Dark Cloud's Moneyball Dynasty

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WHO HAS ROOM TO SPEND? WHAT TEAMS ARE GETTING UP THERE?
1 Texas $87,901,600
2 Nevada $86,933,500
3 Boston $81,205,700
4 Los Angeles $67,514,115
5 Colorado $65,150,086
6 Anaheim $62,904,643
7 Philadelphia $60,405,910
8 New York (A) $60,181,043
9 Chicago (N) $59,297,043
10 San Francisco $59,203,271
11 Atlanta $58,810,586
12 Kansas City $56,971,972
13 Cincinnati $56,451,357
14 Chicago (A) $55,633,844
15 Toronto $53,403,015
16 Arizona $52,315,843
17 Houston $51,550,215
18 New York (N) $49,356,515
19 Florida $47,479,015
20 Washington $46,925,086
21 Pittsburgh $44,151,229
22 Hartford $43,395,714
23 Oakland $42,876,771
24 Milwaukee $41,965,086
25 Cleveland $41,209,787
26 San Diego $40,067,372
27 Seattle $38,489,200
28 Detroit $37,762,457
29 St. Louis $37,395,243
30 Tampa Bay $30,972,300
31 Minnesota $29,458,843
32 Baltimore $28,980,485

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The World Series champion Florida Marlins hired John McClaren as their new manager today. McClaren has spent over a decade working on the staff of Lou Pinella in his stops in Cincinnati, Seattle and most recently, Tampa.

The Nevada Silverhawks dismissed manager Ryne Sandberg today. Sandberg was the first manager in franchise history and led the team to their first winning season this year. His career record with the team was 206-273.

Dark Cloud said the team would be considering other candidates and should make a decision in the next week or two.

Other new managers around the league include the Mets, who hired former closer and NY native John Franco as their manager. The Hartford Knights hired former White Sox manager Jerry Manuel as their new manager.

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BROOKLYN - Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria wants to return baseball back to Brooklyn, NY. As expected the owner of the World Champs wants to take the team out of its South Florida home, after "tiring" over the rankling for a new stadium.

Loria bought the minor league Brooklyn Cyclones three years ago, but few batted an eyelash when he did so. Their home, Keyspan Park would be expanded and prepared for a major league team and the minor league club would likely move - to Florida.

"We want to return baseball to this mecca. Baseball belongs in Brooklyn and this time, to stay," said Loria. The Marlins are approaching their fifthteenth anniversary and have won three World Series titles, the most of any expansion franchise in Major League history.

"We want this team to be the franchise for the next generation of Brooklynites," he said. Many of the fans of the area said they were "thrilled" at the news, especially since the team was good. The area got the Brooklyn Nets NBA team from New Jersey last year, so this would be the crowning jewel.

The move would be official in 2009. Their lease in Miami ends next season and the renovations to the stadium would be completed in 2010, but the team will be able to play at Shea Stadium in Queens until the stadium is completed.

The Mets new stadium, Chase Manhattan Stadium will be completed in 2010. MLB owners are expected to approve the move this week, along with the move of the Oakland Athletics to Portland, Oregon.

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SALE OF MINNESOTA TWINS APPROVED
NEW ORLEANS - The sale of the Minnesota Twins to a group headed by NBA great Magic Johnson and MLB Hall of Famer Paul Molitor was approved today. Molitor will be Team President, while Johnson joins baseball as the first African-American owner. "We're delighted to have Mr. Johnson among us," said Angels owner Artie Moreno, who was baseball's first minority owner.

This means ground will break in the spring on the team's new downtown stadium called 3M Ballpark. The naming rights deal was worth $20 million over 10 years.

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LAS VEGAS – The Nevada Silverhawks, preparing for what was promised to be a busy off-season made their first major acquisition yesterday, inking SP Adam Wainwright to a six year deal worth $72 million. Wainwright, 26, split last season between Kansas City and Toronto and was tenth in the majors in wins and 4th in ERA. He was 14-5 with a 2.96 ERA with 166 strikeouts.

“We’re delighted to get a top light starter like Adam to join our already developing staff,” said Dark Cloud.

The team dealt OF Ichiro Suzuki back to the Yankees for a minor leaguer and acquired a minor leaguer from the LA Dodgers for MRs Harry Gilmore and Damaso Marte.

