Report: Farstriders to Deal van Luppe, Morimoto to Ghosts

[JayA]

In news that sent shockwaves throughout the baseball world, the Florida Farstriders have reportedly agreed to trade superstar pitcher Luppe van Dam just months after the 30-year-old’s second Golden Arm season. He will reportedly be moved to the Niihama-Shi Ghosts as part of a seven-player deal. The Ghosts will receive van Dam, two-time all-star 3B Yosuke Morimoto and minor league SS Rodrigo Zúñiga in exchange for 3B Roberto Tall and prospects Robby Rollins, Jose Picaluga, and Jorge Gallegos. As part of the deal, the Farstriders will also cut over $50 million from the payroll, saving over $40 million in salary the remainder of this season and a further $40+ million in 2039.

Rollins, 22, is currently rated as Baseball News Network‘s No. 37 prospect and is the Ghosts’ top prospect according to BNN. The outfielder projects as an elite power hitter and has begun the 2037 season in AA with the Ikari Warriors where he is hitting just .207 but already has 7 HR, 2 2B, and 2 3B in 31 games. While some have speculated that his inability to consistently make contact could be trouble, Farstriders new General Manager Jay Amado reportedly signed off on the deal as he was intrigued by his combination of power and speed after doing a deep dive into his performance last season when he hit .260 and belted 19 HR, 12 2B, 2 3B, and stole 42 bases in just 81 games after being selected in the first round out of Michigan.

Picaluga, Niihama’s third-best prospect overall and top pitching prospect as ranked by ONN, was an international signing whom the Ghosts splurged on out of Brazil in 2034. The 20-year-old has spent the early part of the season at Class A Gakidou where he has posted a 1.35 ERA across 13.1 innings in 6 games. Picaluga’s fastball can easily reach into the mid-90s with a power splitter that is still developing as well. Since being called up from the Ghosts’ international complex in 2035, Picaluga has 51 saves and 8 K/9 across 108 appearances. Despite pitching in the bullpen now, those within the Farstriders organization believe he has the stamina and skillset to potentially develop into a starting pitcher down the road.

Gallegos, a native of Philadelphia, is seeing his first experience in AAA this season. He has already appeared in 16 games for the Namuko Puckmen, racking up 13 saves and 14 K/9 across 18.2 innings. The right-handed pitcher stands 6’4″ and weighs 200 lbs. so casts an intimidating shadow from the mound. Gallegos was selected in the first round of the 2036 Rookie Draft and has a flat out dominant curveball, great sinker, and consistently hits the mid-90s as well. Both Gallegos and the Farstriders reportedly see him as a player who will be in the majors sooner rather than later, though there’s no exact timeline or expectation yet.

Tall, who originally hails from Caraballeda, Venezuela, appeared in 127 games for the Ghosts in 2037, starting 110. The left-handed hitting then-24-year-old posted a .248/.319/.443 batting line in 474 plate appearances with the Ghosts and finished with a 3.4 WAR in large part due to his defense and speed on the basepaths (49 XBH and 57 SB in 67 attempts). He has PEBA experience in parts of three seasons, and is arbitration-eligible this offseason. The cash savings alone on moving from Morimoto to Tall should tally in the $45-50 million range over just this and next season.

Heading out of Florida, the 29-year-old Morimoto is a career .257/.299/.456 hitter in 3894 plate appearances for the Farstriders. He has served as Florida’s primary third baseman dating back to 2031 when he won the Wunderkind Award in the IL. After a 2035 season where he finished second in MVP voting, he was rewarded with a 6-year deal worth over $140 million but has since seen a steep drop off in production from 7.6 WAR in 2, 035 to 3.5 in 2036 and just 0.6 last year. The talent is still there and he already has 8 HR this season so there is still optimism that he’ll rebound, but Amado, a former management consultant focusing in organizational restructuring before entering the baseball world, had took an objective approach as he negotiated the exit for the 30-million-dollar fan favorite.

The Farstriders signed van Dam as an international free agent as just a 16-year-old from the the small town of Brielle in the Netherlands. The teenager could nary speak any English in but nevertheless, flashed signs of being a superstar talent. Watching him grow up before their eyes, Luppe mania took over in Florida as he made his debut in 2029 at just 21. By 23 he was a Golden Arm winner. By 24 he had twice led the league in strikeouts. He had a career resurgence last year as he picked up his second Golden Arm Award. From 2029-38 he racked up 138 wins, a 2.71 ERA, 1651 Ks, and a 0.96 WHIP while accumulating 51.4 WAR. “Luppe is a member of this family for life,” Amado said to a stunned press room who congregated at the team facility after details of the trade leaked overnight. “In the end, unfortunately, baseball is a business and we have to make business decisions. That’s all this was,” he added. “We love Luppe. I’ll tell you right now that no member of this organization will ever wear number 11 again.”

Fans and critics took to the internet and radio immediately after the press conference, questioning what gave Amado the right to make such proclamations about the organization. From “front runner” to “coward” to “idiot” to a bevvy of words that would be unrepeatable in such an article, fans and analysts alike have lambasted the general manager who signed with the Farstriders this spring after a few forgettable years of kicking off the Madison Malts rebuild. The few dissenting voices pointed to the deal as the exact type of move the Farstriders needed to make when they brough him in as the budget is squeezed and current minor league cupboard is pretty bare. Only time will tell if the decision to pull this trigger was the right one, but the newly-minted GM will definitely have an uphill battle to win over skeptics.

Several other teams had also expressed interest in trading for van Dam. After quietly shopping him, organizations from both the IL and SL made strong offers, and the Farstriders were reportedly very close to closing another deal when the Ghosts re-emerged in the 23rd hour. The negotiations reportedly moved quickly once that connection was made as the two sides had been heavily involved in discussions during spring training about a similar trade, though the exact details were unknown. The deal is still pending league approval and all parties passing physicals, but is expected to be formally processed before the Farstriders begin their series with the Hartford Harpoon on Monday–a game in which van Luppe was scheduled to start. The Ghosts will be off Monday before opening up a three game series against the Yuma Arroyos.

[Sandgnats]

Sad to see Luppe leave Florida