2063.04: SFB Trade Review - The Build Up (2054-2056) Part 2
Posted: Fri May 09, 2025 2:15 pm
12/1/2062
I had the idea for a TN series summarizing all the trades I've made since taking over the San Fernando Bears in 2051 because who doesn't love looking at their old trades? Bonus points since this topic naturally involves many of the other teams in the league. It ended up being a list of more than 50 trades so I started breaking them down into eras, and while doing this I realized you could really see my development as a GM through this lens. The letter grade represents how well the trade worked out for San Fernando.
This post covers the second era, The Build Up (2054-2056) – Part 2. Part 1 can be read here.
Grade: B-
Like 2052, 2053, and 2054 before it, 2055 was another year of San Fernando selling rentals to contenders at the trade deadline. The Bears signed Kobayashi to a one-year deal in March 2055 after waiting out the FA market and were rewarded with a 148 OPS+ from the former Cham City slugger. Kobayashi’s production would decline in Sacramento but he provided them some pop during the stretch run. A decent 2056 with Nashville notwithstanding, the now 36 year-old Kobayashi has been playing mostly in the GBC since.
In return, the Bears accepted an offsetting contract with veteran Ritchie who kept the seat warm for a couple years before finally retiring in 2058. The real prizes were the two prospects, bin Dhul Fiqar and Garcia. This was back when Ron was GM of SAC and he had two catcher prospects at the time and decided to part with one. ZHbDF never showed enough of a hit tool with our AAA team to buoy his bat-first reputation and eventually got drafted in the 2058 rule 5 draft. Charlotte did Charlotte things with former Bears and squeezed a 136 OPS+ out of him in 2059 before he came back to Earth. ZHbDF quietly retired at the end of 2062. The currently 25 year-old Garcia, however, is just coming into his own for Twin Cities after SFB included him in the first Felix Ramos trade. We moved him because of his low HRA rating, but his stuff has bumped enough to make him useful in the River Monsters’ home ballpark. This is a good example of taking value where you can get it, even if Garcia wasn’t the type of pitching prospect I prefer, since he would eventually have trade value.
Grade: C
Baird was one of the key members of the San Fernando pitching staff I inherited in 2051, which tells you all you need to know about the pitching staff I inherited. He allowed too much contact for a team that didn’t have a true shortstop and never found much success anywhere else.
Grade: C+
This trade looks bad on the surface if you’re familiar with the run Iwamoto’s been on as a starting pitcher beginning with Montreal in 2057 at age 32. But at this point he was barely more than a replacement-level reliever whose team control was running out. A throw-in, Crews pitched 39.2 innings for the Spuds the last couple of seasons but is currently a free agent and I’ll be surprised if he returns to the BBA level.
Villa is one of those shortstops with a career WAR total in the red but has played 427 BBA games thanks to his defensive prowess. He would bump a little after this trade and be an interesting enough looking prospect to head to Charm City in the first Sammy McNeill trade. Ultimately, Villa was a good get for a middling middle relief rental.
Grade: C
Most trades are Cs because they’re not that critical. This is another one of those trades. We squeezed some of the last productivity out of HoF *ahem* candidate O’Macken before shipping him back to Phoenix for the stretch run. The prospect we received in return, Joshi, would be quietly released a couple years later. That’s just what usually happens to lotto ticket prospects.
Grade: C+
This was an interesting offseason prospect swap. Manuel had 30+ home run potential but was really struggling to make consistent contact in the minors. He’s a switch hitter but has always been a little stronger against LHP. Manuel eventually got some playing time for Atlantic City and popped enough bombs to post a 100 OPS+ but that doesn’t cut it at first base. He’s your classic “goes overseas to fulfill his destiny” type hitter with contact issues so of course he’s currently in the GBC.
Figuring you can never have too much pitching, I thought Mays was clearly the better prospect and but he had makeup and durability concerns. His ratings developed in the San Fernando farm system but injuries would ultimately cause them to atrophy before a failed reliever conversion. All told, he posted a 3.68 ERA in 93 innings for the Bears. Looks washed up now even though he hasn’t turned 30.