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LAS VEGAS – Ushering in a “new era” in Silverhawks baseball, Dark Cloud today hired former Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston as the club’s manager. Gaston led the Jays of the late 1980s and early 1990s to four division titles in five years and two World Series titles, arguably the most successful stretch of any team in recent memory, until the Yankees of the late 1990s and 2000s.

“I think it’s a real commentary that a man of his caliber didn’t get a job until now. But I’m delighted that we had the opportunity to bring him here,” said Dark Cloud.

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YANKEES: CF Rocco Baldelli $24 million/5 years
SAN FRANCISCO: CF Andruw Jones $23 million/3 years
MILWAUKEE: 2B Brandon Phillips $32.94/4 years
BALTIMORE: C J.D. Closser $18m/3 years

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LAS VEGAS – The Nevada Silverhawks signed perennial All-Star and future Canadian Hall of Famer Larry Walker to a 1 year deal worth $7 million. Walker will star in Right Field, but will also play time at DH throughout the season and gives the team depth.

The ‘hawks also signed 2B Sean Burroughs to a four year deal worth $11.2 million. “The Silverhawks are putting themselves in a position to win,” said Burroughs. “I’m excited to join this club,” he said. Burroughs will compete for the second base job and will see time at third.

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TORONTO – Blue Jays 3B Eric Hinske was on the Silverhawks target list this off-season. But after making their latest offer of close to $12 million per year for seven years, the Hawks cut off talks. “We believe we have made a fair offer to a player of his caliber,” said Dark Cloud. With the team’s salary already close to bloating over $100 million, Dark Cloud said he’s taking a very cautious approach to spending more on players who might have marginal influence on the team. “We’ve lacked depth over the years and I’d like to alleviate that with our signings this off-season. But we want to be careful not to tie ourselves too much with players that can’t help us or that we can’t shed if things fail to work out,” he said.


Hinske is considering an offer from the Washington Spirit, as well as deals from Hartford, Toronto and the Yankees. He hit .277 last season with 27 homers and 88 RBI, ending a streak of five straight 100+ RBI seasons.

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The Texas Rangers, who have led baseball with the largest payroll over the past several years are courting free agent outfield Vlad Guerrero. After four outstanding years with Baltimore, he is looking to improve on a deal that paid him $19.75 million per season and the Rangers might just do it, despite already having big contracts with Manny Ramirez, Nomar Garciaparra, Pedro Martinez among others on their roster. The Rangers won 100 games last year, but lost in the playoffs. Owner Tom Hicks wants to change that, with fan interest at an all-time high. Baltimore, Boston and the Yankees have all made offers to Guerrero and are considered in the running.

The Florida Marlins are putting in a pitch for SP Javier Vasquez. The 31 year old starter split time last season in Texas and Los Angeles, going 14-8 with a 3.55 ERA. The defending champs are fighting to beat out the wallets of Hartford, the White Sox and Angels among others.

The Knights of Hartford are putting in another big pitch for OF Austin Kearns. Kearns, 27, spent the last 2 ½ seasons in Milwaukee and is considering deals from Toronto among others. He hit 24 homers with 73 RBIs last season.

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FREE AGENT SIGNINGS THIS OFFSEASON
ST LOUIS SP Brandon Claussen 3 yrs/16.8 mil
NY METS SP Ismael Valdes 3 yrs/12 mil
NY METS 3B Eric Hinske 7 yrs/$109.2 mil
KANSAS CITY: RF Austin Kearns 4 yrs/$43.4 mil
TAMPA BAY: RF Vlad Guerrero 4 yrs/$83.22 mil
ANAHEIM: CF Alex Escobar 3 yrs/$32.53 mil
FLORIDA: SP Javier Vasquez 4 yrs/$44.6 mil

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The baseball owners hired former National League President Leonard Hamilton as the next Commissioner of baseball. Hamilton came up with the idea to retire Jackie Robinson’s #42 on every major league, a move that was replicated in hockey for Wayne Gretzky.

The owners approved the Oakland A’s proposal to move to Portland, Oregon beginning at the end of the 2008 season. “We’re appreciative that the owners could see that this move was beneficial for our club and baseball as a whole,” said A’s owner Steve Schott.

