With nearly a quarter of the Brewster Baseball Association's general managers in attendance, the league held its first expansion draft in five years. The forty-five round affair between Portland Lumberjacks general manager Chris Wilson and Charlotte Cougars general manager Brett Golden was held via video conference and mediated by league commissioner Matt Rectenwald.Despite merely only a spectator and awaiting to find out which members of the Spuds organization was going to be drafted, Boise general manager saw seismic shifts in the team's outlook for the future, starting with the first overall pick. Eight-time All-Star and 2039 Comeback Player of the Year Hank Brewer of the New Orleans Crawdads was selected #1 overall by Portland, however the catcher's tenure as a Lumberjack will be short. Merely hours before the draft took place, Lederer and Wilson agreed in principal to a trade that would send Brewer -- should he be selected by Portland -- to Boise for a trio of prospects, headlined by intriguing two-way player Faical Engeitado, a 2038 third-round pick. Once the league-mandated trade freeze was lifted after the conclusion of the expansion draft, Wilson was eager to announce that Brewer would be sent packing for a return to help begin to add depth to the new club. Shortly thereafter, Lederer spoke with BBN about the acquisition of "Fetch" Brewer:
"We were looking to add a superstar to our lineup to compliment [Dennis] Frenchy and when we started to look at the lay of the land, we thought a draft-and-trade scenario would be a great way to acquire talent. Everyone knows how respected Brewer is around the league and he's going to instantly be a fan favorite here...his hard work, solid offense and defense, and the way he handles a pitching staff are going to play just fine in Boise."
The addition of Brewer was not the only surprise out of Boise, as Portland selected embattled closer Timofei Bakitski in Round 12 (24th overall pick). Bakitski is coming off the worst season of his career and is scheduled to make $9M in 2040, both factors in which led to the Russian being left unprotected in the expansion draft. In selecting Bakitski, Portland hopes the right-hander returns to glory, which would conceivably raise his value come the 2040 trade deadline and allow Wilson to flip the reliever for pieces to round out his club. Beyond next season, Bakitski has a $10M player option for 2041.
To replace the loss of Bakitski, expect Boise to take a long look at last year's part-time closer Bill Pidduck (3.09 ERA, 14 saves) or runner-up in the AAA Rupert League Reliever of the Year Award, 21-year-old Naomichi Harada (2.67 ERA, 32 saves).
With ninty picks scheduled for the expansion draft, each existing club would lose three players each. The option to draft Spuds quickly went away when Charlotte took back-to-back Spuds in the 31st and 32nd rounds (overall picks 62 and 63), starters Egbert Behner and Maxence Mace, respectively. While the selection of Bakitski surprised -- if not delighted -- the Boise general manager, Lederer was not shocked to see Behner get selected despite his $23M salary.
"Eggy had a real up-and-down first season with us last year, but he's a consummate professional," Lederer said in a statement. "We would have loved to have him for one more season to solidify our rotation and help mentor our younger pitchers, but we knew his talent would be attractive to one of the expansion clubs, especially with pitching in such limited supply. While Eggy will be missed, we'll now turn to free agency or potential trade partners with more room to spend against our budget."
Behner's hefty contract shouldn't have scared the expansion clubs, considering it expired after next year. Golden saw the need for pitching for his young club and didn't hesitate to draft the 11-year veteran. Golden doubled-down on Boise arms by taking Mace immediately following the Behner selection. Mace, the #1 overall pick in the last expansion draft in 2034, has been one of the most reliable pitchers in the last five years, making at least 32 starts in each season. However, Mace struggled mightily in the second-half of 2039 and it was rumored Boise was going to use him out of bullpen as a long reliever next season. At this time, it's not been made public how the Cougars plan on using Mace, who is also in the last year of his contract.
With the selections of Bakitski, Behner, and Mace, Boise saw $37M for 2040 come off the books, a huge development for a club who has stressed fiscal responsibility since Lederer has taken over. With the addition of Brewer, the Spuds currently have only $41M committed in salary for the upcoming season.
