NEW FACES FILL NINE LINEUP
After a relatively active off season that included a series of trades, free agent signings, and minor league promotions, the defending Heartland division champions will open the season today with a myriad of new players in key roles.
On the mound we’ll see veteran starter Freddy Delgado sliding into the #4 slot in the rotation and live-armed Timofei Bakitski taking 100 or so innings as the club’s multi-purpose arm out of the bullpen. Youthful lefty Angel Hernandez was with the club for a chunk of last season, and will see his first opening day with the club.
The Delgado signing came just in time for Spring training, and the veteran had a solid enough stint to show Nine manager Bill Inkster he was ready. There is some off-book concern about how well Bakitski will handle being used as a second fiddle to closer Curt Phillips, but so far the reports are good. In addition to Hernandez, the Nine has your starters Carlos Pineda and Tomas Ramirez in the minors and nearly ready, as well as premium bullpen arms in Tiernan O’Macken and Knud Calkhoven. Expect to see all four in Nine uniforms before the season gets too far along.
On the offensive side of the fence, the club will look a bit different, both based on configuration as well as faces. The Nine are seeing the start of what is roughly phase three of a rotation of hitters through the organization during GM Ron Collins’s stint—and while the outfield will continue to see the platoons that the team has grown used to employing, the infield will be more of an “everyday” kind of arrangement.
The most anticipated of the “everyday-ers” is shortstop Luis Pena—who the team hopes will be able to well enough to contribute on offense, but who the team’s baseball people have no question about on the defensive side of the game, some suggesting the Zimmer is his to lose. Pena’s arrival moves last year’s Gillstrom candidate Dong-po Thum to third base. Second base will be Juan Lopez’s to play essentially every day. Lopez’s arrival is bittersweet in that he was acquired with huge fanfare, but has struggled through is development. He posted 175 plate appearance with the big club last year, and finished with essentially 1 WAR. If he can replicate that rate, it would be considered a fairly substantial win, as his glove is also above league average. Combining these three with 2039 Zimmer winner Lucas McNeill should give the team one of the best defensive infields in the league.
The final newcomer to the opening day lineup is outfielder Ricardo Mendoza, who was good enough that the club optioned Andy McKinney to AAA to act as injury insurance. He’ll platoon in left field with Michael Noel—at least for the first month or so of the year, when the Nine’s brass expects to bring newly acquired Jim Des Jardien (22) back up. Des Jardien was sent to AAA to work on his left field defense after the spring saw him fall a bit short of the staff’s development goal. Don’t expect it to take long, though.
Rookie infielder Sergio Martinez will also break camp with the Nine. He’s a switch hitter with a sloid swing from the left side of the plate. Word among the staff was that they expected Martinez to be taken in the expansion draft, but are quite happy to have him around as one of those guys who flies under the radar.
The club is also anticipating the arrival of several other prospects throughout the year: specifically guys like Mark Haynes, who will probably be DHing against LHB soon, and Jose Camacho, who will likely be playing left field part time, though perhaps as late as September. IT would be great if Kazuki Saito could learn to handle the defensive side of the game behind the plate soon. He’ll be up pretty much as soon as that happens. And, look for utility infielder Roberto Viramontes to be in Yellow Springs duds sometime, soon, too.
“It’s going to be fun to watch these guys play,” said manager Bill Inkster. “We’re focusing on trying to stay young and help our pitchers without losing too much run production. I’d say right now things are looking up.”