The Brewster

Will Simpson Be Back? Or will Twin Cities hold on to David Simpson till he plays like Homer Simpson?
It's been dubbed "Project Optionality". A new franchise philosophy of not giving out long term guaranteed contracts. And with that comes decisions.. and lots of them. The River Monsters will have 10 team options to sift through on short order upon completion of the 2055 baseball season. Rather than waiting till the midnight hour to decide, the team is starting to map out plans for 2056 as we speak.

The biggest and perhaps most complicated team option is that of David Simpson. Simpson will be entering his age 39 season, his 18th year in the league in 2056. This past season saw Simpson lose a point in both contact and power. That is usually a giant blinking red flag for a 38 year old player. Really, this decision should be simple. Cut ties and move on.

But the thing is, Simpon is a really, really good baseball player who is extremely important to this Twin Cities team. Even in his deteriorated state, Simpson has 8/7/9/8/8 ratings VS RHP and is posting a .290/.390/.568 triple slash in 2055. You'd be hard pressed trying to find a replacement for that kind of production. Especially on a Twin Cities team that goes all in on defense at key positions.

The River Monsters do have replacements already in place. Anurodha Nayar projects out to a David Simpson light. With 8/8/10/9/7 potential VS RHP and equally as bad defense. At 26, next year is make or break for him. TWC also signed Dane Licht(8/9/8/7/9 VS RHP). He has a pair of team options also, but he's just 30 years old and is only due $5.5 million. Veteran bench players Mike Brodt and Gilbert Falchonelli should also be back in the fold mainly against lefties with Ed Rooney captaining the outfield in center.

So does Simpson even fit on this team? Is Twin Cities a better team going with Licht and Nayar while spending Simpson's $13.6 MIL (cap hit) on something else? Or do you bring back Simpson for one more year and hope his ratings hold up?

Leave your opinion in the comments below.

I vote extend him 6 years $180M.

Not Horrible at all. Sympathy is for the weak. Cut ties and move on. Trying to talk myself into being less attached to players and more attached to ratings. Not working.

It would be interesting to see what Simpson would draw on the market.

RonCo wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 25, 2023 10:24 am

It would be interesting to see what Simpson would draw on the market.

This is true, and I think we may find out that answer as I am leaning toward cutting bait. His demands if I were to extend him past his two option years is 4 years, $12.7 per. That would take him to age 44(lol).I'm guessing in free agency he would ask for about the same, which would take him to age 42. I doubt anyone is going to jump at that.

So he'll probably sit around in free agency till someone can sign him to a cheaper deal. Which is fine by me as I'll be able to sell season tickets before getting the FI hit.

I don't think I'd be wrong to pick up his first option though. After an initial slump when his ratings dropped, he has rebounded and hit .329/.439/.622 in August. He has also traditionally been what I call and "Lump N' Bumper", meaning his contact and power were borderline and could drop one sim and go back up the next. And even if he dropped another point in each on the way down, a 7/7/8/9/8 is still very good, even for a corner outfield/DH.

A random bit a trivia on David Simpson. He has accumulated 20+ career WAR for 3 different teams. Not sure if anyone else have ever done that, it seems an amazing feat.

ae37jr wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 25, 2023 1:01 pm

RonCo wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 25, 2023 10:24 am

It would be interesting to see what Simpson would draw on the market.

This is true, and I think we may find out that answer as I am leaning toward cutting bait. His demands if I were to extend him past his two option years is 4 years, $12.7 per. That would take him to age 44(lol).I'm guessing in free agency he would ask for about the same, which would take him to age 42. I doubt anyone is going to jump at that.

So he'll probably sit around in free agency till someone can sign him to a cheaper deal. Which is fine by me as I'll be able to sell season tickets before getting the FI hit.

I don't think I'd be wrong to pick up his first option though. After an initial slump when his ratings dropped, he has rebounded and hit .329/.439/.622 in August. He has also traditionally been what I call and "Lump N' Bumper", meaning his contact and power were borderline and could drop one sim and go back up the next. And even if he dropped another point in each on the way down, a 7/7/8/9/8 is still very good, even for a corner outfield/DH.

A random bit a trivia on David Simpson. He has accumulated 20+ career WAR for 3 different teams. Not sure if anyone else have ever done that, it seems an amazing feat.

To some degree, the chess game theory question might be: pick up the option vs. or sign him back yourself.

I would peg Simpson's value to be gently below his contract. If so, he could be a River Monster for less. Or at least you can name the min bid for someone else, essentially, without losing anything.

These are the questions that ensure we make the big bucks here in the GMs seat, right?

if you have a replacement ready to go, I'd let him walk in a cap league. Especially since there's a lot of players like that, relatively speaking right now.