Faux Winter Meetings First Transactions

Just a few hours ago, we detailed that all of the baseball sites on the FanSided Network are participating in a faux winter meetings, to see if we can build a better team than our GMs. The groundwork to start this simulation has already made me not envy Jeff Luhnow. Remember this is only a test.

Without further ado, here are a couple moves that were put in place. The first is a simple contract offer to Luke Hochevar. The righty reliever underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this year, and is coming along in the rehab process. Because of this, we felt that we could add some help in the bullpen for relatively cheap. In 2013, Hochevar went 5-2 with a 1.92 ERA in 70 1/3 innings.

2013 was also the first year that Hochevar was a full-time reliever, and it seemed to pay dividends. Now, recovering from surgery, he is a free agent. The offer proposed is a 2 year/$7M deal, with an $5M option that vests if Hochevar totals 100 appearances between the first two years of the contract.

The second move is more straightforward. In a trade with the Atlanta Braves, we sent Tony Sipp and Kent Emanuel to Atlanta for Jordan Walden, who had a 2.88 ERA in 2014. That’s two bullpen moves already, but we still don’t have a legitimate closer.

So the next question is for you. We have a few options. We can go after Sergio Romo, and offer somewhere around 2 years/$15M, possibly with a third year option, or we can add another reliever via trade and have Chad Qualls continue to close. One option for a trade could be Ryan Cook of the A’s. He has a career 2.77 ERA, and doesn’t have a hefty salary. It could just take a prospect to acquire him, too.

So how are we doing so far? Have suggestions? Comment below, or tweet us. We’ll consider any and all opinions!