California 2039.2 - I Stole this Idea From Randy who Stole it from Ron

[Ted]

We have two (three, but I started this before the Vegas one was posted) excellent articles posted from Yellow Springs and San Fernando on who their teams came together, and it was interesting enough that I wanted to know about my own. And since I like to pontificate, you all get to hear about it. Also, should a bunch of other teams mimic this effort, I will collect the data about how many were drafted, traded for, etc, and make a feature out of it.

My expectation is that California will look a lot more like Yellow Springs that San Fernando, built through the draft rather than trades. However, I also expect that California will reach back a bit further in terms of debut dates. I may have the least roster turnover in the Brewster. I'm going to try to stick to what I project to be the 27 man roster on opening day. As I don't plan any FA signings, this should be easy enough. One last note, I included a contract type, because I think that sheds some additional light on team building.

Here's a key:
Min = 500k min contract
Arb# - Arbitration and the number of the arb (1st, 2nd, etc)
ArbB#- Arb Buyout and the years bought out, ex: ArbB23 means buyout of 2nd and 3rd arb years
Ext(Inc/Dec/Flat) - Extension with increasing year over year, decreasing year over year, or flat
IFA - IFA
Sct - Scout Find

So let's get started.

2023:

Player	Salary	Contract Type	Date Acq	Source	Round	Pick
SP Luis Gracia	10 mil	ExtDec	07/01/2023	Trade

Ah, Luis Gracia. When I trade for him from Huntsville back in 2023, I never saw a potential future Hall of Famer. He was 4/6/5 by today's ratings at the time (I remember him being like 6/6/6 so that seems about right). Gracia was a lottery ticket that I got along with Ricardo Ortiz for OF Doug Kendall. I didn't have a spot for Kendall, and he was wilting away in the minors. In hindsight, I should have played him over some of the guys I did. Kyle saw his potential and flipped me a couple lottery tickets for him. Who would have thought I'd win that deal? Gracia just bumped and bumped and bumped. His California days may be numbered though, as he's asking for 6 years at 25+ mil per and is an FA at the end of this season. I'd forgotten all about Ortiz. Looks like I traded him to Buffalo (back when that was a thing) along with other crap for a crap SS. Neat to see he made a career for himself in Vancouver.

2025:

Player	Salary	Contract Type	Date Acq	Source	Round	Pick
2B Claudio Defazio	11 mil	ExtDec	02/10/2025	Sct

My best scout find ever, all of 14 seasons ago. Defazio was 3/2/5 by today's ratings when he was scouted out of Venezuela. 39.3 WAR and nine pro seasons later, he's the best bat I've ever had (excluding FA/trade 2-3 year rentals).

2027:

Player	Salary	Contract Type	Date Acq	Source	Round	Pick
SP Jaime Mercado	6.5 mil	ArbB 123	04/20/2027	Draft	2	48
SP Cisco Morales	8.25 mil	ExtFlat	06/11/2027	Trade

Cisco Morales has an interesting story. He's actually a California scout find from 6/24/24, and the highest potential scout find I have ever had. He was four stars and 8/8/8. (It's easy to remember when there has only been one good one ever). He did something funny and lost 1 mph in 2026. I didn't know what that meant and California desperately needed relief pitching, and a middle of the order bat. So on 6/11/2026, I sent him to Brooklyn along with Holden Blackwell (and some lottery tickets that didn't pan out) for Skip Glendenning and Brian Whitten. Whitten never really hit in California (but no one really ever did, especially lefties back then, before I moved the RF fences in). So on 6/11/27, a year from the date I acquired Whitten, I traded him to Omaha (now Mexico City) for ... Cisco Morales (who had been sent from Brooklyn to Omaha for Emilio Rodriguez). All in all Morales has been involved in transactions invlolving two championship teams (I scouted him the year I won it all), and Rodriguez was certainly a big part of the 2026 Brooklyn championship. He was traded for the same player twice. And traded for two future Hall of Famers (Glendenning and Rodriguez).

Mercado was a second round pick where I saw a lefty with a good base that could bump. I was right.

