Sticking Points 2047.2: Rockville Aggressive In Offseason

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Sticking Points 2047.2: Rockville Aggressive In Offseason

Post by aaronweiner » Sun May 16, 2021 5:50 pm

The Rockville Pikemen might be sensing a bit of a decline. Rockville has made the playoffs in each of the last few years, and almost won the 2043 (now) Brewster Memorial, but they have won their division just twice in the last five years after a stretch of seven straight division crowns. So they decided to shake it up a bit. Abandoning the offense-only approach that has led to early playoff exits, the Pikemen stressed revamping their defense this offseason, trading away Wilson Alomar and bringing back their 2033 first round pick, Chip Puckett.

"We've decided to play defense this year," said Rockville GM Aaron Weiner. "I hear that's still a thing."

The Pikemen should still have plenty of offense despite the moves, but the reshuffling should strongly benefit their pitching staff. Several players have been playing out of their best positions to bolster the offense, and most are expected to shift around to accommodate the deals. Puckett, a tremendous defensive shortstop, is expected to make Daniel Pepper, who has alternatively been a not-so-great shortstop and a terrible one, will likely move back to his natural second base position, moving Bing-de Zhao to first base. Zhao could be a Yogi Zimmer at first base, and Pepper is above-average at second base.

"We think our infield is now really good defensively," said Rockville manager Denny Dooley. "We're pretty excited to see what they will do."

The outfield gets a little bit of a shakeup, too. Alomar's defense also ranged from terrible to unspeakably terrible, as it was last year. It is rumored that the Pikemen may move Gilberto Falchonelli to left field and acquire a center fielder, or play last year's Rule 5 pick, Luis Jimenez, as the center fielder.

"Jimenez is a superb defensive 8, and has enough of a platoon factor that he might be able to start for us against righties," said hitting coach Frank Thomas III. "Nobody on our whole ballclub works harder than he does, and he's smart, too."

Rockville led the Johnson League in offense last year by a considerable margin, but they finished a dismal 14th in runs allowed and an equally dismal 15th in defensive efficiency. These moves should help to fix both things.

"I think we have a secretly underrated pitching staff that will really benefit from these moves," said Dooley. "Now we have a lineup that might be pretty good in the field. I'm excited to see what's next."

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