Offseason in Pittsburgh

 

Season 60 marks the 10th season for Owner Whitetail96 and his Pittsburgh Whitetails in Clemens*. The first 7 of those seasons where uneven to say the least, finishing dead least in the NL East each season. However, even with all the losing, it was clear the Whitetails had a plan to build a sustainable team through the draft. 

In Season 58 the Whitetails jumped to 88 wins and a Wildcard birth. The team failed to advance out of the Play-In round but momentum was building. Last season the team jumped to 92 wins, won the Franchise's first division title since Season 47, before bowing out in the NLDS.

Heading into Season 60 the team had established itself as a good team but clearly needed some additions to make a deep playoff run. The offseason started with three key contract extensions.

First the team signed ace SP Esteban Moya to a 5 year deal with an annual salary of $6.8 Million. Moya hasn't had an All-Star Team yet, but his career 3.42 ERA and 1.23 WHIP are strong and this looks like a very team friendly deal.

The team then turned it's attention to the lineup and signed slugger Yamaico Chung and utility man Yoslan Johnson to 5 year deals. The Yoslan deal is a bit pricy for a backup but he's a good hitter that can play all over the field. If nothing else he is a good player to include in a future trade.

With the core of the team locked up the team turned to Free Agency to add depth and fill holes. Pitching may not have appeared to be the biggest team need after finishing Season 59 ranked 6th in ERA and 10th in WHIP, but you can never have enough good pitching, especially in the playoffs.

With that in mind the team went out and signed 5 pitchers to 5 year deals! A few seasons ago we saw the former London hand out long term deals to several players as well. Those deals haven't aged particularly well, though the team did make a WS appearance in Season 58. The big difference with these deals is the total amount money (none making more than $6.8 Million a year) and age (all 31 and under) of the players.

The pitchers are also very versatile. James Cameron, a good lefty relief pitcher, is joined by swing RP/SP types Tomas Blanco and Charles Yamaguchi. Rounding out the bunch is SP Jim Spencer.

The team may not be done adding to the team either as several players in AAA could make an impact in the bigs if the team feels it needs the help. 2B Ildemaro Cleto is the best of the bunch with a average bat to go along with good defense.

After all that the ML team looks stacked, featuring a plus offense and defense to go along with a deep pitching staff. Best of luck to the rest of the division!