It has been the quietest offseason in recent memory for the Cowtippers. We agreed to only three minor trades, and we have less than $5 million to spend on free agents. For all intents and purposes, we could have started the 2021 season several months ago when the projection disk was published. Not much has changed since then.
In our first trade of 2021, we acquired Framber Valdez from the North Carolina Iron Spider Pigs in exchange for Dylan Moore and Luis Rodriguez. After we agreed to the deal, I told North Carolina's GM, Ian Hartner, that this deal would come back to bite me, as it felt just like our Wander F'ing Franco deal a few years ago. Back then, Franco, like Rodriguez, had yet to step to the plate a single time as a professional when we traded him. We regretted that deal almost instantly. Valdez doesn't fit a pressing need for us today, but with Stephen Strasburg and Sonny Gray leaving us at the end of this season, we will need all of the arms we can get for 2022. Valdez had a fantastic MLB season in 2020, and we hope it carries through into the next few years.
In our second deal, we filled the gaping void behind home plate by acquiring Christian Vazquez from Great Lakes in exchange for Sean Manaea. Vazquez doesn't have a great projection (.264/.309/.415), but in a very thin catching pool his OPS (barely) ranks among the top-20. We were counting on Manaea for a few spot starts, but those can now be filled by Valdez, instead.
In our third and final trade, we sent Alex Avila packing to the loathsome Allentown Ridgebacks in exchange for Jeimer Candelario. This may be our first-ever trade with the Evil Empire, which makes me feel a bit queasy. Avila owns a great on-base percentage, but doesn't offer much else, so we weren't planning to keep him at $1 million in salary. For half that salary, we get Candelario, who can fill in at the infield corners this year and possibly give us some value next year.
Cutdown Day
We had several very tough decisions to make on Cutdown Day this year. Among them (in no particular order):
- Shohei Ohtani. We have five franchised players already, and did not want to franchise another this year. However, it seems like we have no other choice with Ohtani. The problem is that no one has any clue what he will become in the next few years. Will he ever pitch again? If he doesn't, is he strictly a DH? On the one hand, he's a tremendous player, regardless, and it would be a shame if we didn't lock him up long-term. On the other hand, doing so could be a huge risk. We saw what happened last year when he was a DH-only, and it wasn't pretty. However, with the way MLB is heading, it's likely that the BDBL will have no choice but to adopt the dreaded DH within the next two years. In the end, we made the only logical choice we had: we locked him up long-term (six years) as a franchise player, ensuring as little risk and expense as possible.
- Ramon Laureano. Who is he? Is he the Ramon Laureano of 2019 or 2020? The 2019 version is an easy four-year signing. The 2020 version is a one-and-dump. At $3 million in salary, signing the 2020 version to four years could prove very costly. But missing out on the 2019 version at only $6 million is equally costly. In the end, we took the middle road and signed him to three years.
- Nick Senzel. He was the #2 overall prospect in the game of baseball not long ago. You'd think he'd be a no-brainer long-term signing at age 25. But given that he's spent nearly his entire MLB career either injured or under-performing, it now seems like a no-brainer to limit our risk as much as possible. With that, we signed him to four years, which means he will be in the prime of his career when this contract ends. Hopefully, we don't kick ourselves for that.
- Framber Valdez. Again, which version are we signing: the 2020 version or the pre-2020 version? He was a different pitcher last year than he ever showed before. Was it because he made some adjustments and had a lasting breakthrough? Or was it all a mirage? We're taking a gamble that his breakthrough is for real, and signed him to four years, giving him a salary of $6 million in year four.
- Christian Walker. He managed to sustain his 2019 breakthrough last year, but there are a few red flags that give us pause going forward. One of those red flags is that he turns 30 this year. It isn't exactly a death sentence for a player of his type, but it's something to consider. Better safe than sorry. We signed him to three years.
