[Westheim]

The first action of the offseason involved getting Ryan Sullivan back on the 40-man roster, which was the issue we had kicked down the road in September when Noah Caswell had come off the 60-day DL. Well, we were down that road now. It was hard to find somebody on the extended roster to just put on waivers, although J.J. Sensabaugh was an option. In AAA, the last eight spots were taken by the two young starters that had made spot starts this year, Angel Alba and Jose Rosa, two lefty relievers, Mike Goldfield and Brad Loveless, two first basemen that were blocked by Joel Starr but might have trade value, Joe Agee and Forbes Tomlin, and two young outfielders that looked like something, Felix Ayala and Miguel Ulloa. It hurt my fuzzy heart, since he was a Nick Brown Memorial pick, but Brad Loveless was the one ending up on waivers, despite posting a 3.19 ERA in 51 big league appearances across the last two seasons. His AAA numbers were actually worse, and he had walked 5.4 per nine innings with the Coons.

The good news then started with a new contract for Lonzo (Cristiano sighs in the corner), who got a 3-year deal worth $3.75M. The third year was a vesting option requiring him to stand upright for at least 120 games in ’62. Assuming he’d steal at least 40 bases a year, this would easily be enough to get him to the top of the career leaderboard for stolen bases… as long as something terrible happened to Alex Vasquez at the same time. Like, old age and slowness. (cough)

Nick Fowler also signed a multi-year deal, getting essentially the Lonzo contract without the vesting option for a third year, so two years at $2.5M total. Him learning third base properly under live fire had been an experience, but he was batting league average and even if we managed to find a slugging third baseman misfiled somewhere in our dumpster would still be a valuable bench piece. Contracts were signed quickly with a pair of relievers as well, Reynaldo Bravo getting $777k for 2061 and Ricky Herrera winning it all on the hill, but having to settle for $700k for his new contract. Before the end of October, we also clawed Ruben Mendez back from impending free agency with a $1.7M contract for 2061.

By November, arbitration was also avoided with the rest of the eligible candidates. Justin DeRose signed for $600k for the new season, which was a bargain for a starter that was about league average. Duarte Damasceno got $620k, and David Gonzales was retained for a puny $500k.

+++

October 28 – The Scorpions acquire SP Neil Mongillo (16-13, 3.55 ERA) from the Falcons for #121 prospect SP Alberto de Lon.
November 3 – 1B Jeff Andersen (.256, 18 HR, 103 RBI), who played for the Aces and Rebels in 2060, is traded to the Blue Sox, who send MR Danny Zepeda (20-11, 3.66 ERA, 12 SV) and MR Goffredo Merlin (5-1, 3.44 ERA) to the Rebels.

+++

2060 ABL AWARDS

Players of the Year: TOP 3B/SS Alex de los Santos (.280, 17 HR, 98 RBI) and NYC UT Omar Sanchez (.333, 2 HR, 62 RBI)
Pitchers of the Year: DAL SP Alex Quevedo (12-5, 2.36 ERA) and ATL SP Vic Harman (18-7, 2.55 ERA)
Rookies of the Year: DEN OF/1B Natsu Nakamura (.281, 8 HR, 49 RBI) and MIL SS/2B Fidel Carrera (.299, 17 HR, 66 RBI)
Relievers of the Year: TOP CL Bill Hernandez (5-4, 1.52 ERA, 53 SV) and BOS CL Josh Carlisle (4-1, 0.76 ERA, 45 SV)
Platinum Sticks (FL): DEN P Coby Strutz – C NAS David Johnson – 1B SAL Belchior Fresco – 2B PIT Alex Vasquez – 3B TOP Alex de los Santos – SS TOP Zach Suggs – LF SFW John Kaniewski – CF RIC Antonio Cruz – RF CIN John MacDonnell
Platinum Sticks (CL): P OCT Mike Hall – C NYC Matt McLaren – 1B MIL Dave Robles – 2B ATL Willie Acosta – 3B LVA Alex Alfaro – SS NYC Omar Sanchez – LF LVA Ken Hummel – CF NYC Tommy Branch – RF NYC Sean Zeiher
Gold Gloves (FL): P SFW Alex Dominguez – C NAS David Johnson – 1B TOP David Worthington – 2B LAP Jesse Sweeney – 3B SAC Victor Corrales – SS WAS Jamie Sherrick – LF LAP Jesus Espinoza – CF SAL Ruben Garcia – RF LAP Jesus Martinez
Gold Gloves (CL): P NYC Joel Luera – C BOS Jorge Arviso – 1B VAN Jose Campos – 2B ATL Willie Acosta – 3B ATL Nick Fox – SS LVA Miguel Veguilla – LF CHA Kyle Fisher – CF TIJ Bobby Fish – RF CHA Chris Tomko

No rewards. Nada. Sad.