Grade: B+
The only midseason trade of 2056 was a doozy for the Bears. We kept working our magic of signing aging hitters to one-year free agent contracts, shining them up in our ballpark, and moving them at the deadline for prospects. Espinosa was a well-rounded star during his prime but he was bat-first shortstop in San Fernando who slashed .305/.347/.575 before the trade. He’d somehow hit even better for Rocky Mountain down the stretch before parlaying that production into a foolish contract with Brooklyn the following offseason. Espinosa was a first ballot Hall of Very Good player.
A fellow Hall of Very Good player, Encarnacion was injured at the time so he was just an expiring contract to balance the finances. The top prospect was Annis, a former first round pick by Rocky Mountain. Still just 25 years old, Annis has had a roller coaster career with the Bears. Coming into 2062, Annis had already accumulated 7.2 WAR in just 1,105 PAs. A couple of lumpy offseasons caught up with him though to conspire towards a poor 2062 season and he now finds himself the SFB backup backstop. Abdul-Hakam has played in three different farm systems since the trade, reaching AAA for the Des Moines organization in 2062 as a 27 year-old. It would be a surprise if he ever makes it to the show. Another former RMO first round pick, Bishop is a still promising looking young pitcher who debuted for the Bears in 2062.
I had the idea for a TN series summarizing all the trades I've made since taking over the San Fernando Bears in 2051 because who doesn't love looking at their old trades? Bonus points since this topic naturally involves many of the other teams in the league. It ended up being a list of more than 50 trades so I started breaking them down into eras, and while doing this I realized you could really see my development as a GM through this lens. The letter grade represents how well the trade worked out for San Fernando.
This post covers the second era, The Build Up (2054-2056) – Part 2. Part 1 can be read here.
| Year | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| 2054 | 65 | 97 |
| 2055 | 75 | 87 |
| 2056 | 72 | 90 |
Off Topic
07/14/2055 3B Tsuyoshi Kobayashi traded by the San Fernando Bears to the Sacramento Mad Popes in exchange for 3B Ron Ritchie, RP Antonio Garcia, and C Ziaul-Haq bin Dhul Fiqar.
Like 2052, 2053, and 2054 before it, 2055 was another year of San Fernando selling rentals to contenders at the trade deadline. The Bears signed Kobayashi to a one-year deal in March 2055 after waiting out the FA market and were rewarded with a 148 OPS+ from the former Cham City slugger. Kobayashi’s production would decline in Sacramento but he provided them some pop during the stretch run. A decent 2056 with Nashville notwithstanding, the now 36 year-old Kobayashi has been playing mostly in the GBC since.
In return, the Bears accepted an offsetting contract with veteran Ritchie who kept the seat warm for a couple years before finally retiring in 2058. The real prizes were the two prospects, bin Dhul Fiqar and Garcia. This was back when Ron was GM of SAC and he had two catcher prospects at the time and decided to part with one. ZHbDF never showed enough of a hit tool with our AAA team to buoy his bat-first reputation and eventually got drafted in the 2058 rule 5 draft. Charlotte did Charlotte things with former Bears and squeezed a 136 OPS+ out of him in 2059 before he came back to Earth. ZHbDF quietly retired at the end of 2062. The currently 25 year-old Garcia, however, is just coming into his own for Twin Cities after SFB included him in the first Felix Ramos trade. We moved him because of his low HRA rating, but his stuff has bumped enough to make him useful in the River Monsters’ home ballpark. This is a good example of taking value where you can get it, even if Garcia wasn’t the type of pitching prospect I prefer, since he would eventually have trade value.
Off Topic
08/04/2055 SP Tommy Baird traded by the San Fernando Bears to the Chicago Black Sox in exchange for $100,000.
