Returning the Dodgers to Prominence (1989)

[CBeisbol]

Top 1
Rickey leads off with a 5 pitch walk
Rickey goes on a 1-2 pitch, Piazza swings and drives a ball to right. But Whitten makes the play on the warning track.
Valentin flies out to center
With Cory Snyder up, Moore throws over to first 5 straight times, then pitches out. On a 1-1 pitch Rickey steals. Snyder lines out to right.

Bottom 1
Nixon lines to Henderson on Belcher's first pitch
Franco grounds to second on Belcher's second pitch
Olerud doubles down the right field line on the third pitch
McGriff grounds to Snyder on the fourth pitch

SCORE: 0-0

Top 2
White flies out to Franco in left
Fletcher flies out to Nixon in center
Bean grounds out to Olerud at first

Bottom 2
Slaught singles to right
Caminiti looks at strike 3
Whitten singles to right
Belcher throws a wild pitch, Slaught scores and Whiten goes to second
Gagne grounds to second, Whitten advances
Cora singles up the middle, Whitten scores
Nixon flies out to right

2-0 Blue Jays

Top 3
Gaetti grounds to thrid
Fletcher singles past Olerud
Rickey singles to center, Fletcher hustles to third.
Three consecutive throws to first.
Piazza grounds hard up the middle, Cora stops it, but has no play. Fletcher scores on the play.
Valentin grounds a ball to Cora's left. He dives, throws...safe at first. Bases loaded.
Snyder walks
White singles into left. Rickey scores, Valentin rounds third and scores.
Darren Fletcher grounds into a double play. Inning over

Bottom 3
Franco strikes out
Olerud lines out to Valentin
McGriff lines a ball into left center for a double
Slaught grounds out to his counterpart.

Dodgers 4-2

Top 4
Bill Bean is hit by a pitch
Gaetti takes 2 balls, then a strike.
Bean steals second on a called strike
Gaetti flies out to center. Bean doesn't advance
Fletcher hits a comebacker to Morgan and beats the throw to first. Runners at the corners
Rickey lines a ball past a leaping Olerud. Fletcher ends up on third.
That's it for Morgan. Bob Walk is on to pitch
The 2-2 pitch to Piazza misses outside, and Rickey steals second.
Piazza grounds to first. Runners stay put.
Valentin lines hard to right. Whitten doesn't move a step and makes the grab

Bottom 4
Caminiti grounds to Gaetti
Whitten flies out to Bean
Gagne grounds out to Fletcher

Dodgers 5-2

Top 5
Cory Snyder hammers a ball down the right field line that careens off the wall. He slides in with a double
With the defense playing back, White tries to bunt, but comes up empty. Caminiti comes in at third. Walk gets ahead 0-2 then walks White on 4 straight
Fletcher lines a ball over Caminiti's head. Bases loaded.
Blue Jays bring the infield in
Bill Bean pops up on the infield
Gaetti K's.
Fletcher singles to center. Two runs score. Nixon air mails the throw home and the Fletchers are at second and third.
Rickey walks. Bases loaded for Piazza who works a full count and dribbles back to Walk.

Bottom 5
Cora grounds to Snyder, who boots it.
Nixon singles to left
Franco K's
Olerud looks at a called strike 3 down the middle
McGriff flies out to shallow center

Dodgers 7-2

Top 6
Valentin K's
Snyder grounds out to SS
With the defense back, White fouls off a bunt. Infield in. He bloops a ball towards first, that Olerud can't get a hold on. Base hit.
Jose Lima in to face Fletcher
He greets him with single to center on the first pitch
Bill Bean tries to do the same, but Cora is over to get it...but Bean beats the throw. White scores.
Gaetti grounds out to third

Bottom 6
Slaught grounds to Snyder
Caminiti grounds back to Belcher
Whiten flies out to Bean

Dodgers 8-2

Top 7
We instruct our hitters to be more patient trying to wear out the bullpen as much as possible for (a possible game) tomorrow.
Fletcher grounds out
Rickey grounds out to Cora
Piazza lines to right, but Whitten makes a diving grab

Bottom 7
Gagne grounds to Valentin
Cora singles to right
Nixon grounds to Gaetti, who throws to second for one...and Nixon is too fast.
Franco flies out to Bean

Dodgers 8-2

Top 8
Valentin lines out to Franco
Snyder lines a single to center
Devo lines out to center
Fletcher flies out to center

Bottom 8
Olerud lines out to left
McGriff lines a ball over Bean's head, and over the RF fence
Slaught singles into right
Caminiti flies out to White in shallow center
Whitten flies out to White in deep center

Dodgers 8-3

Top 9
Bean pops up
Gaetti flies out to center
Fletcher grounds hard to Gagne, who doesn't have a throw.
Rickey flies out to center.

