The IBL's Chicago Iron Pigs

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For 2 years the bullpen has been a problem. Since Pennington left the absence of a go to lefty has hurt, this post season was a prime example.
Carlson and Plazewski are free agents and we will not resign either. That leaves Andre, and now 24 year old Marcos Ximenes as our top 2 lefties.
Shane's offense plummeted and his September slump lasted through the post season. He can still catch, but so can Vela, and Moore is clearly ready to hit and catch up here. And the need to shed payroll is present as well.

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Jeffrey Hudson takes home his 2nd MVP (2017). John Drake wins his 2nd consecutive Koufax, former Iron Pig Chance Holt wins the Rivera in the FL.

Lorenzo Bermudez goes from 2023 Rookie of the Year to 2025 MVP. Angelo Esparza takes home a record 4th Koufax award. Dale Picot wins his 2nd consecutive Rivera award.

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BUDGET NEWS
Our budget for 2025 is set at 162M, with, right now, the leagues highest payroll, again. That will have to come down per Mr Marquis request. There is a more pressing conversation though. We have the money, he has the money, the team is winning. Yes the World Series has eluded us a few times, but getting there, to me, is the achievement. We clearly don't see eye to eye, and that's a problem for me. Curious to know what he'd think if I was potentially to go somewhere else? Or leave all together?

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Ramon Castro, unfortunately, is a super 2. That's gonna hurt. He's looking at 6.4-7M in arbitration. I am making a multi-year offer to help reduce the next few years a bit if possible.
The big news is Earl Shaw. He will be offered arbitration (9.44M) but I can't fathom he takes it. Asmin Swagat, at 20, is set to become the Chicago DH for the next 10-15 years hopefully. He's the 1st player out of our International Camp to make the IBL. He's one of the highest ranked hitting prospects in the leagues history.

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30th
Iron Pigs ink Castro to 4 year deal
Ramon Castro and Chicago have announced a 4 year 28.48M dollar contract extension. The deal will give him a base of 5.3/6.3/7.3/9.3, saving quite a bit in the first 2 years at least. The deal will run through his age 30 season.

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ARBITRATION RESULTS
Ernesto Martinez asked for 4.9, was offered 4.6, player won
Jeremy Hamlyn asked for 1M, was offered 650K, team won
Brandon Andre asked for 2.96M, was offered 2.4, team won

FREE AGENTS FILE

As expected Earl Shaw has declined arbitration.
In other news, a huge star out of Taiwan has entered the IBL free agent market.
25 year old Bing “Real Deal” Kang, a 3B. He's looking for a 19+ million dollar deal, annually. Apparently he's got the bat to demand it, huge power, 100+ BB eye, and is a gold glove candidate at 3rd. Should shake it up a bit. Don't imagine Will Lee is particularly happy about it.

With our payroll we're sellers for the most part. We certainly won't be working at the top end of the market. I will be looking for another lefty for the pen though.

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El Paso gets a SP and a new Closer this week. 6 trades in all.

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IBL SINGLE SEASON RECORD: BATTING AVERAGE
.3822 Jeffrey Hudson (CHI) '24
.3785 Luis Chavez (CHI) '24
.3690 Richard Lozano FA '23
.3687 Gregory McCain RET '14
,3680 Jesus Andrales (WMI) '15

11/26
Shaw and Hooks agree
First big ticket FA signs, and it's Earl Shaw, with Corpus Christi, for big money. We'll get a supplemental pick for it, and it's something we'd planned on, but he's going to be real real good for a long time. He'll also be hitting along side former Iron Pig Ron Miller.

Chicago, Boston swap
Boston must have liked what it saw of Cesar Cordero in the world series, today sending SP prospect Bud Stevenson and their 2nd round pick to Chicago for Cordero and a 3rd.
Our scouts have felt he's the ultimate over achiever, and 'sell high' was the smart play. With Battle, Cruz and Harvey we have more than enough depth in center.

