Architect of Oakland: The Pierre Lemieux Chronicles - Page 2

raysfan6 · 12-06-2025, 01:41 PM

Outstanding Player:
Liberty – 1B Ennio Campanaro (5), Philadelphia Ironclads (.320/.427/.678, 58 HR, 137 RBI, 9.3 WAR at 41! years old)
Dominion – 2B Eric Kucharski, Portland Pioneers (.269/.391/.580, 47 HR, 104 RBI, 6.7 WAR)

Pitcher of the Year:
Liberty – SP David Grimm (9), Chicago Sentinels (14-5, 1.63 ERA, 0.68 FIP, 395 K’s, 14.1 WAR)
Dominion – SP Steve Delmore (1), Oklahoma City Redhawks (15-4, 2.01 ERA, 1.87 FIP, 270 K’s, 9.2 WAR)

Rookie of the Year:
Jim Reed finished third in the Liberty League ROY voting. Reed put up a 9-12 record with a 2.98 ERA (3.22 FIP) in 202.1 innings in 2024. We hope to keep him around.

We did not win any other awards. Marçall Camacho finished 12th in MVP voting.

Bold indicates a new single season record. Number next to name indicates how many times player has won award in their career.

raysfan6 · 12-08-2025, 10:50 AM

November 29th, 2025

Subject: Free Agents File

This year's list of free agents is highlighted by these players:

28 yo LF Todd Phillips, ex-DEN, L/L//4*, 1x AS 1x PS (platinum stick), career .310/.379/.479 109 HR, 32.4 WAR
35 yo SP David Fraser, ex-NOS, R/R/3*, career 3.45 ERA/3.47 FIP, 28.5 WAR
36 yo 1B Craig Huff, ex-DAL, L/R/3.5*, 1x MVP 10x AS 8x PS, career .302/.401/.545, 335 HR, 91.2 WAR
36 yo LF Ricky Rosta, ex-SDB, R/R/3.5*, 1x MVP 8x AS 7x PS, career .277/.355/.531, 428 HR, 68.8 WAR
34 yo RP Andy Carter, ex-DAL, R/L/3.5*, 5x AS 2x ROY (reliever of the year), career 3.11 ERA/3.05 FIP, 360 SV, 14.8 WAR
34 yo SP Tim Salas, ex-NOS, R/R/2.5*, 1x AS, career 3.53 ERA/3.39 FIP, 40.9 WAR
28 yo SP, Tommy Crist, ex-DET, L/L/3.5*, career 3.37 ERA,3.34 FIP, 16.9 WAR
33 yo LF Seth Small, ex-OAK, R/R/3*, career .231/.297/.388, 115 HR, 10.0 WAR
37 yo SP David Smith, ex-MIL, L/L/3*, 1x PS, career 3.73 ERA/3.73 FIP, 31.8 WAR
31 yo 3B Marco Sosa, ex-SFD, L/R/3*, 1x AS, career .261/.349/.426, 115 HR, 24.6 WAR

**********

I debated back and forth on whether I would extend Small a qualifying offer. I ended up doing so, and as you can see from above he declined it. After raising our player dev, IAFA and scouting budgets, we have just under $16 million to spend on free agents. My main target from here is pitching. We need at least one left handed reliever and possibly another starter, but only for the right price. I wouldn't expect us to sign any of the players listed above, and I’m not looking to overspend or offer too many multiyear deals just yet.

Legend: age, position, name, former team, bat / throw/ overall rating, # all-star selections, awards (if any), career stats

raysfan6 · 12-09-2025, 10:46 AM

Offseason Center

12/1/24: San Diego Brigadiers trade 10x AS and 38 year old closer Jeremy Argento to the Portland Pioneers for 3 prospects. Argento has 480 career saves and spent 3 years with the Commodores in 2016-2018.
12/7/24: San Francisco Dukes trade 3x AS and 36 year old 2B Eric Hopewell to the Chicago Sentinels for 5 prospects just one offseason after signing him to a 34 year contract.
12/16/24: Oakland Commodores sign LHP Nick Bakken to a 2 year, $12 million deal. The second year is a team option with a $600,000 buyout.

