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NOTE: OUT OF TIME AND WANTED TO SAVE THIS OFF >>> WILL ADD LINKS LATER TONIGHT OR TOMORROW AM. SORRY FOR THAT
In the meantime, here's a link to Yellow Springs
In the meantime, here's a link to Yellow Springs
Once I had the data, I sorted it by acquisition date, and thought, wow, that’s interesting. So that’s how I’ll present the composition of the Yellow Springs Nine as we stand today.
Starting with our first acquisition in …
2024:
Player | Salary | Date Acq | Source | Round | Pick | Overall | Bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lucas McNeill | $28,000.00 | 4/21/2024 | Draft | 1 | 1 | 1 | $1,500,000 |
In 2024, the new regime came in, and had several fairly successful selections (Victor Guerra hit 49 homers for us one year, Ernie Jackson was a solid guy, and, of course J. J. McQuade made a difference), but a lot of bombs, too (I still feel sad when I think of Ferguson Gibson and Chris Long). But those early picks fueled the first wave, and we’re pretty much past that period…instead, after McNeill, this current roster shows a five season gap[ to …
2029:
Player | Salary | Date Acq | Source | Round | Pick | Overall | Bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rob Thomas | $3,850.00 | 2/27/2029 | IFA | $500,001 | |||
Momcilo Djuretic (L) | $1,100.00 | 2/27/2029 | IFA | $1,500,001 | |||
Tristan Alfama | $1,500.00 | 2/27/2029 | IFA | $3,000,001 | |||
Miguel Padilla | $2,500.00 | 8/25/2029 | Scout Find | $0 |
So, yeah, no superstars, but four solid guys who spent several seasons working through the system before yielding.
2030:
Player | Salary | Date Acq | Source | Round | Pick | Overall | Bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Emilio Gutierrez | $1,500.00 | 4/10/2030 | Draft | 2S | 9 | 70 | $860,000 |
Aaron Stone | $14,600.00 | 4/10/2030 | Draft | 8 | 24 | 239 | $0 |
Bottom line here is that we find no IFA or any other types of player acquisition yield anything of merit, but instead it’s all draft—and all lower portions of the draft.
2031:
Player | Salary | Date Acq | Source | Round | Pick | Overall | Bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dimiao Laqui | $750.00 | 4/7/2031 | Draft | 2 | 23 | 53 | $350,000 |
Adergazoz Ouakili (L) | $500.00 | 4/7/2031 | Draft | 2S | 5 | 64 | $450,000 |
Carlos Valle | $6,000.00 | 4/7/2031 | Draft | 4 | 22 | 123 | $2,100,000 |
Luis Colon | $500.00 | 5/8/2031 | Scout Find | $0 |
The big name here is Valle, though, and it should be noted that at the time he was nowhere near what he turned out to be, but we bit the bullet and gave the 4th round pick a controversial $2.1M to sign. Thank the gods. He’s the closest thing we have to a star quality player to come out of this year’s player acquisition process.
Laqui came out of the second round, and has been one of those quietly valuable guys as the RHB platoon at DH/1B. Ouakili should be back in the bigs this year, though I admit I worry about how long he’ll last.
Bottom line, though, in a year where our access to IFA was restricted, I’d say the draft came up pretty good.
2032:
Player | Salary | Date Acq | Source | Round | Pick | Overall | Bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Curt Phillips | $800.00 | 4/7/2032 | Draft | 1 | 27 | 27 | $3,600,000 |
Ernesto Ramos | $500.00 | 4/10/2032 | MLFA | $0 |
Ramos was a minor league free agent when we signed him. He’d been drafted the year before by Indy (in the 20th round) and released. So he was just kind of hanging around playing virtual reality games when the phone call came in. We brought him up a year earlier than we wanted, and we’re still waiting for the last of his development to pop into place. But the kid looks like he should be better as he keeps growing. If he does pop, he could be a solid #2+ kind of starter anytime soon now, and if that happens you’d be hard pressed to not be happy with this year’s yield. Regardless, Ramos is proof positive that guys you pick up for free can make a difference.
And, anyway, I note specifically that this is the first year I see a first-round pick in the list. It won’t be the last.
2033:
Player | Salary | Date Acq | Source | Round | Pick | Overall | Bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alejandro Rodriguez | $500.00 | 4/6/2033 | Draft | 1 | 27 | 27 | $860,000 |
Jose Machado | $500.00 | 4/6/2033 | Draft | 2 | 27 | 60 | $300,000 |
Bob Frazier | $500.00 | 4/6/2033 | Draft | 3 | 31 | 104 | $280,000 |
Jose Garcia | 4/6/2033 | Draft | 5 | 26 | 163 | $120,000 |
Regardless, it’s hard to complain when four of the top five picks a team pulls out of the draft finds their way to make impacts at the big leagues.
2034:
Player | Salary | Date Acq | Source | Round | Pick | Overall | Bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
$3,000.00 | 4/1/2034 | Draft | 1 | 28 | 28 | $1,500,000 | |
Pat Allen | $500.00 | 4/1/2034 | Draft | 2 | 28 | 62 | $500,000 |
Miguel Fernandez | $500.00 | 4/1/2034 | Draft | 3 | 29 | 96 | $250,000 |
Pablo Alaniz | $500.00 | 4/1/2034 | Draft | 7 | 28 | 211 | $0 |
Mauro Saucedo | $3,400.00 | 5/26/2034 | Trade (Minor Leaguer) | ||||
Brian Soper | $500.00 | 8/4/2034 | Trade (Minor Leaguer) |
Welcome to an impactful season of player acquisition, both via the draft and (for the first time) as a result of trade.
