In what some say may be the worst contract move of the Valencia GM's five-year tenure to this point, that contract has come to an end as the Stars announced this week that they are parting ways with first baseman Zenobius Kazantziakis. Zeno is going into the final year of his contract that was worth $28M for four years incuding an $8M payout in 2064.
Zeno had a respectable season in 2061 hitting for a .264 average while stealing 34 bases. Combined with his above average defense it was good enough for a WAR of 2.5. However, his average took a nose dive in 2062 and eventually so did his playing time and he never really recovered. With the emergence of rookie Gabriel Bacaloglu last season, Zeno became quite expendable at that point.
The 37 year old announced last week that he was planning foregoing his player option to leave and stay with the team. The front office was hoping that he may leave this off-season due to his repeated complaints and messages over the course of the previous season.
Some excerpts include:
October 2062 I am terribly unhappy with the direction the Stars are going. Please trade me to a contender. I am unsure if I can give 100% for you.
June 2063 I'm at the stage in my career when I serve to play for a winner. I demand a trade. I no longer enjoy playing in Valencia.
Then there were some unofficial tweets that were rumoredly intercepted outside of official channels about the GM himself presumably from Zeno.
October 2063 – I wish we caught this GM in time before he was allowed to reproduce.
November 2063 – What do you call a Valencia GM buried up to his neck? A shortage of sand.
The front office tried to shop Zeno around throughout the 2063 season, but in the end, Zeno’ performance after his first season with Valencia was nowhere near enough to entice anyone to take him.
When the fans heard of this, the only remarks heard were “ I just figured out how to spell his name.”
Another disgruntled fan shouted, “At least we will save same money in lettering on the back of his jersey with that long name on it.”
While the move will not save Valencia any money in the long run, it does reduce the Valencia payroll from $36.6M down to $28.6M.