Baird was one of the key members of the San Fernando pitching staff I inherited in 2051, which tells you all you need to know about the pitching staff I inherited. He allowed too much contact for a team that didn’t have a true shortstop and never found much success anywhere else.
Off Topic
08/11/2055 RP Kinzo Iwamoto traded by the San Fernando Bears to the Boise Spuds, along with RP Bart Crews, in exchange for SS Jose Villa.
This trade looks bad on the surface if you’re familiar with the run Iwamoto’s been on as a starting pitcher beginning with Montreal in 2057 at age 32. But at this point he was barely more than a replacement-level reliever whose team control was running out. A throw-in, Crews pitched 39.2 innings for the Spuds the last couple of seasons but is currently a free agent and I’ll be surprised if he returns to the BBA level.
Villa is one of those shortstops with a career WAR total in the red but has played 427 BBA games thanks to his defensive prowess. He would bump a little after this trade and be an interesting enough looking prospect to head to Charm City in the first Sammy McNeill trade. Ultimately, Villa was a good get for a middling middle relief rental.
Off Topic
08/18/2055 RP Tiernan O'Macken traded by the San Fernando Bears to the Phoenix Talons in exchange for SP Akarkkara Joshi.
Most trades are Cs because they’re not that critical. This is another one of those trades. We squeezed some of the last productivity out of HoF *ahem* candidate O’Macken before shipping him back to Phoenix for the stretch run. The prospect we received in return, Joshi, would be quietly released a couple years later. That’s just what usually happens to lotto ticket prospects.
Off Topic
11/05/2055 1B Javier Manuel traded by the San Fernando Bears to the Atlantic City Gamblers in exchange for SP Keith Mays.
This was an interesting offseason prospect swap. Manuel had 30+ home run potential but was really struggling to make consistent contact in the minors. He’s a switch hitter but has always been a little stronger against LHP. Manuel eventually got some playing time for Atlantic City and popped enough bombs to post a 100 OPS+ but that doesn’t cut it at first base. He’s your classic “goes overseas to fulfill his destiny” type hitter with contact issues so of course he’s currently in the GBC.
Figuring you can never have too much pitching, I thought Mays was clearly the better prospect and but he had makeup and durability concerns. His ratings developed in the San Fernando farm system but injuries would ultimately cause them to atrophy before a failed reliever conversion. All told, he posted a 3.68 ERA in 93 innings for the Bears. Looks washed up now even though he hasn’t turned 30.
Off Topic
07/22/2056 2B Pepe Espinosa traded by the San Fernando Bears to the Rocky Mountain Oysters in exchange for 2B Edgardo Encarnacion, C Augusto Annis, SP Khuzaymah Abdul-Hakam, and SP Duane Bishop.
The only midseason trade of 2056 was a doozy for the Bears. We kept working our magic of signing aging hitters to one-year free agent contracts, shining them up in our ballpark, and moving them at the deadline for prospects. Espinosa was a well-rounded star during his prime but he was bat-first shortstop in San Fernando who slashed .305/.347/.575 before the trade. He’d somehow hit even better for Rocky Mountain down the stretch before parlaying that production into a foolish contract with Brooklyn the following offseason. Espinosa was a first ballot Hall of Very Good player.
A fellow Hall of Very Good player, Encarnacion was injured at the time so he was just an expiring contract to balance the finances. The top prospect was Annis, a former first round pick by Rocky Mountain. Still just 25 years old, Annis has had a roller coaster career with the Bears. Coming into 2062, Annis had already accumulated 7.2 WAR in just 1,105 PAs. A couple of lumpy offseasons caught up with him though to conspire towards a poor 2062 season and he now finds himself the SFB backup backstop. Abdul-Hakam has played in three different farm systems since the trade, reaching AAA for the Des Moines organization in 2062 as a 27 year-old. It would be a surprise if he ever makes it to the show. Another former RMO first round pick, Bishop is a still promising looking young pitcher who debuted for the Bears in 2062.