Heading for Louisville and the start of the 2037 BBA (2037-5)

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Heading for Louisville and the start of the 2037 BBA (2037-5)

Post by Fat Nige » Sat Dec 08, 2018 4:13 pm

March 31st, 2037

As the team broke camp and headed for Louisville or their minor league affiliates there was a few surprise destinations for some of the players. Most people agreed it was a good camp but now the challenge has to be to be more 2035 than 2036, the team has to head, at least in some little way, back towards the franchise’s glory days. With precious few new players the ones that are already established have to step up and make that improvement.

Some of the real surprises came in the pitching staff that headed for Louisville, the rotation had been expected to be similar to the last two years but in Spring Training there’s always places up for grabs. The main challenger for the fifth spot was supposed to be Rule 5 pick Carlos Guzman, drafted from Calgary’s Double-A affiliate but maybe the occasion got to him? Giving up 11 runs in 16 innings and a nine to six walks to strikeouts ratio was not what the Sluggers were looking for. Then out of the blue from the gaggle of Triple-A pitchers labouring away came a possible saviour – Brendon Carr. Not given much thought at the start of camp he really caught the eye with a 2-0 record from his four starts, he also surrendered just 13 hits in 16 IP and failed to allow a single run. With 16 strikeouts to boot and just four walks he was on the plane to Louisville. Doug Clement seemed to bounce back from his disastrous 2036 but he still wasn’t trusted enough to regain his rotation slot. Certainly, bouncing back to 2035 form were Pepe Jaramillo and Kevin Morales, the whole of the Louisville fans held their breath and went white though as Morales was helped from the pitch at the end of the first innings of their penultimate game of spring. Surely their Ace couldn’t open the second successive season on the DL? Thankfully it was just a mild hamstring tweak and Kevin was bouncing by the time they boarded that Louisville bound plane. Julio Barajas & Mike Singleton did what it takes to stay in the middle of the rotation but will know that Guzman & Clement will be sitting down in that bullpen hoping to see a weakness that will lead to them stepping up. Guzman actually was so close to being returned to Calgary in the numbers game but Lando Klomp had looked so bad that it was decided that the once promising Slugger should head for Missouri in an attempt to get his mo-jo back. Gabriel Espinosa had spent the last three years down in Missouri compiling an 11-8 record with 13 saves and was lights out in this camp, going 1-0 with three saves in 14 IP. Surrendering only three runs and a walk while striking out 11 led to him being pencilled into Klomp’s former setup role. Yasuoka Okamura confirmed to promise of his rookie season and Ramon Gazza’s fine showing in the latter days of 2036 earned him the long relief role. Felipe Chavez was the one out of options player who can thank that status for the final bullpen spot but will know one slip and he could be out of a job completely.

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Brendon Carr will enter 2037 as Louisville's #5 starter in his BBA rookie year


The biggest surprise in the field was the game of rotation played by GM Laverick with the infield. With Joey O’Brien showing that even at 20 he was ready to play a role in the BBA several players found themselves in a new role. O’Brien took the shortstop role while Jaime Ramirez headed for the hot corner leaving Sean Maguire to wallow in the utility back up role. The beauty of this Opening Day rotation of parts in the infield is that all the regular pieces are still on the roster so if it doesn’t work as well in the regular season as it seemed to do in Spring the pieces can just revert to last season’s infield placings. Changes were afoot at second base too as former backup Lou Cotton showed some new-found pop in his bat and may well start on opening day as Gabriel Talamante’s position with the club is unclear as he enters his contract year. Calvin Clohessy hit with some renewed vigour as well and may well get some more AB’s this season. Last year’s CF, Abay Omoruyi, looked to have lost his starting role to free agent signing Maximo Quezada so was pencilled in to get more AB’s in left field where he was strong also but a hand fracture suffered by the left field incumbent, Pedro Saldana, virtually ‘handed’ him the Opening Day LF job. Saldana will actually just be back by then but won’t be risked, he will instead be eased back in and Omoruyi will have to fight hard to retain his new job. Maximo Quezada was certainly visible in his first camp with Louisville and he came through it on fire, ticking all the required boxes. Hitting .310/.380/.465 he managed three homers, stole seven bases in nine attempts and managed to get hit five times at the plate without getting injured. The downside was he hit only two doubles and the Sluggers will be looking for him to improve on that if he can, that said he looks like the best CF Louisville have had since Leon Sandcastle in the late 20’s, early 30’s. Which probably isn’t saying much. Everywhere else the starters are unaltered which has meant no roster spots for former backups Doug Glover Jr and Gustavo Gutierrez, they’ll be heading for Missouri to hope for a quick recall. Scott Martin too will head for Triple-A, a solid performer again in spring but a victim of his poor regular season showing last year.

The media predictions are all about Sluggers returning to the .500 ball of 2035 which many in the Louisville Front Office would settle for, an 18-game improvement would be a good result, but in reality, could that happen? Would a return to form of Morales & Jaramillo be enough to do that? Or what would a breakout of Carr and O’Brien do to the predictions? The next six months will tell . . . . .
Nigel Laverick
(former GM of El Paso Chilis #WeWereShitty) ,
Now GM Riyadh Red Crescents #WeBeNotSoNewNow #WeAreJustAsShitty


Riyadh GM since May 2046

JL Manager of the Year 2000 (Baltimore Monarchs)
Nothing since


An MBBA GM since 1995 (off & on)

usnspecialist
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Re: Heading for Louisville and the start of the 2037 BBA (2037-5)

Post by usnspecialist » Sat Dec 08, 2018 4:24 pm

Looks like maguire and join kirschbaum on the bench having a contest to see who can do the best origami with all of those $100 bills they have from their bank accounts.
Randy Weigand

Havana Sugar Kings/San Fernando Bears: 32-50 (1608-1481)
Des Moines Kernels: 52-

League Champion- 34
JL Champion- 34
FL Champion- 36, 37
JL Southern- 34
FL Pacific- 37, 39
Wild Card- 33, 35, 36, 40, 43

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