The Half-Billion Dollar Off-Season: An Article Series

[KenH]

The Half-Billion Dollar Off-Season Part 1: The Disconcerting and Unexpected Quiet Before the Storm

By Jojo Franks

Jacksonville -- Going into the offseason, there were very few moves expected from our team. Save for a few free agency signings, many in the baseball pundit circles expected much activity from the erstwhile aging club.

With the inevitable introductions of Luppe van Dam, Juan Acosta, and Jose Villareal into Featherhead maroon, we expected the team to be better than it was last year but perhaps not very invigorated. With the extensions doled out to team captain and fan favorite Danny Burton and longest-tenured Featherhead Forrest Major, many expected a “steady as she goes” approach.

Boy, were we wrong.

The first round of the off-season saw many of the moves we expected: the departure of rentals Paul Norris, Orlando Reyes and Michael Manley. For even the most unrealistic of F-Head fans, the loss of these players was expected, if not downright lauded. While Paul Norris looked revivified in the F-cap, Orlando Reyes and Michael Manley both performed below their season levels upon arriving in Jacksonville. That’s not to say they performed poorly, but the drop-off was noticeable. Manley, who had batted .343/.385/.434 in Okanawa, finished his last 32 games with a .270/.308/.320 line. Reyes was a much more respectable .266/.311/.456 in Crystal Lake, following that up with a .269/.317/.430 with Florida.

For many, the first hint that things were in flux was the letting go of five-year Florida backstop, Jack Hudson. This was a surprising move and not one you may expect from a team looking to keep things steady. Hudson was, through five years, a commendable piece of the team – shouldering most of the time behind the dish while playing ahead of a plethora of support piece. Hitting a respectable if not terribly inspiring, .261/.305/.375 line which was good enough for 10.4 wins and a CERA of 3.03, Hudson was a solid contributor, but with free agency looming, and an ever-increasing price tag, the F-Heads balked at what was rumored to be over a 9-million-dollar final arb number and instead opted to cut him loose to greener pastures. While there were rumors that he was courted by his former club, he ultimately ended up in Amsterdam gold for a two-year deal, with a total 2-year contract equaling almost what he would have gotten in the last year of his arbitration.

To the outside observer, this was simply the beginning of a new, budget conscious Florida Featherheads. We had gotten the message from the brass long ago that, starting this off-season, we may start to see a slowing down of free agent signings that had largely defined the Featherheads brand for the past decade, so when there were no rumors circulating about Mercer, Gonzales, Turton, or Barry, we were unmoved. For one thing, we didn’t need staring pitching – Gonzales or Turton would be nice, but a mere luxury. Similarly, Mercer and Barry were left-handed corner bats with no home in a lineup featuring Burton and Hinojosa. On the other hand, had we not recently gone out and signed contracts to Bill Gallagher and Iwane Sato? What’s another “Florida 20” between friends anyway?

Then came the Winter Meetings…

To be continued...

[DrewV]

Then came the Winter Meetings…

To be continued...

*Heats up popcorn*

[KenH]

The Half-Billion Dollar Off-Season Part 2: The Animus of the Avalanche

By Jojo Franks

Jacksonville -- There are moments throughout human history that act as sparks of renewal and change. For humans these are important times where the world as we once knew it changed so completely and drastically that we literally evolved to fit our inventions… the harnessing of fire… the wheel… the pre-sliced bread loaf… they come on suddenly and without warning. These moments change the calculus, the very denominator of what it is to be human. Changes so vast and all-encompassing that, when they first happen, we can only see the tip of the change – the elemental re-imagination of all that we thought we knew is buried and churning below the surface, unseen, intractable and immutable. This magma of disquiet insinuates itself before you see it. All decisions that were once easy take on a different air because the options themselves have changed. Before fire, we were scavengers, beset upon the land in roving hordes killing animals and each other, plucking berries and roots from the earth… after we harness the flame, we started telling stories at night and formed societies around that hearth. Before the wheel we built rough-hewn structures out of what was available – mud, grasses, animal hides -- after the wheel we built temples of marble and homes of wood with materials imported from what was once worlds away. Before sliced bread, we were savages, ripping into loaves like ogres, rending and tearing with our teeth that most important of foodstuffs with the wanton carelessness of a Florida hurricane... after we sliced it up we had sandwiches.