Bottom 9
Gagne grounds out to Snyder
Cora grounds out to Gaetti
Nixon grounds to Fletcher

FINAL SCORE: 8-3 Dodgers

One more game.

[CBeisbol]

WORLD SERIES Game #7 Dodgers at Blue Jays

One game for the championship.

Our first decision is who is going to start. Orel still isn't over his abdominal strain, but he says he can go. Thanks to Belcher's complete game, we've got a pretty rested bullpen. Ramon is also available to start, as is his brother, Pedro. We're also giving some thought to starting a left-handed reliever to get us through McGriff and Olerud for the first time. No matter what we decide, we'll be aggressive with our bullpen use. There's no tomorrow.

Stottlemyre shut us out in game 3. We'll send the same lineup out to face him, plus Fletcher at DH, and hope for a better performance.



Today's starting pitchers are Kent Mercker (L) (7-5, 193 ERA+, 58 FIP-) and Todd Stottlemyre (R) (18-10, 106 ERA+, 93 FIP-)

[CBeisbol]

Top 1
Rickey leads off with a walk. Stottlemyer is well below average at holding runners, so Rickey has a green light.
Piazza flies out to right
Valentin takes strike 1. Rickey goes, pitch out-out.
Valentin singles up the middle
Snyder K's

Bottom 1
Nixon grounds to SS. And Valentin's throw gets him by a step
Franco walks on 4 pitches.
Olerud singles to right, Franco races to third.
McGriff hits a ground ball right at Fletcher, who goes to Valentin for one. Valentin has trouble with the transfer and McGriff beats it out. Franco scores on the play
Caminiti walks
Slaught grounds out to Gaetti

1-0 Blue Jays

Top 2
Devo a deep fly to right. That's Good!. Home run
Fletcher grounds out to Caminiti
Bean flies out to right
Gaetti strikes out

Bottom 2
Mercker stays in to face Whiten who struggles a bit vs lefties and gets him to fly to right.
Hershiser relieves Mercker
Gagne grounds to Valentin whose throw is low and Snyder can't handle it.
Cora strikes out
Nixon grounds to Fletcher who doesn't risk a throw and takes it to second himself.

SCORE: 1-1

Top 3
Fletcher singles to right.
Rickey hammers a ball down the line that lands just foul. Then strikes out.
Fletcher goes on a 1-0 pitch. Piazza singles up the middle, and Fletcher continues to third.
Valentin pops up on the first pitch.
Snyder flies out to center

Bottom 3
Franco lines out to Henderson
Olerud grounds to Snyder who kicks it.
McGriff lines a ball into deep right center. Bean races over...leaps...makes the grab
Caminiti strikes out

SCORE: 1-1

Top 4
Devo strikes out
As does Darren Fletcher
Bean lines a shot past Caminiti at third
Gaetti flies out to center field

Bottom 4
Slaught grounds out to short stop
Whitten flies out to center
Gagne pops up on the infield, Fletcher races in to make the grab before the ball finds the ground

SCORE: 1-1

Top 5
Fletcher grounds out to short
Rickey grounds out to short
Piazza lines a base hit into right
Valentin nubs a ball to the right side. Cora races in, but can't make the play
Snyder hammers a ball down the right field line. Whitten over, leaps, makes the catch

Bottom 5
Cora grounds to Fletcher
As does Nixon
Nixon rips a ball over Bean's head. He has some trouble getting it, and Franco is on third.
Tony Fossas relieves Hershiser.
Olerud grounds to Snyder

SCORE: 1-1

Top 6
Devo hits a Human Rocket back up the middle for a single
On a 1-1 pitch, White goes. Fletcher swings though, and White is safe.
Fletcher flies to right, but not deep enough to advance White.
Bean gets plunked
Gaetti flies to left center, but Franco is there.
Fletcher gets up in the count 2-0, grounds a ball hard up the middle, but Gagne is there.

