38.2. Opening Day Rotation - Concerns Abound

[agrudez]

Phantoms management was not shy about what they were looking to come away from the offseason with: starting pitching. Reports flew that that they were in on all of Greenwood, Flores and McHone to varying degrees, but ultimately struck out on all 3. In candid conversations with various members of the organization; however, the team seems glad to not have any of the 3 on the term and AAV that they ended up getting. Still, going into the season with 23M under the cap and holes in the rotation on a team that has missed the playoffs by the absolute slimmest of margins 3 years running is... not a good luck. So, naturally, once the FA hammers dropped, reports turned to the Phantoms exploring the trade market for rotation help. Unfortunately, nothing materialized there, either, as the promise of a fresh start for BBA teams was pungent - leaving the team to resign itself to waiting until later in the year after the standings started to break towards some team's chagrin.

So... that left the team with this for an opening day rotation:
1. Juan Nicto - a #1/2 tweener, imo
2. Yu-bao Tong - coming off a terrible year... not really sure what to expect - talent to be a #3, though, imo
3. Alejandro Soto - a #4/5 tweener
4. Ludwig Charles - a #4/5 tweener
5. Pepe Castillo - long reliever/6th SP

And then... to rub salt in the wound of a mediocre rotation, Charles went down. This forced the team's hand into bringing up one of their more exciting advanced prospects, Vito Reyes - starting his arb clock a year earlier than they had hoped (the original plan was for him to replace Castillo in mid-May). Talent wise Reyes seems a clear upgrade to Charles (at the moment I'd peg Reyes as a #3/4 tweener - though his potential is as a #2/3 tweener, imo... maybe a solid #2 on a team like HSV that values locking down LHP so highly), but the blow of losing the latter is still felt hard in the team's depth. After Castillo, now, we have Juan Martinez as the team's 6th SP (*shudder*). Down the pipe we have Moelling in AAA that made some strides this offseason, but came just short of being ML quality, imo. He is followed by Mangin whom looks ML ready in every city other than HSV (that MOV vs. LHB is going to be real bad at the Opera House) and Rivera whom has the potential to be another #4/5 tweener, but is probably a long reliever/6th SP at present ratings.

In other words, past Nicto, it's a whole lot of "what-ifs". "What if" Tong reverts back to being the guy from '35-'36. "What if" Reyes has a strong rookie season. "What if" Moelling can put his development in overdrive and be up with the big club at some point this season. And, probably most importantly of all... "What if" another one of my pitchers goes down? What in the heck do we do then?