This elemental shift was felt again – this time for a professional sports team – on December 19, 2028 when a small press release was made from the PEBA Winter Meetings. As most of these things go, it was, at first short – the ramifications not belying the series of events that would follow. Like a single robin that alights on a snowy branch causing a puff of snow to cause a chain reaction that starts an avalanche, the Florida Featherheads had traded away Andy Sharp. “BREAKING: Andy Sharp and Steve Hott and FL 3rd round draft pick traded to the Duluth Warriors for Jose Campos, John Dickson, and Duluth’s 1st and 3rd round draft picks” read the BNN wire report. We were stunned. We had lost two pillars of our team in one fell swoop – we had picked up a decent bat in John Dickson and a flame-thrower pitcher in Campos that may fit in well with the bullpen, but, as these things are wont to do, we had not yet seen the magnitude of the change that was coming.

For better or ill, the trading of Andy Sharp is the point that everything we thought we knew about the Featherheads off-season got turned on its head. Over the course of the next two months we would barely be able to keep up with the re-imagining of the ballclub. As of this writing, all but four starting position players will be different than they were in 2028. All of these changes hinged on the trade struck during the winter meetings.

It’s fair to say the Jacksonville populous went into what can only be described as a “tizzy” upon hearing of the shipping out of their favorite ball player, Steve “Steve Hott” Hott to the retooling Warriors along with Andy Sharp. We’ve already recounted the dour hours immediately preceding the wire report that announced the be-cornrowed super-star was being shipped out to Duluth (Duluth of all places!) so we will not regale you again with those tales of woe.

For the loss of two Featherheads’ pillars, Hannahs and company received Juan Campos, John Dickson, the sixth pick of the 2029 draft and Duluth’s 3rd round pick. While the acquisition of Campos and Dickson looked to be budgetary ballast, both players carried advanced tools that fit in well with the 2029 Featherheads needs. While Campos has since been traded (more on that to follow), Dickson remains on the team and looks to slot in at second base, splitting time with 25-year-young Randy Love.

When the clock struck midnight and 2028 gave way to 2029, the formidable presence of the Florida Featherheads had done an about-face. We needed a catcher, another bat to spell our sluggers, and – with the loss of Steve Hott and Andy Sharp – some new faces of the franchise.

Within the next two months, Florida would gain men who fit all three of those roles, and they would do so in a way that can only be describes as an avalanche. The game, as they say, was about to change.

[Borealis]

OMG - I could hear David Attenborough narrating that Opening piece...

[Leones]

It is BRILLIANT in an Attenborough voice. That's a great observation! (and article) It'll be interesting to see these changes play out. The Featherheads are definitely one of those clubs that causes sleep loss.

[Sandgnats]

I don't understand why the key swap of 14th rounds picks with Crystal Lake was not mentioned?

Great job retooling your squad!

[KenH]

The Half-Billion Dollar Off-Season Part 3: Veterans and Anachronisms

By Jojo Franks

Jacksonville -- As a reporter, my goal is always to explain things interestingly but neutrally. Most of the time, its very easy to be neutral – the hard part is being interesting. How much life can you inject in a post-game report about so-and-so popping out to left? How riveting is it when your club signs a fifth year college senior for no money? Lately in Featherheads land, it’s been the exact opposite.

I was part of the press junket who spent their New Years not with their friends or family, but instead at Streets’ casino in Las Vegas. Maroon and black gear sported in all manner of ways – flags, hats, shirts, body paint – festooned the plaza in front of the hotel as rock music blared and highlights from last years season played out, projected 100 times over on the side of the casino and hotel. A super clip of Wilson Munoz and Danny Burton dinger swings aligned with skull shaking bass lines, a sweeping rock ballad played as Bill Gallagher and Forest Major mowed down hordes of opposing hitters woven in with the caustic explosions of the crowd. There were maroon and black paper streamers falling from the sky everywhere and, dear reader, I could not for the life of me find out where they were coming from.

