My first job for the offseason is, of course, arbitration. We only have three up, and treat them as follows:
- P David Lawson $500k
- P Jason Motte NON-TENDER
- P Charles Smith $450k
We get the favourable ruling on Lawson, while Smith accepts our offer pre-hearing.
Our PC Ricardo Nieves informs me he has been offered a job with the Angels. At 59, I was leaning toward letting him go at the end of his current contract anyway. So we wish him well and replace him with Brandon Pryor.
Next, I have my end-of-season meeting with Owner Mark Shapiro. It is, as you'd expect given the circumstances, a cordial meeting full of positive spin and general good cheer, from which the following ensues:
The budget is, to say the least, a nice surprise. With our current payroll sitting at around $30m, it gives us plenty of flash cash. But, once again, I’ll be treating this most conservatively to try and ensure we’re covered moving forward.
The FAs declare at the end of October and we get busy.
Our first offer is to OA newcomer Scott Kingery. Scott is exactly the type of 3B we're after - a good combination of offensive prowess and defensive flair. Not sure he'll win Gold Gloves, but he more than capably holds down 3B/SS and CF. He should also hit a ton. I foresee the price jumping from the 3-year / $5.8m opening play, but hopefully not by too much. Hot prospects Phil Rizzuto and Mike Anderson also among the crop of new players and hopefully they'll keep the big guns busy trying while leaving Scott alone. As a bit of a smoke-bomb ploy, we also make a lowball offer for Cameron that we are sure has no chance of flying. Then again, if it does then we've got ourselves a bargain - if, that is, you can call $22.5m for 3 years a "bargain".
We move onto the pitchers next, with a reasonably-priced quality SP and two setup guys on the agenda. With lefty RPs a bit thin on the ground, moving Neck Stanley out of the spin and into the LH setup role is becoming more and more appealing, something I keep in mind as we make the following offers:
- RHP Aaron Romasco, 28: 3-year / $1.45m
- LHP Jim Burton, 29: 1-year / $1.2m
- RHP Jarrod Parker, 22: 3-year / $8.5m
- RHP Mark Clear, 23: 3-year / $7.8m
Surprisingly, Kingery is the first one to sign up, with no further negotiation necessary. Nice! Then Romasco and Burton also hop aboard, leaving just Parker and Clear - who are both proving elusive - still to be locked down by the time the Draft rolls around.
Here's how these new additions look on paper:
In clearing some 40-man room ahead of the Rule 5 Draft, we lose Christian Torres on waivers to the Padres. No biggie. Same goes with Nelly Cana and David Christianson in the R5 itself, both of whom I reckon are a decent chance of finding their way back to us at some point.
Mark Clear eventually signs at the rate mentioned above. Jarrod Parker continues to hold out for more $$ and we make one final pitch to him at 3/$9.5. Finally, in early January, he signs on.
That's us done for now.
Phil Rizzuto signs with the Tigers for 3/$27.6m, Mike Anderson with the Cards for 3/$29.7m. In another life, I'd have liked Mike on my squad but for now I remain tentative to make those massive commitments. Eventually, however, I'm going to need to shake that off like a poor sign from a catcher.