For the third season in a row we've seen a max contract offered and accepted in the Free Agency Market. First it was the trio of future Hall of Fame pitchers. Oscar Baumann, Pat Politte and Chad Lamb. Last season it was super star 2nd basemen and another future Hall of Fame player in Ed Donovan. This year...
It was 26 year old Jerry Hayes, fresh off of a 10-7 season with a 3.82 ERA, easily his best season, but worth $110 million over 5 years? Opinions have differed throughout the year, GM KPMcClave of the Rochester Polaroids noted that "with pitching being a premium, it isn't surprising that a quality young pitcher would get an attractive comment." While the Las Vegas Slots GM, saintonan commented that "having the 186th best pitcher in the league get a max deal seemed very odd. Understanding that this was a weak year for FA Starters, but is it really law that someone will get a max deal every season?"
After listening to the criticism Hayes shot back before his first start for the Burlington Part-Timers in spring training,"I really don't care what they have to say about me. I'm here to pitch. I've already got the season opener penned in, I can't wait to beat Oscar."
When asked specifically about the comments coming from Las Vegas all Hayes had to say was,"They're lucky they don't have to see me during the regular season, but I can't wait to end their post season early."
Hayes agent, Rex Brantley, had only a few words to reporters after the press conference,"we took the best offer we got, period."
While Hayes was clearly the top story of the winter, there were quite a few other active teams.
Wichita Black Lightning GM zhawks made it known early that he had money to spend and make the best use of it that they could.
"We were really locked in on Hayes and Greg Walker, but we couldn't land either," zhawks stated at the preseason press conference,"late in the Free Agency period we took a long look at where we were and decided to make a late offer to Corey (Witt), which was immediately accepted and held on to bring in (Jimmie) Lugo who will be playing center field for us this year."
Additionally the Lightning signed gold glove shortstop Diego Johnson who will be play third for the team, vastly improving their overall defense.
"We really wanted to increase our pitching, it has hurt us in the past," commented bench coach Heinie Hines,"when that fell through we decided we could indirectly increase our pitching by improving our defense and I feel we really improved our defense with our signings."
Elsewhere in the AL the Syracuse Tyrants were quite but effective in free agency, adding lefty starter Walker, who is arguably the best pitcher in FA.
When asked about the signing Syracuse GM intern_hc said,"we've lost some good pitching the last few years, we wanted to reload without spending a fortune. We accomplished that."
Walker is a career 4.27 ERA while being 93-89.
Vic Sosa was the top position player on the market and commanded exactly what was expected.
Rochester Polaroids GM KPMcClave was not afraid to spend the money saying "We considered using our entire budget to grab both Lugo and Sosa but decided to improve our pitching and land one of them. We went with Sosa due to age."
Another team that was active, but didn't land any big namers was the Austin Stunners, they signed LF Jason Levine, for what many agreed was an excessive contract, GM flytekk shot back "We weren't spending the money anywhere else and were set on improving our offense."
Little Rock Jaeger Bombs GM timo1964 reacquired two former players he had as former GM in Little Rock before the team moved to Charlotte in Damaso Peron and Bruce Gibbons. Both players add a new dimension to the Little Rock squad and should have the Jager Bombers in the post season soon.
While the Salem Witch Doctors were more active on the trade market than the Free Agent market they did make a few acquisitions. They signed a few relief pitchers in Floyd Reichert and Scott Rolls. Neither is expected to be a lights out relief man but both should bolster the bullpen of another strong Salem team. GM taz21 agreed saying, "we were not looking to spend on a big contract just improve our pitching. We didn't over extend ourselves but made a few good signings that should help us throughout the year."
While Hayes was clearly the story of the winter there was a lot of movement on the free agent market, Wichita once again spent big bucks hoping to finally bring home a title, while other teams made cost efficient moves that fit their budgets.
