Mexico City, after all, won the Sunbelt last year, and is still loaded up. Assuming Campbell comes back in ways UCL recoverers often do, he could be a special kind of pitcher (he throws a 100 MPH fastball, and his slider is death to right handed batters). If Campbell turns out to not recover well, the one-season nature of the deal makes it a breeze to deal with in the overall pitcher.
This seems to me to be a pretty cagey signing by GM Fred Holmes. Almost all upside, almost nothing on the down.
The signing signals that new GM Al Sganga is serious about fielding a real team in Boise, and it’s sure to raise both ears and eyebrows in the potato fields. Some have openly speculated if Gonzales and the Tater farm would be a poor match (Boise’s field is only a Tater-maker for those who hit from the Far Right, and CarGo is a lefty. In addition, Gonzalez is 32, so he runs the standard set of risks that come with that kind of age. But—on the whole—while it seems unlikely that Gonzalez can raise the team to be a true playoff contender on his own, I like the deal well enough.
Don’t get me wrong: Boise finished second in the Frontier last year, but only because they got caught holding the hot potato when the music stopped. It’s a franchise that needs some serious work, and putting this kind of capital in one player’s basket is certainly risky (though the resources spent here are considerably less than those that both YS9 and MAD spend on Baca and Savage back in the days of EBA signings).
But, ballpark aside, the team actually did need a serious left-handed presence in their everyday lineup, and putting a guy like Gonzalez in the outfield let’s Al build infrastructure around a reliable hitter, and that’s preferable to throwing minsal guys out there to pretend to make money while losing a bunch of games. Boise’s got the cash/cap available to win some games now, which helps them be ready when they need to hit the accelerator, so I like that he’s addressing needs.
Our guess is it will take 2-3 seasons for Boise to become a reliably strong team, and at that time the financial resources being spent on Gonzalez can be slipped to another player. In addition, Sganga’s got more cash to throw around. It’ll be interesting to see what the team finishes with. It will also be interesting to see what the new ownership does with his park factors over time.
These are a pair of value signings that I really like.
Yes, Gowron is a weird hitter. He’s right handed, strikes out too much, and walks too little. But Hawaii’s offense was one of the least powerful in the league last year (its 168 homers was less than any team outside Madison and Vancouver). Bieschke needed a guy who can hit the long ball, and Gowron can certainly do that. Beyond that, he’s not pricey and he can play a passing right field. So we figure if Mike can let him hit lefties fulltime and pick his spots against RHP, maybe start a bit and pinch hit a lot, you could see that WAR run up into the 1.5 territory, maybe higher. He’s 29, and essentially at his peak. $3.8M for a shot at 30 homers seems like a pretty good risk.
So bottom line, the Tropics just spent about $6M on two players that directly shore up issues the team had last year. Will it work? Well, who knows. But it looks pretty smart on paper, and in December, that’s what matters most.
# These are, of course, the earliest of signings. And there’s going to be more where these come from. But on the whole I’m pretty excited for these three teams.
