2045 UMEBA BURT LEAGUE PREVIEW

[RichY]

2045 BURT LEAGUE PREVIEW
MANAMA PEARLS

The Pearls where brilliant in 2044 with a gaudy 107 wins. It ended in disappointing fashion however with a loss to Bucharest in the United Cup but Manama returns a very strong club that will challenge again for the UMEBA crown.

Starting Pitching

The Pearls starting pitching is young, very talented and deep. Susila Kartosuwiryo debuted out of the pen last year but should be at the top of the rotation. Susila posses an electric three pitch mix as well as the stamina to go deep into games. Santiago Zuniga and Manuel Camacho also got their feet wet last year in Manama and are poised to be big parts of the rotation. Both have top of the rotation ability. Battle tested all star Johan Troika is coming off of an excellent 5 WAR campaign and at twenty five is just entering his prime. Veteran Jesus Lopez will likely round out the staff and was above average (107 ERA+) in 16 starts for Manama last year.

Bullpen

The Pen will be anchored by another youngster, Edwin Harney. Harney was lights out last year at AAA. He also has the potential to start with a three pitch mix. Thirty two year old Juan Fuentes was rock solid in 42 innings of work last year. Ken Spencer and Momcilo Djuretic should also be steady presences for the relief staff.

Position Players

Stellar outfielders Joshua Koka (6.4 WAR in '44) and Sadaharu Oh III (4.5 WAR in '44) will lead the charge offensively. Both stars are in their twenties and durable. There's no reason to believe they won't repeat or better their '44 performances. Slugging first baseman Mario Guerrer tallied 44 home runs and an eye popping 151 RBI's. Slick fielding third baseman Jose Cortes was also above average with the bat posting a .384 OBP and has blazing speed. Oh and by the way left fielder Rafael McKinna chipped in with a 4.1 WAR season.

Summary

Manama is young and really good. They will be really difficult to unseat at the top of the BURT in the near future.


BEIRUT CEDARS

The Cedars snagged a wild card spot in 2044 and figure to be in the hunt again in 2045.

Starting Pitching

The starting staff should be pretty much intact from last year. Led by stalwart knuckleballer Charlie Iron Knife. Signed as a free agent from the BBA before last season, Charlie posted a strong 4.7 WAR in 200 innings in his debut for the Cedars. Another BBA transplant Ghi-Cheng Kum had a solid season and with a squeaky clean injury record he should provide the Cedars with 30 or so starts of average or better hurling. Talented youngster David Diaz should make some noise this year in the rotation after his brief debut last year. A heady ball player with a Bugs Bunny change up he has front of the rotation potential. Sherwood West, who came over in a six player trade in May of last year, was another steady performer for the Cedars and at twenty five figures to have his best baseball ahead of him.

Bullpen

Lefty Roberto Sanchez has been very productive the last two years providing both volume and quality for Beirut. Another lefty Wayne Mawle will be counted on to help shoulder the load. The durable Mawle has a big hook and gets ton of ground balls and chalked up a 2.6 WAR last year.
After that the pen is a bit more of a mystery for the Cedars. Jose Sanchez comes over from the BBA as a free agent where he compiled 250 innings of competent ball over his first six seasons. Bartolo Munoz and Masaru Yokota figure to play prominent roles for Beirut after spending a majority of their time in AAA last year.

Position Players

An old baseball axiom says “be strong up the middle” and The Cedars are that, led by the talented Weaver Ripley, a speedy center fielder with light tower power. Ripley hit 51 bombs last year but stuck out over 200 times and all told he was a 4 win player. Brazilian Rubem Bordonhos will man the shortstop position. After having an up and down BBA career he has been very good in the UMEBA over the last two years. Bordonhos gets on base and has speed to burn stealing 35 bags last year. He also provides good pop posting ISO's over .200 each of the last two seasons. Jose Estrada is your prototypical lefty first baseman slugger. Estrada was an all star last year posting a .924 OPS and over 3 WAR. Right fielder Wilton Rivera, catcher Marcus Forryan and third baseman Antonio Baca all made the BURT all star team last year and are reliable veterans.

A good rotation and productive veteran line up should have the Cedars firmly in the playoff hunt this year.

JERUSALEM HEBREW HAMMERS

Jerusalem struggled last year but the rebuild is in progress and there is plenty of reasons for Hammers fans to be optimistic.

Starting Pitching

The future is brightest for the Jerusalem starting staff with their best three prospects being top to mid rotation types. However they might be a year or more off so this year the Hammers will run out a veteran if unspectacular group. Joe D'antonio and Vladimir Reichel will anchor the rotation. Both were about league average performers over their last two seasons in the UMEBA. Josh Brown, signed on a minor league contract out of the BBA could be a bargain and could also provide average production. Younger guys like Sen Abe and Yasuhiro Nagai could also contribute.

