The offseason is here and the Panthers are still riding the high of their first playoff appearance since 2021.
While the team is bringing back core players such as Dave Jackson, David Simpson, Dante Owens, Bob Cunningham and Cisco Gatan, there have been a few big changes and a couple of more to come.
The first big deal took place when the Panthers sent top pitching prospect Roberto Cabrillo along with Major Leaguers Dale Reese and Juan Cortes to the Boston Rebels for Bill Wilson.
Dumping Reese gave the Panthers much needed cap flexibility. Reese was just no longer the same pitcher that he was at the time he signed the contract. Juan Cortes took quite the haul to acquire last season but he had incredible difficulty hitting left handed pitching while playing for the Panthers.
GM Jordan Calhoun hopes that Wilson can help bring up the Panthers 13th ranked batting average and use the cap space from Reese’s departure to fill out the holes in the rotation.
With the new money available, the Panthers looked to see if they could get an SP through trade before FA began so they wouldn’t have to rely on the bloated FA contracts so much.
The Panthers were able to acquire Jung Chwa from Irvine. Chwa should fit right in in Vista, who is only an hour or so south of Irvine and has a very similar style of play and ballpark.
Chwa either had a down year or declined slightly last season, but even with a performance like last year he should be a good addition to a Vista staff where he will not be relied on as ace.
The Panthers still have some money to play with but find themselves shocked to be in a bidding war for the services of Antonio Rijo with the Austin Riversharks of all teams.
Calhoun was anticipating competition with the Beavers and the Bruins but Austin sort of came out of nowhere.
When asked to comment on the situation Calhoun just said “Rijo can enjoy winning 10 of his teams 50 games instead of 20 of our 100.”
Rijo clapped back with “I’ma enjoy these Benji’s playyaaaaaa” on his twitter account 3am that evening.
The Panthers have been tight lipped about who they plan to pursue as a back up, but let’s be real, it doesn’t take much for someone to a good pitcher in Vista and with the plethora of above average pitchers available in FA, the Panthers should be able to fill this void easily.
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