2028:

Player	Salary	Contract Type	Date Acq	Source	Round	Pick
SP Miguel Ramos	11.25 mil	ArbB 23	02/28/2028	IFA
RP Guus Alberink	2.75 mil	Arb 3	04/10/2028	Draft	2	61

Ramos was my last big IFA win. Since that time, I have probably spent 120-150 mil in IFA and come up with bupkis. Guus Alberink was another second round pick who only needed a smidge of bumping to make good.

2029:

Player	Salary	Contract Type	Date Acq	Source	Round	Pick
C Chip Saunders	4.87 mil	ExtFlat	11/03/2029	Trade

Acquired from Havana shortly before Randy got there for Rob Synder, Eugenio Fugazzi, Roberto Chavez, and Manuel Martinez. The GM at that time didn't like no hit catchers, and those guys, specifically Martinez and Snyder were prospects with solid upside at the time.

2031:

Player	Salary	Contract Type	Date Acq	Source	Round	Pick
RP Pepe Flores	500k	Min	01/30/2031	MinorLg FA
LF Esteban Cuervo	4.32	ArbB 2	04/07/2031	Draft	2	55

I like to look for minor league pitchers who can be RP converted. Flores is one of those. He actually bumped to back end starter, but arm injuries have slowed his rise. Cuervo was picked in Rd 2, and at the time had really bad defense for a corner OF. Turns out that was a new trend and now he's acceptable there.

2032:

Player	Salary	Contract Type	Date Acq	Source	Round	Pick
RP Wan-Ling Lou	500k	Min	01/04/2032	IFA
P Juan Lopez	500k	Min	04/07/2032	Draft	1	21
C Hedde Veenman	800k	ArbB 1	06/05/2032	MinorLg FA

Lou is another guy who might have been a 4-5 starter but ran into arm injuries. Just RP converted him and he'll get his first shot in this year. Lopes is the only first round pick currently on my team. I don't trade first round prospects often. I just suck in Rd 1 apparently. Veenman was a minor league FA I had my eye on. He bumped once, I signed him, and then he bumped two more times.

2034:

Player	Salary	Contract Type	Date Acq	Source	Round	Pick
2B Luis Alvarez	500k	Min	04/12/2034	Draft	4	122
1B Drew Hair	800k	ArbB 1	05/14/2034	Trade
P Marco Vitalle	500k	Min	11/08/2034	Trade

Alvarez was picked in rd 4, and will make his debut this year as a 1B against LHP and spot 2B. Hair was acquired from Phoenix for salary cap relief. They dumped Harry Considine on me after they blew up his arm, as Phoenix is want to do. He's worked out better than I had hoped, but last year's debacle may mean that I've gotten everything that I will out of him. I got Vitalle from Jacksonville for Raul Gerela. There were other prospects involved in that deal, but they have all either busted or been replacement level and I'm tired of linking names. These guys were the big pieces anyway. This move is a bit interesting, because Tyler doesn't like guys who the game calls "borderline starter". Vitalle gets that tag because of his 4 rated change being his 3rd pitch. I was hoping that would develop, because I have no problem starting a guy with 10/10/4 as pitches. It hasn't, so now I will try to get 150-200 innings out of Vitale in the 'pen, a la Peter Grady ..... of Jacksonville.

2035:

Player	Salary	Contract Type	Date Acq	Source	Round	Pick
1B Yoriyuki Kobayashi	500k	Min	01/01/2035	Trade
IF Dan Reed	500k	Min	01/01/2035	Trade

Both of these players were acquired from Huntsville (Kyle Stever again, but after his hiatus as opposed to the Gracia trade which was before). I got them along with a pitching prospect (who I think I flipped to Brooklyn) for Brian Sullivan.

