Baghdad Kings Looking for Royalty in 2042

[johnd2442]

Baghdad Kings Looking for Royalty in 2042

I apologize how late I am with this. This was supposed to be a preview feature, but obviously I am quite late with that.

Last year, Baghdad did not have the greatest showing in the Burt Division in the UMEBA. Coming in last place with a 69-93 record, the thought is, it can only improve from there. After all, the team stumbled to a 62-100 record in the 2040 season. In fact, in the five year history of the UMEBA, Baghdad has never had a .500 record. But all of that could change this year. In the larger UMEBA in 2042 with ten teams, and two expansion teams, things could be very different for Baghdad. Already in the young 2042 season, the Kings have started off well with a 14-10 record, just three games out of first place in the Burt League standings. Could they be turning things around?

HITTING

First baseman/designated hitter Raul Hernandez is the team’s meal ticket. He hit .295 with 54 homers and 151 RBI last season and this season he is cemented in the third spot in the lineup and hitting .396. Speaking of the lineup, this is the current Baghdad right handed lineup.

2B Antonio Cruz
RF Hector Gomez
DH Raul Hernandez
1B Ron Mosley
C Santiago Reyes
LF Griff Tannen
3B Rick Terry
SS Santiago Morales
CF Angel Marquez

The lineup against left handers are much the same. Just there, the cleanup and fifth spots are interchanged with Mosley and Reyes. And Rick Terry, reportedly the great-great-great-grandson of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Terry, switches to the ninth spot and Marquez takes Terry’s spot in the seventh spot in the order.

Antonio Cruz has made the long journey from the BBA to Baghdad this year in his first season with the UMEBA. So far, so good with Cruz hitting a career high .276 while manning second base after his eight year tenure in the BBA. Right fielder Hector Gomez, another BBA castaway in his first UMEBA season is hitting .305 and also establishing a new career high in batting average at the current moment. Ron Mosley is yet another guy who is in his initial UMEBA season. He is struggling some, hitting just .212 and reportedly the Baghdad manager Oliver Carmona does not feel Mosley is a good fit so high in the batting order.

Santiago Reyes is another guy who is leading the Kings’ turnaround. Reyes is one more guy who was brought over from the BBA and is having a wonderful season, hitting .300 in the young season over 80 at bats and playing a solid catcher.

It is reassuring that the Kings have recovered from the offseason scandal that enveloped left fielder Griff Tannen. Tannen got embroiled in a money laundering scheme with his bar and grill in downtown Baghdad and it was either go to prison or play for the Kings. He chose baseball and is currently having a career year so far, hitting .360 with six homers.

Baseball royalty Rick Terry is one of the few on the current squad who remembers last season’s futility as the team’s starter at third base. He had a nice year in 2041 and even with his current .218 average, the Kings front office wants to give him some slack, noting his baseball ancestry as well as the fact that he’s a very hard worker.

Santiago Morales, always ready to turn a double play at shortstop, brings it with the stick as well, hitting a career high .319 after nine seasons in the BBA. He’s one of the many on the roster as a castaway from the BBA. Center fielder Angel Marquez is part of the youth movement in Baghdad at just 25 and after a decent rookie season for the Kings last year, the team’s front office has high hopes for him as a future leader of the team even with his current .212 average.

PITCHING

The Kings’ starting pitching staff is full of hurlers who are looking for redemption in the 2042 season. All five starters had lackluster 2041 seasons, but 2042 is a new season.

Jose Zamora
Nicholas Vankrimpen
Mei-shan Ngui
Jon Byrd
Jerry Coyle

Jose Zamora joins the ranks of the roster who is playing in his first season in the UMEBA after a solid career in the BBA. Zamora spent nine years in the BBA, mostly with Vancouver but usually struggled. This year, he’s pitching like an ace with a 3-1 record, 34 innings pitched and a 1.11 WHIP. Nicholas Vankrimpen is one of the young stars of the team, and at just 23, he’s giving fans a taste of the future. He could be a solid starter in the middle of a pitching staff and has pitched 29 innings in the current year and given up that many hits while compiling a 2-1 record and a 4.03 ERA. Mei-shan Ngui is starting off tremendously with a 0.97 WHIP over 32 innings and giving up just 23 hits. Jon Byrd looks like a classic innings eater. Not spectacular, but valuable on a pitching staff. He’s never pitched less than 160 innings in the last three seasons for Baghdad, and the hope is that he can provide that stability once again. Ready for one more BBA castaway? Well, Jerry Coyle, the Kings’ fifth starter is that. He spent 11 seasons in the BBA, mostly with Twin Cities and is in his first year in the UMEBA. It has been some adjustment with Baghdad after a disappointing 2041 split between Twin Cities and New Orleans with four starts, 19 innings pitched and 27 hits given up.

