by Les Stroud

8/7/2009: DULUTH, MN – All last week, Duluth Warriors GM Joel Dobney’s office was bombarded with messages and visits from malcontent veteran players looking for a way out.  "Obviously it was stressful," says Dobney.  "I want to do what's right for the player and the organization, and it's not like a pitcher with a 4-12 record is going to garner a lot of interest on a market that was glutted with sellers.”  Despite the best efforts of Duluth's front office staff, the non-waiver trade deadline came and went without a single serious offer being fielded by the Warriors.

"It's not fun," said SP Kirby Gibson.  "I'm a darn good player, and this isn't the kind of squad I want to be on in the twilight of my career.”  The Warriors brought Gibson on in exchange for moving the salary of Yoshino Miyata last winter.  Said Dobney, "We saw Gibson as a guy who could give us a good half-year and then move on to a contender at the break or the deadline.  Instead, he sucked for the first two months and made himself almost untradeable.  He's been good since that awful start, but nobody who sees a 4+ ERA is going to want to roll the dice on a 36-year-old with a $13 million dollar salary."

Tamasaburo Akiyama was another player the Warriors wanted to move at the deadline.  When asked how he was going to proceed with the season on a last place team, Akiyama replied only, "Hari-kari.”  No amount of inspection gave the impression that the veteran reliever was anything other than very serious.  Posting a career WHIP just a hair over one and pinpoint control, Akiyama seemed to be another candidate to boost a contending team at mid-season.  Instead he posted ERAs over three straight months of 7.56, 6.23 and 5.68, and an almost 3.5 BB/9 to start the season, more or less submarining any trade value he may have once had.  A spotless July (8 games, 6 saves, .93 WHIP) came too late to make Akiyama a valuable trade piece for Duluth.

The only Duluth veteran who played anywhere near his career levels was Derek Lamb.  Though the slugger's batting average was almost 30 points off of his career level, he is "not here to hit singles" as he likes to tell anyone who questions his average.  His power numbers have stayed somewhat on par with his expected output.  He is currently on pace to slug 34 home runs, a tally which would match his career high.  In addition, his ISO power this year is .208, compared to the .212 under the career column for that stat on the back of his card.  "Not bad for an old man," says the 33-year-old Yonkersian.

"Salary was really a big factor this year.  We wanted to move some more expensive guys, and there weren't a lot of people out there willing to take on salary," said Dobney.  Next year figures to be a crossroads for the Warriors, as Lamb, Akiyama and several other players have their contracts run out.  With this added spending power will of course come gaps in the roster and decisions about how and where to apply the funds.  "It will be a big offseason for us; we're going to have to make the best of it.  In the meantime, we'll be working the lines of communication, trying to get some waiver trades through and continue to improve our team."