Bottom 6
McGriff grounds to third
Jim Gott in to face Caminiti who flies to center
Slaught strikes out

SCORE: 1-1

Top 7
Rickey flies out to center
Piazza singles to left
Valentin pops up behind first
Snyder flies out to right on a 3-1 pitch

Bottom 7
Whitten drills a ball to right for a leadoff double
Gagne singles and Whitten scores
Cora lines to center, but White makes an outstanding catch
Nixon grounds up the middle, Fletcher over, flips to Valentin, who doesn't have a throw.
Rod Beck in to face Franco
Strikes him out

2-1 Blue Jays

Top 8
That's it for Stottlemyre. Xavier Hernandez on. He threw 35 pitches in game 5, so we'll try to work the count against him.
Devo rips a ball down the left field line, but it's just foul. He works the count full and singles to left.
Fletcher drills a ball to the right center field gap. Nixon races, dives, makes the catch. White tags up and goes to second.
Bean strikes out
Chris Donnels pinch hits for Gaetti...grounds to second.

Bottom 8
Donnels stays in at third
Beck walks Olerud
Then falls behind McGriff 2-0, but gets him to fly out to left.
Caminiti strikes out
Slaught doubles past Donnels, but Olerud stays at third.
Beck falls behind Whitten, but gets him to fly to Rickey

2-1 Blue Jays

Top 9
Fletcher pops up to first
Rickey works a full count and draws a walk
Hernandez is out after 28 pitches.
Left-hander Jesse Orosco in
Piazza lines hard to center, but Nixon is there.
After a pitch out and a few throws to first, Rickey swipes second. Valentin ahead in the count 2-1
Drives a ball down the right field line...just foul. 2-2
Valentin fouls off another
Then strikes out.

[CBeisbol]

REVIEW OF GOALS
Upgrade Right field – We weren't too concerned about meeting this goal, but we thought that moving Bonilla there would take care of it. Unfortunately, Bonilla had, by far, his worst season.

Increase Attendance – Similarly, we didn't take too many steps specifically towards this goal. But going from 82 wins to winning the division did the trick

Make the Playoffs – This is the goal we were striving for. And we squeaked it out by a game.

Build a Dynasty – We've won our division 4 out of 5 years. Gone to the World Series 3 out of 5 years and won two of them. High expectations.


NEXT YEAR'S GOALS
Upgrade at First Base – Hollins was the primary first baseman last year playing 857 of 1454.2 innings (59%). He had just an 84 wRC+ and -2 WAR. Chris Donnels was second in first base innings. He had a 79 wRC+ and .2 WAR. Bobby Bonilla was third. He had a 100 wRC+ and 1.5 WAR (mostly played RF). We definitely want better production from first next season. Whether that's from Hollins or Bonilla returning to normal or counting on someone new, time will tell.

Sign Orel Hershiser to an Extension – We have a team option on Orel for next year. The manager wants something longer. In an ideal world, Hershiser would stay and stay productive.

Acquire a Power Hitter – We were fifth in the NL in home runs, and fifth in extra base hits. We were ninth in wOBA and Runs Scored. We were eighth in slugging, tenth in on base percentage and eleventh in batting average. Power wasn't the problem with the offense. Getting on base was.

Reach the Playoffs – That's the plan

Build a Dynasty – We feel like the last 5 years have been pretty good. We'll try and make the next 5 even better.


BUDGET
After we made ownership $30,983,461 this year, they gave us an additional $1,000,000 over what we expected to have to work with.

[CBeisbol]

FREE AGENTS (4)

LHP Mark Langston ($2,080,000) – Langston might be the Cy Young winner (more likely second). His one year in LA was excellent. He'll be 33 next season, and will want a lot of money coming off this season. We have 4 solid starters behind him and Pedro Martinez as our #1 prospect.

3B Gary Gaetti ($735,000) – Gaetti had a resurgent year last year. We'll be hoping he's rewarded with a Gold Glove award. We struggled against right-handed pitching last year, and Gaetti was part of that (.648 OPS). Switch hitters Dave Hollins' and Bobby Bonilla's struggles were another part of it. We'll have some decisions to make about 1B, 3B and RF.

RF Cory Snyder ($306,000) – Snyder was a savior after we acquired him in July. His 132 wRC+ as a Dodger helped offset Bonilla's and Hollins' seasons. That performance was well above his established level, though.

2B Scott Fletcher ($1,700,000) – Like Snyder, a July pickup whose performance went a long way towards our division title.