**********

As a rather quiet offseason heads to the winter meetings, I continue to look for deals for the overpaid Hatton and another reliever. Nobody seems to be wanting to take Hatton’s $7.1 million over the next two seasons and I don’t blame them. We might be stuck with him for this upcoming season, which as a backup he’s not terrible, just overpaid.

The signing of Bakken fills one of the left handed relievers I’ve been looking for. His splits heavily favor lefties but he’s competent versus righties as well. The options on the open market aren’t great aside from the aforementioned Andy Carter, but his price point is too high for me. The rule 5 draft might be the best place for me to find and answer, but I’ll also be talking to all the GM’s here at the meetings and seeing what’s out there.

raysfan6 · 12-10-2025, 10:52 AM

December 24, 2024

I’m hard at work on Christmas eve doing some scouting for the rule 5 draft today. I’ve had to protect 1B Raffale Martinella as he might make the club out of spring training. As far as selections, I took SP Steve Sasso. A 4th round pick by the Portland Pioneers in 2020, Sasso has spent the past 3 seasons in AAA, where he put up a combined 8.1 WAR. His ratings aren’t off the charts (50 stuff, 50 movement, 40 control), but the southpaw will have the opportunity to fight for the last rotation spot. My next pick was right handed reliever Jonathan Bettis. Bettis has spent the past 4 seasons with the back to back champion Philadelphia Ironclads, although he has only ever pitched a maximum of 16.1 innings in a season, spending most of his time in the minors. Bettis has a great cutter and an average changeup, and with 55 stuff, 50 movement and 50 control he can compete for one of the last bullpen spots.

**********

As the year comes to a close, none of the big free agent names have signed. I’m not looking to make a huge splash quite yet, but some of the medium tier players should lower their demands.

raysfan6 · Yesterday, 10:51 AM

Offseason Center

12/25/24: LHP Andy Carter signs a 2 year, $40.4 million contract with the Nashville Stars. He becomes the highest paid player on their roster.
12/29/24: The Charlotte Diamonds make a big move acquiring 32 year old SP Alberto Faijoo from the San Diego Brigadiers for 2 prospects. Faijoo, the 2018 LL Pitcher of the Year winner, is on an expiring contract and hopes to help Charlotte make the playoffs for a 6th successive year.
12/30/24: 1B Craig Huff signs a 2 year, $35.2 million contract with the Denver Crusaders. A questionable signing as the Crusaders already have star slugger Caspar Ford at first base.

**********

The start of the new year brings a midway update to our development lab programs.

SS Francisco Rubio, generate batspeed - frustrated
2B Guillermo Salvador, gap power - on track
SP Jim Reed, improve control - frustrated
1B Raffale Martinella, generate batspeed - frustrated
SS Jorge Gonzales, plate discipline - frustrated
RP Javier Bueno, improve control - struggling
3B Sergej Pijnenburg, quality contact - excelling
SP Bobby Tyree, improve control - on track
2B Do-Hyun Lee, plate discipline - excelling
LF Leo Jimenez, two strike approach - on track

These results aren’t amazing, but not entirely terrible. I’m not overly concerned about anyone and I won’t be making and changes.

**********

Subject: Hall of Fame Welcomes Richard

How do you get to the United Baseball League Hall of Fame?
Just hit 500 homers, get 3000 hits, win 300 games or perhaps just save 300 games. Not an easy task, is it? But occasionally it does happen -- it happened to the gifted center fielder Josh Richard, who retired at the age of 39.

Josh Richard was recently inducted into the coveted shrine of hardball heroes by the Baseball Writers Association. Richard was always a favorite of the beat writers -- always quick with a quip and always willing to talk about the game -- but that's not why he got elected to the Hall of Fame. Richard played a good brand of baseball, too. He played in 2568 games, had 2262 hits, 552 home runs, 1474 RBIs and scored 1547 runs while batting .243 in his career.

Reminiscing about his life in baseball, Richard said it all began by hitting grand slam homers in the last of the ninth in his backyard and ended up in the Hall of Fame. "It was quite a trip. I can't believe they pay us money to play a kid's game. Thank goodness I was good at it. I only got a high school education and I had to cheat to get that. Who knows what I would have done without baseball. I was just a poor old country boy. For the longest time I even thought the last words of the national anthem were 'play ball'."