The defending World Series champion Florida Marlins are also on the move, returning National League baseball to Brooklyn, NY for the first time since the Dodgers moved in the 1950s. The team will play at an expanded Keyspan Park and the Brooklyn Cyclones minor league club will relocate. The team will play temporarily at Shea Stadium in 2009, before moving to their new park in 2010. The Mets will build a new ballpark, tentatively named Chase Manhattan Field, construction will begin in 2009.

The Yankees are considering plans for a new home ballpark, as are the Boston Red Sox, who have a tentative agreement for a new ballpark in Roxbury, much to the dismay of many of their fans, who wanted the park to be located at its current home. “Fenway Park is a landmark. A first-class ballclub needs a first class ballpark,” said owner John Henry.

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1 Nevada $112,008,043
2 Texas $107,754,000
3 Boston $103,253,100
4 Kansas City $87,021,572
5 Anaheim $85,816,843
6 Los Angeles $82,136,215
7 Colorado $81,631,386
8 Chicago (N) $75,459,443
9 Arizona $74,670,743
10 New York (N) $74,237,415
11 Cincinnati $72,945,557
12 New York (A) $72,778,215
13 Pittsburgh $68,104,029
14 Atlanta $67,862,986
15 San Francisco $67,852,071
16 Tampa Bay $65,392,600
17 Florida $63,713,315
18 Philadelphia $63,375,910
19 Chicago (A) $62,167,044
20 Toronto $60,018,215
21 Milwaukee $57,183,186
22 Baltimore $55,982,185
23 Cleveland $54,934,715
24 Washington $54,462,386
25 Houston $52,954,915
26 San Diego $51,899,772
27 St. Louis $48,664,843
28 Detroit $48,369,514
29 Minnesota $48,005,043
30 Oakland $46,339,471
31 Seattle $46,197,500
32 Hartford $44,247,014

HIGHEST PAID PLAYERS

# Pos Name Team Salary
1 RF Vladimir Guerrero
TB $20,803,300
2 P Kurt Ainsworth
NEV $20,000,000
3 P Pedro Martinez
TEX $18,690,000
4 LF Albert Pujols
CHA $17,860,000
5 SS Alex Rodriguez
BOS $17,188,500
6 P Barry Zito
BOS $16,900,000
7 3B Eric Hinske
NYN $15,650,000
8 RF Adam Dunn
NEV $15,000,000
9 P Josh Fogg
TOR $14,420,000
10 2B Ramon Castro
KC $13,270,000
11 SS Derek Jeter
NYA $13,230,000
12 P Odalis Perez
COL $13,108,400
13 LF Manny Ramirez
TEX $13,090,000
14 P Rafael Soriano
ARZ $13,082,800
15 LF Brian Giles
PIT $12,514,800
16 P Johan A. Santana
SFN $12,426,800
17 1B Carlos Delgado
TOR $12,410,000
18 P Adam Wainwright
NEV $12,000,000
19 1B Jason Giambi
NYA $11,200,000
20 P Mark Prior
NEV $11,000,000
21 SS Miguel Tejada
ARZ $10,951,700
22 RF Austin Kearns
KC $10,847,500
23 CF Alex Escobar
ANA $10,841,600
24 RF Shawn Green
LA $10,460,000
25 LF Chipper Jones
CIN $10,379,400

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So, the title of this dynasty might seem ill named. After all, Moneyball was named after the small market Oakland A’s and the Silverhawks are a high flying bunch of free spenders. But here’s the deal. The Silverhawks are beginning to model themselves after another team that developed itself through its farm system, while augmenting their roster with free agents. That’s right, we’re modeling ourselves – inadvertently – after the Atlanta Braves.

What we’re running into now is a situation where we have so many prospects who are about to develop and are ready or almost ready for the majors, that I’m not really sure the direction we’re headed. On one token, we can deal players and get even younger prospects who might be ready someday. Or we can keep the guys in the minors for a little while longer, before brining up players and dealing the expensive vets we’ve signed. There are myriad ideas that we haven’t quite figured out yet, but…just realize that we’ve still managed to produce more than a few prospects in this going into our fourth year of existence.

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Will the Hawks be high flyers or will the team sputter into the place where rich teams go to die? The Silverhawks have one of the best rotations on paper in baseball, not to mention one of the most potential offenses. But the question will be, can the pitching hold up in Vegas?

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The Silverhawks are off to a slow start. The offense simply isn’t getting off the ground. As of May 15th, the team was 11 games under .500. “We’re sputtering and so, you can expect that we’ll make some changes,” said Dark Cloud.

