First Blog Post Ever

After 54 seasons of HBD, something occurred that inspired me to write my first blog post.

I recently signed Willie Torres as an IFA; however, the way that happened was sort of interesting.  When he first appeared on my radar, he was asking for 2.4 million.  I have similar shortstops in my low minors and didn't have a ton of interest, but I budgeted 20 million for prospects and have the #7 pick in the amateur draft, so I have money to play with.  I threw a 3.4 million offer out there and decided that would be my highest offer.  I inititally was told mine was the highest offer, but after a couple cycles I was told that I was no longer the leader and I never gave me him another thought.

A little later, I received notice of a much better IFA, a left handed hitting first basemen of considerable quality.  Once again, I had a little bit of an issue, as two of my better prospects, Douglas Granger and Tony Leon (a 14 million IFA from seasons 22), are 1b.  Nevertheless, this new IFA was pretty good and I made him a good size offer.  I was told my offer was not good enough and I forgot about him also.  Then, out of the blue, I'm told that Torres has signed with me, after not hearing from him since I was told my offer was no good.  My guess is that the bidding on this other IFA is so high, that the leader on Torres withdrew his offer to free up money to spend on the other guy.  Torres then had no other offers and jumped at mine.

In the end, I'm pretty happy, as Torres is a very good fielding, left handed hitting shortstop with a projected 79 power and 69 right split, with high 40's contact and eye.  For 3.4 million, I think I got a steal and will still have money to get one more high quality IFA, as well as sign my #7 pick.