Sticking Points 2038.9: Contracts Loom Large

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Sticking Points 2038.9: Contracts Loom Large

Post by aaronweiner » Sat Apr 06, 2019 10:06 am

Rockville is off to perhaps its best start in franchise history, but leading the charge are three key free agents, Mario Guerrer, Francisco Flores, and Fernando Marquez. In a capless world, the Pikemen would likely keep all three players, as their $150 million budget far exceeds the amount needed to re-sign all three players. However, Rockville will have to lose at least one of these players, and very likely two of them, this offseason.

Guerrer is in many ways the most and least replaceable of all three of them. The superstar first baseman is in the prime of his career at age 27 and is putting up huge numbers this season; while one could expect his pace to fall off he's currently on pace for a MVP-caliber 8 WAR. Rockville was always going to have to choose between Guerrer and Arthur Dempster, and the choice was clear, especially with 23-year old Manuel Marino in the organization.

"I know my place in history might be the guy who broke up the Pikemen, but I also know that my place in history was making the Pikemen great," said Guerrer, who will be 27 at the start of next season. "My numbers speak for themselves, and Rockville just can't afford to keep everyone, and I'm going to probably have to go to another team."

Flores is the most likely to be re-signed as he's somewhat irreplaceable. The catcher is putting up another outstanding season for the Pikemen, and at just 23 years old the phenom has a career batting average of .328 and has never hit below .302 in any professional season. He's expected to get paid, as the team might not be able to find a catcher who can hit the way Flores can; plus, his defense has improved dramatically over his rookie season.

"I'd love to stay in Rockville but I understand if they can't afford me," said Flores. "But I'd love to stay in Rockville."

Marquez might be the easiest to replace, but it will be difficult to match his consistency. Since blowing three saves in the 2034 Cartwright Cup (which, if Rockville had won it, might have made them the only team to have won FOUR straight pennants instead of their current three), Marquez has been one of the league's ten or fifteen best relief pitchers.

"I get it, the Pikemen can't afford the luxury of keeping relief pitchers happy, but I know they'll regret losing me if they don't re-sign me," said Marquez. "I've been the rock in the bullpen for a few years now and I've really come into my talents, so I guess I might close out games for someone else."

The Pikemen will have to make some tough decisions on these individuals, but they'll be a very good ball club even if they lose all three of them. We wouldn't expect that, but there seems to be no way to keep all of them, either.

"We're going to do our best, but it's going to be very hard to do what we want to do," said Pikemen GM Aaron Weiner. "Good news is that we managed to keep this team together long enough to make them an all-timer."

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Re: Sticking Points 2038.9: Contracts Loom Large

Post by RonCo » Sat Apr 06, 2019 3:26 pm

Flores as a 24-year-old free agent would be fun to watch. :)
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Re: Sticking Points 2038.9: Contracts Loom Large

Post by aaronweiner » Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:28 am

*for you.

There, fixed that for you.

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