With Spring Training done and the Opening Day right around the corner, it's time to take a look at your 2041 Montreal Blazers. As we all know, the Blazers are under control of a new GM. Montreal finished 6th in the Johnson League Atlantic Division going 68-94. John Percolo said the plans for this season are "to not suck completely". Whatever exactly that means, sure that'll bring the fans out to Le Palais to catch a ball game. For those fans who may make the trip for the start of the season, here's your 2041 Montreal Blazers.Starting Pitching:
The Ace of the staff will be 26 year old Drees Geestman. Geestman appeared in 44 games last season, while starting 13 of those. He went a perfect .500, going 7-7 with a 5.27 ERA over 114.1 innings pitched. He had a WAR of 1.2. All those stats equaled out the his best season of his career.
Following him in the rotation will be Jesús López, Jorge 'Rival' Moreno, Fernando Morán & José Trujillo. 3 of those 5 (Geestman, Moreno & Morán) are making $500,000 this season. And aside from Trujillo, no other player is over the age of 27 and two of the 4 are 22.
Relief Pitching:
Tadamichi Ando - The 20 year old right hander from Japan with a Curveball, Slider and Cutter will to be making his MLB debut opening day. He has the ratings to play in the BBA but will he be able to make the jump from A ball to the Majors? That will be a big question this season, even though he is the highest rated reliever on the roster.
The rest of the relievers will be: Conrado Chinita, Jorge 'Tiny Bubbles' Hernández, Jason Morris, Arturo Trinidad, Alberto Deleón & Agniruha 'Legend' Gaekwad.
The biggest unknown of this group would be 21 year old Agniruha Gaekwad. Gaekwad was a Rule 5 draftee from the Des Moines Kernels by the previous GM. It could be very interesting to see how he handles the Majors this season, having played 39 games in AAA last season.
Closer:
32 year old Joe Whitaker will have the reigns in the closer department, with no threat from anyone in AAA or below. Whitaker played for both Las Vegas and Nashville last season before signing a 1-year contract worth a total of $3,080,000 this off season. Last season he had 14 saves, with a 8-2 record while appearing in 37 games between both teams.
Catcher:
As of the time of this writing, it appears Montreal will be going with the old and young combo. The Opening Day starter will be Ares 'The Steamboat' Papadias. Papadias signed a 1-year contract worth a total of $2,200,000 this off-season. He won the 2040 BBA JL Yogi Zimmer Diamond Glove Award at C while playing for the Charlotte Cougars. Backing him up with be 19 year old Rainer Scheffer. Scheffer will be the 2nd player on this team hoping to make the jump straight from A ball to the Majors. Hopefully the GM knows what he's doing.
First Base:
The only first baseman on the roster will be the newly acquired 25 year old Carlos Muñóz. Muñóz was acquired just this week from the Boise Spuds in exchange for 20 year old Kent Montoya. Muñóz has played last 5 seasons in Boise. Last season he hit .220/.325/.340/.666 across 141 at bats in 54 games. He is projected to be the everyday starting 1B for Monteal.
22 year old Julián Guerrero will get the start on Opening Day, until Muñóz can get his passport in order and make it to Montreal.
Second Base:
The youth movement continues at 2B with 21 year old Lineu Aldo. Aldo split last season between AA Mississauga & AAA New Jersey. In New Jersey he hit .283/.340/.465/.805 with 11 stolen bases. Splitting time with him will be 32 year old Claudio Defazio. Prior to this season, Defazio had spent his whole career, which has been 10 seasons, in California. Unfortunately for him, he played a total of 4 games across those two seasons. Which explains his signing a minor league contract with Montreal.
Third Base:
3B will be led by another key part of the youth movement, 19 year old Eduardo González. González spent last season split between AA & AAA, with the majority of that time in AAA New Jersey. He hit .282/ .327 /.523 / .851 with 21 home runs across 108 games. Splitting time with him will be Susumu Nakanishi. Nakanishi is a 26 year old who last season while playing for Montreal hit .284 / .348 / .512 /.861 with 24 home runs. He has the highest salary on the team at $8.75 million due to arbitration.
Shortstop:
Shortstop will feature a 20 and 21 year old. Starting will be 20 year old Wagaw Fakihi who played last season in AAA New Jersey hit .274 / .317 / .480 / .797 with 11 home runs and 10 stolen bases.
Playing bakup with be 21 year old Francisco Martínez . Martínez was a rule 5 draft pick by the previous GM from the Charm City Jimmies. Martinez has great fielding and defensive ratings but is lacking on the offensive side. Last season he played A ball in Cumberland for Charm City, where he put up decent numbers for A ball. I expect him to be vastly overpowered at the Major level. Only time will tell.
Left Field:
In the outfied, the left side will be split evenly between 24 year old Canadian Jim Antolin. Antolin has spent the past 3 seasons in AAA New Jersey. Last season he hit .231/.362/.457/.820. And splitting time will be 26 year old Rafael Solís. Solís hit .247/.307/.450/.757 with 15 home runs across 99 games.
Center Field:
Center Field will be locked down by 21 year old Casimiro Mouriz . He split last season between AA Mississauga & AAA New Jersey, with the majority of that time in AA. In his 31 games in at New Jersey he hit .325/.448/.538/.986 with 13 stolen bases in 117 at bats.
Right Field:
The right side of the outfield will feature 25 year old Kevin MacKeith. The Cleveland, OH native has spent the last 4 seasons on the big clubs roster. Last year was his 2nd worst since being called up, he batted .269/.347/.497/.844 with 30 home runs, which was 10 less than his 40 of 2039. He also accumulated 18 stolen bases.
If nothing else, the team should be young, fun & exciting to watch. The team features 6 guys 30 or over and the rest are 27 or younger. So if nothing else, the team should be primed for the future.
I was gonna put OOTP preseason prediction here but unfortunately it says it hasn't been generated yet (even though it's suppose to be first Spring Training sim. So not sure why it's not there.)
