The Portland Beavers, est. 2001

[Questdog]

Sunday, October 28, 2001

Fireman of the Year Awards were announced:

American League
Mark Gray, Kansas City (29 R) 3-8 2.09 ERA 49 SV

National League
Jimmy Nester, Pittsburgh (26 R) 4-4 2.47 ERA 40 SV

[Questdog]

Monday, October 29, 2001

Silver Slugger Awards were announced:

Position Player (age bats) BA/OBP/SLG AB-HR-RBI Other Stats

American League:
P Danny Hochstetler, Cleveland (27 L) .254/.264/.296 71-0-3 3 2B
C General Windsor, Minnesota (31 R) .317/.410/.546 527-28-96 92 R 86 BB 71 SO
1B Raul Valadez, Chicago (A) (27 R) .296/.386/.485 594-28-93 82 BB 38 SO
2B Mario Ramos, Texas (32 R) .297/.377/.413 630-5-42 113 R 44 2B 24 SB
3B Steve Carrillo, Detroit (27 L) .350/.379/.539 648-26-106 104 R 227 H 40 2B
SS Dave Maurais, Washington (30 R) .319/.397/.487 599-22-91 93 R 12 SB
LF Mike Pasqualetti, Boston (27 L) .267/.415/.438 514-17-71 90 R 128 BB 64 SO 45 SB
CF Mark Shane, New York (A) (26 R) .308/.363/.468 575-15-77 101 R 9 3B 36 SB
RF Ken Buchanan, Toronto (28 R) .286/.358/.533 623-33-96 92 R 39 2B 8 3B 12 SB

National League
P Denny Willis, Houston (31 R) .390/.410/.441 59-0-6 10 R 3 2B
C Howard Morrell, Houston (28 R) .296/.422/.518 523-33-88 94 R 114 BB 23 SO
1B Marv Helton, Pittsburgh (25 L) .376/.427/.596 631-28-129 112 R 51 2B
2B Oscar Quinones, Montreal (29 R) .291/.328/.429 646-15-79 36 2B 15 SB
3B Ron Janeiro, Houston (31 R) .260/.360/.466 485-25-81 76 BB
SS Dick Hedrick, Pittsburgh (26 L) .334/.395/.476 628-16-100 91 R 39 2B 39 SO
LF Rick Lewis, Philadelphia (24 L) .286/.332/.460 619-28-92 18 SB
CF Ron Vayo, Cincinnati (28 L) .271/.357/.577 395-34-78 7 SB
RF Charlie Reshard, Philadelphia (24 L) .301/.387/.586 435-31-79 5 SB

[Questdog]

Tuesday, October 30, 2001

Rookie of the Year Awards were announced:

American League
Tony Davila, ss, Minnesota (22 L) .295/.404/.465 529-21-82 101 R 99 BB 16 SB

National League
Marv Helton, 1b, Pittsburgh (25 L) .376/.427/.596 631-28-129 112 R 51 2B

[Questdog]

Tuesday, October 30, 2001

We made another trade for an infielder, a crappy left-handed reliever and a pair of low-level prospects.

We sent P Steve Mulder (28 L) to Milwaukee for 3B/2B Ron Stephens (32 R), P Max Burgess (26 L), P Ned Bowers (24 R) and SS Mike Reyes (19 R).

[Questdog]

Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Manager of the Year Awards were announced:

American League
Tetsushi Sasaki, Kansas City (48)

National League
Champ Walker, Houston (39)

[Questdog]

Thursday, November 1, 2001

Cy Young Awards were announced:

American League
Mickey Monroe, rhp, Kansas City (26 R) 21-2 2.61 ERA

National League
John Phillips, rhp, San Francisco (30 R) 21-6 2.38 ERA

[Questdog]

Friday, November 2, 2001

Most Valuable Player Awards were announced:

American League
General Windsor, c, Minnesota (31 R) .317/.410/.546 .317-28-96

National League
Marv Helton, 1b, Pittsburgh (25 L) .376/.427/.596 .376-28-129

[Questdog]

Friday, November 2, 2001

We made another trade for an infielder.

We sent P Leon Sims (30 L) and LF John Dossman (28 S) to Tampa Bay for 2B Enrique Hernandez (26 R).

We got Dossman from Toronto on October 20th in a trade I forgot to report, since it was so small. We sent 1B Jim Montelius (34 L) to Toronto for Dossman and 1B Roger Aguilar (30 R). The purpose was to get Aguilar, a right-handed hitting first baseman, that we really need, in case we cannot get a better one before Spring.

2B Enrique Hernandez can hit, but makes errors out the wazoo. He is mainly for insurance for injuries, but if our offense becomes as challenged as it was last year, he may find himself with a regular job.

