The Talons were hit hard by the relentless bird of prey known as Injury and despite making a push for the playoffs, finished 80-82 in 2054. This continues a pattern in which the team seems to rise and fall roughly every other year, not unlike a Phoenix. So I guess it works.
Can the team continue the pattern and get back into the playoffs? Honestly? I don't think so, but we'll break the team down piece by piece and see what we can determine…
The Hitters, or "Where's the Depends?"
This team's offense is built around it's 2-3-4 hitters, namely 3B Steven Collins III, C Ichizo Sugiyama, and 1B Aarnoud Budding. The three combined for 10.8 WAR, including Sugiyama's 5.3. They hit 80 HR, again led by Sugiyama, and when all are healthy that's a lethal combo. The issue is that none of them played even 150 games and their ages (38,33,35) don't give anyone a reason to believe that they'll play more games this year. There's also the strong possibility that any or all of them will start to decline from their high level of play.
If that happens, GM Sean Marco is basically screwed.
After the top three, the offense has 34 year old outfielder Reggie Vargas, who only played in 65 games in 2054, but did hit .290. He's slated to start alongside Julio Rivera, who's also 34 and hadn't played in the BBA since 2047 before this past year. The final outfielder is John Oliver, who will be playing center. He doesn't hit well, but fielded strongly for Atlantic City in 2053. Unfortunately, he fielded poorly in 2054 for the Talons, who need him to bounce back.
The middle infield is Alex Herman (35) and Ian Patrick "Jethro Tull" Anderson (38), who are both on the backside of their careers, and their fielding is sliding accordingly along with their bats.
In short, the Talons are extremely weak across the diamond in a lot of areas. They'll need to have multiple saving rolls on both health and dexterity to keep in games. That's a lot to ask of a team where no one in the starting 9 looks to have been born after the Biden Administration.
The Starting Pitching, or "Consistency Can Be a Good Thing"
The thing that will help the Talons is their starting pitching. While no one is an ace, Damian Theophanous had a respectable 3.65 ERA and a 12-8 record on the losing team. He's one of the few GBC players who was able to continue his success over to the BBA, with his numbers in the now-independent league and his 2054 with the Talons being quite similar. If he can keep it up, that will help ease the issues on offense.
After Theo, there's Emanuele Meracti, who led the team with 13 wins, Jay Hodge (10 wins, 4.77 ERA), and Nick Rivers from last year's starting staff, all returning for 2055. Rivers is the most interesting because at just 25, he's one of the few young players on the team. In 24 starts, he went 11-5 with a 4.08 ERA, with a whip of 1.38. Though he's flowing upstream against the rest of the team's trends, Nick has a chance to be a part of the next generation of Talons talent. [Edited to add: Looks like he was sent down the Rivers to AA for more seasoning. Jorge Magdelena is replacing him.
The fifth starter is Jaypee Estancia, formerly of Calgary. He's a totally serviceable back end starter, 4ish ERA with a whip around 1.3. He struggled in 2053 but should contiue to do well as a Talon, as log as being only 29 doesn't keep him from the team bingo games and shuffleboard competitions, leading to a morale hit.
The Bullpen, or "I Don't Have a Clever Joke Here"
Really not a lot to say here beyond the fact that it looks like a group with no standouts and yet also no one really out there to get shelled, save Don Jaramillo, who should probably be used only in blowout games and leave him to playing DH. They'll be led, I think, this year by Siu-chung Zan, who had 11 saves and 20 holds in 2054, his first as a Talon. He'll try to feather his upcoming case for an option year by saving the bulk of Phoenix's games.
From there it's likely Jim Thompson (5 saves, 9 holds, 3.78 ERA), but his bb/9 of 4.7 worries me greatly. Neil DaviesNeil Davies (6 saves, 3 holds) may be in the mix as well. But after that, it gets weak. Jorge Avila had a 6.02 ERA (and a 5.98 ERA in 2053). Chio, Locke, and Turner have almost no BBA experience and their AAA numbers were mediocre. This could hurt them in close games.
The Summary, or "I've Sunk My Claws in Enough Raptor Jokes"
As I mentioned above, this team goes as far as its elder statesmen. And after so many injuries in 2054, the team may not want to risk adding parts to a team that would struggle to make it into the playoff mix, preferring to keep powder dry for 2056 or even 2057. I also fully expect Sean to look for dead meat on the waiver wire he can feast on for upgrades as well as scavenge the unsigned free agents.
This prediction is twofold:
If the vets hold on, 78-84, a few games out of playoffs after flirting a bit
If the vets fold or fade, 72-90 and a lot of changes for 2056
