Cairo Off-Season Report #1 (2054-2055)

[Krathan]

Cairo 2054-2055 Off-season Report #1

As we move into the Winter Meetings and the Rule 5 draft, we will explore the state of the team and the recent moves made by new Cairo GM Nathan Garrison. There were a lot of holes to fill, both on the field and in the coaching ranks, when Garrison took over team operations. Many players and coaches left via free agency at the end of the 2054 season after the team finished in the lower half of the GBC once again.

Let’s first take a look at some of the players who were already on the 40-man roster when the new GM took office.

Pitchers:

SP Geoffroy Robert is set to make $4.8 million in 2055 after putting up 4 WAR in 2053 and 3.3 WAR in 2054. Robert has started 64 games for the Pharaos over the last two seasons and should get another 30+ again this year.

SP Antonio Ramirez is set to make 4.32 million in 2055. Ramirez has been a staple of the Cairo rotation since 2049, putting up 11.7 WAR in 152 games over that time. 2054 was a bit of a down year for Ramirez. The Pharaos will be hoping for a bounceback year from the veteran in 2055.

SP/RP Guruvayar Vashisth will make $2.32 million in 2055. After his initial call-up, the organization struggled to find the best role for Vashisth, and he pitched in 70 games between 2051 and 2052 starting just over half the time. Then, in 2053, it was decided that he should be used to close games. The organization was rewarded with a season in which the right-hander lead the league with 42 saves and a nice FIP- of 69. His WAR improved in 2054, while racking up another 34 saves. It seems likely that Vashisth will play a prominent role in the bullpen again this season.

RP Beni Ihilani will be making $1.86 million in 2055. Ihilani first made the jump to Cairo in 2050. He didn’t really make much of a positive impact until 2054, his first season with a FIP- under 105, finishing the season at 76. If Ihilani can pitch like he did last season instead of the way he did the previous three, he will likely play a role in the team’s plans for 2055.

RP Don Makepeace will make $1 million in 2055. Makepeace has been a solid contributor in the Pharao bullpen since 2050 and seems likely to continue to do so. He has put up 4.5 WAR in that time and been consistently under 100 in terms of FIP- during his tenure.

SP/RP Don Castor will make $850k in 2055. He was generally a below average pitcher in the BBA with Vancouver and Edmonton during the late 40’s and early 50’s. He spent most of those years starting games with occasional relief appearances. After spending 2053 in the Las Vegas farm system, he moved to Cairo and provided roughly league average production out of the pen.Time will tell what his role will be in 2055.

RP Jason Hone will make $700k in 2055. Hone has spent the last eleven years providing average to above average relief work for a number of teams in the BBA and GBC, including the last four seasons in Cairo.There is no reason to believe that will change this year.

SP/RP Liam Johnston will make $650k in 2055. Johnston has been a starting pitcher for much of his career. During his seven seasons in Athens, he lead the league in starts twice and innings once. His only relief appearances with the Fighting Centaurs came in his rookie season. He signed with Cairo before the 2054 season and only started three times in 36 appearances. He was roughly league average for the Pharaos, with his 9.68% walk rate and 2.3% home run rate causing him trouble at times. It seems likely that he will factor into Cairo’s pitching staff in some fashion this season.

There are several other pitchers who are on the 40-man roster as well. They are making $300k or $400k each.
Anthony Babbage was with the big league club in 2053 but spent 2054 in the minors.
Travis Wearne has spent the last three seasons bouncing between Cairo and AAA Pretoria.
Theodore Puckett has yet to make an appearance for Cairo but has shown promise in the minors.
Grigore Balas has put up decent numbers as a part-time starter/part-time reliever the last three seasons.
Tony Lamplough has been fantastic with Pretoria the last two years and showed some promise in a short stint with Cairo in 2053.

Position Players:

There were only four position players on the 40-man roster when Garrison took office.

C Miguel Hernandez will make $960k in 2055. He spent parts of three seasons in the BBA and several years in the minor leagues before signing with Cairo before the 2053 season. Hernandez has served as the primary backup the last two years and it will be interesting to see if he takes over as the new starter or if anyone is added during the rest of the off-season. He is definitely the most accomplished defensive catcher currently on the 40-man.

C Aleksandr Selifanov will make $400k in 2055. He spent parts of 2052 and 2053 with the Pharaos but played in Pretoria last season. He has a lot of power at the plate but his defensive skills fall far short of Hernandez.

2B Raul Lopez will make $300k in 2055. He played one season in the BBA with El Paso in 2047. He didn’t make another major league appearance until 2054 with Cairo where he split time between 2B and SS. He is a great defender at 2B and 3B and a solid defender at SS. His offense is subpar. Lopez would be a great backup utility infielder type but we will see how he is used when the roster shakes out.

CF Blair Peyton will make $400k in 2055. While it was clear that Peyton had talent in 2053, he was a shining star for Cairo in 2054. Peyton put up 7.5 WAR with a 128 wRC+ and a CF ZR of 16.78. Peyton will once again be counted on to put up big numbers for the Pharaos.


