I had the idea for a TN series summarizing all the trades I've made since taking over the San Fernando Bears in 2051 because who doesn't love looking at their old trades? Bonus points since this topic naturally involves many of the other teams in the league. It ended up being a list of more than 50 trades so I started breaking them down into eras, and while doing this I realized you could really see my development as a GM through this lens. The letter grade represents how well the trade worked out for San Fernando.
This post covers the third era, The Breakthrough and Fall (2057-2059) Part 1.
| Year | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| 2057 | 95 | 67 |
| 2058 | 81 | 82 |
| 2059 | 67 | 95 |
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02/25/2057 SS Dick Walton traded by the Twin Cities River Monsters to the San Fernando Bears in exchange for $1.
San Fernando entered the 2056-2057 offseason in familiar territory. The club was coming off a 90-loss season with lots of budget space available since the only significant free agent contracts we’d been tendering were short term rentals so we could flip them for prospects. The one major difference was that my focus on rebuilding our farm system was starting to pay dividends (this was back when most prospects needed years to develop). Tommy Harrison and Michael Schultz debuted in 2056 and paired with waiver wire claim Don Moore we had a formidable young middle-of-the-order. On the pitching side, Alexander Swanson was coming off a 3.60 ERA year and prospects like Morgan Tomsett were getting close.
I decided I wasn’t going to wait out free agency this time around, accepting the table scraps on bargain contracts. I would look to aggressively address team weaknesses by signing the best players available (this was back when a team could be built thru free agency). We were fortunate that Arnold Cantrell ($74M), Roberto Rivera ($62M), and Francisco Martinez ($32M) all hit and were immediately impact players.
I can’t remember how this deal came together exactly. I remember Alan posted something on discord about needing to pay like three different shortstops $10M and I immediately replied that I’d take on Walton’s contract. When Alan agreed, my enthusiasm for Walton fueled the free agent contracts I offered. Then, it turned out Walton had a no-trade clause and didn’t want to join the Bears. After resigning myself to having Kevin Corbett as our starting shortstop, Walton finally relented on the first day of spring training and accepted the trade.
In 2057, Walton was a 4 WAR shortstop in only 537 PAs whose .384 OBP batted leadoff for us in the postseason. If you put a price on a 4 WAR shortstop it would certainly be higher than the Boy Reporter’s $10M salary. If that season was the only one left on his contract this trade would be an easy A grade. Unfortunately, Walton’s $10M salaries in 2058 and 2059 made life difficult for SFB as we tried to patch some holes. Walton would be an oft-injured, replacement-level player those years and after spending 2060 in AAA hang up his cleats for good. I’m still inclined to grade the trade favorably because 2057 was an extremely competitive season (there was no middle-class team between 88 and 74 wins in the Frick) and we needed Dick to get our first taste of playoff revenue.
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04/29/2057 1B Ralph Halvorsen traded by the Long Beach Surfers to the San Fernando Bears in exchange for SP Khuzaymah Abdul-Hakam and C Josh Brooks.
Halvorsen was blocked by Long Beach and we liked that he’d have options thru 2058 to provide some left-handed hitting depth in AAA. To this day he has a great eye at the plate, and we expected him to be an OBP machine against RHP. Twin Cities would later claim Halvorsen off waivers and he got a few cups of coffee with the River Monsters. He’s always been a minor disappointment and is up to 871 career games in AAA (BBA and GBC) with a career slash of .278/.390/.433 at that level.
The Bears’ prospects sent to Long Beach, Addul-Hakam and Brooks, never amounted to anything. Abdul-Hakam is currently 29 years old pitching in the Rosenblatt system, never having pitched in the BBA. Meanwhile, Brooks retired in 2061 after taking a few swings with LBC in the big leagues. I remember Lane (in typical Lane fashion) being excited about Brooks’ power, but he was a raw player with poor defense.
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06/03/2057 RP Shea Valance traded by the San Fernando Bears to the Long Beach Surfers in exchange for $1.
I’m not going to be too hard on myself but this was not a good trade. After an offseason reliever conversion, Valance entered the final year of his $54M contract with shiny new ratings. Despite the newfound heat, Valance struggled out of the gate to a 8.28 ERA (5.42 FIP). I had a good team and panicked that Valance would never stop giving up the longball. Patience (something I usually display to a fault) should have prevailed and Valance pitched a 2.42 ERA the rest of the way for the Surfers. This trade didn’t prevent us from reaching the playoffs, and the saved money didn’t hurt. But Valance would sign a bargain free agent contract with Bikini the following offseason that saw him post 5.2 WAR over its four years.
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08/15/2057 RP Raphael Castagna traded by the San Fernando Bears to the Vancouver Mounties in exchange for RP Mauro Ríos and SP Salah al Din bin Subhi.
Castagna was claimed off waivers from Louisville in June 2057 and traded away two months later. It was replacement level production in San Fernando those two months from a reliever with a long career as a successful BBA pitcher. Castagna was really good for Vancouver down the stretch and rewarded with another $1.6M contract the next offseason from Calgary. It would be his final year in the show.
Rios was a similarly over-the-hill relief pitcher who was once a good starting pitcher and was effective enough in Castagna’s stead under a slightly cheaper salary. Subhi wasn’t much of a prospect and would be released two years later. Looking at this trade now, it was inconsequential and I’m not sure why Aaron and I made it. Gotta keep commish busy I suppose.
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11/03/2057 RP Chris Lacey traded by the San Fernando Bears to the Charlotte Flyers in exchange for SP Eduardo Ramos.
After an unimpressive start to his career in Yellow Springs, Lacey gave San Fernando more than 150 innings of sub-3.50 ERA relief pitching before we decided it was time to get off the ride. Anticipating he’d be non-tendered, we gave him away to the Flyers. He’d never pitch for Charlotte before getting claimed off waivers the following April. Lacey was again a sub-replacement level pitcher after leaving San Fernando. Fun fact: we claimed Lacey off waivers two separate times in his career, as well as once signing him as a minor league free agent!
Ramos toiled in our farm system for a while before getting released in 2062.
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11/03/2057 2B Ski Melillo traded by the San Fernando Bears to the Phoenix Talons, along with C Don Hunt, in exchange for RP Bob Butler and RP Jerry Richards.
Melillo was a contact-oriented reserve infielder for the Louisville Sluggers before catching on with SFB on a split contract in the waning days of his career. He was a key role player on our 2057 squad, batting .339/.387/.422. Another guy we expected to non-tender, we hooked up with Phoenix since they wanted him on their club. Melillo never played above replacement level again. The Talons requested Hunt, a mediocre backup catcher, be included as part of the trade.
The Bears received a couple of pitching prospects in return. Butler was running out of class A eligibility so the Talons were happy to move him. He bumped significantly the same offseason and had a solid, if slightly disappointing, six year run in the SFB bullpen. He’d eventually be included in the Matsunaga trade with Des Moines and was a shutdown reliever for the Kernels down the stretch in 2063. Richards was a diamond in the rough after missing the entire 2057 season due to a partially torn UCL. He developed nicely and was eventually a pretty good pitching prospect for us. After 255.1 innings in a Bears uniform that saw his potential wane, Richards was released by San Fernando in April 2064.