Hold My Log - 52.02 - McBride and Others Opt-Out

[7teen]

The nuclear option nearly came to fruition. Following the Brewster Memorial Series, several prominent Portland Lumberjacks, including Ernest McBride, have opted out of their contracts and will become free agents this season. The opt-outs have left the roster pretty bare but has given the front office a huge supply of available money to bring in new faces or attempt to lure the old faces back.

"We speculated a few months ago about the possibility of this happening" commented team assistant general manager Kate Fiscus. "We were unsure and had little inside information from our guys about their plans. We hold no grudges towards any of the guys who chose to void the remainders of their contract and wish them the best of luck this off-season. The guys who left were pivotal parts to our Frick League winning squad a year ago and we hope to bring them back if things work out this off-season."

"It was a difficult decision" commented Ernest McBride. "I've had some great seasons in Portland that included a pair of pennant winning campaigns. But I want to see what's available to me on the open market. I'm not closed to the idea of returning back to Portland and me and my agent will definitely stay in touch with the front office. I loved playing here and love the fans. We'll see how things go this off-season."

McBride was the biggest piece of the Portland roster who utilized his opt-out clause and forfeited $21 million next season. His decision, though not confirmed with other players, could have been a domino affect on the decisions of Jeffrey Smith, Angel Zalapa, Lorenzo de' Medici, and Francisco Otero who also chose free agency over returning. The only player to return who had an option to leave was Roberto Viramontas.

Fiscus however, believes these were individual decisions not based on any single player's decision.

"We think these guys just wanted to weigh their options" commented Fiscus. "I don't think they let any one player's decision affect their own decision making. They want to see what their value is on the open market. If they find a better deal than we were giving them, outstanding. Perhaps we can provide them something better this off-season. Despite what these guys decide, we'll be sure to utilize the space we now have to build a team that can continue to compete for a Brewster title."

One added bonus to the opt-outs is that the team now has the cap space to begin looking into extending the contracts of it's pitching staff.

"That will be priority number 1 over the next few weeks" concluded Fiscus. "We are going to sit down with Sparks, Warren, and Thompson and see what it will take to keep them in a Lumberjacks uniform long term. Once we get those 3 guys locked in long term, we'll start examining the open market ourselves and see which of the guys who left may be able to come back and then what other free agents we need to focus on."

[ae37jr]

Should be a fun off season. Just as much talent as last year, only now a lot more teams have money to spend.

[7teen]

Should be a fun off season. Just as much talent as last year, only now a lot more teams have money to spend.

It will be interesting. Teams do have money to spend which gives me the sense some of these big name guys are going to come out asking for the moon. Wouldn't be surprised to see many of these guys asking for 20-25 million a season. That quickly drains a chunk of the funds avaiable and could allow for some good deals to be had towards the end of the period. That seems to be how the last few off-seasons have gone down. So strategy of going big early or being patient will be real interesting to watch. I've always had a problem wanting to go big early!

[CTBrewCrew]

Its hard to not blow your FA load early with Kate around.