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gordyhulten · 07-15-2008, 11:43 PM

OFFSEASON ROSTER EVALUATION: Free Agency: November 2000
Game Date: November 30, 2000

Team Payroll: $18.34 million
League Average Payroll: $25.67 million
Team Cash: -$15.27 million
Team Budget: $26.86 million
Fan Interest: 49

North Carolina Transactions

At the beginning of Free Agency, my primary goal was to reduce my payroll, preferably by trading C Tyler Wright and LF Mike Rasmussen, who combined earn about $10 million. Wright is a decent catcher, but he’s old and replaceable. Rasmussen is formerly productive, and one of the league’s premier basestealers, but had an awful 2000.

I thought trading Wright, at 37yo and nearly $6 million in salary for 2001, would be the more difficult deal, but three teams expressed some interest as we entered free agency, and Colorado seemed like the best fit. Their starting catcher in 2000, Arturo Arellano, was now a free agent. Down in AAA, they also have the #63 prospect in baseball, C Ramon Rivera, who is 23 years old but not quite ready for regular duty in the big leagues. Also, the Chiefs are financially healthy, able to afford Wright for one season while waiting for Rivera to further develop. That said, they still weren’t willing to give me anything but Trent Rodgers (Talent: Stuff 5 / Movement 7 / Control 6), a 24yo RH MR who my scouts don’t like. In addition, after getting their preliminary approval for the deal, they balked until I included Anderson Hart, a 21yo corner OF who spent 2000 at AA Greensboro. Regardless, I’m happy to be rid of Wright, and hope he justifies his salary in the rarified air of Colorado.

For Mike Rasmussen, I wonder if the difficulty in trading him was due to the length of his contract ($3.89 million per year through 2003) versus the size, relative to Wright’s. Or maybe the former All-Star had reached such a level of Neifi Perez-like suckitude that nobody really wanted him. Either way, our good friends the New Jersey Curve expressed an interest. After discussing the deal with them, our scouts fell in love with two of their young players. The first is 21yo C Jose Cervantes (Talent: Contact 9 / Gap 3 / HR 2 / Eye 5 / Avoid Ks 8). The scouting services love his ability to make contact, but that’s about it. He’s been released once, and despite an .816 OPS in 2000 in Single A, wasn’t going to be promoted by the Curve.

The second player is a young pitcher for whom they had little regard: 22yo southpaw Tom Harris (Talent: 8/8/6). The conventional wisdom on Harris is that he throws hard, but that he has little upside; my scouts disagree, although his record in Single-A as a 22yo is troubling.

To get both Harris and Cervantes, I had to package Rasmussen with include another veteran, 35yo RH SP Cory Lewis, who has been a cheap workhorse in losing 30 games for NC over the past two seasons.

The two trades reduced my Aeros’ players’ salaries to about $6.5 million for 2001, which is about $8 million less than the next cheapest team. In 2000, we generated about $22.7 million and ended about $15.3 million in debt. In 2001, if we can generate similar revenues while holding our payroll to between $7 million and $10 million, we’ll be nearly out of debt, and able to participate in free agency a little more fully in the 2001-2002 offseason.

In the meantime, we have to find a way to avoid losing 120 games in 2001.

I also signed the following to minor-league contracts:

C Jeremy Baldwin (Talent: 5/8/5/6/4)

3B Johnny Branch (Talent: 6/6/3/6/5)

MR Malcom Slim Clyne (Talent: 8/4/4)

OF Jose Davila (Talent: 5/8/8/4/5)

RH MR Dave Lee (Talent: 7/6/4)

RH MR Ryan Stevenson (Talent: 7/5/4)

1B Carlos Torres (Talent: 6/6/7/5/5)

C Todd Wilkerson (Talent: 7/8/4/5/3)

LH MR Dave Williams (Talent: 10/4/4)

Other Significant Transactions

1B Kyle Rice had a career year in 2000 for Kentucky, hitting 322/404/528. He cashed in by signing with Mississippi for six years at $4.69 million per year, which seems way too high and way too long for a good, but eminently replaceable player.

Excellent young 2B Albert Stoltz, one of the better young players in baseball, is inexplicably shipped from Washington to Tennessee in exchange for the very mediocre 31yo SP Jorge Vega.

The Texas Drillers traded 27yo CF Charles Clarke, who was just coming into his own before fighting some injuries this past season, to the Florida Oranges for 31yo MR Rod Nicholson and a scrub minor leaguer. This one baffles me too.

With Wright and Rasmussen gone, and a light at the end of the financial tunnel, it finally feels like I’m making some progress. I’m anxious to progress more through free agency, which feels like it’s moving slowly so far for the rest of the league.

HTML is generating, and will upload in the morning.

