For the first time in league history, the governing board has allowed for off-season workout programs to allow teams to get players together and work some specific areas of need or weakness. These optional PDLs, or "Player Development Lab" sessions give organizations the ability to get coaches and experts in to work with players during the off-season. The league caps each team with a maximum of 10 players at a time that the club can work with during the off-season, which runs from the winter months through spring training.
Not wanting to fall behind the rest of the league, Portland had its initial 10-players report last week to work on a certain area of need or weakness. Here are who Portland brought in last week and the area the player is focusing on.
Group 1; Defensive Ability
Greg Squires - Defense in CF
Alvin Conley - Defense in RF
Daniel Frampton - Improve Defense at 3B
Reasoning: - Squires was drafted as a CF but has shown a better ability to play the corner outfield spots. His bat is just average as a COF but he plays defense well enough there to be considered a positive player. However, the league is short of solid CFs at the moment. Portland hopes to see Squires improve enough as a CF this off-season to where he becomes a viable CF option. He started 78 games last season in CF and posted a -8.7 Zone Rating. As for Conley, he started last season as a DH, but with the likely arrival of Mynorli Gaajlimitz coming sooner rather than later, the club needs Conley to improve his play in a corner outfield spot. We'd like to see his range improve some to play RF or his arm improve as well. We're not really sure what to expect or hope for with Alvin, but ideally we see improvement in some area defensively. As for Frampton, he took an overall ratings hit with the changing of the calendar (version). He still looks like a solid player in my eyes, but the game rates him just a 50. Maybe if he ups his range some, he has 9 speed but only a 3 range at 3B, then perhaps he'd become a huge asset at the hot corner.
Group 2; Offensive Ability
Allan Uecker - Quality of Contact
Edward Roundfield - Quality of Contact
Hideaki Ohayashi - Plate Discipline
Matt Pruitt - Quality of Contact
Reasoning: With 3 of our offensive guys, we're hoping to see better quality of contact with. Uecker starts the new season as a stud defensive backstop who we expect to see solid WAR numbers from and some potential Diamond Gloves out of as he matures. But the new calendar knocked him down a few pegs on his overall rating that we hope just making better contact will help fix. He posted 2.7 WAR last season despite just having a .615 OPS. If he could somehow get that up closer or over .700 we could have an all-star catcher on our hands in Portland. There wasn't a bigger loser in Portland with the new calendar change than Edward Roundfield. He still possesses well above average power for a middle infielder but now shows an extreme inability to make solid contact. To be a viable option, the former 1st round pick will need to find a way to consistently make better contact and raise his .227 batting average. While Roundfield dropped off, Ohayashi improved some with the change. He shows to be a solid, though untraditional, 1B now who could hit for a higher average and swipe bases. But in order to become a better player, we think he needs to get on base more with we hope will come with some adaptations to his plate approach. Pruitt is our first "non-27 man roster" invitee to the PDLs. Our search to find a viable CF option carries into the minors as we hope Pruitt can make better contact. His weaker arm does make him somewhat of a liability in CF, but we hope better contact on his at-bats might make him someone we can utilize next year. He has a 2.9 WAR in AAA last season.
Group 3; The Pitchers
Murali Patachli - Endurance Training
Steffan Gimsing - Increase Pitch Movement
Eng-hee Kin - Increase Pitch Movement
Reasoning: Patachli is our top pitching prospect and could possibly be in a Portland uniform next season. Right now, he's a tweener starter/stopper candidate with just a 4 endurance. That's probably good enough to get him 5-6 innings a start. Its also high enough, accompanied by his solid other ratings, to make him a "Felix Vidaca" type reliever who can post a solid WAR and get plenty of innings out of the pen. But with no pitching prospects in site, Portland would like to use Patachli as a starter if they can. As for Gimsing and Kin, both were free agent additions last year that were hampered by poor movement. They're both on the lower side which will continue to plague them as pitchers this season. If either or both can just find a little more movement, which seems to be at a premium in 2059, then perhaps Portland will have at least 2 viable starting pitching options that perhaps can reach double digit wins in 2059.