ELEGIBLE FOR ARBITRATION (7)

RSP Ramon Martinez ($1,375,000) – Ramon will be in his second year of arbitration. He won a Cy Young in 1991, was injured in 1992 and came back solid this year. We expect him and his brother to pitch important innings for the Dodgers next year

LRP Kent Mercker ($116,800) – Mercker was a mid-season acquisition who pitched well for us down the stretch. He's a solid left-handed reliever in his first year of arbitration

LRP Tony Fossas ($260,000) – Fossas was excellent in his first year in LA. He's in his final year of arbitration.

IF Chris Donnels ($190,000) – Donnels had a down year after being selected by the Rockies in the expansion draft then being traded to LA. He's a fringe starter or solid back up. This is his second year of arbitration

OF Mike Huff ($140,000) – Huff has been a solid backup outfielder for us for the last 5 seasons. Putting up 2.2 WAR in 439 plate appearances. He's got a good eye, solid defense and runs well. He's in his second year of arbitration

OF Bill Bean ($140,000) – Bean is, in many ways, the left-handed version of Huff. A competent player who might be able to start for some teams, but who's been a productive bench player in LA (1.3 WAR in 406 PA's). It's also his second year of arbitration

OF Rick Parker (180,000) – Parker was a post-deadline pick up for us. He didn't play much in LA. He's solid defensively and has good speed. He's been about replacment level in about 850 plate appearances.

TEAM OPTIONS (3)

RSP Orel Hershiser ($2,400,000/$3,000,000/$600,000) – Hershiser is one of the faces of the Dodgers with 45.5 WAR in 10+ seasons in LA. He's a fan favorite and coming off an excellent year. It would take something unexpected for Hershiser not to be in LA next year. He is 35 and had a significant injury 3 years ago.

OF/1B Bobby Bonilla ($2,250,000/$2,250,000/$250,000) – Bonilla has had 4 very productive years in LA, and, then, last year. He also won the MVP award in 1990. Last year's performance was quite unexpected. It may have been related to the injury that sidelined him for the end of the season. The possibility of him bouncing back is worth more than a measely $2,000,000

RRP Jim Gott ($830,000/$830,000/$300,000) – Gott has been an underated performer the last few seasons. But, his perforance has declined as noted by his FIP- (75 to 81 to 90). But $800,000 isn't much to see if he's got one more good year in him.

PLAYERS UNDER CONTRACT (3)

LF Rickey Henderson (Year 2 of a 5-year $20,000,000 contract) – Rickey had a down year (3.4 WAR) compared to what we've come to expect, but a year plenty of players would be happy with. We don't regret the contract we've signed him to.

CF Devon White (Year 2 of a 5-year $19,925,000 contract) – White was superb last year with his 3rd consecutive 6 WAR season. At 30, he'll slow down on defense eventually, but he hasn't shown signs yet.

SP Tim Belcher (Year 3 of a 3-year $5,720,000 contract) – Belcher is in the last year of his deal that helped us avoid arbitration with him and gave us one more year of control. A late bloomer, he's already 32. He'd get a hefty contract as a free agent after putting up nothing but 5 WAR seasons since becoming a regular.

PLAYERS UNDER TEAM CONTROL (23)

C Mike Piazza – A 118 wRC+ and plus defense might not make people forget icon Mike Scioscia, but it certainly helps ease the blow of his retirement.

C Darren Fletcher – Fletcher's first year in the bigs was a success. He actually outhit Piazza with a 121 wRC+ in limited time. Fletcher might be good enough to start for some other teams.

C Carlos Hernandez – Hernandez spent a season and a half in LA, before being bumped by Piazza and then Fletcher. He's a solid back up and probably deserves better than AAA.

1B/3B Dave Hollins – Hollins struggled last year. We expected him to be a big hitter in the middle of the lineup and he put up an 84 wRC+ after 127 and 172 the years before. We'll have to figure out what happened.

2B Jose Offerman – Jose had a mixed year in his first year as an MLB starter. He showed flashes on offense and his .345 OBP would be fine if he had driven the ball at all. His .059 ISO limited his total offensive production. He was also great on the bases, but had defensive issues. We remain optimistic.

SS Jon Valentin – Valentin came a bit out of nowhere last year to be one of the best players on the team. We though we were getting a solid defensive SS whose offense would make him a solid player. What we got was a gold glove candidate with a 128 wRC+.