Bullpen

Twenty two year old lefty Justin Sutherland was an all star last year and will figure prominently in the Hammers pen this year as should nineteen year old Hsuang-Tsung Xu who was nails in AAA last year. Former BBA veterans Joaquin Romano and Oliver Perez have had solid careers and should be reliable pitchers for Jerusalem.

Position Players

Team Leader and All Star catcher Baden Dutton should be good again for 3 to 4 WAR. He tallied 67 extra base hits last year and is entering his age 26 season. Designated hitter Adam Backhouse cranked 54 homers and knocked in 134 last year. He's only twenty three and posses elite contact and power skills. Jerusalem's big free agent addition was center fielder Jim Lorenzen. The toolsy Lorenzen was disappointing offensively in the BBA but is a very good defender and still only twenty six. There's still enough time for his ability to translate into production.

Jerusalem might not be able to climb into the top two in the BURT this year but help is on the way in the form of strong starting pitching prospects in addition to having some solid bats to build around.

BAGDAD KINGS

The Kings won just 65 games last year and face some payroll issues which will necessitate a bit of maneuvering.

Starting Pitching

The rotation will be led by Mei-Shan Ngui with a respectable 2.8 WAR season in 169 innings. He also carries a hefty 6.3M price tag and may be a salary cap casualty this year or the next. Control pitcher Bert Hackworth could be an above average starter if he can get his HR/9 rate down a bit. At only twenty three Hackworth could improve. He won't rack up a bunch of strikeouts but he won't issue a lot of free passes either. Nicolas Vankrimpen will need to develop his curveball more to be an effective starter. He could be useful out of the pen however. Youngster Tai Minh figured to be a bright spot for the Kings this year but a knee injury in spring training will keep him out until around the middle of the season. He should recover however and he has top of the rotation stuff. Another youngster Fernando Rivera could contribute as a starter this season. Rivera has the stuff to be effective and if he can improve his control a bit he could be a middle of the rotation arm for the Kings. Yet another youngster Pong-Su Yu could start or be used out of the pen.

Bullpen

Veteran iron man Tristan Alfama should be a fixture at the end of games for the Kings. Vern Kline and Maximo Bansa will help Alfama shoulder the load out of the pen. Bansa has a couple of effective seasons under his belt while Kline is a youngster with some ability.

Position Players

The Kings will feature a veteran lineup with some solid if unspectacular players. Catcher Takanobu Nishikawa has been good the last two years after coming over from the BBA as a free agent. Nishikawa does most of his damage with the long ball and he cranked 39 homers last year. Thirty year old center fielder Wes Savage has always been very good with the glove and since coming to the UMEBA two years ago has been above average with the bat. He has decent pop and very good speed which led to sixty extra base hits last year. Steady right fielder Hector Gomez has seen his slugging numbers decline the last two campaigns and last year in particular against lefties. He should be a solid contributor though and could be a 3 WAR or better player with a mild bounce back. Rhys Cripps only twenty two, got a taste of the bigs last year and could be a 20-25 home run guy with a good glove at shortstop.


The Kings have a mostly veteran club and some cap issues. It's possible trades will be coming with an eye towards the future. It will be an uphill battle as the club currently sits to climb into the top two spots of the BURT.

[CTBrewCrew]

How fast and far my hammers have fallen.

[Clayman]

How fast and far my hammers have fallen.

Lack of an interested GM destroyed Jerusalem.

[CTBrewCrew]

Breaks my UMEBA heart!

[Fat Nige]

How fast and far my hammers have fallen.

What about me lol, my poor Cairo Chariot Archers got cast out completely into the wilderness

[chicoruiz]

How fast and far my hammers have fallen.

The Hammers will be back, I promise. I’ll probably continue to take my lumps this year, but I don’t want to spend a lot in free agency until my young pitching is ready, which should be next year. I’m trying to GM with the idea that I’ll be in the UMEBA for a long time, which means not rushing things.

On a related note, I have a question: Gary Goodchild, my best pitcher, would normally be ready at the start of next season for sure. Would it be a better idea to keep him in AAA for a few weeks to avoid his being a “super 2” arbitration guy, like the Cubs did with Kris Bryant? I’m not sure how that works, and I want do do the best thing for the franchise in the long term, whether it’s me or someone else running it.

[RonCo]

That's always an interesting question. The answer is something only you can give.

[tylertoo]

How fast and far my hammers have fallen.

Would it be a better idea to keep him in AAA for a few weeks to avoid his being a “super 2” arbitration guy, like the Cubs did with Kris Bryant?

Within OOTP, how can you tell when a guy falls into this situation?

[jleddy]

Within OOTP, how can you tell when a guy falls into this situation?

I think it's the guys designated with ' A# ' on your salary page. Don't quote me on that though.

[CTBrewCrew]

Within OOTP, how can you tell when a guy falls into this situation?

I think it's the guys designated with ' A# ' on your salary page. Don't quote me on that though.

TO LATE!!!!!

[HerbD]

How fast and far my hammers have fallen.

What about me lol, my poor Cairo Chariot Archers got cast out completely into the wilderness

My team got rebranded in only its third year of existence