January 3: The Hall of Fame voting is in an a former Rays star was the only inductee:
Although he ended up playing more years in San Francisco (10) than in Tampa Bay (6), he actually accumulated more WAR with the Rays including this incredible stretch in which the team won 4 titles:
He was MVP in 2037, quite unsurprisingly. Two other Rays stars (Kawase and de Jesus) came close.
January 11: Our free agent Jorge Barraza signed with Arizona for only 3/39 after turning down our more lucrative (for the coming season anyway) qualifying offer, and since the contract was small we're getting a supplemental 2nd rounder instead of a 1st. Lose-lose all around I guess.
January 13: Our amateur scout signed a pitcher from Italy but he only has 0.5-star potential, leading me to think he only went there for the sights and the food.
January 15: Middle reliever Erik Witten, in our pen the last few years, signed a 1-year $1.1M deal with the Dodgers and some reason his departure caused the fan interest to decrease noticeably. Not that we've just won a World Series or something.
January 17: Saw this headline and wondered I was getting papal news:
But it turns out to be Toronto catcher Alex Pope.
January 18: Oh boy:
The dreaded guru storyline.
January 22: With the international amateur free agent window now open, we signed OF Ricky Falcon. The soon-to-be 17-year-old has 80 contact and 70 power potential and also projects to be a slightly above-average defensive OF.
February 10: Remember when I said the team was set? I lied:
We're down to only $5M to play with so that really will be it, but I couldn't pass up Sutherland, who has elite 80/75/75 ratings. He, Cid and Tadlock give us a formidable back end of the bullpen. Sutherland has an opt-out for next season so hopefully he'll be good enough this year to exercise it.
On to the preseason.