IF Mike Benjamin – the defensive whiz couldn't quite hold onto a roster spot all season. There was an injury and he didn't show the offense we needed when we wanted some extra help at second. We still think he's a good player and hope he can win a spot on the team.

IF Clay Bellinger – A utility infielder, doesn't excel defensively, but is solid around the infield. He hits...like a back up middle infielder.

IF Eddie Pye – Last year's opening day short stop when Valentin was on the IL. He mashed for the few weeks he was up, but couldn't maintain that performance in AAA. He's good, not great, defensively, and has a more developed bat than either Bellinger of Benjamin.

OF JT Bruett – He was a backup in LA for most of the season until we needed Snyder's bat instead of JT's glove. He'll have a chance to win a backup spot this year.

OF Billy Ashley – Made the playoff roster after spending most of the season in AAA. Had a 237 wRC+ in the playoffs. His power is tantalizing.

OF Raul Mondesi – Added to the 40-man to avoid the Rule V draft last year. He put up a 124 wRC+ 3.7 WAR season in AAA last year. He hits, for average and power, runs, has the range to play center and the arm for right. An exciting player.

RSP Pedro Astacio – Astacio was a pleasant surprise. Filling in when Ryan went down with injury, he fit right into the rotation even earning some post season starts.

RSP Pedro Martinez – Our top prospect, he made his MLB debut in September and pitched in both post season series. Can we find room for him in the rotation?

RSP Dave Nied – Nied was supposed to be a big part of the pitching staff this year. An injury and poor performance derailed that. He's still a talented pitcher and we'll look for opportunities for him.

LSP John O'Donoghue – Impressed in spring and then at AAA. But missed time with multiple injuries.

LSP Angel Miranda – Miranda has a good arm, and is on the cusp of being a major league pitcher. On a less talented, less deep, team, he might already be.

RRP Rod Beck – Beck has 150 innings of 64 FIP- in 2+ seasons. He's a key member of the bullpen.

RRP John Wetteland – After failing to grab a rotation spot, Wetteland has remade himself as a flame throwing reliever and has a 70ish FIP- the last 2 years in that role.

RRP Darren Holmes – Holmes was up and down between the Dodgers and AAA last year. He's another one that on another team would probably be assured a spot on the roster.

RRP Mike Christopher – Christopher also bounced between MLB and AAA last year. At 29, that's likely the role he's destined for

LRP Jim Poole – Poole is the left-handed version of Christopher. Maybe good enough, maybe not.

LRP Mike Munoz – Munoz rounds out the list of relievers who are on the fringe of the major league roster.

RETIRED (1)

Nolan Ryan – Ryan's final season in the majors didn't go the way anyone wanted. Just 3 games, though he was 1-1 with a 2.16 ERA (96 FIP-) before his arm finally gave out.


That's a full 40-Man Roster
Obviously, we'll have some work to do, and some of these players won't be here when the season starts.

RULE V ELIGIBLE

OF Willie Ansley – Great eye, Strong defense, Good base runner. A good player
C/IF/OF Steve Bieser – Athletic. Plays strong defense all over the diamond. Good speed.
1B Brian Traxler – Left-handed hitter that many would describe as professional.
OF Scott Bullett – Speedy outfielder
IF/OF Mike Bush – Right-handed slugger
LP Mike Mimbs – Left-handed starter who had a 93 FIP- in AAA last year. Solid all around without a standout skill.
LP Mark Mimbs – Left-handed reliever, better stuff than his twin brother, less control.

MINOR LEAGUE FREE AGENTS

IF Jose Munoz – bounced between AA and AAA the last 2 seasons. Average glove, below average bat. Leader in the clubhouse.

SP Jim Neidlinger – Has 178 MLB innings over the previous 4 seasons, but wasn't needed last year. His 1990 performance filling in for an injured Hershiser will be remembered.

P Dennis Springer – The knucklerballer pitched in September in 1992. But didn't have a good year in Albuquerque this year.

[CBeisbol]

We pick up the options on all three players

Bonilla – He's been too good to just let go. We keep him for one more season, and hope he'll return to form.

Jim Gott – As mentioned before. He's slowing down, but $800,000 isn't too much to see if he has one more good year in him

Orel Hershiser – We have some discussions about a longer term deal. But, settle on the option. At least for now. With Belcher a free agent after the season, Ramon a free agent after next season. Young pitchers like the two Pedros hoping to establish themselves in the rotation. Locking up Hershiser in his late thirties isn't something that we're going to rush into. But, that doesn't mean we've cut off discussion with him either.


