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(Season 9, 83-79, Swept in the first round by the Buffalo Europeans)
Jay Piazza, 5 years, 72.2 Million. 23.05 Million committed in Season 10 payroll alone. Let that sink in for a minute - OK back? While we haven't seen and won't see the full effect of True Free Agency (tm) * until season 11, this might provide a small taste of what is to come.
* True Free Agency came about after a near lockout/strike that was sparked by suspicious signings of John Carrol and Don Masato to long term below market contracts within hours of each other. The rumblings of collusion between owners having some sort of gentleman's agreement not to sign each other's star players thus forcing them to take "hometown discounts" had been rumored for years, but this put it over the top. The case eventually when to an arbitrator who ended up voiding the contracts and ensuring that True Free Agency (tm) was available to all in season 11. One official, who asked not be named stated "I'd love to see what Carroll thinks he can get on the open market, our trainers and scouts have already seen his core physical skills dropping a recently as season 9".
While Piazza has only topped 200 innings once in Season 7, it was mainly due to being buried in bullpens and limited to spot starting. A very curious trend (if two examples can make a trend) has been detected over Piazza's career - as soon as his teams finally let him start full time, they let him walk to free agency - and this was BEFORE True Free Agency (tm) was implemented.
With San Francisco's pitching friendly/home run suppressing park, Piazza should put up some good numbers, although he will be relying heavily on his bullpen as he will not be expected to go much deeper than the 6th inning in most games. While the price may seem steep, this signing should ensure that the Berserkers win the AL West again in season 10.
Local San Francisco Review columnist Boof McDouche disagrees as he was recently caught screaming, "He's 62-63 in a career, HE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO WIN!"
Prediction 89-73, 1st Place, 4th Seed
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(Season 9, 75-87, No playoffs)
With a protected first round top 16 pick, the Tackleberries got aggressive in the free agent market signing Starting Pitcher Juan Moya and Catcher Bernie Guerrero. Both should upgrade the team as the Tackleberries also had not significant losses during the off season.
Cheyenne underperformed their pythag by roughly 8 games last year, as they scored more runs than they allowed. Most of their top players are still in their primes and have not seen any significant decline (yet), which should makes me believe that if everything breaks right, they could challenge the Berserkers for the AL West Title.
Since they didn't sign a 72 million dollar long relief pitcher ;-), I'm saying they just miss out on the title and the playoffs by reversing their record from last year.
Prediction 87-75, 2nd Place, No Playoffs
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(Season 9, 75-87, No playoffs)
Juan Candelaria appears to be the biggest signing, and Bud Jones appears to be the biggest loss to free agency. Let's compare the two so it will make it easier for me to predict where the Hangars are heading in Season 10 without having to scrape through the minor league system to try and figure out who might be promoted to help the team.
Candelaria can play 3B at least at an average level, while Jones is a sub-par RF - advantage Candelaria here. Both are 31 - Tie
Candelaria career line .264/.322/.493 playing in neutralish Anaheim for most of his ML career Jones career line .310/.374/.510 playing in 5 different cities include a 2nd stop in New York maybe a tad pitcherish parks. Jones by quite a bit here.
Candelaria Contract, 2 years 12.3 million. Jones Contract, 2 years 6.4 million. Jones once again
So far looks like a net loss going into season 10....
There is talk of prospect SP Otis Combs (4 + or ++ pitches!) and 2B Gorkys Cubillan (nice range, decent bat) coming up sometime this season, but they might not have a huge impact as rookies if they hit the majors at all.
Prediction 72-90, 3rd Place, No Playoffs
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Season 9, 62-100, No playoffs)
MINIMUM WIN ALERT! Going from 44 to 62 wins from season 8 to 9 was quite an accomplishment for the Armijos, but they'll need to win at least 63 games this year to avoid "going bankrupt" and being forced out of the league. So with that uplifting news, let's see what's been happening in Vegas to ensure that this goal is met or exceeded in season 10.
35-year old starting pitcher Charles Ott was brought back for a reasonable 1-year 5 million dollar contract after coming back with a much stronger performance in Season 9 after a career worst Season 8. That's it for Free Agency (so far), but that isn't where Las Vegas stopped regarding team improvement.
Robinson Perez, Bum Marte, Matthew McCovey, Norm Hayes, Roscoe Campbell, and Al Chavez were all acquired via trade and should all fill holes in the lineup with better than replacement level performances.
Alex Bravo should be able to put up much better numbers after a disappointing rookie Season 9 which should also help things along.
There might be some sweating at certain points of the year, maybe even into the last week, but I think Las Vegas will be around in season 11.
Prediction 69-93, 4th Place, No Playoffs
1 comment:
And a full season of Walt Lambert! We're going to the dance!
Nice write-up.
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