A ticket to the Featherheads New Years Bash featured a hologram Featherhead logo and was printed on some sort of high-grade polished aluminum alloy and sold out within 30 minutes after going on sale. Scalpers sold these shining aluminum tickets for triple what they were worth just outside the gates. To gain access to the festivities (which included a player meet-and-greet, the amazing buffet spread, a “What’s it Like to Face Bill Gallagher?” batting cage, among other attractions) a fan had to pass through security and flash the ticket which, due to its hardy nature, was a collector’s item unto itself.

It was beautiful, it was gaudy, it was everything that Drew Streets stood for. It was also anachronistic in any number of ways. The Featherheads were not exactly the most strident in terms of going after free agents – in fact that honor fell to the worrisome IL rivals, the West Virginia Alleghenies who played “Super Market Sweep” with the free agent class. In fact, just two weeks before, we had made a move that made the immediate product worse to secure our future and lighten our payroll immediately. It was also anachronistic for another reason. The grandeur of the event put the Featherheads logo in stark contrast. It was not lost on those attended that 2029 and being confronted with the troubling Featherheads logo projected on the building seemed out of place.

On the main stage, we were treated to live music, dancers, and even a stand-up comedy routine. At around 11 pm, Streets took to the stage to address those in attendance. The elder statesmen and president of the owners association was glowing in his red silk afghan and jacket. That’s not to say that he was gorgeous – although he was as much as he could, I suppose – I mean to say that he had light sticks woven into the hem of his jacket. During his address, he talked about the future of the club and about how excited he was for all that Ken Hannahs had told him about. “The next couple of months are going to be really exciting,” he told the crowd. “Perhaps I shouldn’t say anything but I just want everyone to know that we’re expecting some hum-dingers in the next few months, aren’t we Ken?” Ken Hannahs who stood just off stage in a much more muted Hawaiian shirt, was waving his hand beneath his chin in a “shut up!” gesture.

Going into the new year, Hannahs had found himself with a big “to do” list but there were two ones that definitely stood out: he had lost the top offensive threat the team had had in 2028, and the team didn’t really have a catcher. There had been some attempt at remedying the situation by picking up Jason Eckington in the Rule 5, but despite his strong 2028 in AAA, few believed in Eckington’s long-term prospects with the team. The catchers in free agency were not bad but weren’t about to put butts in the seats. Al Murdoch, Scott Francis, Jose Cruz, Hirotsugu Suzuki, and Jack Hudson were the stars of the class. What the Featherheads needed was a catcher who exuded the mythos of the team. Someone big and mean. Perhaps a slugger. Perhaps someone on the cusp of a PEBA record. Now that would put butts in the seats.

On January 3rd, a trade was announced. The avalanche had begun.

The Squatting Slugger himself, Danny Burke, had waived his 10-and-5 rights and agreed to be shipped off from his longtime team in the dry Yuma desert to the muggy shores of Jacksonville. While it was no secret Burke and Yuma management had no love lost, many believed the contract to be immovable. For Florida, this was a perfect fit. Three objectives were met with the trade… they needed a catcher, they needed another power bat, and they needed another face of the franchise. Danny Burke was their man, and Burke was all too happy to oblige. Further, due to the structuring of the deal, which included not only the 20 million of Gato’s lamentable contract, but also the 6 million of the recently-acquired Jose Campos’ contract, along with the six million in cash considerations, the Featherheads managed to secure a deal that gave them all that they wanted while garnering even more financial flexibility over the next two years and really only paying significantly more in 2031 which is the last year of Burke's contract.

