25 Feb 2049
Jerusalem, Israel
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After 2 weeks of Spring Training, OSA has released their final preseason predictions for the 2049 season and, as far as the BURT goes, they are interesting:
The new predictions bump the Hammers' predicted wins from 85 to 92 and puts them well clear of not just Beirut but 8 games clear of the Wild Card. Take that with the grain of salt as they have Riyadh going .500 and, as awesome as that would be, I don't see that happening unless the Red Crescent had a VERY good offseason.
Position Players Predictions
They did take one Jerusalem position player out of their Preseason Top 10 in LF José Figueroa (146 G, 555 AB, 18 HR, 81 HR, 2 SB, .326/.368/.495, .864 OPS, +3.5 WAR), but that still leaves OF Dane Licht (156 G, 603 AB, 31 HR, 122 RBI, 0 SB, .350/.428/.590, 1.019 OPS, +6.7 WAR) and
1B Adam Backhouse (86 G, 350 AB, 25 HR, 73 RBI, 0 SB, .300/.317/.546, .863 OPS, +1.5 WAR) powering the Hammers' offense.
Pitching Predictions
Wow! They now have 6 Jerusalem players in their Top 10 Pitchers. If that comes to pass then the Hammers will indeed have a satisfying season. But let me say from the start, if Jaypee Estancia and Manuel Andrés are two of the top 10 pitchers in the league at the end of the year we're living in a parallel universe.
SP Leon Ludeman (34 G, 4.83 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, +2.9 WAR)
P Jaypee Estancia (37 G, 4 GS, 5.66 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, +0.3 WAR)
SP Edwin Harney (31 G, 32 GS, 4.44 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, +4.1 WAR)
SP Manuel Andrés (39 G, 16 GS, 3.66 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, +1.7 WAR)
CL Jan Chmelyk (64 G, 4-7, 32 SV, 2.59 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, +1.7 WAR)
H. Xú (32 G, 31 G, 10-8, 4.35 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, +2.8 WAR)