The other in-house candidates:

That was the entire 40-man roster that Garrison inherited. There are some solid pieces, but there are also a lot of holes. There are some players on minor league deals who could find their way onto the roster this season.

Pitchers:

Andresa Pires put up 4.13 WAR as a starter at Pretoria last season.
Randall Rowling has put up about 3 WAR at AA each of the last three seasons.
Sokollu Karpat has put up good numbers out of the bullpen as he has moved up through the minor leagues the last three seasons.
Marcus Vader has pitched well in the low minors and could see an accelerated promotion schedule if he continues to develop and perform at a high level.


Catchers:

Ozay Cebesoy has shown some potential at the AAA level.
Butrus bin Issam had a very good year at the AA level.

First Basemen:

Jose Garcia is 39 years old and can’t play defense at all. However, he had 45 extra base hits and a 141 wRC+ at Pretoria last year.
Zi-gang Jung doesn’t hit for power but has shown an ability to get on base in the minor leagues, hitting .361 in 116 AA games last year.


Second Basemen:

Kwan-uk Chong has poor range for a 2B but put up solid offensive numbers in Pretoria last season
Lyndon Sheldrake is a better defender than Chong but is not as good of a hitter.
Kyung-suk Yi struggles defensively but has put up good offensive numbers in the minors.
Candrakesa Surati is a much better defender than Yi and has shown some offensive potential in the minors.

Third Basemen:
George Collins is a 32 year-old who struggled in the BBA with Jacksonville from 2048-2052. He has been very good at the AAA level the last two years, including a 3.5 WAR season in Pretoria last year.
Owen Jones is a solid defender who has shown some ability to hit in the minors.

Short Stops:

Roberto Beltran is an excellent defender with a career wRC+ of 63 in 848 games between the BBA and GBC. He played 67 games for Pretoria last year.
Julio Tovar is another strong defender who struggles with the bat.

Left Fielders:

Marcos Castillo can’t play defense at all. He has hit well in the minors recently.
Greg MacLellan is a passable defender who has put up good offensive numbers at Pretoria the last two years.
Fred McLane is the best defender of the three, but won’t win any defensive awards. He has the power to hit 30 home runs and has put up good numbers recently. He was moderately successful in a short stint in Cairo last season.
https://statsplus.net/brewster/player/5 ... ge=ratings is a plus defender in the corner outfield positions who put up 4.4 WAR in AA last year. There is doubt about his ability to hit that well in the GBC.

Center Fielders:

Graeme Lacey is a good defender at all outfield positions. He has shown flashes of offensive ability in the minors. He has also shown flashes of being a poor hitter. Time will tell what Lacey really is.
Mick Scott is a solid defender who put up 2.6 WAR in AA last year.

Right Fielders:

Gene Meade has played in 748 BBA games since 2043 and put up negative WAR. He played in Pretoria last season and put up 4.8 WAR, with 76 extra base hits. The 33 year-old might have something to contribute this year if he can hit like that at the GBC level.
Mario Pereira is a poor defender who has shown some offensive ability in the minors recently. He spent several seasons as a mediocre player in the BBA before spending the last three seasons in the minor leagues.
Enrique Rodriguez is a solid defender who has put up very good numbers in AAA the last few seasons.

The Acquisitions:

P Satyajit Neel was signed to a minor league contract with a major league option. He has been inconsistent in the GBC but has shown some promise at times.
1B Nacho Mendez was signed to a minor league contract with a major league option. He is a respectable defender who had 53 extra base hits in the GBC last year.
2B Brynjar Nerdal was signed to a minor league contract with a major league option. He is a solid defender who put up 2.2 WAR in AAA last year but hasn’t had much success at the GBC level in the past.
3B Santiago Duran was signed to a 1 year, $5.5 Million contract.Last season he put up 5 WAR in the GBC with 65 extra base hits.
LF Antonio Roman was signed to a 1 year, $8 Million contract. Last season he put up 3.1 WAR in the GBC with 67 extra base hits.

The team also filled out their minor league system by signing 17 players to minor league contracts.

The organization has also worked on filling out coaching and staff vacancies by hiring two new coaches and a new athletic trainer.

Next up is the Rule 5 Draft. It will be interesting to see if Garrison finds any players worth putting on the ML roster for the entire year when the draft happens in a few days.

We will be back closer to the start of Spring Training to see how the rest of the off-season unfolds.

[Dington]

Wow. Nice work!

[Jwalk100]

Great in-depth review.

[Krathan]

I just looked at this a little closer and realized that all of the links I put in to player pages in my original document in Google Docs didn’t copy over to the forums. Oof.

[Dington]

I just looked at this a little closer and realized that all of the links I put in to player pages in my original document in Google Docs didn’t copy over to the forums. Oof.

Major oof

[Trebro]

Amazing work!

the nice thing about the GBC is you don't get stuck with mistakes for long.

the bad thing is you often don't get to keep the best players for long.