Sometimes, as they say, you gotta risk it to get the biscuit...
These negotiations began with us trying to trade for Ray Dandridge because I just feel we are undermanned in the infield, particularly if one of our starters goes down. He is a plus-defender at 2B/3B/SS and, despite being a bit light of bat, a perfect fit for us.
In the course of the to-ing and fro-ing, just as a laugh really although there was obviously some intent there as well on my part, I threw out the other name. Long story, short - this is the deal we have just signed off on - our first trade in three years.
Let's cover the most important part of this blockbuster - Josh is a FA at the end of the 1935 season. I knew that when I entered into the trade and, while I knew we were going to have to sacrifice some good young talent to get him, I was not going to trade away the franchise. Paul Derringer, Jimmy Foxx and Bill Lee were all thrown up by them and knocked down by us.
The Drafting of Ken O'Dea made Earl Grace expendable; same goes the acquisition of Leroy Matlock and our depth in the pitching ranks for Bobo Newsom and Bill Swift. The two minor-league lads were unlikely to ever see action with the parent club.
So, now we have to try and put a package together that keeps Josh at Forbes Field without breaking the bank. The $25k left over from the departure of Trent and O'Doul after Leroy's salary, plus the $10-15k per that Earl would have been looking for once team control had finished at the end of next season, gives us a decent enough war-chest. That said, some belt-tightening will still be in order and we'll need to start watching every penny. Furthermore, Earl Combs' team option for 1937 is now no longer an option.
As it turns out, he is more than open to re-signing and his opening gambit is a 9-year $255k deal with an opt-out after Year 4 and a couple player options for the final two seasons. I counter with a $240k offer with the opt-out and Player Options removed, and a Team Option instead for Year 9. It is slightly back-ended for after Wells, Bill Foster and a few others' contracts will have run their course. In other words, totally manageable.
While he is mulling that over, I dangle a few players on the Waiver Wire that we are happy to salary dump: Ray Benge, Boom-Boom Beck and Gus Suhr. The first two get picked off, freeing up an additional $8.5k for this season and three additional Arb years for Beck.
A week later, Josh agrees to the package we proposed, the details of which are as follows:
Oh that all such deals were so easily transacted.
The final piece in this long and convoluted puzzle is the Rule 5 Draft, for which we have left a host of salaried players exposed to hopefully further reduce our payroll.
This strategy pays dividends as we free up another $50k in future commitments. It does, however, mean we are going to be weak at AAA this season. Apologies to the fans.