Will success make River Monsters a bigger spender?
Last off season, the Twin Cities River Monsters had a clear plan, executed that plan, and went all the way to the Brewster Memorial Series. The $40 million question now becomes... will success pressure Twin Cities to change their spending habits in order to play with the big boys?
A buy low, one or two year contract with two team options at the end. That seemed to be the standing contract last year for Twin Cities. Take a small risk on a player, if it pays off...great. If not, let go and move on to the next. This was supposed to be a rolling strategy. But with more hits than misses, Twin Cities now has about 23-24 roster spots on lock down and $40 million left to spend. Does the team splurge on 2-3 top free agents or the continue the process and bank the rest.
Cases to Splurge
-Being the defending Frick League Champion brings a new found pressure. If we fall back to 75 wins, then we will forever have this stigma of a team that just got lucky.
-There is something to be said about adding a couple of stars to a team that already has a solid base. Grabbing 8-10 buy low candidates is probably a waste of resources. Only 27 can make the team and we are already dealing with a gridlock of optionality(or lack there of).
- The losses of David Simpson, Roberto Rivera, Sertac Safavi and Jose Martinez should not be taken lightly. That is about 10-15 WAR that needs to be replaced.
- Our offense was weak sauce even before losing Simpson. Anurodha Nayar could be the next Simpson(lite), but to depend on him is foolish.
-Our goal is to be a big market team. We finished 2nd in revenue last season and need to keep pushing.
Reasons to be Prudent
-We've found great success in the short term contract game. Stick to your strengths. Keep this ultra flexibility.
-Most free agents are in their mid 30's and none of these big money, 5+ year deals are not going to end well.
-There are more places to spend money than just player payroll. Keeping our payroll under cap would just add more money to our IFA, MiL free agent, prospect buying funds.
These are all questions that need to be answered. Really there is no right or wrong answer. Just pathes to be taken in the journey we call being a GM.
