is meaningless title holding team back in free agency?
The Twin Cities River Monsters finished in first place in the Brewster Baseball Association Spring Training for 2056. Their record was a whopping 25-5. Out of their five losses, three of them were by one run, while two of them were by two runs. Such a dominant performance really means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. But will it play mind games with the team?
The team currently has over $12 million in cap room space and can easily free up at least 10 more. With still a ton of very valuable free agents left on the market, the River Monsters have seemed quiet. The team seems to have aspirations for a Brewster winning season, yet why aren't they spending this money?
Perhaps the meaningless Spring Training Trophy is giving the River Monsters false hope. Remember, this is a team that made it all the way to the Brewster Finals last season. They won 95 games in the regular season. They made some moves that they feel make the team better for this season. Maybe this is a team that's just resting on its laurels.
It's very easy to turn a bad team into a mediocre team. You just identify the bad players, get rid of them, bring in some better players, and keep going. But once you have that full team of halfway decent players, it becomes harder and harder to make it up the chain. Who do you get rid of? You only have so many roster spots. You can't bring in new talent without getting rid of old talent. And the talent that you had, they performed well for you, but not well enough. At what point do you cut a player, trade a player, to bring in somebody else who may or may not be better than that player?
That's where Twin Cities stands right now. They know there's a lot of good free agents on the market, some of which are better than players they have at that position currently. But with a lack of options on the team, they have to make hard decisions. Is this player worth releasing so-and-so? Do we send a guy like Nayar or Rooney down to the minors when they deserve to be in the BBA?
These questions will have to be answered at some point in time, but as we enter opening day, it appears the River Monsters are standing pat for the time being.
