Seoul’s Warm Winter Meeting
Tricia Takanawa, Takanawa Times
12/19/2013: Seoul, South Korea – The Winter Meetings were going to be a quiet one for the Seoul Crushers. In the past few months, Seoul has been in and out of the news, earning a bad reputation with the fans. It has been a very hostile environment as of late. Would the Winter Meetings turn into a warzone with Seoul sitting there still steaming? It turned out Mr. Kierstead was no Jekyll or Hyde but a smooth-talking owner who made some great trades to finish off the Meetings.
The first trade was with the Neo-Tokyo Akira. Talks began just before the season ended. Seoul, who watches free agents like an eagle watches a kitten, saw a pitcher who could potentially help. But without the funds to sign him, Mr. Kierstead reached out to Neo-Tokyo GM Ron Hiscock. They had the funds and were more than willing to facilitate a deal.
Neo-Tokyo signed P Arthur Gardener to a 3-year, $4,428,000 contract. Because he signed during the season, the first year of the contract has already expired. This was noticed by Seoul hours after the Meetings ended. A phone call was sent to Neo-Tokyo by the front offices of Seoul with no immediate reply. We left a message.
In addition to a well-rounded pitcher, they picked up a nice young hitter in 1B Kawanari Fukushima. He is the #76-rated prospect in the LRS by Baseball Japan. Fukushima batted .302/.353/.361 in the Minarai Doumei. His potential is through the roof as long as he recovers from his injury. Neo-Tokyo also traded MR Hirohisa Noguchi, who will eat up a few innings a game for Seoul. He has three great pitches but lacks in just about every other area. More of a filler guy for a team who needs pitching, we think. Seoul also received $5,000,000.
In return, Seoul gave up gaijin 2B Bai-Luo Xiang, who batted .291/.374.381. Xiang has speed and plays four positions but would have been a journeyman in Seoul. Seoul also gave up their 2nd, 3rd and 4th round picks. This saved them even more money this year because they will not have to negotiate bonuses with rookies. It also puts Seoul in a position to make money this year. That was the pinpoint part of the deal alongside Fukushima.
The next trade was a last-minute deal struck with the clock ticking. The Kawaguchi Transmitters received a call from Seoul about P Kazunari Oka, asking what they thought of the young man. The reply was blunt and straightforward. “We see him as a near-future starter, a 1st/3rd round type of player who may be out of your ballpark.”
This was not what Kierstead wanted to hear. Nothing is out of his ballpark but fans. Kierstead then sent General Manager Ron Collins a message noting players he liked. Collins expressed interest in Kiyonori Kato. Kierstead knew he had a player like him: CF Raúl Gómez, a gaijin who had a great season offensively and defensively. He can be replaced and thus was added to the deal that also sent 2B Kagehisa Takahashi from the Ranma Pandas and Fushigi Yugi’s 4th rounder to the Transmitters for Oka and RF Carlos Cavazos.
Seoul found a replacement for Gómez in Cavazos, who had 45 stolen bases on top of 23 homers. His numbers (.243/.313.397) may not be as good as Gómez’s, but it works for now. The bonus for Seoul is that the Transmitters had already sent Oka to Winter Ball to work on his control. This saves the Crushers money, time and, more importantly, gets them closer to their goal of profitability.
How would I grade the Winter Meetings? I would give it an A+. Seoul took what they had and improved their team in many aspects. They lacked pitching like a desert lacks water – they didn’t have any in any aspect. You had a better chance of seeing double rainbow then a decently pitched game in Seoul. Now the team is pretty much out of the red for the first time in years. This is the start of an era that will decide the fate of Seoul.
I am Tricia Takanawa and this is the Takanawa Times.