Carolina Franchise Player announcement

[Cole]

Carolina Kings would like to regretfully announce the termination of their franchise player contract with Ed Saunders.

Saunders, a future Hall of Famer and undoubtedly the greatest power hitter in SLOP history, will now be free to test free agency waters.

The Kings would like to announce outfielder Elvis O'Connor as their new franchise player.

"It pains us to do this but with Ed in the twilight of his career it was time to do what was best for our franchise in the long term in ensuring we don't lose a quality player like Elvis, who has many solid years ahead of him," said Carolina GM Cole Hobson. "There's no better hitter in SLOP and no better human being. We wish Ed nothing but the best in his future."

[Young Drachma]

Oh wow. End of an era in Carolina!

[Cole]

Hard for me to do this for sentimentality reasons, but logically I think it makes sense.... Saunders has been unreal but presumably he will slow down and/or retire in the next few seasons... His defence is also not what it used to be so with some of the great defenders I had he is best suited as a DH at this point.

O'Connor was asking for an obscene amount of money for an extension so this way I'll keep him in the mix.

This also helps me deal with my backlog of talented outfielders. More guys will get an opportunity to get consistent at bats now.