Pharaoh Moans (2047 #5) - Opening Day

[scottsdale_joe]

OPENING DAY!
By Khepri Quraishi, Egypt Today Sports
April 1, 2047

Opening Day has arrived. Ex-GM Woody Donahue left town headed for Boise in the BBA as the free agent signing period was drawing to a close. He made some sound structural changes to the roster and boldly predicted that the Pharaohs had a chance at playing .500 ball this season. That seems wildly optimistic. New GM Joe Geoghegan agrees: “I’d like to think we could reach .500, but our goal will be to win 70 games. That would be a 17-game improvement, and, in my opinion, even that goal is going to be a stretch. That said, I have zero experience in Middle East baseball, so we’ll see what happens.

Here’s how the opening day roster shakes out -- Basically it will be weak infield offense offset by good outfield offense. Catching depends on Diesel’s stats. DH looks strong.

1B: Lawrence Blanchard will start. In a surprise, Anastasio Díaz wikll be the backup here and at third base.
2B: Tyler Shacklady gets the nod despite a lackluster Spring Training.
SS: Quintin Trewartha will start, but Dashiell Fairebon will take over if Trewartha’s bat stays quiet.
3B: Francisco Hernandez will hold down the hot corner.
LF: Eliseu Satino will lead off and play left. Freddy Ayala will take over in the late innings.
CF: Michel Noël starts here. He was one of the few Pharaohs who hit well during the spring.
RF: Guillermo Ramírez also did well during the Spring.
C: Diesel Dave had four homers this spring but hit .148. Chris Glass backs up and showed surprising life at the plate in March.
DH: Seinosuke Muto is the brightest star in the offense.

Rotation: There are mostly question marks

• Johan Trojka – clearly number one
• José Flores – only one start this spring
• Miguel Ramos – unimpressive spring
• Miguel Ortíz – no starts during spring
• Jorge Sandoval – unimpressive spring

Bullpen:
Fernando Carrasco will be on the Injured List for most of the year. Newcomer free agent Jorge Fuentes won’t be ready for a month or so.

• Steven Bobovnik – starter during spring will be the closer
• Robert Hobbs – first setup man
• Shea Valance – wants to start, faired poorly in that role in spring
• Jason Donaldson – another wannabe starter who was raked in that role in the spring
• Manuel Bruno – meh
• José Olivas – meh
• Jorge Olvera – meh

That’s a wrap.

[woods]

Looks like you've got a pretty solid roster! I still stand by my prediction of .500 ball

I see Diesel Dave even drew a couple walks during Spring Training, which means he's in top form.

Fortunately for you the next sim is the roster crunch sim, so you can keep an eye out for players released by BBA teams and see if they can help fill any of your needs. If you're lucky maybe you can pounce on a few pitchers.

Good luck!

[scottsdale_joe]

Looks like you've got a pretty solid roster! I still stand by my prediction of .500 ball

I see Diesel Dave even drew a couple walks during Spring Training, which means he's in top form.

Fortunately for you the next sim is the roster crunch sim, so you can keep an eye out for players released by BBA teams and see if they can help fill any of your needs. If you're lucky maybe you can pounce on a few pitchers.

Good luck!

Thanks.