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12/1
In a move to trade a rule 5 eligible player rather than lose him in the draft, we sent 2 power hitting OF prospects to San Antonio for a SP prospect and got our 3rd pick back as well. Schneider and McGee are big time power bats in projections but will never be average or OBP guys. Schneider is a natural CF, McGee LF, and both are outstanding defenders. Martinez was the Silver Stars 1st rounder (26th overall) in 2022 out of Puerto Rico-Utuado University.

12/3
Couple of big time closers sign. The world champs lose their closer. Apparently they're moving “Wild Man” Shimizu into the role.....
Also, those are both 11M+ per year deals. That's some big money.

12/4
San Antonio signs the big ticket 3B from Taiwan. Heard he was after 19, ended up with 3 x 14.7. That gets the Silver Stars right back to the top of the Southern next year.

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A slew of deals, and 3 signings. Everyone's waiting to see where Greene lands.



And a ton of trades, El Paso is making serious moves to revamp the roster.

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Just one press conference today. The Coastal leagues 2nd best rotation gets 19 game winner Cordell Bond.

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Nothing happened on day 3, but day 4 marks at least the 2nd, if not the 3rd time one of the reigning Rookies of the Year is dealt.

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3 deals on the final day.

Truth be told we have had multiple conversations with multiple teams that have included both Chavez and Hudson's name. This mandate of not being allowed the highest payroll is already causing issues, and stress. Problem is few teams can take on the salary, Philly has talked about a Chavez/or Hudson for Quinn swap, which would save us 4-5M, and we threw in Blakeway for Merritt, moving the savings up to 7-8M. I just can't pull the trigger at the moment.

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A ton of signings, and trades. We were extremely active.
In the 1st deal we sent Rodriguez to the Yankees for Max Ogelthorpe, a surplus OF for a utility IF with the ability to play ++ defense all over the infield.

In the 2nd deal we sort of shocked some folks, especially season ticket holders. Sending Alex Vela and top 2B prospect Class van der Ham to Philadelphia for a stud SP prospect in Tim Haynes and an outstanding C prospect in John Copeland. This move was made more for Guillermo Rodriguez than Alex Vela. Vela had a great season and is a very good defensive catcher, but Rodriguez is an elite bat, middle of the order power and average. He and Ron Moore are just 24 and 23 respectively and 5 star prospects. Additionally we have Ruben Hernandez who'll catch at AAA, and Copeland, who we got back in the deal, will go to AA. We're stacked at catcher. van der Ham was made expendable with Ron Wilton at Tulsa, and Hudson still with a few years to go.

In the final deal we needed room on the 40 man and have our share of RH relief prospects, so we worked hard to move up into the top of the 1st round, and we did, getting the 6th overall pick from New Orleans (who had the 3rd and 6th pick) in a swap of picks and some relief prospects.

Some huge contracts handed out, and Tony Greene ends up coming back into my division, yippee....

Whimster gets another monster deal, this time from the Bulldogs, who end up signing two big bats.

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Slowing down a bit. Still some big ticket guys out there (Becerra, Lozano, Collins) and their price is coming down.

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Another trade, clearing a roster spot for Cruz to rejoin, and moving another RH RP while gaining spots in both the 1st and 2nd round.

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Rumors out of Chicago have been circulating, GM Curt Schilling and owner Omar Marquis have had a falling out, and Schilling is said to be considering 'walking away' from the job in Chicago. Insiders have pointed to Mr. Marquis 3 sons as the culprit(s), mentioning their burgeoning influence on day to day operations and apparently their decision to restrict team payroll despite 13 consecutive playoff appearances, and 7 straight pennants.

Stay tuned.....

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This was the lead story on Baseball Tonight. The competition for GM Schilling should rival the pursuit of NBA legend Phil Jackson.

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Chicago Iron Pigs General Manager Curt Schilling has issued a statement.

"It has been an honor these past 13 years to be a part of building what I believe to be the best organization in the game. Mr. Marquis has been like a father to me, and I hope we remain friends as I move on. Returning 'home' has been something weighing heavily, and the opportunity was too good to pass up"

This press release was quickly followed by this one, out of Anchorage, where Mr. Schilling was born.