FS Faux Winter Meetings: Mariners Sign Nelson Cruz

Finally, the one you have all been waiting for. In my final move of the 2014 FanSided Faux Winter Meetings Simulation, I was able to sign Nelson Cruz to a three-year $40 million deal.

Now, this is probably cheaper than what he will inevitably sign for with the Mariners or another team, but in this simulation, no one else even bid on him.

So here is the final tally along with lineup, starting rotation and payroll.

Moves made:

Traded Lucas Luetge and Dominic Leone to Dodgers for Scott Van Slyke (Story)

Signed Francisco Liriano to 3-year deal (Story)

Signed Joe Beimel to 1-year deal with option for 2016 (Story)

Traded Taijuan Walker, D.J. Peterson and Austin Jackson to Brewers for Taylor Jungmann and Carlos Gomez (Story)

Traded Chris Taylor, Roenis Elias and Player to be named later to Nationals for Steven Souza and Jordan Zimmermann (Story)

Signed Nelson Cruz to 3-year deal

Lineup:

CF- Carlos Gomez
LF- Dustin Ackley
2B- Robinson Cano
DH- Nelson Cruz
3B- Kyle Seager
1B- Logan Morrison
RF- Scott Van Slyke
SS- Brad Miller
C- Mike Zunino

Bench- Michael Saunders, Willie Bloomquist, Steven Souza, Jesus Sucre

Starting Rotation:

RHP Felix Hernandez
RHP Jordan Zimmermann
LHP Francisco Liriano
RHP Hisashi Iwakuma
LHP James Paxton

*Note- Rotation set this way to split up the lefties. Pretty solid when ‘Kuma is your No. 4 guy.

Bullpen- Beimel, Brandon Maurer, Carson Smith, Tom Wilhelmsen, Danny Farquhar, Fernando Rodney, Yoervis Medina and Charlie Furbush.

Payroll:

Accounting for all players that are currently under contract, as well as using the projected arbitration figures provided on MLBTradeRumors.com and adding in the new free agents, I have the Mariners 2015 payroll at:

134,870,742

That seems pretty high, but considering several reports that have speculated the M’s could go to $130M+ this season, I’m right in that ballpark.

Moves I didn’t make:

I put in bids on Hanley Ramirez and Yasmany Tomas before eventually losing out on them. Or more accurately, I didn’t overbid on either. In this simulation, Tomas went to the Padres for 7 years and $105M. Ramirez went to the Marlins for 6 years at $120M.

Some other moves of note that were made by fellow Faux GMs include:

– The Red Sox traded Yoenis Cespedes to the Padres in a 6-player deal.
– Max Scherzer signed with Washington for 7 years, $175M
– Boston signs Pablo Sandoval for 4 years, $72M
– Jon Lester went back to Boston for 6 years, $140M
– Evan Gattis and Josh Reddick swapped cities in a five player deal

So what do you think? Any glaring mistakes? Any move I should have made?

Also, one more question. If you count, I list 26 players above. There can only be 25 on the roster. So who gets designated for assignment? Probably a member of the bullpen. Who would you choose?