by Francis Ferry, NLN baseball beat writer

December 24, 2022: Asheville, North Carolina – Christmas met the Fourth of July at the PEBA Winter Meetings, as a number of big names were changing zip codes, but perhaps none were bigger than the move – moves? struck by Aurora’s Boy Wonder GM.

Late last night it was announced – and mysteriously agreed upon, that the Borealis and the Yuma Bulldozers had reached an agreement on a deal that you rarely see between heated rivals. Auroa will be shipping 2B John ‘Gypsy’ Foster and SP Anastasio López, along with their second and third round picks, to Yuma for SP Gunner ‘Clubhouse’ MacGruder and 2B Manny de los Santos.

As PEBA Board representive Matt Higgins approached the podium with the news, the power brokers at the Yuma table looked stunned, calling out for time to examine this further – yet they were assured by Higgins that the deal was on the ‘up-and-up’. Needless to say, the groans coming out of the Crystal Lake and Shin Seiki corners of the ballroom were more than audible.

That this deal even happened is surprising. Yuma, who drafted Gunner with the first selection of the 2012 draft – then-GM Bob Mayberry’s very first draft pick, has risen dramatically on the shoulders of MacGruder, and many thought he would be a life-long ‘Dozer. Like-wise Foster. Drafted with the 6^th selection of the 2011 draft – Topham’s very first pick, Aurora patiently awaited his arrival on The Front Range and equally patiently awaited production to meet potential.

Obviously loyalty and longevity ain’t worth what it used to be.

“We’ve floated MacGruder’s name Yuma’s way of and on over the years in an attempt to pry him away, but they’ve been unwilling to discuss him. After all, he put Yuma on the map – we got that.” Topham began while describing the discussions “But after their collapse during the second half of the season, and some passing commentary out of their front office over the past few weeks, about ‘rebuilding’, we figured the timing may be right.”

Topham has had a history of trading for top-notch pitching, while developing position players through the draft: ‘Sawmill’, ‘Quagmire’, ‘Tugboat’… and Anastasio López – who after 7 seasons as a key member of the Aurora rotation, will be heading to the Desert portion of the division.

“This will sound kind of funny,” Topham started “taking on $22.5M of salary for this season (Santos is making $6.5M) and possibly $40+M over the next two seasons, but the heart of this deal was salary based for both teams. Yuma saves a little money with López in Gunner’s stead, and with team options on both Lopez’ and Foster’s contracts for next year, they certainly have the potential to free up a lot of cash in 2024 that they’d otherwise have tied up.” The Bulldozers also have saved money through their trade of OF Jarrod Ricks ($7.5M in 2023) to Crystal Lake for 3B Alejandro Luján, who is making league minimum.

López came to Aurora in a December 2015 deal with Manchester, a deal that involved significant Aurora players – En-guo Guao, Artie Tillman and Bobby Watson. Anastasio was 95-50 during his Aurora tenure with a 3.66 ERA. He’s regularly been amongst the league-leaders in strikeouts. López is in the midst of a 4-year, $53M deal that has $14M guaranteed this year, with a $15.5M team option for 2024. It goes without saying that MacGruder will fill Anastasio’s spot in the Aurora rotation.

Foster is coming off a year in which he hit a career best .294 with a second best 24 HR and a career high 94 RBI. During his 8-year tenure (six as a starter) in Aurora, Foster has hit .259 with 123 HR and 461 RBI. He, too, is in the midst of a four-year deal that totaled $50M, with 2023 guaranteed at $13M and a $14M team option in 2024. Foster has been an enigma for Aurora, as he’s carried a load of expectation from the day he was drafted – expectations that many feel he never met.

With the departure of ‘Gypsy’, Aurora has lost the right-side of an infield that has won three championships in four years – the departure of another long-term Borealis, José Rivera (signed with Rio Grande Valley) has left Aurora with a gapping hole.

“Seven years ago we embarked on a journey that over three years saw us transition from the team we inherited from John Rodriguez, Sr. to the home grown squad we finished this year with. We now begin the second round of such a transition. Now is the time for our recent draftees to prove our faith in them. Gabe McIntyre, Rod Martin and Pablo Medrano – You guys are the first wave of the future Aurora Borealis.”

Aurora thirdbaseman Mike Britt, when contacted with the news, expressed sadness, “John and I have been together for a long time. He was a good guy.” Shortstop Nick Giles simply said, “’Train Arollin’’, ‘Tugboat’, ‘Clubhouse’ and ‘Sawmill’? Man… throw in ‘Massacre’ and you’ve got the All-Time nickname rotation!”

Indeed.

