57.01 Disappointing End for Monarchs and What's Next

[pandan]

2056 ended with a whimper in London. The team that topped the GBC standings for the majority the year went into a slow and steady decline through the back-half of the season after sustaining injuries to major contributors, finishing in 4th place at a solid-but-not-spectacular 85-77 record. With almost all of the key contributors from the 2056 squad returning, London looks well-positioned to compete.

We caught up with GM Dan Rigatoni for his thoughts on the offseason. See below for top priorities.

1. Getting the salary cap in order.
Through a few gaffes and accounting errors, London is currently 97.5K over the salary cap, currently hamstringing the team's ability to sign on any new players. Thankfully it is small enough to be a rounding error, and should be easy to offload salary to get under cap and ideally, sign some new players.

2. Hit the ball really, really hard.
The Monarchs pitching staff ranked 1st in 2056 in all key pitching categories except Ks. With their staff returning largely in tact, there seems little reason to invest more here. However, the bats were in the bottom half, and their lack of performance at the plate was a big reason to their downfall down the stretch. A middle-of-the-order type hitter who can do a corner OF, 1B, or DH seems like a good fit for this squad, and surely there is some 35 year-old out there who will fit the bill.

3. Depth for the future
A lot of the key LON players have contracts ending in 2057. The 2058 squad could look very different, and building some youth depth to help the Monarchs down the road will be critical to longterm success. However, with the weak draft classes and little in the minors to be excited about, GM Rigatoni will look to FA to identify possible youths to help flesh out the squad down the road.

[Dington]