Crusaders Deal for Mack and Jac

[aaronweiner]

(ED: For links, follow the first paragraph with a new browser window. -AW)

The Seattle Storm, projected to finish with an operational loss this year, unable to sign their draft picks and with pressure from the top, capped off a disastrous June by dealing their three highest-earning players and the virtual faces of the franchise, 2B Mack Randall, 1B Jacinto Merino, Jr, and RP Dick Spivey, to the California Crusaders for righthander Sammy Bodeen, 2B Bernard Maselli, 1B Anthony McHugh and minor league outfielder Dae-ik Chong.

Spivey, Randall and Merino are all career Seattle Storm players, having logged a combined 28 seasons for the franchise. Randall and Merino, two powerhitting infielders, frequently hit consecutively in the batting order and were known as "Mack and Jac" to many Seattle fans, who are heartbroken over the move.

"This is a tough day for us," said Randall. "This is the only franchise we've ever played for, our lives are here, but we understand that Mr. Busey was having money issues and we're going to a contender on the West Coast, so we won't be far from our families."

California, on the other hand, gets a trio of players performing at a very high level. Merino currently has a sparkling .930 OPS and 21 HR this season, while Randall has an .840 OPS at second base, third best among Frick second basemen and sixth overall. Spivey, a free agent after the season, has been solidly in the top 30 or 40 relievers in the MBBA this season and has a 3-3, 3.61 mark this year.

Acquiring three players of this caliber wasn't cheap for California, however; Bernard Maselli, 25, is considered one of the top young players in the MBBA and has a career .325 batting average despite hitting just .265 through 81 games this year. Anthony McHugh, also 25, was also having a poor season but has a career .289 average and .771 OPS in 250 career major league games.

"We're obviously going to miss Bernard and Anthony and Sammy," said California manager Alberto Chavez. "However, we're getting three really good veterans, guys who know each other, play well together, smart, talented players who could put us over the top."

Seattle was expected to make a cost-cutting move, as they're expected to post an operational loss this year AND had fallen out of the race with a miserable 8-20 record in June. However, the odd thing about this deal is that it saves Seattle only a meager amount of money (about $500,000) unless reports are true that they're ready to move Bodeen to another team. Bodeen has the second largest salary and second largest average salary of any player in the MBBA. Seattle GM Jon Robinson was quoted as saying that this deal would have happened even if the team had not been struggling with money issues. However, if the team is unable to unload Bodeen, the monetary savings in this deal might be minimal at best.

"We're not sure why this deal went down if the Storm is looking to save dough," said a rival GM. "Unless they've really got a taker for Sammy Bodeen, this is a deal that should probably not have happened."

Reportedly, Seattle is ready to move Bodeen to another team for virtually nothing in a cost-cutting move; the name of the other team has gone unreported but is almost certainly New Orleans, Montreal or Calgary, all of whom are still in the playoff hunt and could use a veteran righty like Bodeen. The deal has not happened yet but is reportedly a done deal, sources inside the Seattle organization claim. If they can't move Bodeen, they're going to still have to move.

"Wherever it is that I do play my next game, I'm just looking forward to moving forward and pitching well for someone," said Bodeen, one of the league's best stories this season as a player who's overcome two major arm surgeries to pitch a no-hitter this season. "I've worked hard to get back to where I am and I'm looking forward to the rest of my career."

Also, reportedly, Seattle will be investigating potential embezzlement of company funds this season, as some $6 million seems to have disappeared from the coffers. More about this story as it comes available.


Instant Analysis

We're going to assume in this analysis that Seattle has an agreement to move Bodeen, because if not, they clearly have to make another move.

However: assuming that Seattle does move Bodeen, we think that they're big winners in this situation. It was very unlikely that Seattle was going to make the playoffs this year, but adding Maselli, who has hit extremely well in his major league career, should put them in a situation to recover very well from the loss of Randall. Obviously, McHugh isn't going to be Merino, one of the league's superstar bats, but the monetary savings should be not only enough to pay for draft picks, but total in the tens of millions, while they've obtained major league quality starters at the two positions they were losing at a fraction of the cost. This deal gives them a fine, young major league nucleus and should allow the team to finally make a profit. They might have garnered a couple draft picks for Spivey, incidentally, but they couldn't wait.

We think that California also makes out very well in this move. With Bodeen gone, Spivey's contract coming off the books - we assume he's a rental - and Merino not likely to get a big raise from the $8 million he's being paid, this move will save California money in the long run and will definitely help them in the short run. Randall might not have the upside of Maselli, but he's one of the most consistent performers at his position in the MBBA. Merino is a top flight hitter, and Spivey has pitched extremely well this season. It's also a gain in some subtle ways: Spivey will be at least a Type B free agent and should be very attractive on the open market, which means that California will get draft picks for him AND Randall in a year afterward if they don't re-sign him.

In the situation that Seattle is stuck with Bodeen: the best they can probably do is hope they win their embezzlement case and hope they can find takers for players like Scott Piippo or Bjorn Nepal or Lenard Barbosa - which they should be able to do.

[bschr682]

i like the embezzlement angle

[aaronweiner]

Well, I was looking at their books and it looks like they're out about $6 million bucks that they shouldn't be out. I couldn't figure out where it was and neither could they.

[bschr682]

that is odd.

[LambeauLeap]

Well, I was looking at their books and it looks like they're out about $6 million bucks that they shouldn't be out. I couldn't figure out where it was and neither could they.

Busey was looking for a facelift. Man that guy has not aged well.