Two more top pitchers have signed new free agent contracts.
Darrell Ingram has inked with Vancouver for 3 years, $5.6MM per. It appears that there was no competition for what many believed was the best pitcher, much less the best reliever, available this year. His ratings - 80's control and splits, with 2 devastating pitches - are certainly the envy of many. He's got 2 FOY's and 6 All-Star Games on the resume. This is a great pickup for the Renegades.
Columbus added RP Livan Olivares for 2 years, $7.8MM. Olivares has pinpoint control - only once has he walked more than 20 in a season. He's absolutely murder on lefties, good enough against righties, and his ratings have held up better than any 36-yo I've seen. His only real weakness is a tendency to miss high and give up homers, but it's not severe. Nice addition at a good price for the Discoverers.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Breakdown of the Iowa City-Helena and Honolulu-Columbus trades
Iowa City gets IF J.P. Ontiveros (Season 5 IFA - $18MM bonus)
Helena gets IF William Chong (Season 9 #28), 2B/CF Alberto Quinnones (Season 8 IFA - $10.9MM bonus), and 2B/OF Hal Stairs (Season 9 #40).
Analysis: Another puzzler from Helena. The argument is not what you have with Ontiveros - he established his bona fides with a .296/29/104 last year. Chong and Stairs are hard to project; Quinnones will hit a Range-Glove of about 82-78 and contact-power-vL-vR/eye of about 51-67-60-66-68. Low-end major-leaguer. But even if Chong and Stairs are better than that, I wonder why Helena makes this deal. This team has "win now" written all over it and they trade a young, star SS for 3 prospects who might be major-leaguers 2-3 years from now? We can say with certainty that the deal helps the Champs now - Ontiveros is the odds-on favorite to be the Silver Slugger at 2B, and the NL 2B Gold Glove has moved to right field for him.
Columbus gets SP Daisuke Miyakazi (Season 4 IFA - $31.3MM Bonus)
Honolulu gets IF Gabby Owens (Season 5 #2)
Analysis: The Kahunas had cap issues and figured it made more sense to trade one of their aces and get max value than move other vets and try to cobble together a lineup with the dregs of free agency. Team officials confirm that 12 teams submitted offers, and characterized "5 or 7 as serious". It came down to Columbus' offer of Owens vs. Arizona's offer of younger prospects, and the bonus of getting immediate help won out. Owens brings excellent defense and and power bat to the Kahunas; his .291/42/103 was good for the NL ROY. He'll line up in RF for Honolulu this season but is the heir apparent at either 2B or 3B. Miyakazi has 52 wins and a 3.29 ERA in 4 seasons. He moves in as the #1 starter for Columbus, which had a 3.72 team ERA last year but just missed the playoffs. The Discoverers now begin a game of musical chairs to replace Owens' production. Vance Winn moves from 2nd to 3rd, Orlando Martinez moves from 1st to 2nd, and somebody new - probably promising rookie Wally Richmond - moves in at first.
Helena gets IF William Chong (Season 9 #28), 2B/CF Alberto Quinnones (Season 8 IFA - $10.9MM bonus), and 2B/OF Hal Stairs (Season 9 #40).
Analysis: Another puzzler from Helena. The argument is not what you have with Ontiveros - he established his bona fides with a .296/29/104 last year. Chong and Stairs are hard to project; Quinnones will hit a Range-Glove of about 82-78 and contact-power-vL-vR/eye of about 51-67-60-66-68. Low-end major-leaguer. But even if Chong and Stairs are better than that, I wonder why Helena makes this deal. This team has "win now" written all over it and they trade a young, star SS for 3 prospects who might be major-leaguers 2-3 years from now? We can say with certainty that the deal helps the Champs now - Ontiveros is the odds-on favorite to be the Silver Slugger at 2B, and the NL 2B Gold Glove has moved to right field for him.
Columbus gets SP Daisuke Miyakazi (Season 4 IFA - $31.3MM Bonus)
Honolulu gets IF Gabby Owens (Season 5 #2)
Analysis: The Kahunas had cap issues and figured it made more sense to trade one of their aces and get max value than move other vets and try to cobble together a lineup with the dregs of free agency. Team officials confirm that 12 teams submitted offers, and characterized "5 or 7 as serious". It came down to Columbus' offer of Owens vs. Arizona's offer of younger prospects, and the bonus of getting immediate help won out. Owens brings excellent defense and and power bat to the Kahunas; his .291/42/103 was good for the NL ROY. He'll line up in RF for Honolulu this season but is the heir apparent at either 2B or 3B. Miyakazi has 52 wins and a 3.29 ERA in 4 seasons. He moves in as the #1 starter for Columbus, which had a 3.72 team ERA last year but just missed the playoffs. The Discoverers now begin a game of musical chairs to replace Owens' production. Vance Winn moves from 2nd to 3rd, Orlando Martinez moves from 1st to 2nd, and somebody new - probably promising rookie Wally Richmond - moves in at first.
