2057 Brisas Watch - Early Spring Training Update

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Late Off-Season

The Brisas continued to make moves in Free Agency, with GM Conor Swain filling out other key areas which required reinforcements. Where the beginning of free agency saw Swain pursuing more bats, most recently it has been the pitching corps which have been getting attention.

With the loss of Marvin Winston and Darren Asseldonk, the Brisas needed to fill out at least two rotation spots, and subsequently brought in starters Enrique López and Juan Guzmán, most recently with Sydney and Sao Paulo respectively. Puerto Rican López has been pitching in the GBC since 2053, having previously came through the Atlantic City system in the BBA after going in the 7th round pick of the 2042 Draft. He threw to a 4.28 ERA in about 470 BBA innings, having danced between the rotation and the bullpen. He found a little more success in the GBC between London and Jerusalem, but has struggled with injury. He did, however, throw over 170 innings with Sydney last year to a 3.75 ERA, and Swain will be hoping to get similar numbers out of him this year.

Southpaw Guzmán started out life as a GBC pitcher, spending time with Beijing and London before an unsuccessful move to the BBA, firstly with the Chicago Black Sox in 2052 and 2053, before throwing just 0.2 innings for Twin Cities in 2054, spending most of the year in AAA. His numbers last year in Sao Paulo weren’t spectacular, but his advanced metrics put him at roughly league average in over 190 innings. Swain will be happy to use him as an innings eater, while hoping the likes of incumbent #1 starter António Ramirez and López provide the quality at the top of the rotation. They also moved to bring in another lefty for the bullpen, signing up former El Paso and Madison reliver Payton Jones. They will be hoping he shakes off the rust quickly, having not playing since 2053.

The offense has also seen some further additions, with another former Sydney player moving over to Buenos Aires in center fielder Andrew MacColl – he will provide competition to defensive wizard José Carlos. Meanwhile, 38 year old utility man Enrique Hernández has also been signed – he is a veteran of over 1300 BBA games, but struggled at the plate. Swain however was keen to sign more depth, and in Hernandez they have signed someone who can play pretty much any position on the field.

Early Spring Training News

With the first round of Spring Training games complete, Swain has been keen to catch a glimpse of the weapons at his disposal, and has been happy to sacrifice results in favour of allowing for increased rotation of players to get a glimpse of their abilities. Starters have went no more than 5.0 innings, and hitters have been pulled after a couple of plate appearances each game. The fact that the team is 4-6 so far in Spring Training is immaterial, and while it is perhaps too early to make any reliable observations, there have been a few interesting storylines to appear already.

The first casualty of Spring Training was 1B César Torres, the Brisas’ most productive hitter last season. Fresh off a 1-year, $7 million extension, Torres strained his oblique and will miss the next 5 weeks. He will likely miss the first series of the season, but should return without missing too many games.

In his place however, a new contender has emerged in the form of another off-season acquisition. Signed from Tokyo, 34 year old Roy McGugan has been the most productive hitter in Spring Training so far, slashing .474/.450/.895 in 20 PAs. He is likely to be contending for reps at 1B and potentially one side of the DH platoon, primarily hitting lefties.

The other side of the DH platoon is currently slated to be Mark Moon, who has started by hitting .333/.391/.381 in 23 PAs, though he is facing stiff competition from Grant Prince and Chad Edwards.

Another position that is very much up for grabs in 3B, which will see a new starter for 2057 following the departure of Bert Cleaver. Kozma Gazikis was initially installed as the starting 3B, but is facing competition from Russ Sandhoff and the previous mentioned Enrique Hernández. Swain may also be exploring other options at this position, depending on performance.

In terms of pitching, António Ramirez has impressed so far, throwing seven scoreless innings across two starts. Another member of the 2056 Brisas, Richard Balgera, has maintained a 2.00 ERA in 9.0 innings. No other pitcher has started more than one game. Meanwhile, the bottom of the bullpen has given up a large number of runs, however the guys who are expected to make the Opening Day roster look to be solid. It is however too early to see how the pitching competition will play out, given the lack of innings many of these pitchers have thrown.

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