Worst to First - The Sequel

[NYY #23]

Two players were elected to the Hall of Fame this year, Mario Benitez and Cesar Montoya.





CL Mario Benítez 87.8 (2nd year) Inducted HOF
C César Montoya 84.7 (1st year) Inducted HOF
SP Cornell Thompson 67.2 (3rd year)
CF José Álvarez 57.6 (3rd year)
SP Hal Ramey 55.0 (4th year)
RF Francisco Burgos 46.2 (9th year)
C Ed Long 38.9 (1st year)
CL Arthur Harrington 19.5 (2nd year)
SP Ipe Bekema 18.3 (7th year)
CL Jim Crawford 16.8 (1st year)
RP Davey Gibson 15.3 (3rd year)
RP Lionnel Martin 14.1 (1st year)
CF Vance Jackson 12.6 (1st year)
C Manuel Batista 11.8 (9th year)
3B Jon Pierce 10.7 (3rd year)
C Wayne Mathews 10.7 (7th year)
RP Dale Blevins 10.7 (1st year)
CL José Rincón 10.3 (3rd year)
CL Tynan Velásquez 10.3 (7th year)
CL Scott McCotters 9.9 (4th year)
C Don Gallagher 9.5 (2nd year)
1B Javier Ledezma 8.4 (6th year)
SS Hunter Holmes 7.3 (2nd year)

[NYY #23]

The Tigers sent minor league shortstop Eric Adams for starting pitcher prospect Bill Thomas. It was a minor trade, and I'm not convinced either will pan out.

[NYY #23]

Despite going just 12-18 in Spring Training the most exciting news is probably the success of Russell Fraser this spring. The 22 year old was rated as the #2 prospect in baseball and will make his professional debut as he made the Opening Day roster. Hoping this is a sign for better days in New Orleans.

[NYY #23]

It was a terrible start to the season for the Gators as we went 5-18 and are tied for last place. On the bright side Russell Frasier is hitting .296 with 5 home runs and 12 RBI. Unfortunately he's one of the few bright spots on the team.

[NYY #23]

The Gators went just 9-18 this month and now sit at 14-36 on the year. At one point this month we had 13 players on the disabled list, so it's hard to have much success when half your roster is hurt, even harder when we don't have much talent to begin with.

[NYY #23]

This was somewhat of a weak draft, which hurts because the Gators were selecting first overall. We went with 1B Keith Hudson with our first overall pick. In the second round we selected starting pitcher Michael Milligan followed by reliever Tom Law, right fielder Marvin Tate, and centerfielder Kevin Reed.

[NYY #23]

The Gators appear headed for another last place finish this year after going 12-15 for the month. Russell Fraser continues his hot season going .279 with 11 home runs and 28 RBI.

Enrique Gonzalez of the A's hit the 300th home run of his career this month.

[NYY #23]

The Conquistadors traded 31 year old right fielder Shawn Anderson and $5.2 million in cash to the Gators in exchange for LF Craig Wright and outfield prospect Carlos Gonzalez. Anderson is a fragile outfielder who is hitting .267 with 8 home runs in 103 at-bats. He's got power when he stays on the field. The cash is nice, but unusual since Anderson is making just $1.2 million in cash, so I have no idea why they included an extra $4 million.

Wright isn't too special either, Gonzalez is a player I didn't want to give up. Last year's second round draft pick looks to have a bright future.

[NYY #23]

As bad as the Gators have been we can at least take comfort in knowing that we aren't all time bad. With a 7-17 record last month the Gators have just a .327 winning percentage this year. But even our .292 winning percentage last month is better than the 2053 Nationals (41-121, .253).

When the All-Star rosters were announced the rest of the league laughed as no Gator made the team. 32 year old Andrea Pometti hit career number 300 for the Indians. Matt Simmons Jr of the Astros saved the 300th game of his career.

[NYY #23]

The Gators struggled again with a 7-19 record and we sit firmly in last place, 16 games behind the next closest team. Our struggles are not just isolated to the major league level either with AAA Chattanooga (.351), AA Columbus (.321), A El Paso (.382), Short Season A Joliet (.377), and Rookie League (.350) all having terrible years.

[NYY #23]

I'm glad the 2068 season is done. The Gators finished September with a 8-18 record and went 3-6 in October.

Luke Sutton of the Mariners hit the 400th home run of his career for the Mariners.

[NYY #23]

The Gators would non-tender pitchers Fernando Cavazos, Damon Christian, and right fielder Brody McCown. With another budget cut from our owner we've got about $90 to spend this offseason. That won't go too far in trying to improve the team.

This year we added first round pick Keith Hudson to our protected list.