Kahunas Set To Threaten Least Bases Stolen Mark
This season's Honolulu Brawling Kahunas could become known as the slowest team in the history of Double Mendoza.
They're just not going to get there very quickly.
This team could well surpass the single-season record for the fewest stolen bases - 2, by the Season 2 Richmond Spider Monkeys (this era's Columbus Discoverers). They were trying to do much better - they had 8 caught stealing's to go with their pair of thefts. Incidentally, the immortal Andrew Beaulac had both those steals. With no worlds left to conquer, he retired after that penultimate season with a .226 lifetime batting average and 16 home runs.
The Kahunas moved into elite turtledom status in Season 9 with 9 SB's (7 CS), and nearly hit single figures with 11 last year (5 CS). But their only thief, Ray Kozlowski, went to Iowa City in a deadline trade. No player on the current ML roster had a stolen base last year.
Some team officials had lobbied to use one of the team's last 2 utility jobs on a speedy pinch-runner. The first one has gone to Travis Costello, who did steal few bags in his younger days but whose only jobs now will be to hit lefties and wheeze around left filed in a wheelchair for a few innings.
BREAKING NEWS: Honolulu has signed vet OF Anthony Winn to their last position spot, imperiling their shot at the record. Winn has 209 career steals, and swiped 14 with Philly last year. While his speed has dropped even more and his playing time this season will be minimal, it seems likely he'll manage more than a couple.
They're just not going to get there very quickly.
This team could well surpass the single-season record for the fewest stolen bases - 2, by the Season 2 Richmond Spider Monkeys (this era's Columbus Discoverers). They were trying to do much better - they had 8 caught stealing's to go with their pair of thefts. Incidentally, the immortal Andrew Beaulac had both those steals. With no worlds left to conquer, he retired after that penultimate season with a .226 lifetime batting average and 16 home runs.
The Kahunas moved into elite turtledom status in Season 9 with 9 SB's (7 CS), and nearly hit single figures with 11 last year (5 CS). But their only thief, Ray Kozlowski, went to Iowa City in a deadline trade. No player on the current ML roster had a stolen base last year.
Some team officials had lobbied to use one of the team's last 2 utility jobs on a speedy pinch-runner. The first one has gone to Travis Costello, who did steal few bags in his younger days but whose only jobs now will be to hit lefties and wheeze around left filed in a wheelchair for a few innings.
BREAKING NEWS: Honolulu has signed vet OF Anthony Winn to their last position spot, imperiling their shot at the record. Winn has 209 career steals, and swiped 14 with Philly last year. While his speed has dropped even more and his playing time this season will be minimal, it seems likely he'll manage more than a couple.
Off-Season Trade Activity Brisk
It's been a pretty steady pace of trades leading up to Season 10, with some fairly big names changing teams. The rundown:
Durham gets rookie C Andres Julio, Season 6's #12 overall pick.
Salt Lake City gets 2-year vet SP Heinie McNally, Season 2's #10 overall pick.
Analysis: Intersting swap of former high first-rounders. McNally has 24 wins and a solid (especially in Durham) 3.94 ERA. He has a pretty nice array of pitches to go with good control; he does have his struggles with righty hitters, but will likely thrive in the decidedly more pitcher-friendly Franklin Covey Field. Julio should put up some nice hitting numbers (1.004 minor-league OPS) and calls a good game. His accuracy to second is a little suspect, but he's a good, well-rounded C. It did raise a few eyebrows when Durham, which has hitting and needs pitching, traded a nice young SP for more hitting. But the object is to score more runs than the other team; vandydave just focuses more on the "score more runs" than the "than the other team" part.
Philadelphia gets SP Len Keats (Sea 3 #18) and RP Walt Sandberg (Sea 7 #31)
Kansas City gets RP Tomas Lee (Sea 8 IFA)
Analysis: Keats has been biding time at KC's AAA team for 4 years, a good prospect but not good enough to crack the tough Masterpiece rotation. He gets his shot in Philly, and KC gets a prospect in Lee who has a chance to be a very good reliever in a couple of years.
