The Future is very Bright: SP Edition

H'ville, Tn - The Hendersonville Front Office continued it's commitment to winning by locking up 3 of the 5 starting pitchers.  Nam-cheol "Million Dollar" Chong remains in Arby for 1-2 more years and is currently in talks with the Front Office on a long term deal.  Rumor is it's not the money, but the years that is holding up the deal.  The face of the franchise and the league, Scott Hill , is still under contract for 1 more year so talks of an extension will not start until next year.

Art Ellis

 Name: Art Ellis
Age: 26
Throws: R
Local Pop: Popular
National Pop: Popular
2012 Salary: $7.5M
Extension: $22.5M over 3-yrs ($7.5M/yr)
Highlights: 17-4, 3.34 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 9.8 K/9, 242 Ks in 223.1 innings last year

Walter Bamber

Name: Walter "The Claw" Bamber
Age: 25
Throws: L
Local Pop: Well Known
National Pop: Well Known
2012 Salary: $8.1M
Extension: $24.0M over 3-yrs ($8.0M/yr)
Highlights: 15-10, 3.21 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 8.3 K/9, 197 Ks in 213.0 innings last season

Mal Windham

Name: Mal "Shelled" Windham
Age: 23
Throws: L
Local Pop: Unknown
National Pop: Unknown
2012 Salary: $400k
Extension: $2.25M over 3-yrs ($750k/yr)
Highlights: 4-23, 6.62 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, 7.8 K/9, 115 Ks in 178.0 innings,  last season



"After locking up our bullpen we focus our attention on our rotation," commented Hays after a spring training game.  "We have had the #1 pitching in the ML for the past 2 years.  Adding Bamber and the continued development of Chong only strengths what was our strength already.  Plus we think Windham has a chance to real be good."

The biggest surprise of these is what ACE SP Art Ellis signed for.  Considered one of the top SP in the league, Ellis would easily get the $20M/year Bolden/Francoeur money on the Free Agent market.  Instead Ellis asked for $7.5M a year for 3 years.  An amazing deal compared to what some other great SP signed for, Bolden ($20M), Francoeur ($20.6M), Landry ($16.5M), Welply ($13.1M), (Aicón$13.2M), Hinton ($12.9M) Krause ($12.8M) and Torrez ($10.2M).

The ironic part is that early in the off-season Hays and Mike Branda were discussing an Ellis for Krause trade, but it was killed because Branda had a guaranteed $12.8M/yr signed extension on Krause while Ellis only had 1 more year of Arby.  One off-season later and a contract over $5M a year cheaper Hays is glad the deal fell through.


"Yea, I look around the league and I see the huge contracts these other guys are getting and I know I could get mine, but why?" Ellis asked reports at the press conference.  "We have something special here in Hendersonville.  Money is nice, but I don't want to be the highest paid pitcher in the game, I want to be the SP who has the most World Series rings, that's why I signed for what I did.  We all know Scott Hill's contract runs out next year and we as a team are doing our part so the front office can have room to sign him next year."