitchers (including George King) from last year’s top-rated bullpen, and replacements must be found. Orcin addressed this question also. “The 2007 AAA Pitcher of the Year Jorge Merced and top prospect Francisco Rodriguez are ready for the majors, and we had to make room for them. Aaron Wilkerson could be used in the long relief role. We saved $3 million in payroll with this trade so we may also look at a free agent for the bullpen.”

Louisville is rumored (along with half of the CBA) to have contacted the agent for former San Diego setup man Bobby Moore.

Note: Our new pitcher’s name is pronounced TROUT-mon with a German “TR” sound that my Midwest accent can’t duplicate. I will just be calling him Spike.

[Westheim]

Another 4-for-1 trade I would never have made. That must be why I don't win the big prize...

Anyway, where does that German wunderkind come from after all? Never saw a boy named Wallace around here.