[Questdog]

Saturday, November 10, 2001

Arbitration hearings were held yesterday and the results were announced today. We had two players go to a hearing, both right-handed relief pitchers who are 28 years old: Larry Castillo and Don Butts. We lost Castillo's case, offering $800K, but he was awarded $1,170,750. We won Butt's hearing, offering $1.7 million, while he asked for $2.1 million and change. Both RF Lebron Williams and 1B Ernesto Gonzelez signed deals at the last minute and avoided the hearings. Williams singed for $3.2 million and Gonzelez signed for $3 million. Both were 1-year deals.

When did not make offers to any other arbitration eligible players. 1B George Hopkins, 3B Joe Hartin, OF Rich Doody and CF Alex Rabelo all became free agents.

Free Agents will file on Monday and we will lose the following players, who we have not offered a contract: C Rich Nolan, 1B Rick Deveney, SS Randy Penn, 3B Ray Wilson, CF Rich Babbin, CF Vicente Saavedra, RF Randy Stump, SP Bobby Ramirez, RP Jesus Cordova and RP Steve Plummer.

[Questdog]

Monday, November 12, 2001

The free agents filed and it does not look like we will be signing any star players. The star pitchers are too old for us to sink $100 million into and the one position player that we could really use is CF Ron Vayo. He's asking for the moon and we could afford it, if we made some adjustments in our other expenses, but he is not a very high character fellow and he is not a very good fielder in center and refuses to play anywhere else. Even so, his bat is pretty derned big..... So, we went to talk to his agent and he just laughed at us and shook his head, "Mr. Vayo is NOT going to play for an expansion team."

So, no game changers for us from the free agent pool, but we do have an eye on a handful of players that might help us out a little.

In the meantime, we made a trade to get us a center fielder:

We sent RP Freddy Arana (26) to Tampa Bay for CF Javy Fernandez (26 L).

Fernandez can field very well and hit a little. He does not have any power at all, but draws some walks. Right now, he'll be our starting center fielder, but if we find someone better, he'll be a good backup to have. Arana has nasty stuff, but no control and he is expendable with the other relievers we have acquired this fall.

[Questdog]

Wednesday, November 21, 2001

Five players signed today for over $15 million per season:

P Danny Carranza (30 R) formerly of Minnesota signed a 6-year deal with Boston for $91.2 million ($15.2/yr.)
He was 11-14 with a 4.29 ERA last year. He led th majors the major with 9.98 K/9.

P Frank Madero (32 R) formerly of Milwaukee signed a 4-year deal with New York (A) for $74.4 million ($18.6/yr)
He was 8-9 with a 3.24 ERA last year. He led the NL with a 4.54 K/BB ratio.

P Rich Clark (33 R) formerly of Houston signed a 4-year deal with Los Angeles (A) for $64 million ($16/yr)
He was 14-7 with a 3.07 ERA last year.

P Doug Stone (34 L) formerly of Montreal signed a 2-year deal with New York (A) for $42.4 million ($21.2/yr)
He was 15-7 with a 2.20 ERA last year. His ERA was the lowest in the major leagues.

RF Buddy Hartman (33 R) formerly of Los Angeles (A) signed a 2-year deal with Colorado for $32.8 million ($16.4/yr)
He went .275/.331/.496 last year 480 AB with 27 HR and 80 RBI
Colorado already has a prime-time RF in Jeff Johnson (26 L), who hit .315/.397/.514 in 584 AB

[Questdog]

Sunday, November 25, 2001

We signed our first free agent today, a back-up outfielder: Dave Priestly (27 R). 1 year at $1.1 million. He has less than 1 year of major league service time, so we will control him for a while.

[Questdog]

Tuesday, November 27, 2001

We signed out second free agent today, a starting pitcher: Terry Cole (31 L). 1 year at $5 million and a 2nd year at $7.5 million if he pitches at least 175 innings in the first year. He won 17 games in 1999 and again in 2000 for Baltimore, but missed most of last year with an injury. He will probably not be worth much, but I thought he was worth taking a flier on. If he does not work out, we have not hurt our budget going forward. If he can find his pre-injury form, however, we will have a $20 million dollar pitcher at a fraction of the cost.

P Tom Mayo (36 R) formerly of Los Angeles (A) signed a 3-year contract with Boston for $48.6 million ($16.2/yr)
He was 12-7 with a 3.60 ERA last year

[Questdog]

Friday, November 30, 2001

CF Ron Vayo (28 L) formerly of Cincinnati (the same fella who laughed in our faces) signed a 6-year contract with Tampa Bay for $102.6 million ($17.1/yr)
He hit .271/.357/.577 in 395 AB with 34 HR and 78 RBI. He only played 100 games. That's a 51 HR pace in 150 games.

