I waste no time going and getting a guy I've been eyeing off for a while now.
With
Juan - who had a couple short stints with us IRL in 1967-68 and again in '74 - entering his walk year and with a relatively short peak, this deal was conditional on us not having to part with too much.
We could have swapped Mack Jones for him straight up, but I feel we can get a better haul from him at some point and so in the end last year's hero Lee Walls leads the group heading outward. With Pops slated as our everyday 1B for '62 and beyond, and Freese on our books, Lee wasn't set to see much action and thereby rendered expendable. The plan is to call up catcher Haywood Sullivan, who also plays 1B and have him split time at both. Heaven help us, however, if we have a run of injuries at either 1B or CF.
Another key factor here is how much he's going to cost us over the next 3-4 years. If we can lock him down sub-$100k AAV then we will do so and will be making overtures in this regard almost immediately.
