2040 Vancouver Mounties

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usnspecialist
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2040 Vancouver Mounties

Post by usnspecialist » Fri Sep 27, 2019 2:07 am

OVERVIEW: One of the most promising teams in the BBA, wonder boy Taylor Betancourt is looking to smash the lights out with his young and uber talented Vancouver Mounties squad. Hopefully he doesn’t end up with a bullet in the chest instead.

INFIELD: Any discussion of the Mountie infield has to start with Rashardo Menne III. Betancourt faced quite the quandary when decided what to do with the man who has become the face of the franchise and he chose to extend him with a 6 year $111 million contract that will keep him north of the border through his age 30 season. For all of that money the Mounties get a fleet footed slap hitter who will occupy a top 2 spot in their lineup for the foreseeable future. The best bat among the infielders is young DH Masaki Sato, who managed to hit 41 HR in his rookie year, which is quite the accomplishment in the power starved Vancouver park. An absolute masher against righties who can actually be usable against lefties, Sato is the leading edge of the coming youth movement about the sweep into town. The rest of the infield is filled with players who belong in the bottom 3rd of any lineup card, with C Andres Martinez being the best bat of the group (albeit one that is going to be somewhat neutered by his home park). The rookie duo of 2B Robbie Krok and SS Carlos Martinez up the middle means the Mounties pitchers can be rest assured that any ground ball not hit to third will end up with the batter walking back to the dugout in disgust (which coincidentally is what those two gentleman will also be doing most of the time they come up to the plate. The third rookie (im sensing a theme here) around the infield is 1B Alejandro Ortiz, who should do very well against righties with his profile Taylor made for his new park, but will be absolutely useless against lefties if he is not platooned.

OUTFIELD: This is where things start to get to get exciting for the Mountie fans, as they potentially could roll out a starting trio that virtually any other organization would trade theirs for in a heartbeat. The only one of the 3 with a full season of experience is RF Jeffrey Smith, who made his debut the year after being drafted and put up a very respectable .279/.345/.481 line as a 20 year old. It would be a surprise if each of those numbers did not improve this year as he settles in. Smith was preceded as the Vancouver first round pick by CF Angel Gonzalez, who is quite simply very good at baseball. A Zimmer caliber CF, he took his September call up last year and posted an obscene .360/.402/.640 slash line for a tidy 1.3 WAR in 24 games. While some regression to the mean is expected, it is very clear that Gonzalez has to be a front runner for the Gillstrom award and will be patrolling center for as long as Betancourt desires. The 3rd member of the trio is LF Fernando Castillo, an international free agent signing from 2035 who has managed to survive his development and turn into a very useful bat. While his power still needs to fill out a bit, he is ready in every other way and at 23 years old might get a shot at the BBA level while the franchise lets that development fill in. The recent acquisition of the aging Mario Soriano means that Castillo might be ticketed for some time in AAA however.

PITCHING: A relatively uninspiring group at first glance, the best thing the Mounties have going for them on the bump is young Jose Arellano. The 23 year old is probably best cast as a #2 but on this team he is going to have to be the ace until his general manager convinces a FA ace to come north of the border or trades for one. An intriguing prospect here is Gustavo Hernandez, who is as ready as he will ever be but also has never pitched above AA. The smart money here has him making the leap up to the BBA, as there is no real development to be done in the minors at this point and he is good enough to crack their top 5. Someone who is going to benefit from the increased focus on IF defense up the middle is movement specialist Luis Miguel Duran, who pumps out groundball after groundball. The bullpen is nothing special to write home about in pretty much any fashion.

PREDICTION: While Vancouver might not be ready to make a playoff push this year, they will certainly be competitive and their time is coming. They need to acquire a top flight pitcher and probably 1 more useful arm before they can start thinking about October baseball, but .500 is very much a possibility. 80-82 is the final prediction here, although if Betancourt makes an in-season movie for some arms (which I don’t rule out), I would not be surprised to be on the low end of this. This is a squad that is going to be severely hurt by the new division heavy scheduling, as they would likely be 3rd in the Heartland but will have a hard time moving above 5th in the Pacific.
Randy Weigand

Havana Sugar Kings/San Fernando Bears: 32-50 (1608-1481)
Des Moines Kernels: 52-

League Champion- 34
JL Champion- 34
FL Champion- 36, 37
JL Southern- 34
FL Pacific- 37, 39
Wild Card- 33, 35, 36, 40, 43

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Re: 2040 Vancouver Mounties

Post by jleddy » Fri Sep 27, 2019 2:15 am

Nice preview...this will be a fun team to keep an eye on over the next several seasons.
"My $#!? doesn't work in the playoffs." - Billy Beane Joe Lederer