07-15-2008, 11:43 PM	#31 (permalink)
gordyhulten All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Champaign, IL Posts: 1,175 Thanks: 0 Thanked 3x in 1 post	OFFSEASON ROSTER EVALUATION: Free Agency: November 2000 Game Date: November 30, 2000 Team Payroll: $18.34 million League Average Payroll: $25.67 million Team Cash: -$15.27 million Team Budget: $26.86 million Fan Interest: 49 North Carolina Transactions At the beginning of Free Agency, my primary goal was to reduce my payroll, preferably by trading C Tyler Wright and LF Mike Rasmussen, who combined earn about $10 million. Wright is a decent catcher, but he’s old and replaceable. Rasmussen is formerly productive, and one of the league’s premier basestealers, but had an awful 2000. I thought trading Wright, at 37yo and nearly $6 million in salary for 2001, would be the more difficult deal, but three teams expressed some interest as we entered free agency, and Colorado seemed like the best fit. Their starting catcher in 2000, Arturo Arellano, was now a free agent. Down in AAA, they also have the #63 prospect in baseball, C Ramon Rivera, who is 23 years old but not quite ready for regular duty in the big leagues. Also, the Chiefs are financially healthy, able to afford Wright for one season while waiting for Rivera to further develop. That said, they still weren’t willing to give me anything but Trent Rodgers (Talent: Stuff 5 / Movement 7 / Control 6), a 24yo RH MR who my scouts don’t like. In addition, after getting their preliminary approval for the deal, they balked until I included Anderson Hart, a 21yo corner OF who spent 2000 at AA Greensboro. Regardless, I’m happy to be rid of Wright, and hope he justifies his salary in the rarified air of Colorado. For Mike Rasmussen, I wonder if the difficulty in trading him was due to the length of his contract ($3.89 million per year through 2003) versus the size, relative to Wright’s. Or maybe the former All-Star had reached such a level of Neifi Perez-like suckitude that nobody really wanted him. Either way, our good friends the New Jersey Curve expressed an interest. After discussing the deal with them, our scouts fell in love with two of their young players. The first is 21yo C Jose Cervantes (Talent: Contact 9 / Gap 3 / HR 2 / Eye 5 / Avoid Ks 8). The scouting services love his ability to make contact, but that’s about it. He’s been released once, and despite an .816 OPS in 2000 in Single A, wasn’t going to be promoted by the Curve. The second player is a young pitcher for whom they had little regard: 22yo southpaw Tom Harris (Talent: 8/8/6). The conventional wisdom on Harris is that he throws hard, but that he has little upside; my scouts disagree, although his record in Single-A as a 22yo is troubling. To get both Harris and Cervantes, I had to package Rasmussen with include another veteran, 35yo RH SP Cory Lewis, who has been a cheap workhorse in losing 30 games for NC over the past two seasons. The two trades reduced my Aeros’ players’ salaries to about $6.5 million for 2001, which is about $8 million less than the next cheapest team. In 2000, we generated about $22.7 million and ended about $15.3 million in debt. In 2001, if we can generate similar revenues while holding our payroll to between $7 million and $10 million, we’ll be nearly out of debt, and able to participate in free agency a little more fully in the 2001-2002 offseason. In the meantime, we have to find a way to avoid losing 120 games in 2001. I also signed the following to minor-league contracts: C Jeremy Baldwin (Talent: 5/8/5/6/4) 3B Johnny Branch (Talent: 6/6/3/6/5) MR Malcom Slim Clyne (Talent: 8/4/4) OF Jose Davila (Talent: 5/8/8/4/5) RH MR Dave Lee (Talent: 7/6/4) RH MR Ryan Stevenson (Talent: 7/5/4) 1B Carlos Torres (Talent: 6/6/7/5/5) C Todd Wilkerson (Talent: 7/8/4/5/3) LH MR Dave Williams (Talent: 10/4/4) Other Significant Transactions 1B Kyle Rice had a career year in 2000 for Kentucky, hitting 322/404/528. He cashed in by signing with Mississippi for six years at $4.69 million per year, which seems way too high and way too long for a good, but eminently replaceable player. Excellent young 2B Albert Stoltz, one of the better young players in baseball, is inexplicably shipped from Washington to Tennessee in exchange for the very mediocre 31yo SP Jorge Vega. The Texas Drillers traded 27yo CF Charles Clarke, who was just coming into his own before fighting some injuries this past season, to the Florida Oranges for 31yo MR Rod Nicholson and a scrub minor leaguer. This one baffles me too. With Wright and Rasmussen gone, and a light at the end of the financial tunnel, it finally feels like I’m making some progress. I’m anxious to progress more through free agency, which feels like it’s moving slowly so far for the rest of the league. HTML is generating, and will upload in the morning. Last edited by gordyhulten; 07-16-2008 at 12:32 PM.