Well we're heading into an even-numbered year so the World Series is in the bag, right?
State of the team right now: We've been given up to $180M in payroll to work with, but as always we're striving to come in well below that. Nate Thompson is our only free agent of significance (of course the owner wants me to re-sign him) and here's the salary situation (anyone not listed is making the minimum):
In some ways, 2040 will be the "last hurrah" with this core, as Jaiden Hardaway, Danny Ayala, Tim Gates and Kikuo Kawase are all slated to be free agents at year's end. Keeping everyone will cost $181M so there will be some moves. As for those above, I definitely will be shopping Dorminy (what a disaster) and Balladares (pitched decently for us but I have just as good if not better pitchers who won't cost $6M). That's $13M off. Others who may go: Gates with the one year of team control at $10M, Ron Adams, who had his control downgraded to 45 as he was wild late in the year and at $8.9M, and Joe Trader, a decent but somewhat fungible lefty reliever at $2.7M. Jeff Baez's fragility makes me likely to keep Ramon Ruiz, even if $3.8M is a bit much for a backup middle infielder. Gates and Adams are an either/or, I'm not going to create two holes in the rotation. Finally, Mike McKee is really expensive at $16.2M, but he was missed down the stretch and in the playoffs and is the best catcher in the game, so the chances of me trading him are very slim unless somehow I can acquire another top-notch catcher.
Others who could be traded are youngsters from my glut of outfielders. Ben Hill had a nice year even if he did tail off, but while he can hit for average and power he doesn't walk and is horrible in the field. Ray Cervantes is another great hitting prospect who can't field and I need to get more at-bats for Pat Moyer, who can, as well as Jose Mendez, who can also do it all.
Meanwhile, here's a look at our top 10 prospects. We've kind of rebuilt the farm system through trades and some players taking steps forward:
Mike Willis, our top prospect, is another guy I've had a hard time finding room for as well. His profile is a high-average, doubles/triples guy without a lot of over-the-fence power who draws walks (a .400 OBP is not out of the question), and he's good for 40 SB. One would think with this profile he'd be a pretty good defensive OF but no, he's a 45 in LF. He's also another lefty hitter with a pronounced but not ridiculous negative split against lefties. Willis has spent the last two years at Durham, and as long as we have Jaiden Hardaway he's not going to be our leadoff hitter. His morale is cratering, listed as "angry", so he may be shopped as well although I'd like to have him around in 2041.
I've mentioned Forbes before and depending on how things shake out, he could get a shot at the rotation. Williams, meanwhile, is our Jaiden Hardaway heir apparent as he has a lot of the same skill set as J-Hard, profiling as potentially 60 or better in all the batting ratings. He was acquired from Pittsburgh during last season for a couple of pitching prospects I'm not real high on anymore, including former 1st-round pick Chad Huthmacher.
Bottom line is it's going to be an interesting off-season with deals aplenty.