The team’s pitching staff is having problems getting wins and the team is considering dealing a top starter. “I’m not sure we can afford to play an entire season with a payroll this high and lose games. I think the team will develop as time goes on, we just have to find the right formula and its evident we haven’t got it yet,” he added.

Kurt Ainsworth was 0-3 with an ERA over 8 after four starts and team ERA is near the bottom of the league, despite having one of the most expensive rotations in the game.

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The Yankees have been wheeling and dealing. They sent CF Mike Cameron (.223/16/54 in 471 ABs last season) to Atlanta for SP Colby Lewis and 2 minor leaguers. Lewis was 12-5 last year in 22 starts. This season, he started off really slowly, going 1-3 with a 9.39 ERA in four starts.

The Yanks then dealt their longtime captain and starting SS Derek Jeter (.268/15/68 in 447 ABs last season) to Houston for two minor league prospects. Jeter, 33, is making over $13 million this year and has two years left on his contract. He’s only been in one All-Star game since the 2003, but has maintained a career batting average over .300.

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The Silverhawks have made a flurry of deals after starting the season with the highest payroll in baseball, but with little else to show for it.

The Hawks sent CF Joe Borchard (.277/22/97 last season) to Florida for 1B Mike Sweeney (.243/24/83 last year)
They acquired 3B Matt Holliday (.301/27/94 last season), 28, who made his first all-star game last year for three players, 3B Jared Sandberg (.258/31/85 last season), SP Nick Touchstone (11-8, 4.15 last season) and a minor leaguer.
The team then sent P Shawn Sedlacek to Milwaukee for P Brad Lidge

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The highest paid pitcher in baseball is going north. The Nevada Silverhawks today sent their ace SP Kurt Ainsworth along with a minor leaguer to the Toronto Blue Jays for SP Roy Halladay and SP Francisco Rosario, both who are free agents at the end of this season and neither of which has been signed yet.

The deal will save the Silverhawks close to $7 million this year, moving the Silverhawks to third in ML Salary.

The team then dealt 3B Matt Holliday to Texas for 3B Mark Texieria and a minor leaguer.

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May 17, 2008 - The Las Vegas Sun
SOMEBODY THROW DC A LIFE PRESERVER
by Bob Virdsky
Now look, I realize that Nevada would not have Major League Baseball, if Dark Cloud hadn't come here to convince MLB that local business, tourists and the like could support baseball in the smallest market in the game. We can also thank him for helping convince the NBA to bring a team here after the Silverhawks proved the market was viable.

We now have a team many envy. Our ownership group spends money freely, we play in one of baseball's best new ballparks and though we're experiencing some growing pains, things are okay in the place becoming affectionately known as "Hawk Country."

But they guy has to realize his own limits. Maybe the work of building a franchise over the years has him tired, making him think irrationally. Have you seen the players they've signed over the past few years? Washed up major leaguers, who he quickly scuttles for nothing. Now, we have the third highest payroll in baseball, our team is in the worst funk we've seen them in and what does he do? Trade our best player because he had a slump.

How many teams trade 17-game winners at the drop of a hat? They don't! Dark Cloud needs to hire a seasoned General Manager to ensure this team can realize its full potential. Look at some of our talent around the league developing.

R.J. Swindle, the guy who supposed to be OUR Roger Clemens, is now pitching for the Chicago Cubs. He's finally coming into his own, 5-2 with a 1.95 ERA in eight starts. Tetsuya Yamaguchi, the Japanese sensation that we gave a long-term deal to? Yup, in Chicago too, where batters are hitting a microscopic .195 off of him.

At 26, Nick Touchstone was just beginning to find himself as a premier starter. And he'll find himself on Lake Erie, playing for the Cleveland Indians. Those are three young kids with front-line starting potential we've scuttled in just the past few years.

All he needs is someone to relax his trigger finger. Tell him to calm down! We're going places, but if he trades off all of our talent, we're going to stop looking like an organization in the Braves model and look more like the Diamondbacks or worse, Montreal Expos (Remember them?) who sell off all their high price talent, only to take on bad contracts.

With record-high levels of attendance projected this year (over 4.1 million), the 'Hawks management better realize that Honeymoons are meant to end and if this team can't win or hold onto players that might someday help it win, it will be over faster than anyone realizes.