Supposing Burke’s knees can hold up through his age 37 season, the Featherheads acquired an above average switch-hitting slugging catcher who was the featured bat in an otherwise light-hitting Yuma line-up for over a decade. While Burke had a down year in 2028, many in the front office are expecting a “Paul Norris effect” for the veteran backstop. There are reasons to be excited, too. Burke’s been off to a fast start in Spring training, slugging a homerun, double and -- surprise of surprises -- a triple through his first 3 games of Spring Training. Further, there will be even more excitement as Burke comes into the season a mere two dingers away from tying newly-christened manager of the Short A Maua Lona Vulcans, Pepe Espinosa for the most career homeruns by a catcher in PEBA history.

[Borealis]

Loving the feel of these pieces! Bravo!!

[Sandgnats]

Nice Ken! You truly work for the best owner in baseball.

[KenH]

The Half-Billion Dollar Off-Season Part 4: An Intermission of Sorts

By Jojo Franks

Jacksonville -- Sandwiched in between the three blockbuster trades made this off-season was yet another trade that may have flown under the radar, but one that leadership was very excited about. Draft picks have always been an opportunity for Florida to build their arsenal of future talent. While the Featherheads did use draft picks to grease the wheels of trade for New Orleans, Yuma and Duluth, there was a trade that was markedly different struck with Charleston. In the agreement, Florida gave up no players, but instead gave up their first and sixth round picks along with the recently acquired Duluth’s third round pick for one highly prized prospect in Yosuke Morimoto and young PEBA-ready pitcher Ty Evans. The 20-year-old was being shopped aggressively from once-PEBA-champions, now-newcomers Charleston Statesmen. For Charleston GM David Barnett, the reasoning was clear: they were looking to build their system with their players. Morimoto and Evans were holdovers from the prior regime and as such available.

For Florida, the math was simple: could they acquire more valuable assets in the first, third, and sixth round than Morimoto and Evans? The answer was even more simple: possibly, but more than likely not. So, they pulled the trigger and basically completed part of their draft before the first pitch of the spring was thrown.

The #2 prospect in the WIL before the Charleston migration to PEBA, the left handed third base prospect Morimoto projects elite bat-to-ball skill and advanced approach at the plate. Scouts also rave about his intelligence, work ethic, and competitiveness – all of which has many people in scouting departments and front offices dreaming of a quickly ascending young prospect who, if all works out, may be in line for a 2030 September call up.

Ty Evans is a slightly different player but is also very exciting in his own right. A starter in the World Independent league, Evans started 34 games for Charleston in 2028 where he pitched to a 3.65 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. While these numbers may not inspire confidence, Evans promise surely does. A right-handed groundball pitcher, Evans sits between 93-95 with his cutting fastball that shows room for growth and follows this up with plus slider. Evans’ promise comes from his easy, repeatable delivery that has scouts dreaming of an effective third or fourth starter as he grows into his game. There is also a changeup that, to this point, remains under-developed yet the Featherheads have pinpointed this as Evans’ biggest room for improvement. Most of Evans’ future hinges on his ability to not only throw that pitch for strikes, but to get swings and misses with it.

While this trade didn’t make significant waves in and of itself, should Morimoto develop into the player scouts seem to think he will be, the price was well worth it. Throw in an arm that is major league – or at least nearly major league – ready, and you have a trade that shows a lot of promise without giving up your future.

This wouldn’t be the last time that Charleston and Florida would meet up, either. Another trade was right around the corner that would cap off the winter trade spree a few scant weeks later…

[KenH]

The Half-Billion Dollar Off-Season Part 5: The Blockbuster with No Stars (Yet)

By Jojo Franks

Jacksonville -- The capstone to the Featherheads off season was the three-team trade with Bakersfield and Charleston. This trade saw the movement of two of the most revered catching prospects in the game and any number of major league players and cash. The Featherheads acquired the rights to Roberto Ortega, Eugenio Zuniga, Manuel Serrano, Steven Miller and 10 million dollars in cash. The Bears went on to attain Pedro Marquis, Mushanokoji Matsumoto from the Featherheads, and young phenom catcher Mauro Mata from Charleston. The Statesmen ended up with the sixth pick of the draft, originally attained by the Featherheads in the Andy Sharp months prior.

