Trail Droppings 2035-1 Empty Lockers

[indiansfan]

Empty Lockers

The Calgary clubhouse has seen a lot of players leave this fall, some long timers and some that were only here for a short visit. Let take a look at who left the team in free agency.

Dan Leonard - The “Love Machine” has spent his whole career with Calgary, all 15 years. He came up as an 18 year old and became a starter on the team’s 2021 Landis winning squad. He ranks near the top of many of the team’s offensive categories and has already amassed 2570 hits. He hit .325 for the team and is a career .313 hitter. Leonard notched 4 all star appearances and 2 Zimmers with the Pioneers. Fans are so upset that they have started a petition drive to bring him back and some have even threatened a boycott.

Here is what GM Kevin Dickson said about the move. “We have several guys that are ML quality first basemen and Francisco Marin is the guy that will probably take the job this year. He is a younger version of Dan and alot cheaper. Dan wanted $16 million to come back. That just wasn’t doable. We offered him a more reasonable contract to finish his career here, but he turned it down. From what it looks like so far in free agency, Dan is going to be disappointed and so are our fans. He was a great player for us. I never thought this day would come, but the game sometimes reminds you that it is a business too.”

Atsumori Maeda - After 8 season in the Pioneers rotation the team said goodbye to Maeda this year. The fixture declined his $6 million player option and chose instead to test free agency at the tender age of 36. This is the second time he has left for free agency, he left after 2032 only to resign with the team. With his $16 million per year for 4 year demand this time, there is virtually no chance he comes back for a third go round. Maeda was 109-82, with a 4.01 ERA for Calgary. He finished last year with 195 career wins and should be able to break 200 with some team this year.

Dickson said, “Atsumori was a great pitcher for us, but we are at a point that we need to get younger and it was the natural move. Particularly with our rotation we need to bring in some younger arms. We wish him the best.”

Paul Farrell - Farrell never turned out to be the pitcher that Calgary had hoped for. The team put him in the rotation in 2033 and he ate up starts, but not much else. Last year they moved him to the pen and by the end of the year he was only pitching mop up. 16-15, 5.23 ERA are not numbers to brag about. The bright spot last year was that he averaged a strikeout per inning. The team chose not to execute the $4 million team option they had on him.

Dickson said, “We really thought that Paul would be a good fit for us, but he just couldn’t cut it in the rotation. We tried him in the bullpen last year and he wasn’t really too happy with the idea. So it was kinda mutual that we parted ways. We are open to bringing him back at a lower salary if he commits to being a full time reliever.

Update - The Pioneers just signed Farrell to a 3 year, $1 million per year, deal. Looks like a low rist contract for the team to see if they can turn him into a bullpen ace this spring.

Omar Aparicio - One of the greatest fielders in BBA history, was picked up on waivers by the team in 2033 to fill in for injuries at shortstop. In 43 games he hit .304 that year for the Pioneers. Last year he spent the year as a utility man for the team. The parting was mutual.

Dickson said, “Omar is a great player and a great guy. He was a real asset to us in the dugout and he will make a great coach. What is he a 5 or 6 time Zimmer winner? It just came down to numbers, we weren’t sure we would have a spot for him and he still wants to be a starter. We would love to have him back to tutor some of our minor leaguers.”

Ronald White - White was drafted by Calgary, but traded off before he ever made the majors. He has spent most of his career riding the bench with the exception of 2029 when he was a starter for Twin Cities. White spent the last 2 years with the Pioneers and hit .300 in 92 games.

Dickson said, “I always felt bad about trading Ronnie. The deal made sense for us at the time, but he just rotted on the Crawdads bench year after year. I hope one of these expansion or rebuilding teams ignores that he is over 30 and gives him a shot. He will hit .300 and steal 30 bases for you and will do it cheap. He just loves the game. We just had no place for him hear and it isn’t fair to ask him to go back to the minors. In fact I will give the team that signs him a million bucks if he starts at least 50 games.”

Sergio Cordova - Cordova was signed to be a bench bat last year and then spent most of the season on the DL. He only had 66 at bats for the team.

Dickson said, “Who?”


The team also lost 3 players in the expansion draft. Here are the details on those three.

Bill Marsh - Marsh came to Calgary as a Rule 5 guy in 2033 and saw limited action. Then last year he spent most of it on the DL and never made it up to Calgary.

Dickson said, “We really were hoping to keep Marsh, we thought the injury would keep him from getting picked. He was on my 19 man list and then at the last minute I swapped him out for another player. So he was our 20th guy. I guess that shows that it was a smart pick by Boise. If he develops his changeup he could be a solid starter.”

Marcos Villegas - Villegas was signed late in the season to a cheap 3 year contract. He never got a chance to play for Calgary before being drafted by Wichita.

Dickson said, “We signed Marcos and Manny Lopez to cheap deals at the end of the year. Frankly we were hoping an expansion club would draft one or both and leave our other guys alone, since starting pitching is always tough to get. If Marcos hadn’t been picked he would have been in a competition for a back end rotation spot. It was a good pick by Wichita, but we really didn’t lose anything.”

Santiago Reyes - The young catcher was taken by Boise. The 20 year old was slated to move to AAA this year. A ,300 hitter, solid all around with his bat, still needed work on his behind the plate skills.

Dickson said, “We left 3 good catchers unprotected. One on our ML roster and 2 good hit, no field minor leaguers. We expected to lose one, but it is a loss we can take. Santiago has a lot of potential, he just needs to work on his glove. I hope they give him a shot to start, he needs to play to get better. If not then send him to AAA for the year.”

[RonCo]

Hate to see Leonard not in Calgary, but that's how it goes sometimes. $16M is a lot to pay a guy at that part of his contract.

[ae37jr]

Isn't Love Machine only asking for like $2 million? Bring him back as the 27th man.

[indiansfan]

Isn't Love Machine only asking for like $2 million? Bring him back as the 27th man.

I guess the grass wasn't greener on the other side.