Casinotes 54.4- How It Started, How It's Going

[chicoruiz]

My player acquisitions during this past offseason tended to look a lot like good, old-fashioned dumpster diving. That’s how you roll when you’re up against the financial strictures that the Gamblers are (I know you’re tired of hearing about it…sorry). So, since I’ll probably be doing the same for the next couple of off seasons, I thought I’d take a look at the players I highlighted in my first team news of the season, and see how things played out for them. It would be comforting to know I at least knew which end of the dumpster to dive in. So here goes…

SP Daniel Camacho- I signed him (1.8 mil for 1 year) despite his coming off two bad years, and hoping he could hang around as a fifth starter for me. He turned out to be a little bit better than I anticipated; he’s thrown 174 innings for me so far and leads the team in wins. He’s not great, but I’m giving myself a solid B minus on this one.

RP Knox Sked- Gave him a decent deal (1.4 million for 1 year) despite the pen not being a huge area of need, just because he was always so great in the GBC. Well, he found the BBA a bit more challenging than the GBC; I could have gotten his numbers (4.68 ERA, 1.5 WHIP) from someone making the minimum. C minus.

RP Josh Miller- A waiver claim from Las Vegas; he’s making the minimum for me, and pitching to slightly better numbers than Sked. Straight C…

C Rich Chandler- Took him in the second round of Rule 5. He earned the #2 catcher role with a hot spring, but once the regular season started he remembered that he wasn’t very good. D plus, and only that high because realistically, expectations were always pretty low.

1B Eric Wignes- I gave him one of my few multiyear contracts (2 years at 2.25 m) because I thought he could play solid defense and hit for average. And I was right; he’s currently hitting .300 and rated as “captain”. I’m giving myself an A minus on Eric.

1b-DH Antonio Martinez- He was supposed to supply some power to my lineup. Well… Compared to his 2053 season in Portland, he shed 90 points of batting average, 90 points of OBP and 130 points of SA. I cut him loose in midseason, and I never looked back. Grade: F

SS Frederick Manchild- The stereotypical good field, no hit, shortstop, he will actually end up with a decent BA, but he doesn’t walk and has almost no power so he’s still in negative-WAR land. C minus.

OF Arturo Maes- Taken in the Rule 5 to be a solid glove man in center field. A feel-good story; a guy getting his first shot in the bigs at age 34. Unfortunately, it became a feel-bad story once you saw him play. Grade: D

OF Hyeon-Uk Hong- The gem of my off-season acquisitions, he was doing really well until he decided to fracture his knee. I doubt he’ll be back, but thanks for the memories, Hyeon-Uk. Grade: A minus

OF Adrian Nilson- I thought he might be a sleeper. Once I signed Hong I had trouble finding regular playing time for him, but he for sure hasn’t done anything to indicate that he can’t play. I could see him as half of a corner OF platoon in 2055, whereupon he’ll probably hit .205 and break my heart again. Grade: A minus

So... Three As and a B minus. That's not terrible, is it? I mean, I may have given myself some slack in grading, but if you don't give yourself a break occasionally, you can't expect anyone else to give you one, right? At any rate, I will feel encouraged the next time I dumpster dive that I might come up with something more substantial than fast food wrappers and dead rodents...

[Trebro]

It's so hard to know how these free agents are going to do. I knew Sharp wouldn't hit, but the dude has bright blue defense - that ended up being barely positive and for a lot of the year was underwater. I think you ended up doing pretty well, overall.