Season One of the Dream League is underway, as we have nearly completed two weeks and are preparing to enter the regular season. With one-third of the league consisting of brand new owners, the opening week was full of questions, along with some questionable moves. Some major trades were made, some major money was shelled out for free agents, and already we have had some major international signings. Let's look at some of this.
Josh Clancy was one of the last signings of free agency, but arguably the biggest signing. Milwaukee gave him a 5-year deal, totaling $110-million, out-bidding the handful of owners who tried to keep up with the Brewers, who seemed to be saving money just for this one player.
Che Feng was signed by Salem, to another big contract, which will pay him $6.9M this year, culminating with a $10M paycheck in Season Five.
Tomas Romero was signed to a three year deal for $29.5M, giving Norfolk the CF that they desperately needed.
The biggest bust of free agency was Felix Sasaki, who was signed by New York to a 5-year deal for over $56M total, but who is currently on the 60-day DL with elbow tendinitis. Nothing that could be anticipated, but it could be bad news for his future play.
Jorge Espinosa was another big signing by Salem, earning himself a 4-year deal totaling nearly $32M, a "bargain" for a player of his skill, especially when considering some of the other contracts that were signed this off-season.
Over 25 trades have gone through already, with the Washington Bullets being one of the most active teams, taking part in four trades so far. Possibly the biggest trade so far was Cleveland getting Toby McPherson from Minnesota, with the Blue Ox getting Olmedo Jose in return. Both are young, and have top-tier potential, so only time will tell which owner got the better player in the deal. Other than that trade and one or two others that were fairly even, virtually every other trade involved a team looking to win now, and a team looking to build towards the future.
The Rule 5 Draft came and went with George Raines and Rich Hundley being the biggest names involved in the event. Hundley is probably the closest to being ML-ready, but both should be contributors to their respective franchises now and for years to come.
Spring Training began earlier this week, and of course we know that it means next to nothing, so I won't bother mentioning scores or records or who hit the most HR's during ST (I heard it was Nick Black from the Bullets). Besides Sasaki, Marcus Rivera was probably the biggest name that went on the DL during ST.
Unfortunately, we now have to wait five cycles until the regular season begins. But we're just about there, and everyone is excited. Or at least I am.
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