New Orleans Gators - 67-95 (.414) 20 1/2 GB
2064 - New Orleans Gators - 61-101 (.377) 50 GB (Season Score - 43)
2065 - New Orleans Gators - 96-66 (.593) - GB, Lost Division Series 4-1 to Cleveland Indians (Season Score - 703)
2066 - New Orleans Gators - 55-107 (.340) 40 GB (Season Score - 1)
2067 - New Orleans Gators - 59-103 (.364) 38 GB (Season Score - 10)
2068 - New Orleans Gators - 51-111 (.315) 48 GB (Season Score - 1)

[NYY #23]

Jyotirbhaga Sourabh was the first player we protected, but his career hasn't exactly turned out like we expected. He's been decent going 26-24 with a 4.17 ERA, but injuries continue to plague him, and he's getting very expensive.

So we shopped Sourabh around and included minor league outfielder Marvin Tate in a package to the White Sox in exchange for pitchers Brent Jones and Tommy Rosales. Jones #45 and Rosales #17 have both made their major league debuts, but only have a handful of appearances. So we're willing to take a chance and hope we have better success with Jones or Rosales.

Of course we do run the risk of either Jones or Rosales being snatched up now.

[Syd Thrift]

The latest turn in this has been both very interesting from a challenge standpoint and, to be honest, kind of hilarious. "Hey, great! I managed to trade off all of this deadweight and I got this prospect in return... and there goes all of my freed up salary, on bloated contracts... and there goes my prospect. Oh boy."

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

The latest turn in this has been both very interesting from a challenge standpoint and, to be honest, kind of hilarious. "Hey, great! I managed to trade off all of this deadweight and I got this prospect in return... and there goes all of my freed up salary, on bloated contracts... and there goes my prospect. Oh boy."

I will admit that I never realized how many bad trades you get offered, but this has been an eye-opening experience. I do have to give the AI credit at the speed in which they snatch up prospects, or unload dead weight. I think this will be the most rewarding championship I ever win, if I ever get there.

[NYY #23]

Just one player was elected to the Hall of Fame this year, former Tiger pitcher Cornell Thompson.



SP Cornell Thompson 77.7 (4th year) Inducted HOF
CF José Álvarez 69.9 (4th year)
SP Hal Ramey 59.2 (5th year)
C Ed Long 49.5 (2nd year)
RF Francisco Burgos 47.9 (10th year) Dropped
SP Mike Riddle 38.5 (1st year)
RF Ánibal Vallejo 31.4 (1st year)
C Eugene Catron 27.2 (1st year)
SP Ipe Bekema 20.1 (8th year)
SP Dan Hendricks 19.1 (1st year)
CL Arthur Harrington 16.5 (3rd year)
RP Davey Gibson 16.5 (4th year)
SP Wilbert Cashman 16.2 (1st year)
SS Julian Anderson 14.9 (1st year)
SP Amedeo Bernini 14.9 (1st year)
RP Lionnel Martin 12.6 (2nd year)
C Wayne Mathews 12.0 (8th year)
C Manuel Batista 11.0 (10th year) Dropped
CF Vance Jackson 10.4 (2nd year)
C Don Gallagher 9.1 (3rd year)
CL Jim Crawford 9.1 (2nd year)
CL Tynan Velásquez 9.1 (8th year)
3B Jon Pierce 7.1 (4th year)
C Walt Hansen 7.1 (1st year)
SP Claudio Castellanos 6.8 (5th year)

[NYY #23]

The Gator career of Tommy Rosales was over before it started. Rosales was traded along with 22 game loser Felipe Pereira to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for shortstop Juan Rodriguez, with the Brewers retaining 35% of his salary.

Rodriguez hit .208 with 17 home runs and 40 RBI last year and is in the final year of his contract.

[NYY #23]

The offseason was fairly quiet, but we were able to add a few bargain basement free agents. 2B Dalton Morton signed a one year $1.1 million contract. Morton hit .214 with 13 home runs last year for the White Sox.

Starting pitcher Will Carter signed a one year $1.9 million contract. He was 10-14 with a 5.68 ERA in 179 innings for the Angels last year. Our hope is he'll provide some cheap innings.

Third baseman Tony Vazquez signed a one year contract after hitting .206 last season. His contract will pay him $1.1 million.

Then finally we added Roberto Torres on a one year $1.4 million contract. He was 1-10 with 24 saves and a 3.99 ERA in 76 2/3 innings last year. While Torres made 6 starts last year and 33 the year before he'll likely pitch out of the bullpen for us this year.

[NYY #23]

The Braves made a trade proposal today, sending catcher Duncan Harrison to the Braves and getting back minor league third baseman Chet Curtis. On a scale of 1-10 this trade probably ranks as a 1 in importance.

[NYY #23]

The Gators had a solid Spring Training going 16-14. Ben Morgan won the starting left field job out of spring training, giving us a pair of young outfielders that we can hopefully build around.