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Re: 2040 Vancouver Mounties

Post by crobillard » Fri Sep 27, 2019 6:58 am

I love what Vancouver is putting together. They’re going to be quite a tough contender soon. Some pitching would surely put them squarely in a pennant race but they don’t have to rush anything. I think they are beginning a nice trajectory. I’m excited about watching them elevate in a division that’s not mine :)

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Re: 2040 Vancouver Mounties

Post by StormZ_23 » Fri Sep 27, 2019 12:23 pm

Great preview. I still got some question marks to figure out, like do I keep Castillo up or hope his power develops in AAA. I wouldn't completely rule out a big trade later in the season, but I'll probably wait until next season for a trade like that. Btw, it's Bettencourt not "Betancourt", common mistake though.
Taylor Bettencourt
Vancouver Mounties GM (2036 - Present)

2041 Frick League GM of the Year
2041 FL Pacific Champions

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Re: 2040 Vancouver Mounties

Post by usnspecialist » Fri Sep 27, 2019 1:42 pm

fail on the name. I guess I was so busy trying to stuff all of the Natural references I could into the opening paragraph to check that this morning....
Randy Weigand

Havana Sugar Kings/San Fernando Bears: 32-50 (1608-1481)
Des Moines Kernels: 52-

League Champion- 34
JL Champion- 34
FL Champion- 36, 37
JL Southern- 34
FL Pacific- 37, 39
Wild Card- 33, 35, 36, 40, 43

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Re: 2040 Vancouver Mounties

Post by StormZ_23 » Fri Sep 27, 2019 2:48 pm

usnspecialist wrote:
Fri Sep 27, 2019 1:42 pm
fail on the name. I guess I was so busy trying to stuff all of the Natural references I could into the opening paragraph to check that this morning....
I remember reading that in my senior year a couple years ago. A good read. The essay could have been better.
Taylor Bettencourt
Vancouver Mounties GM (2036 - Present)

2041 Frick League GM of the Year
2041 FL Pacific Champions

usnspecialist
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Re: 2040 Vancouver Mounties

Post by usnspecialist » Fri Sep 27, 2019 2:55 pm

StormZ_23 wrote:
Fri Sep 27, 2019 2:48 pm
usnspecialist wrote:
Fri Sep 27, 2019 1:42 pm
fail on the name. I guess I was so busy trying to stuff all of the Natural references I could into the opening paragraph to check that this morning....
I remember reading that in my senior year a couple years ago. A good read. The essay could have been better.
Never actually read the book but the movie is absolutely incredible. Probably the best baseball movie of all time for me.
Randy Weigand

Havana Sugar Kings/San Fernando Bears: 32-50 (1608-1481)
Des Moines Kernels: 52-

League Champion- 34
JL Champion- 34
FL Champion- 36, 37
JL Southern- 34
FL Pacific- 37, 39
Wild Card- 33, 35, 36, 40, 43

Image

jleddy
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Re: 2040 Vancouver Mounties

Post by jleddy » Fri Sep 27, 2019 5:04 pm

usnspecialist wrote:
Fri Sep 27, 2019 1:42 pm
fail on the name. I guess I was so busy trying to stuff all of the Natural references I could into the opening paragraph to check that this morning....
Bigger fail was I didn't even catch the tie-in to the references, other than "wonder boy," which I thought was just being complimentary. Nice job! ⚡
"My $#!? doesn't work in the playoffs." - Billy Beane Joe Lederer

usnspecialist
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Re: 2040 Vancouver Mounties

Post by usnspecialist » Fri Dec 06, 2019 10:27 pm

i predicted 80-82 being 5th in the pacific and 3rd in heartland. Ended up 82-80, 5th in the pacific and would have been 4th in the heartland. I will count that as a win.
Randy Weigand

Havana Sugar Kings/San Fernando Bears: 32-50 (1608-1481)
Des Moines Kernels: 52-

League Champion- 34
JL Champion- 34
FL Champion- 36, 37
JL Southern- 34
FL Pacific- 37, 39
Wild Card- 33, 35, 36, 40, 43

Image

StormZ_23
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Re: 2040 Vancouver Mounties

Post by StormZ_23 » Fri Dec 06, 2019 10:58 pm

usnspecialist wrote:
Fri Dec 06, 2019 10:27 pm
i predicted 80-82 being 5th in the pacific and 3rd in heartland. Ended up 82-80, 5th in the pacific and would have been 4th in the heartland. I will count that as a win.
I'd say we're both pretty good at predictions
Taylor Bettencourt
Vancouver Mounties GM (2036 - Present)

2041 Frick League GM of the Year
2041 FL Pacific Champions

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