Usually like to start these posts off with a picture of the World Series trophy, but alas that isn't happening this year. Anyway, here's the news:
* Our market size has grown, from "Tiny" to "Small"
* Possibly as a result, my owner Stuart Sternberg has increased the payroll available to $220 million! This is kind of ridiculous to me, as with the talent we have in the system I need more payroll like Imelda Marcos needs more shoes (there's a dated reference). Accordingly, I have poured several millions more into scouting and player development.
* However, I will look to sign Jaiden Hardaway to an extension with all this extra money. I haven't signed an extension or a big contract in years, but he really is a special player.
* Nate Schultz, Victor de Jesus and Dayle Jenkins are all going into their final year of arbitration and will make $22M or more. They're all great players but I don't want to lose them for draft picks next winter so I will look to trade them for cheaper versions with team control left (a la the Aparicio for Hanna deal last winter) or prospects. My fan interest will crash but who cares, I have more money than I need.
* I also need to open up some 40-man roster spots. Leo Ortega is the only one leaving via free agency. Going to have to make some 2 for 1 or 3 for 1 deals involving 40-man guys as the following guys need to be protected or exposed to Rule 5: Andy Vasquez, Ricky Loya, Steve Abeles, Camren Nethercutt (he's injured so maybe not), Jim Harrell, Phil Hable, Steve Champagne, Mike Thomas, Chris Crabb. Not going to open up this many spots but Vasquez, Loya and Champagne are absolute musts.
Let the deals begin:
This deal was necessitated by the fact Tobar wouldn't agree to a minor league extension, so I dealt him for Burgess, another quality relief prospect who was only drafted last year.
Here's a big one:
Au revoir, Nate Schultz. Three excellent regular seasons, two World Series wins, and well we'll just forget about this year's playoffs. Roush deserves to play in the majors and yes it will be against us in the division but so be it. Alvarez was a "make it work" one-star guy. So what do we get? Carsello is pretty damn impressive:
The control may be an issue but he cut his walks substantially last year, otherwise he's a strikeout machine and an excellent starter. He's got 3 years of team control left and is pegged to make around $6M in his first year of arbitration this winter. Josh Hanna 2.0.
Another deal:
I guess his 75 defense and minimum contract made him a more valuable commodity than I expected, as Gutierrez brought me a decent starting pitching prospect in Moone, who was a second-round pick in this past summer's draft and is a lefty with potential 55 stuff and 60 control (45 movement, but nobody's perfect). This move opens up a 40-man spot for Andy Vasquez, who plays fine defense but has more of a bat than Gutierrez, important because starting SS Jeff Baez is "fragile".
Jaiden Hardaway contract extension!
Pretty reasonable considering he's baseball's best player and should win a third straight MVP. The only negative is that he turned 30 in July, so there will be some decline here. Still, though he's remarkably hit exactly .364 each of the last three seasons so we know what we're getting. This buys out 3 arb years + 2 free agent years and if the decline is severe, we can buy out 2040 for $8M.
Congrats, Kikuo!
This marks two straight seasons he's won this award.
November 8: The Silver Sluggers were announced, and our winners were Jaiden Hardaway (2B), Danny Ayala (LF), Dayle Jenkins (CF) and Jon Jimenez (DH).
November 9: Traded 29-year old RHP Edgar Rios to the Houston Astros, getting 23-year old minor league RHP Josh MacDonald in return.
The quest for open 40-man spots continues with Rios being shipped out. I have plenty of options to replace Rios in the pen, and MacDonald is one of those freaks like Raymher Costa that intrigues me. Take a look:
Incredible stuff, great movement....and terrible control. Look at the #s at the bottom for what he did at A ball last year, kind of silly. If we can just get control under control a little bit, he could be something, if nothing else he'll provide interesting lines in my minor league box scores to look at.
November 11: The Cy Young awards were announced and in the AL Minnesota's Jim Robinson took it. He led the league in pitcher WAR and was 13-4, 2.41 with 245 whiffs in 198 innings. Kevin Kerstetter finished 4th behind Robinson, Wil Diaz and Sean Nelson. My first-place vote for him was the only one he received. Josh Hanna was 5th and Nate Schultz was 7th. In the NL, the Cubs' Raul Robles won unanimously after going 13-8, 3.20 with 255 Ks in 194 IP, and he too led his league in pitcher WAR.
A three-peat for Jaiden:
Mets 1B Chris McLoughlin won the award in the NL after a .325-31-99 season which also saw him lead MLB in OPS (he had a .442 OBP).