Let the bloodletting begin:
As mentioned in the previous post, Saro needed to go and in return we addressed a couple of our needs: starting pitching and defense. Winger isn't an ace but he'll help with the back end of the rotation and is coming off a 3-WAR, 10-5, 3.50 season with Boston. Wood meanwhile is a 70 2B and 60 SS defensively although he isn't much of a hitter. He could start but should at least work out as the backup MI.
Meanwhile in Tampa the weather's usually always too warm for even a light jacket, let alone a Chinchilla:
This was not a cost-cutting move as we traded three prospects to get Chinchilla, who may win the Gold Glove in the NL at SS and was recently considered one of the top prospects in baseball:
He had an impressive first full season in the bigs, holding his own at the plate and impressing with the glove and has potential to be better. The price was a bit high (why my AGM didn't like it). Wilson was down our pecking order at 1B but deserves a spot in the bigs, Black was our #1 pick a few years ago who has 2-way ability but hasn't wowed yet, and Ervin is a great defensive SS prospect with a questionable bat. Obviously Chinchilla gives us the slick-fielding SS we wanted with the promise of more.
One of the game's all-time greats (and one of the Rays') hung up the cleats so we retired his number:
His final career page:
An easy first-ballot HOFer as you can see by his Hall metrics in the lower left.
Meanwhile in other MLB retirement news longtime superstar Kevin Crater, who had one great season for us in 2047, retired with 648 career homers which is good for 15th on the all-time list. He spent most of his career with the Dodgers, who retired his #28.
Awards season:
Gold Glove: No Rays, LOL. But Daniel Chinchilla did in fact win the award at SS.
Reliever of the Year: It was our old friend Steve Falcon who won in the AL with Houston with 49 saves, a 1.78 ERA and 3.0 WAR. If I knew he'd rebound like this I would have re-signed him; instead all I got Steve Talbott and this lousy T-shirt. In the NL another former Ray won as Freddy Zamora had a 44-save, 2.28 ERA, 3.2 WAR season for San Francisco. And a third former Ray, Willie Minier, finished second for Colorado.
Silver Slugger: We did have a couple of winners with Luis Barela at 3B and Beau Bonczek in CF.
Cy Young: Austin's Michael Bussey, who went 13-7, 2.65, won the AL award while the Dodgers' Sam Chapman (18-9, 2.73) took the NL honors.
MVP: We were privileged to have Jaiden Hardaway on our roster, and likewise we're privileged to have this guy:
This is Barela's 6th MVP award, putting him one shy of the all-time record holder Barry Bonds. Maybe he can pull even with Bonds next season - I wouldn't put it past him. Our Juan Viatoro finished fifth.
In the NL, Brewers slugger Mike Sistare (.292-54-138, 6.8 WAR) won in a very close vote over Arizona's Greg Barrett, 18-14 and 378-358.
So long Nelson Bocardo:
And now we're down in the low 130s for payroll, under the 150 we were allotted this year. Bocardo is an All-Star catcher, but is coming off a down year, only had one year of team control left and was looking at $22-23M in arbitration so getting Scoggins beats non-tendering him. Scroggins is a low-contact, moderate-power, high-walk, average-to-slightly-above-average defense guy who profiles as an MLB backup, perfect for when we have to start paying Alvaro Alejandre more than the minimum.
December 11: Nicola Grieco, who had a decent run for us last season after being acquired from Toronto, signed a 5/91 deal with Cleveland.
December 21: Added 1B Nesty de la Rosa, OF Juan Rodriguez and P Randy Mastropietro to the 42-man roster.
de la Rosa and Mastropietro are two of our top prospects, and J-Rod has a fine bat but no real defensive position.
December 22: The Rule 5 Draft passed without losing anybody, although the Red Sox took one of my favorite names in baseball:
Sounds like the name of a bad alt-country band.
December 27: Signed SP Jimmy Bernal to a 1-year, $1.6M contract.
Bernal will fill the back end of the rotation, as one might surmise from the modest contract he signed. He's rated 50/70/60 so if our defense really is improved from last year he can be effective. He's 34 and spent most of the early part of his career in relief before being converted into a starter in 2048. He was 7-10, 3.97 in 19 starts (28 appearances) combined with Minnesota and Boston last year and fills out our rotation for now.