The main acquisition for Florida in the deal was 2028 second round draft pick catcher Roberto Ortega. Ortega is one of the most advanced prospects in the draft last year and he’s done nothing but improve his stock in his first year of professional ball. Between S A and A ball, Ortega wracked up 9 home runs, 39 RBIs, and a slash line of .259/.362/.452 in a truncated rookie season that saw him producing 3.2 wins in a mere 62 games. When reached for comment, head scout Ed McDaniel was effusive in his praise for the young Ortega. “He’s simply the most projectable and safest catching prospect we’ve seen in a number of years. We are beyond thrilled to have him as part of our organization and can’t wait to help him develop into the player we believe him to be.”

With the other acquisition of Danny Burke, Ortega will have time to develop into the stud catcher that many believe he may become. While his prospect status is still underwhelming (he is out of the top 200 prospects in the game right now), his fast start in AA thus far (.250/.294/.453) intones that these secret may soon be out of the bag.

The other exciting piece that came from Bakersfield was 2028 AAA Platinum Stick award winner Eugenio Zuniga. While Zuniga isn’t so much a prospect as a career minor league bat, at 28, Eugenio provides the Featherheads with a right-handed bat that has a track record of destroying left-handed pitching – something that Florida struggled mightily with in 2028. To reinforce the lineup against left-handed pitchers was important, and to do so with a league minimum contract was an easy choice for the Florida front office.
Florida also attained 2 minor league pitching prospects -- 25-year-old career minor league finesse pitcher Steven Miller and 22-year-old power pitcher Manuel Serrano. Miller has been effective throughout his career but has never had much of an opportunity to pitch at the highest level. A rule 5 eligible arm, Miller has very little projectability left and with his lack of velocity (he sits usually between 88-90 mph) we don’t expect much beyond an organizational arm.

Manuel Serrano, however, is more interesting.

Serrano features elite velocity, topping out at 100 mph and shows promising curve and change-up offerings that could develop into average PEBA offerings. Serrano’s downfall is his lack of control which is primarily due to his max effort delivery. Both Miller and Serrano are expected to see action in Beaufort in 2029 with Serrano being the pet project for newly hired pitching coach Chris York.
To further extend the options for the season, Hannahs also attained an additional 10 million dollars which has allowed the Featherheads to go from one of the most cash-strapped teams at the beginning of the winter to one of the most financially flexible teams going into the start of the 2029 campaign.

To acquire these valuable assets, the Featherheads had to relinquish left-handed backup outfielder slugger Mushanokoji Matsumoto and Pedro Marquis as well as the pick attained two months prior from Duluth. Matsumoto is a 3-year PEBA veteran, slashing .205/.290/.385 who never got a chance to start consistently due to the presence of Danny Burton and Alfredo Hinojosa. Left-handed middle relief pitcher Pedro Marquis was an international free agent picked up just before the 2028 season by newly returned GM Ken Hannahs. Marquis had a great introductory campaign with Florida appearing in 22 games, pitching 33.1 innings and striking out 20. The most valuable asset they gave up, however, was the sixth pick in the draft.

You can read more about this trade from Bakersfield's perspective here.

“We looked at the coming draft class and made a prediction that there may not be a player of Ortega’s caliber at number six this year,” Hannahs said after being reached for comment. “That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with this draft, but to be able to essentially redraft a player who we really liked last year after seeing his track record in pro ball was an easy choice for us. There’s a few times in this job where you essentially get a ‘do-over’… this was one of those times.”

In a move very similar to the Charleston trade mere weeks prior, the Featherheads essentially "drafted early" by acquiring a controlling interest in a top prospect for the better part of a decade and ten million dollars. It was at this point that many in the Florida front office had a chance to sit back and look at all that had wrought...

[KenH]

The Half-Billion Dollar Off-Season Part 6: The End of the Beginning

By Jojo Franks

Jacksonville -- And finally, dear reader, we get to the point of all this.

