The Montreal Minute(46:1) Roster Construction(Rotation)

[HerbD]

After a swift and disappointing end to the 2045 season at the hands of the Brooklyn Robbins, Montreal GM Herb DeSpain had to start thinking about the 2046 season. "No time to dwell on that loss," said DeSpain after the playoff defeat. "There's work to do!" The Blazers have not been big spenders in free agency but he has been known to spin a trade or two during his tenure. This offseason was no different. Just like others before him, SP Jorge Moreno and his $7+ million arbitration salary was shipped away once DeSpain found him to be too expensive. He was demanding over $10 million per season in extension talks and the Blazers were not willing to pay that much for a pitcher who never really lived up to expectations. Montreal had several BBA ready starters in their minors and the trade brought back four prospects from the San Fernando system including 55 potential OF Ulvi Basgil.

Projected Rotation:
Don Jaramillo(17-11, 3.75 ERA, 3.7 WAR)
Juan Ruiz(10-7, 4.15 ERA, 1.8 WAR)
Dani Garcia(12-11, 4.54 ERA, 1.4 WAR)
Davey Penn
Arsenio Lambrios

The Blazers felt they could trade away Moreno with Lambrios ready to take his spot in the rotation. The 19 year old had suffered a season ending injury in early June but seemed to be fully recovered before entering spring training. One of last season's first round picks, Penn, would take the other rotation spot vacated when In-sung Yi, one of just nine players in the Montreal organization 30 years old or older, made the move to the bullpen. That plan fell apart when Lambrios tore the same tendon less than three innings into his spring debut. With Lamrios out for the season it was a toss up for who would be the fifth starter. "The easy move would be to put Yi back in the rotation but we didn't want to do that," DeSpain explained. "Antonio Rivera had a great spring and we thought he deserved a shot at the rotation. That doesn't mean that Yi can't go back into the rotation somewhere down the road if we need him to." Rivera beat out Isaac Lawrence and Robert Frias for the final spot with a 1.86 ERA in 19.1 spring innings.