With the arbitration eligible players
We'd prefer to avoid arbitration and work out some deals.
We think we're pretty close with everyone except Ramon Martinez, Tony Fossas and Mike Huff.

With a Cy Young under his belt, and a solid season coming back from injury, Martinez is looking for a long term deal. We'd like to see another healthy year before we sign up long term.

Tony Fossas (along with Kent Mercker) solidfied a position that has been a bit problematic for us (left-handed relief). We remain optimistic that we'll work something out.

Huff was been a very productive backup. Not sure if a long-term deal for a backup is the direction that we want to go.

[CBeisbol]

Dodgers and Tigers Waste no Time in Getting the Offseason Started

The Dodgers trade SP Pedro Astacio to Detroit for 3B Scott Cooper. Looking to improve our performance against right-handed pitcher we deal for Scott Cooper. Cooper is a left-handed hitting third baseman that we expect to take over for Gaetti. The 26 year old Cooper hit .331/.137/105 last year. His +2 defense helped him to a 3.4 WAR in his first full season in the majors.

We paid a high price in Pedro Astacio who's coming off a fantastic rookie season. He went 11-10 with a 151 ERA+ and 81 ERA- in 189.2 innings worth 4.4 WAR.

The Dodgers also pick up minor league outfielder Dave Roberts. Roberts hasn't played yet in his minor league career but speed and base stealing ability is his calling card. Beyond that, he has a decent eye and his known for his work ethic, intelligence and leadership in the clubhouse.



NOTE: Dave Roberts was (partially) randomly selected. The orginal deal (Astacio for Cooper) felt too light for me. I used the random decision maker to select prospects numbered between: 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-25, and 26-30. The random number was 11-15. I looked over those 5 players and decided I'd be most interested in lower minors OFers (that was Roberts or Juan Encarnacion). I was also interested in C Ron Maurer. I put the three in the random decision maker, and it chose Dave Roberts.



The Dodgers also announced the signing of right-handed Korean pitcher Chan-Ho Park (박찬호).

Chan Ho Park was born in*Gongju, South Korea, on June 30, 1973. As a high school player in South Korea, he won team*Most Valuable Player*honors three consecutive seasons at Gongju High School in Gongju, South Korea.
He also was named the MVP at four national prep tournaments.
Park was a member of the 1992 and 1993*South Korea national baseball team. He posted a 2.76 ERA in helping South Korea earn the silver medal at the*Asian Baseball Championship*in 1993.
He also competed in*1993 Summer Universiade, and led his team to the silver medal.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chan_Ho_Park

Dodgers Come to Agreement with Three Players

We signed agreements with 3 of our arbitration eligible players.
Bill Bean - $150,080
Chris Donnels - $204,080
Kent Mercker - $690,000

Veteran Martinez Comes to Terms

Dennis Martinez re-signs with the Astros for 2 years and $6.7 million. Martinez came back from an injured 1992 in which he only appeared in 4 games to put up a 18-8 130 ERA+, 84 FIP-, 5.1 WAR season last year.

[CBeisbol]

GREAT GLOVE AWARDS

American League
SP Jamie Moyer – Minnesota
C Terry Steinbach - Oakland
1B Don Mattingly - Cleveland
2B Robby Thompson – Baltimore
3B Robin Ventura – Chicago
SS Ozzie Smith – Texas
LF Steve Finley – New York
CF Otix Nixon – Toronto
RF Deion Sanders – New York

National League
SP Jimmy Key – New York
1B Sid Bream – San Diego
2B Steve Sax – New York
3B Gary Gaetti – Los Angeles
SS Alan Trammell – St. Louis
LF Luis Gonzalez – Houston
CF Devon White – Los Angeles
RF David Justice – Atlanta


NOTE: Gary Gaetti's card didn't include his photo for some reason

[CBeisbol]

RELIEVER OF THE YEAR AWARDS

The AL and NL Reliever of the Year Awards were announced today. Congratulations to John Wetteland who won (and the voters who realize the ridiculousness of the save statistic, apparently).



In other reliver news. We agreed with Tony Fossas on a one-year $1,315,000 deal – avoiding arbitration.