First round pick George Roberston was in the bigs nearly immediately, playing such an ugly outfield that he’s been LHB side of a DH platoon since then. The team bought out his arbitration seasons, and he’ll be a fixture for a while longer. Pat Allen took an option to AAA when the club brought in Alfredo Salazar last year. He’s ugly with the glove, too, but he can hit left-handed pitching well enough. Miguel Fernandez had a cup of coffee in the bigs a season ago, and will probably be back this year. Pablo Alaniz has quietly developed both a glove and a bat that, as long as you don’t rely on it, can make a few good things happen.
So the draft did its thing, yielding Roberston and Allen. If Ferandez and Aliniz just mange to do what the team expects, it’ll be considered another great year.
And that’s before the deals:
With Rodriigo Lugo finished in Yellow Springs, the club expects Soper to get real time in the parent bullpen. He came to the team when we traded aging but useful closer David Cantu to Long Beach to free up the space for Miguel Macias. He’s been up for a brief period before, and I expect he’ll be useful, especially against RHB.
Saucedo has been a sild addition, though his glove has never been what you’d really like out there in center…and now it’s becoming seriously worrisome to the point that I’m thinking we’ll have to replace him a year earlier than the plan calls for…somehow. I suppose we shouldn’t be too surprised—he came to the team as more of a shortstop than a center fielder, and we pushed him into the outfield. All we can say in our defense is that it worked for a while. Anyway, Saucedo came to the team in a deal with Edmonton that had us ship out their current catcher Eric Fabre, and a solid enough 1B (Jose Gonzalez), who lumped shortly after arriving in Canada despite being only 25. We also got Juan Lopez in the deal, who is now 23 and looks like he might do something. Or not. Regardless, the deal seems to have worked out okay for both teams in the end.
All in all, that’s a total of six baseball players added to the organization who, barring more moves, we expect to be on the field this season.
2035:
Player | Salary | Date Acq | Source | Round | Pick | Overall | Bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andy McKinney | $500.00 | 6/15/2035 | Draft | 2 | 31 | 64 | $750,000 |
Edgardo Llauro (L) | $500.00 | 6/16/2035 | Trade (Minor Leaguer) | ||||
John Ginn | $750.00 | 8/4/2035 | Trade (Major Leaguer) | ||||
Han-lee Kim | $500.00 | 8/20/2035 | MLFA | $20,000 | |||
Dong-po Thum | $500.00 | 11/4/2035 | Scout Find |
All of these guys can be argued to have yielded through certain time in the farm system—even Ginn, who rode the option wire up and down for a few seasons before breaking out last year. Ginn came to the team in e three-way deal with Louisville and the Kernels that Kim may be doing the same thing. He was solid enough in 2037, but just never got it going in 2038 before we pushed him back to Indy for some more work. He’s still a kid, and I still have hope that he can overcome that wildness. Time will tell. Llauro was out of options last year, but still needs to develop, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Spring Training. We hid him in the bullpen last year, and used him as an opener, but I suspect that we’ll need him to actually pitch this year. Regardless, he’s the final yield we got in the detritus that was the aborted Wulms deal.
Thum, of course, is a gift. I’ve tried not to get my hopes too geared up for him until the past season or two as he’s gone through the development gauntlet. He defense has actually improved a touch, but despite holding him in AAA last year, the power has yet to budge. Still, it’s time. I plan to see him start at shortstop this year, and probably push Padilla over the second base, where he should be stronger than he is at SS.
At the end of the day, another solid collection. Thum (we hope) will be a star (could he bring us a third-straight Gillsrtom?). McKinney a tick behind. The others useful.
2036:
Player | Salary | Date Acq | Source | Round | Pick | Overall | Bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hiroyasu Osaragi | $4,300.00 | 1/27/2036 | Trade (Major Leaguer) |
Overall, though, we’re getting to the stage where the kids we drafted are still in the minors, so Osaragi is the lone 2036 rep on the team now.
2037:
Player | Salary | Date Acq | Source | Round | Pick | Overall | Bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No one |
Player | Salary | Date Acq | Source | Round | Pick | Overall | Bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brian Sullivan | $3,250.00 | 1/16/2038 | Free Agent | ||||
Elwood Blues | $5,500.00 | 6/3/2038 | Trade (Major Leaguer) |
Blues was purchased from Des Moines to shore up the staff during our stretch run. Now I have to deal with the last year of his salary…which is fine. He’s solid enough, and I like his versatility. I expect he’ll spot-start, and long relieve.
SUMMARY
Anyway…there you are. The anatomy of the Yellow Springs Nine.
If I’ve got my count right, that’s 16 guys drafted through our system, three International Free Agents and three scouting finds that have yielded through that same gauntlet. A pair of minor league free agents we picked up off the scrap heap, and a half-dozen guys we’ve brought in through trades (mostly as minor leaguers who we partially developed.
Overall, I admit I like it. It feels right for me. I am not, after all, a particularly high-volume trader, and as I’ve noted before, I spend an insane amount of time on the Nine farm system.
Will it last?
I have no real idea—though I, of course, plan for it to continue as far as the future goes. But things can happen, you know? There are no guarantees.
AT the end of the day, the guys still need to lace them up and play the games.