Claymores Beat Writer
The Edinburgh News
Edinburgh – The dismantling was as swift as it was brutal.
In the space of days, players who’d become household names throughout Scotland were gone, or nearly so:
- Stud shortstop Naomi Honma and ace closer Ken Fisher were dispatched to Neo Tokyo for promising young minor leaguers.
- Frontline starter Oniji Yokoyama was sent packing to Shin Seiki as a half-season rental for reliever Mark Ray;
- SP Neil Maes, who spent just two months in Claymores blue, was unceremoniously dumped to West Virginia for a minor league pitching prospect.
- Talented RP Bob O’Higgins was dealt to Toyama for promising young second baseman Bernardo Alvaredo.
- Veteran SP Francisco Robles, now 39, notified the team that he will retire at the end of the season.
Scottish fans could hardly be blamed for wondering what on earth was happening?
“We had come to a crossroads,” said General Manager Vic Caleca. “When the current leadership team arrived, the team had some excellent veteran players on the roster, some money for free agents, and a barren wasteland for a farm system.
“For a couple of years, we were able to compete by signing free agent talent and by dealing here and there for talented players. But with other leagues now competing effectively for free agents, the price tag for traveling that route has skyrocketed and we made the calculation that our current path was not sustainable.”
With little in the way of new free agent talent, All-Star slugger Vincent Powell mired in a season-long slump and SP Clark Snow easing back into the rotation after a long convalescence from a torn rotator cuff, the losses came early and continued mounting. By the All Star break, it had become obvious the Claymores would not be competitive for a playoff berth this season.
So, the front office wondered, what to do?
Fans have seen the answer playing out all around them over the past few weeks: the Scottish are trading veterans to rebuild their farm system, put a moratorium on trading draft picks, and say they’ll be judicious about awarding long-term contracts to older players.
“We need a sustainable path going forward, and this is the route we must take,” Caleca said.
Which may well be true, but it’s a bitter pill for Claymores fans who must bid farewell to “Dr. Evil” Honma, Pappy Fisher, “Nails” Yokoyama and “Yogi” Robles.
“We’d gotten used to winning,” lamented Darragh Espey, a season ticket holder from Aberdeen. “Maybe this is the way to go long-term, but that’s the problem, isn’t it? It’s a time-consuming process, and we’ll be terrible again. As the Yanks say, this sucks.”