[CBeisbol]

PLATINUM STICK AWARDS

American League

C Chris Hoiles – Baltimore
1B Frank Thomas - Chicago
2B Tony Phillips – Kansas City
3B Gary Sheffield – Milwaukee
SS Travis Fryman – Detroit
LF Albert Belle – Cleveland
CF Ken Griffey Jr – Seattle
RF Tim Salmon – California
DH Kevin Mitchell – Kansas City

National League

P Tom Browning – San Diego
C Russ McGinnis – Pittsburgh
1B Greg Jefferies – New York
2B Delino DeShields – Montreal
3B Wade Boggs – New York
SS Alan Trammell – St. Louis
LF Barry Bonds – Pittsburgh
CF Ray Lankford – St. Louis
RF Larry Walker – Montreal

[CBeisbol]

Rookie of the Year Awards

[CBeisbol]

MANAGER OF THE YEAR AWARDS

American League: John Wathan – Kansas City
National League: C. Beisbol – Los Angeles

I wasn't prepared for this. A lot of credit goes to the GM, oh, hey, that's me too, for putting together a great team. Bench coach Joe Ferguson was more valuable than I could ever say. The rest of the coaching staff, Ron Peranoski, Reggie Smith, trainer Adam Deen. It was a group of great individuals.

[CBeisbol]

Cy Young Awards

[CBeisbol]

MVP Awards

[CBeisbol]

Henke to stay in California

Tom Henke agreed to a 2-year $3.8 million contract with the Angels. He's coming off another strong season in which he recoreded 10 saves, and 1.1 WAR in 53 games and 58 innings.


Arbitration

Not able to come to agreements with either SP Ramon Martinez or OF Mike Huff we let the arbitrators decide.

The arbitratiors decide with us and award Mike Huff, $210,000 not the $292,000 he was asking

The arbitrators rule against us in Martinez' case. He gets an even $2,000,000 not the $192,000 we offered.


Free Agency

Free agency arrives and we don't re-sign any of our eligible players
SP Mark Langston, 3B Gary Gaetti, OF/1B Cory Snyder, IF Scott Fletcher and OF Rick Parker all become free agents.

Here are some of the top Free Agents for 1994

[CBeisbol]

We currently have about $5.7 million available in our budget to add players for 1994 and about $12-$14 million for the next few years.

The players the immediately jump out to us are
1B Fred McGriff – the left-handed first baseman just helped beat us in the World Series, so, if you can't beat then, acquire them? Hollins was bad last season, we want to get better from the left side. Ownership wants us to improve first base and acquire a power hitter. It's a perfect fit, no?

C Mickey Tettleton – similar to McGriff. We thought about signing him two years ago when he signed with the Mets. He's a switch hitter who has massive power and draws a ton of walks. But, he's coming off a poor season of his own.

1B Paul Molitor – not left-handed, but a fantastic hitter.

C Mike Stanley – also right-handed, he's played first, but doesn't look very good there.


There are some fantastic pitchers available: Mark Langston, Roger Clemens, Tom Glavine...
But, part of the reason we didn't re-sign Langston is that we've got Belcher and Hershiser coming up on free agency after the season and we don't want to lock ourselves into too many long term deals with starting pitchers. We might be more interested in making a trade for a starter or signing someone to a shorter term contract than we figure those guys will be asking for.

That said, Glavine is just 27, so a longer term deal with him might be enough to get us to alter our plans



Beyond that, with left-handed hitting Scott Cooper taking over for Gaetti at third base, we're not sure if we want the left-handed Donnels as the backup corner infielder or if we'd rather find a right-handed hitter. Also, we still love Mike Benjamin's defense but we're not sure he'll hit enough and with Offerman's struggles last year, we might want to shore up the backup SS/2B as well.


We have had some very preliminary trade discussions regarding some starters.

Last season the Reds offered us Jack Armstrong. He finished with 199 innings in 31 starts, a 114 ERA+ and 104 FIP-. He's got about $1 million left on his contract that expires after this season.
Also former Dodger Dave Stewart. 220 innings in 37 starts. 112 ERA-, 96 FIP-. Stewart has 1 year and $1.7 million left.
Another former Dodger Mike Morgan. 116 innings in 20 starts. 99 ERA+, 88 FIP- with Toronto. Morgan has 2 years and $4.4 million remaining.
Zane Smith – 162 innings, 26 starts, 82 ERA+, 107 FIP-. Zane has $2.7 million and a player option for $2.7 million for next season.


The Expos are thought to be listening on Cecil Fielder who hit 43 home runs with a 132 wRC+ last season. He's got 2 years and about $2.5 million on his deal.