Montgomery gets SS Gus Harper (Sea 3's #2)
Helena gets gets RP Pablo Plata (Sea 4's #37)
Analysis: Bit of a puzzler for Helena. Harper's a solid SS who's neither old, overpaid, brittle, nor lacking endurance. Sure, his glove is a little clanky for a SS, but he also hits 30 dings a year. The team can use relief help, but is Plata it? He has good control, is pretty tough on lefties, and has a great first pitch (sinker). But he's always going to have trouble with righties...lots of trouble. His 4.01 ERA last year was pretty good considering the .761 OPS-against. Alright, he could be better in the more-neutral ballpark in Helena. But the in't no place for erffdogs could've done much better.
Kansas City gets 2B Josh Bolden (a league-startup AAA prospect with the Biscuits)
Detroit gets OF Leon Durrington (a league-startup LoA prospect with the Houston organization)
Analysis: Bolden has been a backup his whole career, albeit a pretty effective one with a career OPS of .788. Durrington was a long-time minor-leaguer who finally came up in Season 7 and got more than his 15 minutes with an All-Star, Silver Slugger Season 7 (.313/26/100). Bolden appears to be penclied in as Juan Olmedo's defensive replacement; Durrington might see full-time DH duty.
Durham gets rookie C Andres Julio, Season 6's #12 overall pick.
Salt Lake City gets 2-year vet SP Heinie McNally, Season 2's #10 overall pick.
Analysis: Intersting swap of former high first-rounders. McNally has 24 wins and a solid (especially in Durham) 3.94 ERA. He has a pretty nice array of pitches to go with good control; he does have his struggles with righty hitters, but will likely thrive in the decidedly more pitcher-friendly Franklin Covey Field. Julio should put up some nice hitting numbers (1.004 minor-league OPS) and calls a good game. His accuracy to second is a little suspect, but he's a good, well-rounded C. It did raise a few eyebrows when Durham, which has hitting and needs pitching, traded a nice young SP for more hitting. But the object is to score more runs than the other team; vandydave just focuses more on the "score more runs" than the "than the other team" part.
Philadelphia gets SP Len Keats (Sea 3 #18) and RP Walt Sandberg (Sea 7 #31)
Kansas City gets RP Tomas Lee (Sea 8 IFA)
Analysis: Keats has been biding time at KC's AAA team for 4 years, a good prospect but not good enough to crack the tough Masterpiece rotation. He gets his shot in Philly, and KC gets a prospect in Lee who has a chance to be a very good reliever in a couple of years.
Montgomery gets SS Gus Harper (Sea 3's #2)
Helena gets gets RP Pablo Plata (Sea 4's #37)
Analysis: Bit of a puzzler for Helena. Harper's a solid SS who's neither old, overpaid, brittle, nor lacking endurance. Sure, his glove is a little clanky for a SS, but he also hits 30 dings a year. The team can use relief help, but is Plata it? He has good control, is pretty tough on lefties, and has a great first pitch (sinker). But he's always going to have trouble with righties...lots of trouble. His 4.01 ERA last year was pretty good considering the .761 OPS-against. Alright, he could be better in the more-neutral ballpark in Helena. But the in't no place for erffdogs could've done much better.
Kansas City gets 2B Josh Bolden (a league-startup AAA prospect with the Biscuits)
Detroit gets OF Leon Durrington (a league-startup LoA prospect with the Houston organization)
Analysis: Bolden has been a backup his whole career, albeit a pretty effective one with a career OPS of .788. Durrington was a long-time minor-leaguer who finally came up in Season 7 and got more than his 15 minutes with an All-Star, Silver Slugger Season 7 (.313/26/100). Bolden appears to be penclied in as Juan Olmedo's defensive replacement; Durrington might see full-time DH duty.
FLASH...Batista Signs With Arizona
Season 1 NL Cy Young winner and 4-time All-Star Julio Batista has signed with Arizona, getting $16.6 million over 2 years (the contract has a mutual option for Season 11). Batista has been a stalwart SP for Montgomery teams since the league's inception, getting double-digit wins every year and posting a career 3.42 ERA. His ratings have held up remarkably well over the years (excepting major injuries early in his career), even posting gains up to age 32. The only question here is how fast or slow those ratings will start to slip (Arizona's training budget is a slightly-below-average 14; Montgomery's has never wavered from 20).
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