NALB - 2020 Offseason/Preseason

Years ago, I fell behind in playing my North American League Baseball (NALB) seasons and never caught up. For example, I finished playing the NALB 2019 season two months ago. I've decided to start the 2020 season now to finally achieve parity with the calendar. The last time I played two NALB seasons in a single year was 2000.

Here were some of the notable roster moves prior to the 2020 NALB season.

The Brooklyn Knights were the only team that failed to sign a new player. However, they had a handful of roster moves:

• Without a doubt, the league's top free agent available was first-baseman Mabon Beniniger. The Knights intended to pursue him aggressively. Unfortunately, the Washington Allies came to terms with him extremely quickly and signed him on November 21, 2019.
• The Knights extended the contracts of 14 players through salary arbitration: Sardar Dzhafarov, Roberto Hernández, Júlio Guillén, Darius Luxton, Aaron Patterson, Cleveland Garfield, Alex Mobley, John Ruben, Joe Barnstaple, Syman Lowery, Xerxes Scaife, Cristófor De Jesús, Juan Fuentes, and Andrew Strain.
• 3B Alberto Pescador filed for free agency and signed with the Cornfield Axemen.
• Some players were waived and claimed by other teams: SP Yuniesky Porraz (Las Vegas Luck), RP Rico Jiménez (Dunedin Otters), RP Mathieu Lemay (Washington Allies), and RP Dave Williams (Luisville Beasts).
• Several players were lost in the Rule 5 Draft: LF Darin Gardiner (St. James Crusaders) , RP David Sprinkle (Cornfield Axemen), C Al Collins (Dunedin Otters), 1B Charley Elam (Washington Allies), 2B José Burgoa (Richmond Slam), and RP Iemitsu Kanemitsu (Dunedin Otters).
• Brooklyn signed several contract extensions: RP Jesús Montufar for 4 years and $2.85 million, CL Ken Hannah for 6 years and $41.5 million, LF Blas Ramos for 7 years and $73.5 million, and SP Aaron Patterson for 7 years and $72.1 million.

Notable offseason free agent signings:

• The big signing of the 2020 offseason was 1B Mabon Beniniger, who signed with the Washington Allies. He agreed to an 8 year deal worth $133.2 million. The 27 year old had played his entire NALB career with the Dunedin Otters. He won the League 1 batting title the last two seasons.
• 3B Pete Chavez found a new home in Vancouver. The 36 year old signed a 2 year, $11.8 million contract with the Wild.
• SS Ramiro Socastro is now a Stade Maple. Formerly with Washington, he was the recipient of a 5 year $30.5 million deal.
• After several dominant seasons with seasons with the Corals, CL Almandeto Trillio decided to join the Maples. His 3 year contract is valued at $8.68 million.
• 3B Alberto Pescador was a fixture in Brooklyn's lineup for the past 7 seasons. He took his talents to free agency and landed a 6 year, $42.4 million contract with the Cornfield Axemen.
• SP Vincent Cadieux has been banged up with injuries over the past few seasons. Key West took a chance on the 28 year old Canadian when they signed him for $14 million over 2 years.
• Puerto Rican sensation Paco Rivera decided to play in the NALB. The talented 27 year old starting pitcher was a hot commodity with his strong arm and five pitches in his repertoire. The Luisville Beasts landed Rivera with a 6 year, $57.8 million offer.
• The Nashville Firecats were looking for a new first baseman. They signed a good one in Alexis Schmidt. The 35 year old slugger hit 38 home runs last season and has 368 homers for his career. The Firecats hope his bat will easily be worth the $9.68 million of his 2 year contract.
• 1B Quilvio Martinez has traded in his Luck uniform for a Grizzlies uniform. Dayton felt he was a good fit for their team and offered him $14.72 million over 3 years.

Notable offseason trades:

• The Key West Corals received SP Porfiro Quiñones in exchange for minor league SP Chad D'Arcy and minor league LF Jorell Cassels.
• The St. James Crusaders traded 27 year old SP Hai Lovatt to the Dayton Grizzlies for 24 year old minor league 1B Cletus MacPherson.
• The Richmond Slam traded 31 yer old 3B Feliciano Gómez and 24 year old minor league 2B Dennis Guijosa to the St. Rock Mudcats for 31 year old C Ben Stamp.