The Looters have been busy trying to give some semblance of competitive baseball being played in New Orleans.
The first two moves that the Looters performed was a bit of subtraction. The Looters let MR Alejandro Castillo, RF Rob Ward, and 2B Al Ellis leave the team for free agency. Castillo was a middle reliever who had performed admirably as a setup man, but had been disgruntled wanting to be a closer. Ward never really had much of a role on the team and was mostly a salary dump by Sacramento during the season. He wasn't awful in his time with the Looters hitting .238/.307/.387 in 261 at bats with a 86 OPS+, but at 35 he didn't figure into the rebuilding plan, and was allowed to leave to seek other opportunities. Al Ellis had an awful year at the plate that earned him a demotion to AAA. In 72 ABs in New Orleans he had a .153/.218/.167 line with a 6 OPS+. He's 33 and shown the door to make room for other pieces.
Next up came the Rule 5 Draft. This was a chance for the Looters to add players to the roster that could help the team without incurring any cost other than having to keep the players on the major league roster all season. This isn't much of a problem for a team like the Looters who had a group of scrubs on the active roster that some of these players could start above. The first overall pick in the draft belonged to the Looters who took SP Ricardo Gomes. Gomes is a player that new Looters scout Rafael Martinez has taken a liking to. Still only 26 years old, Gomes will likely slide into the rotation as the Looters #2 starter behind SP Bill Maddox. Gomes with Haddonfield last year threw 165 innings and compiled a 9-11 record and 6.33 ERA. He had a 73 ERA+. While not great numbers, he's still young and taking his chops at the big league level and the Looters have time to wait for him to put it together after discussing a free agency deal with him that they ultimately lost out on to Sacramento.
The next addition was LF Donald Ellis also from Sacramento. Ellis is an interesting character. He's 30 years old, so he's no spring chicken and not your typical Rule 5 pick, but Ellis is a guy that Rafael Martinez thinks is overlooked. Last year in AAA he hit to a clip of .322/.416/.448 with a 125 OPS+ in 509 ABs. The prior year with the Vista Panthers he spent the whole season with the major league club hitting .252/.317/.370 for a 81 OPS+. Not superb, but enough to possibly win a starting LF job in New Orleans.
The final Rule 5 Addition was 3B Ronald Reardon from Regina. Reardon is a 27 year old who hasn't played in the big leagues yet. In AAA last year he had 554 ABs and put up 20 homers and a .238/.311/.392 line with a 80 OPS+. Not great, but the Looters were awful at 3B last year with Sylvester Rich, and don't have much to lose. He's more taking a flyer on someone, but has a chance to battle Rich for the starting 3B job. The combo of Reardon and Rich just have to wait until the plethora of 3B prospects hit the big leagues to allow a transition to that youth.
Not to be content just sitting around getting players free, GM Scott Thompson also attacked the trade market and made a trade with the Baffin Island Beavers. Going to Baffin Island is 1B Enrique Rosario and 2B Anibal Castro for SP Ivo Estima and SS Raul Sosa. While not a big deal for either side, it gives the Looters a couple players to contribute to the big league team this year. Estima will battle for the #3 slot with SP James Kelly and SP Armando Felix who both transferred from the bullpen to the rotation last year during the season and will be properly stretched out for the rotation this year. Sosa is a guy that the Looters are going to trust their new scout on and see how he handles the SS position this year.
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