by Nes Lessman, for the Yellow Springs Journal
November 15, 2055
Yellow Springs, OH – The Nine went to arbitration only once and came up aces, getting the arbitrator to agree to a 1 year, 1 million dollar contract for complicated starting pitcher Alejando Morin. Morin asked for $1,244,500, an oddly specific number.
The 24 year old just finished his third year with the Nine and it was not a pretty affair. He started 26 games for the Nine, posting a 5-15 record, which was part of Yellow Springs' misery. And because we know wins don't tell the whole story, let's look at his brutal 6.49 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, and .4 WAR. It's no wonder the arbiters went with the Nine's figure.
Some might argue that the Nine's defense killed Morin. If you get into FIP, he's stil a 5.04, and his FIP- was 121, a far cry from the 4.09 and 95 he had in a successful 2054.
Moran went to my typical stomping grounds, the minors, for 5 starts, going 1-3 with a 4.76 ERA and 1.48 WHIP. Not Amazing there, either. 2055 was definitely a year Mr. Morin would rather forget. The Nine would as well and have to hope he'll bounce back, as the bullpen is getting pretty crowded with failed starter arms.
The rest of the Nine's arbitration-eligible players were released:
C Hak-joon Yi. Acquired in the 2054 trade with Nashville, Yi took a major step backward in 2055, hitting only .225 with 9 home runs. Never a good glove man, he's easily replaced for much much cheaper than the roughly 4 or 5 million he might have received in arbitration. Nine fans will be sad to see him go, though – he was extremely popular and was on several commercials airing regularly.
RP Philippe Dumont. Once one of the promising crop of relievers, Dumont fell off the map in 2055 and his reported demands were well over what he was worth. Given his history of success, the Nine would likely have lost arbitration. No one really know what happened here. He went from a 3.25 ERA to 6.83, and a WHIP of 1.08 to 1.62. Not all of that was the Nine's porous defense, because his bb/9 jumped from 2.6 to 3.2. It looks like being used more than a few times a year really exposed him.
RP Leonard Thompson. Brought on as a late-season waiver claim from Chicago, Thompson actually did quite well, giving up only 1 run in just shy of 9 innings of work, but his reported asking price of two million made little sense. As with Yi, a player of similar quality can often be had in March for at or near league minimum.
SP Topan Adjeng. Most notable for having the same name as the outfielder the Nine signed mid-season, he provided adequate spot start work as a late-season waiver claim, but nothing a rookie or a veteran signing can't do. He was another pick-up from Chicago and unlike Morin, O'Reilly, and Broadbent, actually have the Nine a chance to win his 3 starts, though he did go 0-2.
SS Aniruddha Meenaksshisundaram was the last of the September waiver gambles and did nothing to distinguish himself. While he may be AM on his jersey, his career is likely on the PM. He batted .182 for the Nine after being picked up from Vancouver.
"I don't like going to arbitration with anyone," said GM Rob McMonigal, "but sometimes we have no other options. We were so close, too, but Alejandro just didn't want to talk. I think he was sore about the mid-season demotion. I can understand that, but if he'd just opened up a chat, he'd have gotten more money. We're hoping for good things from him in 2056."
I asked about the others, and McMonigal had this to say. "We thank them for their time with our organization, but they just didn't fit into our plans at this time. None of them slammed the door, and neither did we. You never know what the off-season might bring."
I disagree. I know exactly what this off-season is going to bring: Significant personnel changes. The question on everyone's mind is: Will this be the year McMonigal gets it right?
