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Old 08-31-2019, 05:33 PM   #12
Paulie123
All Star Starter
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Manchester, England
Posts: 1,945
March 2055

Season preview - Huang’s expectations
Barring unexpected injuries during spring training, our opening day roster is now set. BNN pundits are expecting us to have a tricky transitional season, and give us only a small percentage chance of grabbing a wildcard spot. That feels about right; we have too many weaknesses to contend this year, but the roster is young and improving. Bryan Huang wants us to try and “stay close” to .500.

Season preview - pitching
SP Ryan Hurley (age 38, RHP, 1*)
SP Butch Davis (age 25, RHP, 4.5*)
SP Manny Clemons (age 22, RHP, 2.5*)
SP Adrián Cortéz (age 22, RHP, 2.5*)
SP Haden Monroe (age 22, LHP, 1,5*)
MR Wes Adams (age 21, RHP, 3.5*)
MR Mark Forrest (age 29, LHP, 0.5*)
MR Seth Middleton (age 30, RHP, 4*)
MR Alejandro Suárez (age 36, RHP, 0.5*)
MR Pancho Jaimes (age 35, RHP, 1*)
MR Gerardo Rivera (age 33, LHP, 2.5*)
CL Justin Dodson (age 36, RHP, 3*)
  • Hurley provides veteran leadership to an otherwise exciting but inexperienced rotation. Our fortunes this season will depend on these young hurlers going deep into games and keeping our shaky new bullpen off the field. Monroe’s arrival via trade gives the group a much-needed left-hander. Héctor Alvarez and Joe Mathis provide good depth in the minors.
  • Closer Justin Dodson is a nice offseason pickup for a hugely revamped bullpen, but this group isn’t a patch on the relief corps I had in Des Moines. Rivera and Jaimes are the twin setup men, with Suárez the long reliever and emergency starter.

Season preview - offense
C Pedro Rivas (age 30, RHB, 1.5*)
C Jorge Flores (age 32, RHB, 1.5*)
1B Robert Numbers (age 22, LHB, 3.5*)
1B Robbie Smith (age 29, RHB, 3*)
2B Bill Lloyd (age 25, RHB, 4.5*)
3B Fernando Galván (age 24, RHB, 3*)
SS Jesús Torres (age 24, RHB, 2.5*)
SS Ed Shelton (age 25, RHB, 1.5*)
LF David Miller (age 42, RHB, 5*)
LF Scott Reynolds (age 24, RHB, 3*)
CF Rory Simmons (age 30, LHB, 1.5*)
RF José Arroyo (age 22, LHB, 2.5*)
RF Ian Britt (age 28, RHB, 2*)
  • This isn’t exactly the strongest lineup in the league, and much will depend on the star hitters Miller, Lloyd and Smith to drive in runs. The offseason additions of Galván, Torres and Simmons have strengthened the team’s defense in key positions, but there remain areas of defensive weakness in other parts of the field. Jason Webb and Paul Jackson provide veteran depth.
  • In Arroyo and Numbers the team has two very talented young hitters, and top prospect Ben Phipps is likely to make the step up from the minor league roster during the course of the season (delaying starting his service time clock to get an extra year before free agency? Moi?). In July I may have to take a difficult decision about whether to seek to trade SCL legend Miller, who’s in the final year of his contract, if we drop out of contention.

Season preview - financials
  • My offseason moves have shifted several big contracts and got the payroll firmly under control. Our expenditure for this season is $145m, well below Bryan Huang’s $200m limit.
  • We will have plenty of payroll flexibility next year also. The latest projection for 2056 is for expenditure of $160m, but that assumes all the 12 players whose contracts expire after this coming season are retained. That group includes Miller, Rivas and Hurley, who are earning a combined $59m this year, and I think it’s unlikely I’ll seek to re-sign all three. So I should have the budget room next winter to pursue top-end free agents if I wish, in addition to being able to sign my best young players to long-term deals.

Free agency
  • Miguel Roa agreed a one-year deal with Providence, where he’ll be the setup man in their bullpen. That gives me a pick in the first supplementary round and the Blue Sox’s high second round pick. That’ll do nicely.
  • Paolo Barreirinhas agreed a one-year deal with the Indianapolis Wildcats, where he’ll also operate in a setup role. That gives me a second pick in the first supplementary round.
  • Our third Type A free agent Chet Andrews unfortunately remains unsigned, not that I can really blame any of the other teams for deciding not to go for him.

News from around the league
  • BNN published their annual Top 100 prospects list. The number one overall is Olympia’s lefty starter Tim Nichols. The Wolfhounds have promoted him to their rotation this spring and straight into their number 2 starter role.
  • We had a good return of 6 guys in the top 100: SP Shunnar Jabbar (#19), 1B Ben Phipps (#28), SP Joe Mathis (#52), MR António Ramos (#87), 2B Jason Noble (#89), SP Mark White (#97). And this doesn’t include José Arroyo, Adrián Cortéz or Jesús Torres who have narrowly accrued too much major league time to remain classified as prospects. I was surprised that outfielder Luis Manuel Wyatt dropped off the list this year from #74 last time, but overall the organisation has a really good crop of young players. And we will get 5 pretty high picks in June’s draft.
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