12-06-2025, 01:41 PM	#21
raysfan6 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: May 2017 Posts: 27	Outstanding Player: Liberty – 1B Ennio Campanaro (5), Philadelphia Ironclads (.320/.427/.678, 58 HR, 137 RBI, 9.3 WAR at 41! years old) Dominion – 2B Eric Kucharski, Portland Pioneers (.269/.391/.580, 47 HR, 104 RBI, 6.7 WAR) Pitcher of the Year: Liberty – SP David Grimm (9), Chicago Sentinels (14-5, 1.63 ERA, 0.68 FIP, 395 K’s, 14.1 WAR) Dominion – SP Steve Delmore (1), Oklahoma City Redhawks (15-4, 2.01 ERA, 1.87 FIP, 270 K’s, 9.2 WAR) Rookie of the Year: Jim Reed finished third in the Liberty League ROY voting. Reed put up a 9-12 record with a 2.98 ERA (3.22 FIP) in 202.1 innings in 2024. We hope to keep him around. We did not win any other awards. Marçall Camacho finished 12th in MVP voting. Bold indicates a new single season record. Number next to name indicates how many times player has won award in their career.

12-08-2025, 10:50 AM	#22
raysfan6 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: May 2017 Posts: 27	November 29th, 2025 Subject: Free Agents File This year's list of free agents is highlighted by these players: 28 yo LF Todd Phillips, ex-DEN, L/L//4, 1x AS 1x PS (platinum stick), career .310/.379/.479 109 HR, 32.4 WAR 35 yo SP David Fraser, ex-NOS, R/R/3, career 3.45 ERA/3.47 FIP, 28.5 WAR 36 yo 1B Craig Huff, ex-DAL, L/R/3.5, 1x MVP 10x AS 8x PS, career .302/.401/.545, 335 HR, 91.2 WAR 36 yo LF Ricky Rosta, ex-SDB, R/R/3.5, 1x MVP 8x AS 7x PS, career .277/.355/.531, 428 HR, 68.8 WAR 34 yo RP Andy Carter, ex-DAL, R/L/3.5, 5x AS 2x ROY (reliever of the year), career 3.11 ERA/3.05 FIP, 360 SV, 14.8 WAR 34 yo SP Tim Salas, ex-NOS, R/R/2.5, 1x AS, career 3.53 ERA/3.39 FIP, 40.9 WAR 28 yo SP, Tommy Crist, ex-DET, L/L/3.5, career 3.37 ERA,3.34 FIP, 16.9 WAR 33 yo LF Seth Small, ex-OAK, R/R/3, career .231/.297/.388, 115 HR, 10.0 WAR 37 yo SP David Smith, ex-MIL, L/L/3, 1x PS, career 3.73 ERA/3.73 FIP, 31.8 WAR 31 yo 3B Marco Sosa, ex-SFD, L/R/3, 1x AS, career .261/.349/.426, 115 HR, 24.6 WAR ********** I debated back and forth on whether I would extend Small a qualifying offer. I ended up doing so, and as you can see from above he declined it. After raising our player dev, IAFA and scouting budgets, we have just under $16 million to spend on free agents. My main target from here is pitching. We need at least one left handed reliever and possibly another starter, but only for the right price. I wouldn't expect us to sign any of the players listed above, and I’m not looking to overspend or offer too many multiyear deals just yet. Legend: age, position, name, former team, bat / throw/ overall rating, # all-star selections, awards (if any), career stats

12-09-2025, 10:46 AM	#23
raysfan6 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: May 2017 Posts: 27	Offseason Center 12/1/24: San Diego Brigadiers trade 10x AS and 38 year old closer Jeremy Argento to the Portland Pioneers for 3 prospects. Argento has 480 career saves and spent 3 years with the Commodores in 2016-2018. 12/7/24: San Francisco Dukes trade 3x AS and 36 year old 2B Eric Hopewell to the Chicago Sentinels for 5 prospects just one offseason after signing him to a 34 year contract. 12/16/24: Oakland Commodores sign LHP Nick Bakken to a 2 year, $12 million deal. The second year is a team option with a $600,000 buyout. ********** As a rather quiet offseason heads to the winter meetings, I continue to look for deals for the overpaid Hatton and another reliever. Nobody seems to be wanting to take Hatton’s $7.1 million over the next two seasons and I don’t blame them. We might be stuck with him for this upcoming season, which as a backup he’s not terrible, just overpaid. The signing of Bakken fills one of the left handed relievers I’ve been looking for. His splits heavily favor lefties but he’s competent versus righties as well. The options on the open market aren’t great aside from the aforementioned Andy Carter, but his price point is too high for me. The rule 5 draft might be the best place for me to find and answer, but I’ll also be talking to all the GM’s here at the meetings and seeing what’s out there.