The bullpen is another source of hopeful redemption for 2042.

Chris Adkins
Tristan Alfama
Brendan Billings
Jose Canales
Jose Perez
Ruben Frias
Henry Waddell

Chris Adkins is a reliever who the team feels could be a steadying presence in the Kings’ pen after his standout season in AAA last year. The 39 year old was cast aside after 17 seasons in the BBA and most had considered his career to be over. However he rejuvenated his career in Triple-A in 2041 and had a miniscule 2.05 ERA in 57 innings with 16 saves. Tristan Alfamamakes the transition from the BBA to the UMEBA in the hopes he can jump start his career. So far he’s doing it with a 2.19 ERA in 12 innings pitched. Brendan Billings makes his transition from the minors to the show after two good years. And he may be the lynchpin to this team in the pen and has started off hot this season with 13 strikeouts in nine innings and a 1.93 ERA.

Jose Perez is another BBA veteran in his first year with Baghdad and the UMEBA. He’s pitching well with a 0.79 WHIP over 14 innings. Perez is joined by Jose Canales, also in his first year with the UMEBA. Canales is looked upon by his peers as a model of professionalism. He had 358 career saves in the BBA, all with the Omaha Hawks. He signed as a free agent with Baghdad and the team is hoping the two-time Frick League all-star will help the staff with his noted humble work ethic. Ruben Frias has been overlooked and he’s pitched well for Baghdad over the last four years. But maybe being overlooked is a thing of the past for Frias as he he's earned the closer's job this year and his good pitching has continued into 2042 as the 31 year old has a 2.40 ERA over 15 innings so far.

Henry Waddell, great-great-great-grandson of Rube Waddell, a major league baseball Hall of Famer, may have the famous Waddell name, but doesn’t seem to have the same artistry on the mound. Waddell has served some useful roles as a middle reliever through the years in his six year career with the Kings so far. However, after struggles in the last two seasons with the team, time could be running out for him. And he has heeded that warning, giving up no earned runs in 13 innings pitched thus far.

Baghdad, with an infusion of BBA talent, has seemingly flipped the script and is gunning for their first .500 record in franchise history. It will be a captivating UMEBA story to watch!

[Clayman]

Good read.

[johnd2442]

Good read.

Thank you, by the way! I know I blew it for the preseason articles, but time was not on my side. I instantly remembered why this game had intimidated me in the past as there is so much to look at. But I'm trying my best not to have that happen again! I need to remind myself that with time will come familiarity with the rosters, the team names, and some players. Virtually everything right now is so new, and that even includes navigating OOTP and that has been challenging at times to get the information I want. But I think the only way I know how to get more of an understanding is by throwing myself into it and writing about it can only help.

[Clayman]

You can still do team previews like the one above, not sure it's less for posting it in here than the preview section maybe 1 of the board can chip in with their view. My 2c worth I think you should get the same, I also think we should have a previw section of our own, maybe as far as a player spotlight of our own.

I think that the past few days of new GMs as strengthened the UMEBA, not only participation wise but article wise as well.

[johnd2442]

I'm hopeful about the past few days with new UMEBA GM's for sure. It seems like putting the links in the story takes more time than actually writing it! That's the one drawback about making a post like this about an entire team's roster...simply putting in those player links! I would like to do player spotlights though, especially of UMEBA players. Those are easier for me to write, and less links to put in!

[Clayman]

No idea if it helps but I do my writing on my tablet on notepad just incase I need to close it, it auto saves it. If I do multiple links in an article I do the [url= ] then I copy and paste it in front of every name, I'll then do the [/url ] after every name by copy and paste. Then lol I do the links by copy and paste, no idea if it is easy but I find it the best and quickest way. Without spaces on the url's of course.

[johnd2442]

Ohhh, I really like the idea of doing the [url= ] on the rough draft first. I hadn't thought of that, but that would surely be a big time saver I bet. I was doing the tedious highlighting of each player's name after I pasted it into the forum. But really, it probably would have been quicker to simply type in the [url= ]. I think I'm also getting used to the html language with posts. Things like bolding, centering, etc.

Great idea, thank you! I'll try that next piece I do.

[Clayman]

Say you put in 20 links in an article it saves sometime copy & pasting the first url and the second one then doing the links, I'm a 1 finger type lol so saves me heck of a lot of time then I copy & paste to forum press preview proof read then post.

[johnd2442]

Ohhh, that's another good idea regarding the actual player or team links. If I have an idea what I'm going to write beforehand, a little bit of prep work with the links would be another big time saver than going from the article...to Stats+...back to the article...back to Stats+.