2036:

Player	Salary	Contract Type	Date Acq	Source	Round	Pick
3B Luis Lucero	500k	Min	06/02/2036	Draft	2	73
DH Raul Hernandez	500k	Min	11/14/2036	Trade
LOOGY Fernan Farinha	500k	Min	11/24/2036	MinorLg FA
RP Jose Morales	900k	ExtFlat	12/01/2036	MinorLg FA

Lucero was taken in the ... second round. Hernandez was acquired from New Orleans for IFA prospect and now pseudo bust Jose Leyva. Hernandez had bumped some before the deal and did so again afterwards. Morales is another of my minor league FA find to relief convert projects, and Farinha was a failed starter who has kind of been okay as a LOOGY, in like 2 innings per year. Good job OOTP bullpen management.

2037:

Player	Salary	Contract Type	Date Acq	Source	Round	Pick
OF Mike Manning	2.3 mil	FAFlat	06/01/2037	Trade
RF David Simpson	500k	min	07/14/2037	Trade
SP Manuel Andres	4.2 mil	ArbB 123	11/07/2037	Trade

Mike Manning came from Huntsville (Stever again) as part of a deal bringing me Heinrich Peithner. I sent Justin Archer, Vito Reyes, Primio Anastacia, and Pedro Saludar.

Simpson (along with Miguel Ayala) then was acquired for the same Peithner and for IFA signing Knud Zeitler (of the class with Lou, above) and P Jose Rangel and RP Arturo Ornelas.

Andres is from the great Brooklyn fire sale of winter 2037, and was acquired for prospects DH Jose Garcia, Jose Gallegos (now bust), Ayala, and Santiago Carranza.

2038:

Player	Salary	Contract Type	Date Acq	Source	Round	Pick
UTIL Felix Avila	2.1 mil	FAFlat	04/04/2038	FA
CF Po-Sin Shi	500k	min	07/08/2038	Trade
SS Max Hatcher	3.0 mil	FADec	10/07/2038	FA

Avila was signed to be a multi purpose RH half of platoons. Hatcher's signing has already been much discussed. Shi came from .. it's either Brooklyn or Huntsville guys ... which do you think? Did you pick? Did you choose Huntsville? If you did, you're wrong. It's Brooklyn. When Robson got hurt last year, I needed a CF. So I paid Nico Eijpe, Carlos Ramirez, Felix Rodriguez, and Ricardo Galindo. Eijpe was the second 3rd baseman who I took in the first round that I traded Brooklyn (Blackwell).

So that's it. That's how all these guys got here. Analysis next.

[Ted]

Totals:

Draft: 6
FA: 2
Minor League FA: 4
IFA: 2
Scout Find: 1
Trade: 12

So that's interesting. Way more trades than I expected. I'd like to say this is an abberation, but it probably isn't. What's happened is I traded surplus young draft talent for players I knew could contribute. And I got lucky. Good lord I got lucky. Back to that in a bit. The thing that isn't a mistake is the lack of FA signings. The difference is I usually have one big ticket FA on a 2-3 year deal. Usually a bat.

Other things. Apparently I only trade with Brooklyn and Huntsville, and sometimes San Fernando (because Randy is literally the town bicycle). I seem to have already continued that trend with Huntsville's new GM. Vic, I hope all the guys I trade you don't lump or not develop like the guys I sent Stever.

I can't draft for shit in round 1. That's okay, because apparently I'm some sort of savant when it comes to round 2 picks. Four of the players on my roster are rd 2 picks. Also, Daryl Pris who will join me next season and Bryan Robson who is on his way out are second rounders.

Regarding getting lucky, it looks like I could replace my entire "Arrogant Jerk Guide" with this simple advice:

Accidentally trade for an ace when you stupidly give away a useful corner OF for marginal prospects, get a cornerstone 2B as a scout find. Make some more trades. Sign good extensions.

[niles08]

Wow that was very good stuff. I think I will probably do the same at some point as I think this is a pretty cool feature.

[Ted]

Wow that was very good stuff. I think I will probably do the same at some point as I think this is a pretty cool feature.

I think the Cisco Morales journey is pretty remarkable.

[HoosierVic]

This was really interesting - especially how you surprised yourself by how frequently you had traded. And yes, the Morales story is wild! What a cool piece of team history to tease out. I may try this down the line a bit when the team is more mine than Kyle’s ... although maybe it would be interesting to compare his style to mine. Most likely not.

Good stuff, as usual, Ted.