Carolina 2013 Preview

[agrudez]

After the franchise’s worst season of the modern era (by 5 games), the Kraken’s new GM, Aaron Weiner, went into the 2013 offseason at its head for the first time. Before doing so; however, he made some pre-emptive moves at the deadline to get the ship back upright by jettisoning the heart of their lineup, Rafael Avilia and Jacob Bryant, for a collection of youngsters. Through all of his trades as GM, Aaron managed to slash his payroll in nearly half (110M in 2012 to 68.4M entering 2013) while also getting a considerably younger OF to build around with the acquisitions of Fitzpatrick, Clay and Carlton. His biggest coup of the offseason , though, was his selection in the Rule 6 draft, 1st overall, Ashin Vlasblom, and his subsequent team-friendly arrangement that kept him on a minor league contract while the 25 year old fire-baller adjusted his approach to the state-side game. A few minor FA acquisitions allowed the Kraken to round out their roster; however, it became obvious early on that 2013 (and maybe 2014 or even 2015) wasn’t at the fore-front of Mr. Weiner’s mind this offseason.

As such, the 2013 season can best (and most politely) be described as a ‘transitional year’ for the Kraken, as they try to divine whether or not the youthful talent they have acquired can potentially be part of the franchise’s next ‘core’. In that conversation are the usual suspects: staff #1, Al Hall whom is coming off a strong traditional statistic season (though not a very great advanced stat one), habitually underachieving infielder, Jimmy Brennan and OBP savant, Todd Clay. Joining them are some potentially interesting youngsters getting their teeth cut in the majors this year, Tully Bagster, Weston Fitzpatrick, Jeremy Gray, Josh Benez and Gustavo Lopez. While none of them project as impact MLers in most scout's eyes, they all have at least a marginal amount of upside to potentially be role player contributors on a winning team down the road.

All in all, with only a handful of ML quality pitchers on their staff and a lineup that features Michael Kern in the clean-up spot, it would surprise few in Carolina if 2013 is even worse than 2012 was for their Kraken. That said, strides have certainly been made to make sure that 2017 starts to look brighter… which is the best version of “making lemonade out of lemons” that their new GM could manage – given the circumstance. To likewise add light to the end of their fanbase’s long, dark, damp tunnel, the Kraken faithful can look forward to minor league scoreboard watching every 5th day when top prospects Medina, Rodriguez and Vlasblom throw… and whomever they select at the top of the next few year’s drafts, of course.

[aaronweiner]

I'd say that's awfully close to the way I'm thinking. Out of my head, Kyle!

I think I balanced out the farm this year, and I'll be back up at max cash this offseason, so that's good. Benez has been an unusually big surprise so far this year, and Jeff Hartle has been surprisingly useable this year, so maybe the pitching isn't as bad as I think it is.

But, you know, tick tock. Tick tock. Lotsa waiting here.

[agrudez]

I think I balanced out the farm this year

Definitely. You brought in 2 of the 3 potential top of the rotation starters in your system and a spattering of interesting longshot type candidates as well through trades/IFA market/Rule 6/etc. Considering that you didn't exactly have many bullets in your trade gun to begin with, that is a relatively impressive feat, imo.

You also make a great point about your financial situation... money plays a big role in the new MBBA and after busting your load twice for top talent this past year (Vlasblom and Rodriguez) it was definitely prudent to 'take the year off' with your spending (even beyond the in-game limitations on your IFA participation) to get reloaded... sort of like what Epstein is doing with the Cubs - cyclically spending a shit-ton on the international market and then not the next year.