Well this has without doubt and by far been the most bizarre offseason I have ever encountered. But then again, as you'll see, WORTH IT! as we take a couple huge steps towards hopefully being among the best clubs in the league once again.
Our selections in the Draft allowed us to take a risk or two and still seemingly be in a strong position, and that's what we did with this trade:
Our quest for a power right-hitting 2B pretty much began and ended with Davey, and when the Sox came back with terms that were most acceptable to us we pulled the trigger. He only plays 2B and can be a bit streaky, but if he gets hot (a la last year's 4.5 bWAR campaign) he can really gun it and that's what we are looking for from him. He's heading into his final arb year but we'll try extend him out into the mid-70s if we can.
It cost us a club legend, which is always a tough decision. We just feel that, as much as we love the guy and regard his talent, Bob Veale - at 33 and coming off a serious injury that kept him out for a whole year, on big $$ and with his historicals showing an imminent cliff - is high risk. High risk enough to accept the risk of not having him around, if that makes sense.
OK, so - SPOILER ALERT - that wasn't the bizarre part. This next bit is.
So with both Hinton and Hands gone we still have a spare CC slot after the above trade, and this time I'm really keen to use it on someone worth the hassle. We have a few options but go with just the one and start the negs.
Charles (I'll keep his real name out of it for now to build suspense) wants a 9-year deal with an opt out and a couple player options at the end, at a little under a half-mil per.
We crunch the numbers and it's doable. But I hate players having control to walk when they want, and so we counter with an 8-year +
team option deal at about 85% of his asking price.
This goes to his agent in the first week of Jan.
Then, until mid-March, crickets.... Not a word.
Finally, two days before Spring Training begins he calls to tell us we've been outbid by the Mets. All our other options have by now worn in their new uniforms, placed their kids in their new schools and helped their wives furnish their new houses. So it's him or bust. In poker parlance, we are "committed to the pot". Or, in plainer terms,
all in.
We go back with the same terms but now at about 90% of his original ask - roughly $4.2m all up including the oppy year.
36 hours later, the signed contract turns up at my office, delivered by courier - that we have to pay for!
I love this guy already.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the new starting CF and leadoff hitter for the Pittsburgh Pirates...
This, it is fair to say, could get interesting...