12-10-2025, 10:52 AM	#24
raysfan6 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: May 2017 Posts: 27	December 24, 2024 I’m hard at work on Christmas eve doing some scouting for the rule 5 draft today. I’ve had to protect 1B Raffale Martinella as he might make the club out of spring training. As far as selections, I took SP Steve Sasso. A 4th round pick by the Portland Pioneers in 2020, Sasso has spent the past 3 seasons in AAA, where he put up a combined 8.1 WAR. His ratings aren’t off the charts (50 stuff, 50 movement, 40 control), but the southpaw will have the opportunity to fight for the last rotation spot. My next pick was right handed reliever Jonathan Bettis. Bettis has spent the past 4 seasons with the back to back champion Philadelphia Ironclads, although he has only ever pitched a maximum of 16.1 innings in a season, spending most of his time in the minors. Bettis has a great cutter and an average changeup, and with 55 stuff, 50 movement and 50 control he can compete for one of the last bullpen spots. ********** As the year comes to a close, none of the big free agent names have signed. I’m not looking to make a huge splash quite yet, but some of the medium tier players should lower their demands.

Yesterday, 10:51 AM	#25
raysfan6 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: May 2017 Posts: 27	Offseason Center 12/25/24: LHP Andy Carter signs a 2 year, $40.4 million contract with the Nashville Stars. He becomes the highest paid player on their roster. 12/29/24: The Charlotte Diamonds make a big move acquiring 32 year old SP Alberto Faijoo from the San Diego Brigadiers for 2 prospects. Faijoo, the 2018 LL Pitcher of the Year winner, is on an expiring contract and hopes to help Charlotte make the playoffs for a 6th successive year. 12/30/24: 1B Craig Huff signs a 2 year, $35.2 million contract with the Denver Crusaders. A questionable signing as the Crusaders already have star slugger Caspar Ford at first base. ******** The start of the new year brings a midway update to our development lab programs. SS Francisco Rubio, generate batspeed - frustrated 2B Guillermo Salvador, gap power - on track SP Jim Reed, improve control - frustrated 1B Raffale Martinella, generate batspeed - frustrated SS Jorge Gonzales, plate discipline - frustrated RP Javier Bueno, improve control - struggling 3B Sergej Pijnenburg, quality contact - excelling SP Bobby Tyree, improve control - on track 2B Do-Hyun Lee, plate discipline - excelling LF Leo Jimenez, two strike approach - on track These results aren’t amazing, but not entirely terrible. I’m not overly concerned about anyone and I won’t be making and changes. ****** Subject: Hall of Fame Welcomes Richard** How do you get to the United Baseball League Hall of Fame? Just hit 500 homers, get 3000 hits, win 300 games or perhaps just save 300 games. Not an easy task, is it? But occasionally it does happen -- it happened to the gifted center fielder Josh Richard, who retired at the age of 39. Josh Richard was recently inducted into the coveted shrine of hardball heroes by the Baseball Writers Association. Richard was always a favorite of the beat writers -- always quick with a quip and always willing to talk about the game -- but that's not why he got elected to the Hall of Fame. Richard played a good brand of baseball, too. He played in 2568 games, had 2262 hits, 552 home runs, 1474 RBIs and scored 1547 runs while batting .243 in his career. Reminiscing about his life in baseball, Richard said it all began by hitting grand slam homers in the last of the ninth in his backyard and ended up in the Hall of Fame. "It was quite a trip. I can't believe they pay us money to play a kid's game. Thank goodness I was good at it. I only got a high school education and I had to cheat to get that. Who knows what I would have done without baseball. I was just a poor old country boy. For the longest time I even thought the last words of the national anthem were 'play ball'."