Notable Departures:
RP You-cheng Hang
RP Jose Martinez
RP Johnny Lovell
Notable Acquisitions:
C Dobrica Sekulic
Mexico City is home to one of the most successful teams in the BBA, only finishing with a losing record once since 2049. Now run by a hot shot GM Brandon Tucker who is entering his third season in the BBA, what does he have in store for a market with very high expectations.
Pitching:
Leading off the rotation will be the long time Aztec's Ace and future hall-of-famer Dave Corfield. The 38 year old will be entering his 18th season in the BBA (all with Mexico City) and will be looking to keep his ERA below 4.00 for the 16th time. While his WAR is trending very slowly downward, if 3.5 WAR is his worst in many years, I wouldn't be too worried. Following him up will be Ji-e Woo. A starter of 36 games last season, he provides a solid curveball that should lead to many groundballs. Set to make his full season debut at the #3 spot will be 23 year old Manny Ortega. A first round pick in the 2060 draft, Ortega quickly worked his way up to AAA last year where he went 3-2 with a 1.90 ERA in 66 innings as a spot starter. Will it translate into the major leagues? Behind him will be long-time Aztec Johnny Nicholson. He is coming off a career year last season where he went 12-6 with a 3.91 ERA and 3.5 WAR. And at the caboose of the rotation we have Tim Gingras, who is only 24. He pitched in a few games in relief last season and now will get a chance to start until Vassilis Zorba returns from his injury. Fun fact about the Aztecs rotation: Once Zorba returns to replace Gingras, the entire rotation will be lefties, which I don't think any other team has.
Looking to shut the door every game will be 2062 BBA Saves Leader Sergio Tormes. He's had a great story going from washed up starter to elite closer, though at 37 you have to wonder how much gas he has left in the tank. The rest of the bullpen will consist of guys like Guo Dong Cong, Felix Camarco and Jonathan Sobers. Other spots will be decided by opening day by the GM so it will be interesting to see which guys make the cut, but admittedly the overall quality of the bullpen may be a question mark throughout the season.
Position Players:
Starting at the backstop will be 21-year-old Ross Deville, entering his third season already. His solid contact and power with average defensive prescence behind the plate means he should hold this spot for years to come. Backing him up with be recently acquired Dobrica Sekulic, who has great power of his own and solid framing behind the plate.
At first will be Wafid Bishr, who is currently showing why he's the third highest paid player in the league. He crushed 36 homers and 125 RBI last season for an excellent 5.8 WAR at the age of 34. I don't expect this year to be any different.
Second base will be Zero Dimotsios. His decent defense and solid eye means he could potentially be hitting lead off for the team this year.
At shortstop will be defensive specialist Edmond Spits. He won't generate much offensively, but will make it up for it in diamond glove caliber defense at one of the toughest positions to be play in baseball. Honestly worth it.
Making his season debut at thrid base will be Juan Nunez. Similar to Dimotsios, his incredible ability to draw walks means he could also fill in the lead-off spot. His defense is pretty good as well although he won't turn many double plays.
At left field will be Keith Jahnke, who they acquired from trade last season. Looking at him he's just an all-around player. Good bat and good defense, but won't really wow with either. Should be a good player to have for the next four seasons after they extended him.
Manning the middle outfield will be Julio Martinez. Like Spits, he has tremendous defensive ability for a tough position, but won't do much with the bat.
At right field will be Charles Barling, who will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2062 season, where notably he wet from 32 homeruns to just 17, and his .300 AVG dropped to .270. He is only 27 so I'd expect some better play this year from him.
And finally the DH spot will be held by Nestor Saatsakis, who was acquired at the beginning of last season from Atlantic City. He has good speed and solid gap power, but did strikeout a lot as well. Hopefully at just 25 he'll be able to take the next steps into becoming someone that stays long term.
Final thoughts:
At the end of the day, I think this team will struggle a bit throughout the season. Having some injuries to their bullpen plus lack of impact free agent signings means it will be tough to compete in a Frontier division where the other teams have gotten noticeably better. As well as playing some games against the powerhouse Atlantic, which will not make it any easier. I can see at some point this season that some of the older impact players will be traded for some youth into a soft rebuild. But if things go well in the first couple months, maybe they can squeak into a wildcard spot. However I say they'll go 75-87.
