2059 – Team Options (Team Released Player)

[RonCo]

So we come to the last of this little series of missives, the one in which we discuss players for whom the axe fell, and whom their teams cut them to the wind. Theoretically these are players who GMs thought were over-paid, or at least no longer in their team’s plan going forward. By definition these players are in the last year or two of their contracts. As with the previous bit, I’m sorting them by what I had projected each team would do. And just as with the last segment, those are all my opinions, and could well be wrong for a multitude of reasons.

Also, this is another table that runs out past the margins of the forum, so I’ve pasted it below all the text.

Anyway, let’s jump in, shall we?

Let’s start with the case of Phoenix’s 1B Jorge Pena, which I conveniently labeled as “WTF?” And I do mean that. He’s 28 years old. His status in the last v24 file was a Team Option for $10.2M, followed by three arbitration years. What am I missing? I don’t know, but I’m guessing Sean pulled some of that smelting factory/Denney’s magic someplace. Regardless, Pena had a marvelous year last year. He’s also a sold defender at 1B. He’s quite pricey, but not horribly so if he will turn those 3 WAR despite hitting only RHP. I’m inclined to think I’d have kept him. He’s only asking (me) for $3M, though…so maybe there’s something I don’t know? Maybe he’s a product of his park? You tell me.

Anyway, moving up the page, I note that—with two exceptions—every player I thought should be released and that was actually released is asking for less money on the market than they were making (Jeremey Webb’s ask of Bikini is for a minor league deal with a major league option). I suggest that means the player was in agreement that their market value was less than their contract. Those exceptions are Mexico City’s Salvador Allende, who is asking for close to the same money, but is hoping for more years, and Vancouver’s Angel Gonzalez who wants another half-mil to go with four years of control. I’m not sure either are going to get the AAV they are looking for, though it’s possible. I don’t know that either will get the years. I note Twin Cities Alfonso Trinidad is also asking for several years, though he’s asking for less than the $14M he was slated to get if the River Monsters executed their option.

Going further up the page was see Tony Frost, who Vancouver bought out, then resigned to a slightly more comfortable $10M with a $9M TO kicker. I expected Vancouver to keep him, and this qualifies.

We then get to five mostly bigger-name higher-priced tickets in Owen McKelvey, Mal Fountain, Edgar Sosa, Alaric Wullenweber, Jeffrey Smith, and Thomas Kramer. I assumed their teams would keep them, but they did not. Sosa and Kramer as less-names, and are asking for less than their contracts would have called for, so this suggests they agree that the team made a good decision. The others are aging stars, and are still looking to cash in. I’m pretty sure Fountain, Smith, and Kramer were released due to financial constraints around cap and budget limitations. McKelvey is only 32 and should have something left in the tank.

It will be interesting to see if Fountain, Wullenweber, and Smith can pull the four or five years they are asking for. In straight v24, I suppose they might. The question of how the aging curves will survive the v25 conversion will be interesting to watch. Our GMs seem to have been pretty conservative in trading during the dead period of the conversion. Time will tell.

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So there we have it. A full scouring of the off-season options. (For Sean’s fun with PPT accounting, that’s 6 Features good for 24 points!). As always, feel free to tell me where I’m wrong!

I admit to having my full OOTP nerd goggles on as we go forward to see if and how v25 seems to handle this part of the game, and how different it will feel. While a lot of people point to the game’s results engine as changing every version, my view is that it really does not. But this financial aspect of players agreeing to contracts most certainly does.

Am I right?

Well…obviously, I think so. But if nothing else, I find it quite a bit of fun to deal with.

Team	Pos	Name	Age	Type	2058	2059	2060	2061	2062	Projection	Asking>	2059		2060	2061		2062		2063
LBC	RP	Owen McKelvey	32	T	$3.0m	$3.0m(T)	$3.0m(T)			Keep	Release	$4.200		$4.200	$4.200		$4.200
LOU	3B	Mal Fountain	37	T	$8.9m	$12.6m(T)				Keep	Release	$13.000		$13.000	$13.000		$13.000	P	$13.000
LV	SP	Edgar Sosa	33	T	$4.5m	$5.5m(T)	$6.0m(T)			Keep	Release	$1.700
PHX	SP	Alaric Wullenweber	38	T	$11.3m	$11.3m(T)				Keep	Release	$12.600		$12.000	$12.000	P	$12.000
VAN	LF	Jeffrey Smith	39	T	$7.5m(^)	$12.0m(T)	$15.0m(P)			Keep	Release	$15.000		$15.000	$13.600		$13.600	V	$11.600
VAN	SS	Thomas Kramer	37	T	$8.0m	$12.0m(T)	$14.0m(P)			Keep	Release	$7.000		$7.000
VAN	3B	Tony Frost	38	T	$11.2m	$12.2m(T)	$13.2m(P)			Keep	Void>Resign	$10.000	T	$9.500
BRK	RP	Cheuk-yan Liu	33	T	$4.8m	$4.8m(T)				Release	Release	MLC
BRK	RP	Ken Arroyo	33	T	$4.0m	$4.2m(T)				Release	Release	MLC
CHI	SP	Marcus Olivares	29	T	$3.5m	$3.0m(T)	$3.5m(T)			Release	Release	MLC
DM	RP	Jorge Ávila	34	T	$2.5m	$2.5m(T)				Release	Release	$1.800
DM	2B	Jeremy Webb	38	T	$1.0m	$1.0m(T)				Release	Release	$1.500
LBC	CF	Bill Morley	37	T	$8.0m	$8.0m(T)				Release	Release	$2.800
LV	1B	Aarnoud Budding	38	T	$6.3m(^)	$12.6m(T)	$12.6m(T)			Release	Release	$4.640
MEX	SP	César Macías	32	T	$3.0m	$3.0m(T)	$3.0m(T)			Release	Release	$1.300
MEX	SS	Ewan Allman	39	T	$3.8m	$3.8m(T)	$3.8m(T)			Release	Release	$1.600
MEX	3B	Salvador Allende	37	T	$7.0m	$7.0m(T)	$7.0m(T)			Release	Release	$8.000		$7.000	$7.000		$6.500
TWC	3B	Alfonso Trinidad	37	T	$14.0m	$14.0m(T)	$13.0m(T)			Release	Release	$10.600		$10.600	$9.500		$9.500	P	$9.000
VAN	RF	Ángel González	38	T	$9.0m	$12.0m(T)	$12.0m(P)			Release	Release	$9.500		$9.500	$9.500	V	$9.500
PHX	1B	Jorge Peña	28	T	$7.6m	$10.2m(T)	$10.1m(A)	$11.6m(A)	$13.1m(A)	WTF?	Release	$3.200

[Knucklehead254]

Kramers rating at SS dropped from 11 to 9 the last couple months which has me worried about a decline. Plus last time a let a SS go it prevented me from paying this guy $7 million in 2057. Gonzalez was tougher to let go because we had agreed to a deal but he didnt decide fast enough. Smith is really really good but as you said I didn't have the money to bring him back. Kind of nice to have about $40 million of cap this year going into FA.