Quote:
Originally Posted by pjh5165
Congrats on the back-to-back championships!
Looking forward to seeing who gets shipped off to Siberia this offseason.
|
This update should give you some insight.
---
November 18, 1993. The Raccoons awoke realizing that they now had six outfielders for the 1994 season. Vern Kinnear, Neil Reece, Alejandro Lopez, Bobby Quinn, Royce Green – and Daniel Hall, who had not signed a new contract, had been thought to leave or retire, but instead had accepted salary arbitration for being awarded the princely sum of $656k. I had been greedy and wanted the compensation pick. As far as roster management goes, the 1993 season may go down as the one I messed up the most.
Now, whom do we get rid of? I could write a very detailed paragraph for each of these six players, but actually we can’t get rid of any of them. The least damage would be done by trading on Royce Green. But still, I just shipped him in for three borderline players in Glenn Adams, Qi-zhen Geng, and Christian Proctor.
Now, I am aware that some consider the game to be too easy to betray in deals which have multiple players on one side, like these 3-for-1 trades. However, this is no steal. Geng and Proctor are highly-rated relievers. Geng is rated with 4 stars actually. That he has no room on the roster only shows you how loaded the Raccoons are with relievers, especially from the right side. Proctor his highly rated, but disappointed badly this season, but who hasn’t ever disappointed on this team? And Adams can be a very useful first baseman if you don’t happen to have two of them. Green will have a hard time playing on the first team here, actually. So the Aces get three players that could in theory help them immediately. We get another outfielder.
Bobby Quinn could be the odd man out, too. His skill set faints compared to Reece’s and Kinnear’s. But he can play first base effectively, too. So will we play with six outfielders next year? Holy goat, I don’t know. I just seem to know that I fudged up royally once again.
We need a left-handed reliever or a closer. The main point of interest here is whether Grant West can still reliably close games.
Another thing to take care of is the 40-man roster heading towards the rule 5 draft, and also our minor league system, which even after minor league free agency has an average 30 players on each level. We have to axe into that.
Lots of stuff to do.
---
Grant West can be solved quickest. He will be 37 at season’s start, in the final year of the 5-year, $2.625M contract he signed with us in 1988 (but it didn’t kick into effect until the 1990 season). Overall we will have paid $4,689,000 for his services over his career. It will not have been too much for 500+ saves. But he will not be our closer in 1994, and here is why:
As recently as 1991, West was rated 16/18/16 and kicked ass. He took a major hit to his stuff rating in 1993, losing seven points. For his whole career, West was between 7.5 and 9 K/9. Last season, he struck out 3.9 per nine innings. He posted career worsts in almost all categories you can measure: ERA (3.34), WHIP (1.28), OAVG (.247), ERA+ (119), L (6), BS (8, a tie with ’87), and the list continues. He will become a free agent at year’s end. I will not trade him, because basically, I don’t want to him to go anywhere else. A first round pick like Daniel Hall he belongs here, and nowhere else. Plus, contrary to Hall, he was born and raised in Portland. He is perhaps even more Raccoon than Hall.
We could try and start the season with him in the closer’s role. I just have a hunch that it will not end well. Better look for a badass closer now than having to watch him blow 12 saves next year. We want to finish in first place, and it will be hard with a closer letting up more than he has already in ’93.
So, we will take a close look at the free agent closers. Whom do we have here? Give your name, age, career ERA, career saves, and your salary wishes!
Matt Sims, 31, 2.38 ERA, 311 SV, $490k
Ricardo Medina, 30, 2.57 ERA, 167 SV, $700k
Rick Evans, 33, 2.83 ERA, 464 SV, $650k
Artie Saunders, 31, 2.95 ERA, 137 SV, $290k
Dennis Columpton, 33, 2.51 ERA, 119 SV, $370k
Medina goes off the list immediately. He is recovering from Tommy John surgery, and he will not do that on our books. Off the other four, Saunders and Columpton are jokes for closers. They also capitally lack in terms of stuff.
Sims would fit us best with a 72% groundball percentage and our rock solid infield defense. He has been a closer for the last eight years, with the Aces, Blue Sox, and Stars. His worst year was last year with a 3.82 ERA, and also 8 BS. His conversion was actually inferior to West’s: 37/45 to 45/53.
But both Vicente Guerra and OSA give him a 20 on his stuff. You are allowed to have a bad year. Sims, who throws right-handed, also is only a type B free agent, so we would not forfeit our #22 draft pick.
So let’s assume we go after Matt Sims. It may not be possible to get him for $490k, so let’s assume we get him for $600k per year. Our current budget room is $1.19M. This does not include players on the 40-man roster, which even before filling the roster for the rule 5 draft adds $860k to our expenses. So we don’t have the salary space necessary.
This raises the next question. Where to we cut salaries? Our current top 10 money drains are the following players:
2B/3B Mark Allen - $970k (will be free agent)
INF Jorge Salazar - $900k ($2.7M through 1996)
SP Kisho Saito - $850K ($4.65M through 1998)
SP Raimundo Beato - $670k (1.34M through 1995)
LF/RF Daniel Hall - $656k (will be free agent)
CL Grant West - $525k (will be free agent)
OF Neil Reece - $481k (will be arbitration eligible)
SP Jason Turner - $475k ($1.55M through 1996)
3B/1B Ben O’Morrissey - $450k ($1.5M through 1996)
C David Vinson - $375k ($1.65M through 1997)
You have to cut one of these to make any reasonable room on the budget.
If you ask me, there is only one sensible option.
Mark “Icon” Allen.