Took the better part of 3 hours to import this save into OOTP22 this morning, but we're in the new game now and made a deal:
Benford deserves to start somewhere but he was down our pecking order, so I turned him into Baez, a slick-fielding shortstop with some pop:
(Yes, I'm using the dark colors for the game, I'll likely switch back to the classic woodgrain)
Also I've made the decision that I'm gonna keep Connor Kirkley, he was too good to trade. What this means is that either he or Jaiden Hardaway will be the DH, with a lot of rotation going on with him, Victor de Jesus and Rodolfo Rivas again. So this is my current roster projection for 2032:
C-Corpus, Runnels (I may deal Runnels and go with Will Quintana)
1B-Rivas
2B-Kirkley
SS-Widmar
3B-Witt
IF-Ayers
LF-Clark
CF-Dominguez
RF-Jenkins
DH-Hardaway
1B/OF-de Jesus
OF-Hodges
SP-Aparicio, Hayes, Little, Sachais, Soranno
MR-Ballmann, Thompson, Mooney, Medina(?)
SU-Siqueiros, Whiteleather
CL-Alvarado, J.Diaz
Medina is Danny Medina, a very similar pitcher to Nate Thompson, could be an electric starter but will pitch middle relief, he's out of options so he'll have to be kept.
December 7: Eloy Jimenez signs a 3/45.6 deal with the Columbus Lightning, as they make their biggest free agent splash in recent memory. He'll give them a fearsome middle of the order with Victor Mesa Jr. and Cristhian Rodriguez.
December 8: I'm thankful we'll be only be seeing Joe Allen in two series/year rather than six as the former Yankee slugger signed a 5/73.4 deal with Cleveland.
December 14: Matt Manning re-upped with Arizona on a 5/95 deal, while Mookie Betts moved across town (technically out to Orange County) to the Angels on a 3/49.2 deal. Although Betts is 39, he's still a top-notch player as he's coming off a season where he went .305-24-98 with 5.1 WAR.
December 17: Two big-name starters signed with new teams. Jack Flaherty, up until recently the best pitcher in the NL before his stuff took a dive off a cliff (now 35), signed a 3/52 deal with Houston. He was 13-11, 4.29 with only 104 whiffs in 201 IP so I kind of doubt that deal with hold up. Forrest Whitley, who bounced back to have a great season with the Yankees last year (15-7, 3.26, 4.7 WAR) inked a 4/72.8 pact with division rival Toronto.
December 18: The Astros remained active, going all-in on veterans. First they signed the top C on the free agent market, Bo Naylor, to a 5/54.8 deal, and then they acquired old friend Austin Meadows from the Dodgers, a shell of the player he was in his Rays days. Meadows is now "wrecked" and accumulated only 1.1 total WAR the past two seasons, playing in 168 games. The Angels acquired 37-year-old Andrew Benintendi from the Mariners, who keeps doing his 270/340/410 thing earning about 2.5-3 WAR per year. And the Yankees gave up on Jamie Oberton, the #1 overall pick in the 2026 draft who's been a mediocre middle reliever for them the last couple of years, shipping him to Washington for a relief prospect.
December 21: Added Ps Kevin Lovetere, Jeremy Allen and Gil Wayne, and OFs Omar Rodriguez and Nate Boesel to the 40-man roster.
The Rule 5 Draft is tomorrow, and these were all easy adds. Who might we lose? I predicted Chris Hicks last year but Washington gave him back and now he's on our 40-man. This year the leading candidates seem to be SP Mike Champagne, RP Ian Haley, RP Felix Bejerano,1B Jose Escobar, OFs Brandon Applebee, Devon Tuley and Emilio Mireles. A vet like Osmy Gregorio could also go.
December 22: Well that was a bust of a Rule 5 draft, only two players were taken and neither are worth mentioning.
December 30: The Angels continue to be MLB's old folks' home; after signing the 39-year-old Mookie Betts today they came to terms with 38-year-old SS Francisco Lindor on a 3/60.6 deal. After a 5.8 WAR season in 2030, Lindor kind of fell off a cliff last year, only generating 1.1 WAR on a 250/331/411 season with 19 HR and 62 RBI. Also Miguel "have bat, will travel" Andujar signed a 1/8 deal with the active Houston Astros where he'll try to replicate his typical 25 HR, 75 RBI season once again.
December 31: The Yankees were busy shoring up their bullpen today, re-signing Joe Jimenez to be their closer on a 2/14.8 deal and bringing in the top Korean import this winter, reliever Ji-Hoon Yoo, who has 80 stuff but 40 movement to a 2/12.8 deal. The big signing of the day was Arizona coming to terms with longtime Boston 1B Ryan Mountcastle on a 4/73.6 pact. The 34-year-old is coming off a bit of a down year, slipping to 2.5 WAR with a .281-15-79 season.