[PilotMan]

Winter 1985

Seven moves. Well 7 moves plus 2 more. But not really 9. If that makes any sense. I feel like this team needs help just about everywhere. I like guys who can get on base. I like pitching. I like defense. Of course, I like guys who can hit, but I'd rather have a team of 15-20 HR guys than one or 2 who can crush it over and over.

I poured and poured over the pool. What did I find? Squat. Really. There's just not much here to turn a franchise around with. I looked at some minor league teams thinking perhaps I might pull off a trade for someone who shouldn't be down there. What did I find? Nothing. Even if I did, the only player that anyone was interested in was my 1 lone prospect. Given that I'd like to have him 3 or 4 years from now, there was no way that I was letting him go.

So that leads me to the 7 moves that I was able to make this off season and the optimism and hope that preceded each of these signings. Here they are in order:

1. SS Elmer Lund; 29; 3yr/$765,000 from New York of the ABL.

Depth and a decided lack of defensive skill was the motivation for making this move. Lund was picked 33 by none other than Napa back in the initial draft and was considered the #25 prospect in the PCB. So they traded him East to Newark, who traded him west to Portland, who traded him back east to New York. Seeing how this played out yet? Actually Lund won the Glove Wizard award at 2B back in '82 and despite only being a regular starter for 2 years in all that time was still a career .290 hitter. But last year he only hit .235 in 81 AB in New York. My hope is that he will start at 2B and get on base enough while shoring up the middle of the defense. His 255k a year is much less than the 620k he made last year with New York.

2. SP Bobby Blanco; 28; Purchased for $250,000 from the Iowa City Gardners of the Prairie League Baseball. Signed for minimum 1yr/$68,000.

Purchasing him outright wasn't cheap. But it did allow us to get him without a long trade negotiation when we had nothing to trade with. I'm convinced that there is talent playing in the middle of the country that can help us better than what else might be in the free agent pool. Blanco has been an outright stud in the PLB. He turned pro after going undrafted out of high school in 1975 and signed with the Bismarck Fire. Considered the #3 (in '77) and #2 (in '78) prospect in the PLB he would go on to start regularly. He was double digit wins and single digit losses every year since turning 21, and had a career low 1.84 ERA in '83. He was 3rd for Outstanding Pitcher in '80, 2nd in '83 and won the award in '84. He was reliable cracking over 200 IP in 4 seasons (27 starts). In fact in all that time he'd only been injured 1 time. He was signed away by Iowa City in '84; a 3 year deal worth $57,600.

PS. The biggest knock on him is his control. He throws 5 pitches, some better than others, but his control is awful. Having said that he did lead the PLB in K's for five years and WHIP for two years.