[Westheim]

Rico was signed for $112,000 in the July 2015 International Free Agency period. He was moved from the international complex to Aumsville in 2018 aged 19, going 3-6 with a 4.09 ERA in 12 starts. He played at all three minor league levels in 2020 and made the jump to the majors in '22 and is still sticking, currently at 33-30 and a 3.44 ERA in 83 starts.

I would wish for him to whiff more than 6.1/9 (career rate), but since he is only marginable above that mark this year, I don't think there's much hope for him to whiff 200 one year.

Gutierrez is actually a weird signing; during the 2015 IFA period we were after a number of players, but money was a bit on the tight side for a while. I initially bid on Rico, but then dropped both him and Ismael Pastor from our pursuit list to nail down another starting pitcher, Manny Gomez. The price on that guy rose to $420k by the All Star Game, which was a bit too insane, I did a 180, and instead picked up Gutierrez and Pastor for much cheaper.

Now, while signing Gomez would have blown us through the soft cap completely, the effect on the 2016 period would have been negligible. The only success ("success") out of that one was Daniel Bullock, and technically Marco Vallejo (since an Elk), and both would have come us less than the scratch minimum at the highest penalty level.

Pastor, 25, has never made the majors so far, but he was a key piece in the 2021 trade that sent Michael Foreman back to the Loggers for Jarod Spencer and Greg Borg (along with a useless reliever).

And Manny Gomez? The Condors blasted $550k on him, then traded him to the Thunder for Jim Bryant in '19. Gomez was a #76 prospect at one point, but right now he is a 25-year-old right-handed reliever with 272 career games (zero starts) and a 4.35 ERA along with 5.5 K/9. In short, I did it right at that occasion.

Fun fact: in 172 outings as a professional, Rico has never come on in relief.