The San Fernando front office remained active in the back half of the offseason, making three more trades and signing an additional major league free agent.
- We sold Pepe Rodriguez to Boise for $100K. We've been blocking Rodriguez without any bites until we eventually lowered the asking price enough that Boise came calling. The lefty hitting catcher has used up all his options and must make the Spuds active roster out of spring training. We think he can do it and deserves a regular gig in the BBA. This also cleared a 40-man roster spot so we could be active in the rule 5 draft.
- SFB traded minor league SP Walter Barry for RP Josh Sang. Vegas was looking to unload Sang and all they asked for in return was a prospect who wasn't rule 5 eligible. We were excited to trade from our starting pitching prospect surplus to upgrade our BBA bullpen with the live armed Sang. Our 2063 first round pick, Barry was rated a B prospect and third overall during last year's Bear Cubs' list. He's lost movement, stamina, and hasn't made any progress developing his third pitch, a changeup. At only 22 years old the Hustlers should remain patient. His plus control and two solid pitches should at least make for a decent reliever.
- We returned to our chat thread with Boise and acquired their closer, Mario Santos. Santos is a sexy name who's racked up some saves in Boise but hasn't actually pitched very well from a sabermetric perspective. His severe lefty/righty platoon splits and fragile injury tag make him a risk. That certainly helped lower the asking price from the Spuds, but Santos remains a live arm coming off a solid 2064 campaign. In return, Boise lands two pitching prospects: SP Orlando Hernandez and RP Wilson Rosado. Both pitchers have pitch ratings that indicate ceilings much higher than their base ratings suggest. Hernandez was expendable thanks to our surplus of starting pitching and what I consider a chronic back issue. Because of those issues, we had to include an intriguing lefty and our 2064 sixth round pick, Rosado. He's just getting started and as a teenager is a lotto ticket but looks like a decent one.
- One last major league free agent signing nets us Peter Ramsey for one year, $2.5M. Now 34 years old, Ramsey gives us another option from the left side of our pitching staff. He could start or relieve. He's never had a FIP above 4.65 in the BBA or ERA above 4.48 until his struggles in 2064. It's interesting to note his career was jump started when he was taken as a rule 5 pick by Montreal from the Bears after spending a season with our AAA club in 2059.
