The Morning Glory 2054.04 - The Curious Case of the Oysters Catchers

[GoldenOne]

The Rocky Mountain Oysters finished the 2053 season with an easy-to-overlook pairing at Catcher with John 'His Rotundity' Adams and Philitis Tsafento behind the dish. Adams filled out the battery for 71 games, going .253/.285/.387, 7 passed balls, and throwing out an amazing 46.2% of would-be base-stealers, for a WAR of 0.6 for the season. Tsafento saw action in 93 games, going .223/.285/.282, with 4 passed balls, and throwing out only 24.6% of would-be base-stealers, for a WAR of 0.6 for the season. Together, the pair cost the team a total of $2.0M towards the salary cap.

For the 2054 season, the Oysters expected to have both players back at a cost of $2.6M towards the salary cap. $2.6M for 1.2 WAR - that seems to be a value most teams would be okay with, especially at a defense-first position.

However, just as the 2054 season was getting underway, for some inexplicable reason, Tsafento found himself on the waiver wire as a designated for assignment transaction. Tsafento had played two games....TWO! he was hitting .286 after those two games. Had thrown out one of the two attempted stolen base runners.

GM Brett Golden was recently asked what had happened there, why was Tsafento on waivers? Golden, never one to mince words, politely told this reporter to "Go ---- Yourself." Its hard to tell if Golden was just giving a routine response to the question or if the question actually hit a nerve.

After a little speculation and a few drinks to some of Golden's underlings, the best we can guess is that Golden was trying to make some room on the roster to allow the Oysters to sign C Ron Shiplack, who still found himself a Free Agent after the season had started. I have it on good authority that Golden offered Shiplack a 2-year, $6.25M salary. As we now know, Shiplack decided to sign with the Edmonton Jackrabbits for 2-years, $13.7M. Since signing with the Jackrabbits, Shiplack has managed to go 300/.334/.445 in 66 games, while throwing out 35.3% of runners, for a 1.9 WAR so far this season.

Whether or not the Oysters were going after Shiplack, let's focus on what they actually gave up - Philitis Tsafento. Tsafento ended up being claimed by the Division rival Mexico City Aztecs. In 72 (31 starts) games for the Aztecs, Tsafento is hitting .246/.283/.297 and has thrown out 5 of the 10 would-be base stealers for a total of 0.5 WAR so far. While not being a huge loss, Tsafento ending up in Mexico City obviously hurts the Oysters Front Office.

Following a few weeks of kicking around all other possibilities for a Catcher to fill in behind Tsafento, the Oysters got lucky. The Long Beach Surfers released 35-year old veteran C Pedro Gómez. At the mid-April point, Gomez had not been able to find himself seeing any action in a game for the Surfers. After his release, the Oysters made quick contact with Gomez and he signed with the team on a 1-year, $1.525M contract to split time with Adams.

In his limited action as a back-up to Adams, Gomez has found himself enjoying the role and the mountain air in Colorado. In his 30 games behind the dish, Gomez is hitting an amazing .392/.411/.558 and is thriving in high-leverage situations, where his is batting .476/.476/ .762! While he has only thrown out 21.4% of attempted base-stealers (14 attempts), overall he has managed a 1.3 WAR so far this season. his attitude towards being a back-up and, obviously, his performance have led the Oysters to sign the 35-year old to a 1-year extension worth $1.1M.

So, while this report seems to have uncovered an apparent error by GM Golden, it seems to have worked out in his, and the Oysters, favor as Gomez is far exceeding what was even expected from Tsafento.

[Jwalk100]

Not an error. Call it a Happy accident.

[Trebro]

I love when we turn out decisions that look weird into storyline fodder