[Questdog]

Monday, December 3, 2001

The Winter Meetings start today and we celebrated by signing another free agent, likely the last one, barring unforeseen circumstances. We inked P Larry Duke (34 L) to a 2-year contract for $7 million ($3.5/yr). He pitched well in relief for the Pirates the last two years, but we expect to have him in our rotation. He was a good starter before , winning 62 games from 1995-1999.

I am hoping to work a trade or two during these meetings, but so far no one is biting on my RF Lebron Williams bait, nor my P Ron Rau lure.

[Questdog]

Wednesday, December 5, 2001

Well, I'd have never thought we'd make the trade we just made, but we did. I guess it is the atmosphere of the final day of the Winter Meetings getting to me and the fact that we have no power hitters at all. GM Cliff Darling (50) of the San Diego Padres approached me and asked if I'd be willing to trade P Don Butts (29 R), who we just acquired from Cincinnati about 6 weeks ago. I said that I was always willing to listen to an offer, even if it is as stupid as the one the Royals' GM Al Flores (62) just offered me. So I listened and sure enough his offer was just as stupid. He wants me to give up a solid closer, who had 30 saves last season, for some bum who can't do much of anything but draw some walks and has no position that he can play without tripping over his shoelaces. Now, the Padres happen to have two very good catchers and the Beavers have two mediocre catchers, so I thought it would be nice if we could get one of their very good catchers. And he was willing to talk about it! He would not do a one-to-one trade for Butts, which is understandable. So, we sat down in the lobby of the hotel and hashed out a deal that gives them the better end of it, I think, but gives us a legitimate home run threat and a very good catcher!

We sent P Don Butts (29 R), P Ron Rau (30 R), RF Eddie Cabrales (31 R), 2B Blaine Guyette (23 R) and CF Rico Baez (22 R) for C Mark Parker (27 R), P Phil McPhie (26 R) and P Steve Hernandez (24 R).

McPhie was a swing-man last year for the Padres and will fight for a spot in our rotation. Hernandez is a decent, though unranked pitching prospect. He does not strike out many batters, but otherwise looks promising. Probably not worth much.

And I am going home to take a break until after Christmas. I think I have done about as much as I can do about shoring up the really bad weaknesses we had last season as I can for a while until the landscape changes some. I'd still like to move RF Lebron Williams and C John McIvor and get that $5.5. million off our books. I'd like to see Lebron get a starting job somewhere, too. He hit great for us when he played last year, but his glove has him sitting on our bench right now. Of course, keeping him as a pinch-hitter and backup outfielder would not be the end of the world for us, but he deserves better.

[Questdog]

Friday, December 28, 2001

Rule V Draft

My hope to find a right-handed center fielder in the draft proved futile.

12 players were selected, but the Beavers were not affected. The Rangers and Braves each picked two players and the Senators picked three. The Rangers lost two players and the A's lost 3.

[Questdog]

Wednesday, January 16, 2002

P John Chase (33 R) formerly of San Francisco signed a 2-year contract for $32 million ($16/yr) with Los Angeles (A)
He was 17-8 with a 2.88 ERA last season

Also, CF Rich Babbin (37 L) formerly of Portland signed a 2-year contract for $7.2 million ($3.6/yr) with Washington
He will become the first player to play for both expansion teams
He hit .246/.318/.403 in 414 AB last year

[Questdog]

Monday, February 25, 2002

Spring Training games start today! Most of the attention will be paid to the starting pitchers and deciding which five guys will begin the season in our rotation. The offense is basically set, barring unforeseen failure of players to hit a lick and/or injuries. We have 8 candidates to make the five man rotation, 4 holdovers from last season and 4 new pitchers. Best guess is that Pete Reilly loses his spot and 2 new pitchers join Alan Gross, Tony Ricketts and Angel Rodriguez. 2 of the new pitchers did not start a game at all last year in the majors.

We will not report on individual games during Spring Training; only serious injuries and roster moves. Still looking for a center fielder and a third baseman better than what I have acquired already, but it does not look like we will find anything.

[Questdog]

Saturday, March 2, 2002

The Oakland A's traded P Mark McDonald (29 R) to Milwaukee for SS Lincoln Craddock (27 R) and CF Octavio Jimenez (19 R)

McDonald, who is making $500K, went 13-9 with a 2.47 ERA last year. He finished 4th in the AL in ERA and also led in WHIP. He had 3 CG shutouts. He also had the lowest BABIP in the league and only allowed 10 HR in 218.1 innings. Craddock and Jimenez are both known for their gloves more than their bats, though Craddock walks a lot. He hit .250/.347/.298 in 84 AB.

I would have given the A's a LOT more than that! Why didn't they ask me?