With Gunner, ‘Gypsy’ and Lopez garnering the bulk of attention in this deal, 2B Manny de los Santos is the quiet part of the party. Scheduled to make the odd sum of $6, 558,750 – I think there was a tad too much Colorado River Water drinking on that one, Santos is in his arbitration years, so contract-wise, it’s hard to project what will become of him. Manny is strictly a secondbaseman, and a tick below ‘Gypsy’ defensively. Offensively, he’s a pretty good contact hitter, with solid power to all fields. Scouts praise his ability to swing at primarily good pitches, but he misses far too often – his 156 Ks in 2022 are certainly not Aurora-like. Over his Yuman 5-year career he’s hit .243, with 62 HR and 244 RBI. It’s to be seen what Aurora does with his 577 Ks in 1818 AB.

It’s expected that the aforementioned McIntyre, Martin, and Medrano, along with Santos, will battle for the three roster spots available in the infield – barring something happening with Juan Toro, and a fourth spot opening up. McIntyre and Medrano will no doubt be the leaders heading into spring training. Santos’ R/L splits, average-wise, are virtually the same, though his strikeout rate and power are favorable v. lefties – including 12 of his 21 HR (in nealy a third of the at-bats). Oddly, his doubles are greatly disproportionate v. right-handers. Manny may be primed for a platoon situation.

Foster and Lopez were not the only 3-time champions to be dealt at the winter meetings. As the first round of coffee was just starting to cool this morning, it was announced that the Borealis had, surprisingly, shipped CF Matt Ferrell to the West Virginia Alleghanies for their first and third round picks in the coming draft. West Virginia is expected to sit in the 15^th slot in round one.

Ferrell, like Foster, was the 6^th selection in his 2016 draft class and a year later he made his debut with the Borealis. By 2019 he was the starting CF. If there is the one complaint against him it’s his inability to stay healthy – He has spent 30 weeks on the DL since his call-up to Aurora in 2017. Ferrell hit .325 and .315 in ’20 and ’21, but saw his average dip to .278 last year, with a corresponding dip in his SLG – despite a 20-game hit streak during the summer. Despite the drop in offensive production, defensively Ferrell remained one of the top CF in the league.

Moving Ferrell puts a hole in an outfield where Matt, 2022 Batting Champ River Pope and one-time stolen base leader Mike Hale shared time with Paul Carlisle. The foursome – 3-former first picks and a 2^nd round pick, formed one of the best outfields in the Sovereign league. The move leaves Hale as the only true CF on the squad (though Pope ain’t chopped liver). Clearly the intent here was to open a roster spot for Wilson Mercado, the highly sought after 23-year old.

“We fielded so many inquiries about Wilson, both heading into the meetings, as well as during – and we knew something had to give; We knew this day was upon us. Matt became the obvious choice for us – we sensed a little slide in his abilities, and… we felt it was a chance to free up some future salary. Trust me… I didn’t wake-up this morning with the intention of trading Matt. Sure, we’ve been pondering what to do about Wilson and, when the Gunner deal went through – and Greg (WV GM Abcarian) started a public search to fill his CF needs… Well… The math made a certain sense.”

Ferrell had just completed the first year of a five-year deal that would pay him $9.5M this year, $10.5M in 2024, with a pair of team options with $11.5M each for 2025-6. Mercado, on the otherhand, will be due to make the league minimum for the next couple of years. Don’t overlook the fact that draft picks were involved.

Mercado, the 23-year old Cuban, was signed as a 17-year old free agent who has hit pretty well at all stops through the organization – including an impressive 10 game stint in 2021 where he hit .371 with 3 HR and 10 RBI in 35 AB. Wilson is considered a more efficient left-fielder and will likely cause the movement of Pope to right-field when Mercado is in the line-up. Pope will be the ‘man of all trades’ as he will also act as the back-up CF. Mercado will go into spring training competing with Paul Carlisle for a starting outfield position.

When the dust settles, if we include the deals with Okinawa (a pair of deals that net Aurora the Shisa’s 2^nd and 3^rd round picks), Aurora will have two first-round picks (WV’s and their own), one second-rounder (Okinawa’s) and two third-rounders (WV’s and Okinawa’s) – leaving, in essence Aurora with two extra picks and having moved up nicely in the early rounds. They also have two picks in the 4^th round – their own and New Jersey’s (acquired in the Josh Ligonier deal). Not too bad. They also have generated an extra $12+M in salary room for 2023 and 2024.

I can already hear Aurora’s phone dialing the agents of Michel Provost and Randy Smith.

Lastly, should ‘Tugboat’ sail away after the season – and he’s no doubt looking for a HUGE payday, they’ve made a move to keep the quality of the rotation high (keep in mind, ‘Sawmill’ is also in his last year of his contract). One thing for sure – over the years, Aurora has done a good job of keeping one eye on the present and another on the future – and for now, the balance remains just that: Balanced.