All-in-all, through trades, the Featherheads moved almost half a billion in salary and cash ($498,815,000), either from or to the team, in a period of just over two months. Hannahs and co have done a complete reconstruction of the team's financial future, freeing up about 33 million dollars in 2029, some of which has already been spent by acquiring free agents Dave Crocker, Pablo Garza, Hideaki Sakei, Marvin Duffy, and Juro Sumita. Are there holes in this team's roster? Of course. But one could make the case that this team may indeed be better than last year's team while also being more financially sound. It is this restructuring that a new strength has bubbled up, long forgotten by those of us who have gotten complacent in our expectations of the Featherheads brand of baseball: financial leverage.

Seemingly just paint a picture of how we could expect some of this financial leverage may be used in the future, the Featherheads used their off-season deals to acquire Mario Ramirez in a second trade with Duluth. In this trade, the Featherheads parted with long time shortstop Francisco Montoya and 1 million dollars cash to procure the once all star center fielder.

This trade would go on to almost immediately bear fruit as oft-injured starting center fielder Miguel Yanez was sidelined early into spring training with a herniated disk. Because of the acquisition, the Featherheads had depth at a premium position and were able to quickly switch gears to Ramirez. Ramirez’s heroics so far into the season are well known, but we will regale you with his first three weeks of the season thus far. Through three weeks, Ramirez has socked 6 home runs and driven in 17 runs on 22 hits. He is slashing .282/.325/.590 through that time and is currently sporting a 1.2 WAR, good enough for third on the team behind Danny Burton and John Dickson (the other former Warrior procured in the Sharp deal).

Below you will find a full chart of the players and salaries that changed hands during the two-month period where the Featherheads largely re-imagined their ailing and aging squad. Some may point to the fact that options included on these contracts will almost definitely be exercised (there is almost zero chance that the Trendsetters pick up Jose Diaz’s 2030 option for instance) but for the sake of expedience, I felt that this was the easiest way to paint the picture and, perhaps being a bit selfish, I decided to include so I could get as close to 500 million as I possibly could. While you will notice that the Featherheads seemingly make money every year, after the removal of the Diaz contract in 2030 and 31, the money saved will be much less substantial. However, even taking into account that contract, there are many who believe that Kang's contract may not last past the 2030 season, which would offset the money by a fair amount as well.

It's also worth mentioning what doesn't show up on this graph. Through these trades, the Featherheads traded all of their picks through the fourth round, and their sixth round pick. So while there is reason to be excited about the increased liquidity of club, it is worth pointing out what exactly the trades got us. It also does not specifically point out the two prospects received by way of Matsumoto and Ortega. Basically, this isn't a perfect representation of the club's off-season, but it does a pretty good job of expressing just how dramatic the moves really were.

One thing to also mention here as well... they did all of this while still keeping their eye fixed firmly on that 2030 off-season when the team will, for all intents-and-purposes, go through an even more dramatic re-imagining. It is in that off-season that over ninety million dollars will come off the books. While this series was dramatic,it may get even crazier from here.

Buckle up, everyone.

floridafinances.PNG

[KenH]

Thanks to everyone who makes it through my great big wall of text! It was a lot of fun to write and required much more work than I intended to spend on this project. When I first started, my goal was to just write one piece talking about the off season but it became clear pretty quickly it didn't quite fit into that format. I'm pretty happy with how the whole thing turned out. I'm a little embarassed that I referred to this as "the half trillion dollar off season" for about a month until I realized that it was half a billion... and even then, not even.

Anyway, thanks again. I like writing in this format so I may try to do more of these sorts of things in the future.

[Borealis]

Looks like the big piece in the puzzle was ditching Gato - he's the 'odd salary' that doesn't balance out on the gain side. That $20M gained is a tidy sum!!

[Leones]

2030 is shaping up to be a good year for free agents. It seems that a number of clubs have a pile of money coming off the books around then. Should be fun to watch.