It's the moment that literally dozens of you have been waiting almost four weeks for. On Monday we announced the third-place winner. Yesterday we found out the second-place winner. And now, the grand prize announcement. The best all-around AAOP entry we received -- with an average score of 8.25 -- was AAOP: QRSTUVWXY and Z by Evan_S. The highlights.
- Signed Gregg Zaun for one year, $1.5 million.
- Signed Nick Johnson for one year, $5 million.
- Traded Luis Castillo (and a mid-level prospect or two) to the Dodgers for Casey Blake.
- Signed Felipe Lopez for two years, $10 million.
- Signed Matt Holliday for six years, $106 million.
- Moved Jeff Francoeur to the bench; installed Angel Pagan as the everyday rightfielder.
- Signed Rich Harden for one year, $8 million, with a 2011 option worth $11 million.
- Signed Ben Sheets for one year, $6 million, with a 2011 option worth $10 million.
- Signed Kiko Calero for two years, $5 million.
- Signed Mike Gonzalez for two years, $6 million. The money is a bit low here; Gonzalez might get $6 million per year.
- Signed Adam Everett and Endy Chavez to fill out the bench.
This plan is pretty similar to our second-place winner's, though this one has Johnson and Lopez (instead of Delgado and Polanco) and goes with Sheets instead of Bedard. Quality-wise, this plan did a better job on the bullpen, which is really what put it over the top. Evan_S also earned some bonus points for asthetics, as he featured a sharp banner and photos at the top and wrapped it all up with some snazzy WAR charts. None of that would have mattered much if the plan was dreck, but fortunately his substance was a fine match for his style.
So congratulations to Evan_S, who takes home a chunk of Shea Stadium courtesy of Uncommon Goods. A hearty thanks again to everyone who participated in the AAOP contest this year; I think we all consider it a huge success and we're looking forward to doing it again next year.