Change in the Air

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hetz23
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Change in the Air

Post by hetz23 » Wed May 05, 2021 6:43 am

“What strikes the oyster shell, doesn’t damage the pearl.” – Rumi

In the championship cup series of 2045, Manama held a commanding 3-1 series lead. To many, they appeared to be on the verge of a championship and all of the praise and accolades that come with that. This was one season after losing in the championship series of the UMEBA, so you could have even made the case that a dynasty was in the cards. Alas, the Pearls dropped that 3-1 series lead, losing in crushing fashion. The organization never seemed to fully recover in 2046, stumbling and bumbling through the halfway mark before finally putting together enough quality baseball to secure a wild card spot. The positive feelings of at least securing a playoff spot were quickly erased by the Jerusalem beatdown to the tune of a 5 game series victory.

This offseason will very likely find the Pearls saying goodbye to several long time contributors and the future is both certain in some ways but in others very uncertain. Players likely to be non-tendered include
C- Hedde Veenman
RF- Sadaharu Oh III
SS- James Holman
SP- Thomas Rodriguez
RP- Ken Spencer
3B- Jose Cortes

Stepping into the void will be 2nd year players OF Taylor Barfoot and 1B/OF Patrick Strolz, SP Calvin Fletcher, and 3B Michael Blankenship.However, these players already made their mark on the Pearls roster in 2046. While some will have expanded roles, they are generally known commodities. What is less certain is how GM Ryan Hetzer will parse out the large amount of budget available to him. The non-tendered players listed above along with a few expiring contracts represent approximately 33 million dollars in budget space. Will Manama attempt to splurge on the top free agents available in the market or will they spread that money out over a few different needed areas? Some of the options and needs are:

A defensive oriented CF- As talented as Joshua Koka is, his zone rating in 2046 was a scary -7. One thing Manama could look at doing would be to move Koka over to RF and bring in a defensive stud in CF.

Shortstops apply within- Perhaps the largest and most obvious need is at SS, there is no clear internal solution.

Bullpen, always bullpen- While the Manama rotation stayed fairly stable (well at least 4/5 of it) throughout the season, the bullpen was a bit of a dumpster fire. Three guys were steady and could be counted upon in high leverage in Edwin Harney, Dean Rackham, and Juan Jose Fuentes. Beyond those three, the rest of the 2046 bullpen was a revolving door of ineptitude. Manama could look to build a bullpen equal to their young and talented rotation.

Pitching rules all- Manama enjoys a core of young and talented starters in Karto, Camacho, Zuniga, and Fletcher. Manama could decide to double down and try to bring in the best starting pitcher they can find and add him to their already potent rotation.

It will be a fascinating off season to watch, will GM Hetzer be able to pull the strings to return the Pearls to their recent era of success and championship worthy teams, or will they continue to slide in the manner they did last season.

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Re: Change in the Air

Post by tylertoo » Wed May 05, 2021 9:20 am

No Oh? Oh no!
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Re: Change in the Air

Post by woods » Wed May 05, 2021 10:30 am

Oh the Pharaoh... it already has a good ring to it, so I'll definitely be checking in on him in free agency.
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