Arbitration talks in London

Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Nigel
All-Star
All-Star
Posts: 1497
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 1:18 pm
Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire UK

Arbitration talks in London

#1 Post by Nigel »

Another season is in the books, for the fourth year in my five year reign the Underground went to the Postseason Ball and for the second year running they fell 4-2 in the Alliance Tournament. Now the battle begins to propel London into the playoffs again in the first year of the brand new PEBAverse and take them one step further. To claim their second ever PEC …

Money is tight, the Stars are one year older and no longer called young. They are now established PEBA icons and feature heavily in the league’s recent record books. Admittedly not many top the charts but most of London’s established hold places in their best stats amongst the Top PEBA players ever. But they don’t have the PEC rings to validate their careers. The struggle to rectify that continues in 2021 and the spadework for that starts now.

Lying on my desk is the Arbitration demands and the money men’s recommendations. Some GM’s might rubber stamp these without the slightest glance but with London’s expenditure touching right up against the income ceiling I can’t afford to, every penny saved here could give us the means to improve. Top of the pile are the ‘Two Leonards’ Leonard Carver & Leonard Ramsey. Both are entering their second arbitration year and both are looking to cement their place in the top 5 earners in London. Ramsey, now 30, earns $9m and the moneymen recommend we offer him just over $12m. With Ramsey having completed his second straight 40HR/100RBI/90R season this really is a no-brainer, if I had the money I’d give him more. APPROVED.

Carver though could be a bit more questionable. He earns $8m now and the moneymen want to push him nearer $9.5m. His 2019 season was wrecked by his second torn rotator cuff of his career, his 2020 comeback was less than stellar, posting a 2-5 record in 15 starts and being sent to the bullpen for the play-offs. At 25 this could be a crossroads in his career? Would he ever reach the heights his early career suggested or would his injuries rob him of his magic and condemn him to another ‘what might have been’ ? His K/9 was still top notch though, his HR/9 hadn’t changed much but his control was wavering with both his WHIP & BB/9 showing marked increases. With the promise he had shown & the stats he had put up in his first four PEBA seasons I had to give him a chance. I couldn’t lose faith in him yet, a $1.5m rise has to worth the shot. Next year it might be a different tale though. APPROVED

The next two were slated to get the biggest rises, from $500K players to multi-millionaires. 31-yr-old catcher Víctor Martínez came over from the LRS, he started well but tailed off towards the end of the season. The moneymen want his salary to rise to $2.6m and for the 23 homers, 89 RBI plus 47.6% RTO I believe that to be a fair price for what is a traditionally weak offence position. APPROVED
28-yr-old pitcher, Bryan Bedell, is in line to get a pay rise to $2.9m. Bedell had been the subject of many a debate amongst the staff, he could never produce the stats as a starter that his talent should produce and he was heading for more a Triple-A kinda filler guy. Then for 2020 someone suggested that we move him to the bullpen and everything fell into place. In 65 outings he went 6-3 with two saves, dropped his ERA a full point to just over two, recorded his best ever K/9, halved his HR/9 and cut his WHIP to just 1.03. Is it a penny-dropped season or a blip? One thing for certain, in 2021 he’ll be in London’s bullpen earning a good value $2.9m. APPROVED

Two more pitchers were the next up for discussion. 30-yr-old Santiago Estrada & 29-yr-old William Ferguson both pitched out of the bullpen in 2020 with Estrada earning $900K and Ferguson the minimum $500K. Estrada arrived as a minor league free-agent but ended up starting 2019 in a big league rotation for the first time. Posting a 13-8 record he was unlucky to be squeezed out of the rotation into the ‘pen in 2020. He made a good fist of it though posting an 8-2 record in 75 IP but with a slightly higher ERA & WHIP. Another concern was a full point rise in his already high BB/9 to 4.8. His rise was ticketed to be $350K and that is probably what it is. He will make a useful contribution in the long/middle relief roles and if Carver fails again his arm could be the best 350 dollars spent. APPROVED
Ferguson arrived as a a Rule 5 draft pick from Florida at the start of 2020, he already had 55 PEBA games under his belt and hopes were high for him. Once more he failed to meet expectations, posting a 1-3 record with a large ERA over six. Given that Florida had exiled him to Triple-A for much of the last two years the future could be looking bleak for him but the suggested rise was just $300K and I think we can just about stand that. But he could well be in last chance saloon, if he fails to win a place in the ‘pen during Spring Training he will be in Worcester and probably not getting an offer at the end. APPROVED

32-yr-old Bailey Rohr is a special case. He has seven years under his belt on the London roster but only in 2016 did he pass 200 AB’s. His blistering speed and outstanding defence all round the diamond has kept him as the Underground’s #1 utilityman for his entire career to date. He might not be a great offensive player but he underpins the defence when he plays and with the moneymen estimating his 2021 cost will be just $900k, how can we go wrong ? APPROVED


Finally the three misses. 33-yr-old Bernie Jacoby will not be receiving an arbitration offer, claimed off waivers from Arlington in 2015 he never really held down a place in the Underground pitching staff. His best year was 2018 when he posted a 9-9 record with a 3.81 ERA while last year in Triple-A he managed just a 3-9 record with an ERA north of six.
31-yr-old Scott Morris was really more of a financial decision, a six year veteran of the Underground roster Scott has been solid rather than spectacular. London’s Minor League batter of the year 2014 only had a 2019 All-Star appearance to show for his 742 PEBA appearances in which he amassed around 300 RBI, Runs & BB. With his current salary being $10m everyone agreed that that was the dollars we could save to fund the pay rises. 24-yr-old Christian O’Rorke might not have pulled up many trees in his Rookie PEBA season but not year it will be sink or swim as he inherits Scott’s place at the hot corner.
The last departee will be really missed from a sentimental point of view. 33-yr-old Dennis Carter leads the franchise with 1325 appearances in his 10 years of service as well as being in the top three in most batting stats for the Underground. Normally that level of service & stats would guarantee that we would make an offer given his $1.2m current salary but Dennis has been in decline for many a year now. In truth his defence is the one thing that has kept him in the 25-man but this year his defence was very average. That coupled with breakout years from Lorenzo Valenzuela & Robert Jacobs has led us to believe that even his paltry $1.2m could be used more productively elsewhere. It may not be the end for Carter yet, at the end of 2018 he tested the free agent market but ended up signing back with us so perhaps there’s still a deal to be worked?
Nigel Laverick

GM San Antonio Calzones de Laredo 2035 - . . .

Former Commish, PEBA & LRS GM

nigel3123@gmail.com
Post Reply

Return to “League News and Articles”