2043 - Boise Spuds Preivew

[CTBrewCrew]

Team Info:

• Founded 2035

• Team Record: 521-614 .459

• Playoff Appearances: 2 (2041,2042).

GM: Joe "No Show" Lederer

2043 Coaching Staff:

• Assistant GM - Ricardo Franco (2nd season)

• Head Coach Daniel Labrie Jr (2nd Season)

• Bench Coach Letttel Rotsch (2nd Season)

• Pitching Coach Jumah Hamid (4th Season)

• Hitting Coach - Ben Moore (4th Season)

• Team Trainer - Bernie Bruno (7th Season)

Last Seasons Record: 89-73 2nd place in the Frontier

2042 Playoffs: Beat New Orleans in Geoghegan Round - Lost to Edmonton in Doubleday Series

Key Losses:

• 29yo - 1B - Yunosuke Terada (Free Agency - LOU)

• 37yo - C - Hank Brewer (Free Agency - MAD)

• 28yo - CF - Abay Omoryi (Free Agency - BER)

• 36yo - RP - Hector Diaz (Free Agency - ATH)

Key Additions:

• 26yo - RP - Pepe Hernandez (VAL) - 3 years 15M

• 25yo - CF - Dani Morse (SFB) - 3 years 7.8M

After coming off a 104 win campaign in 2041, the Spuds followed it up with a 89 win effort in 2042. Perhaps a little division crown hangover, but impressive none the less. They made the playoffs for a second season in a row, a first in franchise history. The team also reached its 500th win in 2042. Things have started to turn around of late in Boise. The team is just 3 seasons away from their 65 win performance in 2040, and I don't see the team falling off anytime soon. The team finished third in the Johnson in offense, scoring 5.6 runs a game, and with a team slash of .270/.347/.464. Loosing "Godzilla" to Free Agency (who played 137 games at 1B last year) with a ZR of 6.2 and a 3.6 WAR on the surface might look like it would hurt, but it looks as if Boise had been preparing for this eventuality by having Pepe Madrid waiting in the wings. Pepe started 23 games at 1B last season, and who BTW, posted a 2.7 WAR as the teams DH. He specs out on-par if not slightly better defensively at 1B 5/7 vs 4/8 (range & rating), and he is only 22yo with one more year of team control before he heads to arbitration, and with potentially some room to improve defensively with more games under his belt this season.

Loosing the 37yo C Brewer to FA will be felt more in the clubhouse, where he was well respected by his teammates, and the Boise fans. At 36 he played 125 games last season, and posted a 1.1ZR behind the dish. Not bad, but this team was looking towards the future. This job was up for grabs in Spring Training, with what looks like 26yo Katsumi Kato beating out former 2nd round pick Kevin Lyons, Pat Alexander, and Ed Cooper for the opening day spot. Kato never played a game in the BBA last season, vs 19 for Lyons. Defensively, he is a better, younger version of Brewer at 8/7/8 (ABI/ARM/RAT) vs 5/9/8 for Brewer, who at this point in his career looks to provide some needed depth and a solid bat off the bench for Madison. Offensively Kato played 58 games in AAA last season posting a .258/.370/.443 slash and a 1.2 WAR. It will be an interesting story to watch this season to see how he handles the Boise pitching staff (who gave up 5.2 runs a game with a team ERA of 4.83 and a BABIP of .270) in 2042. Its rumored that last seasons star FA acquisition Alicia was not happy about the club loosing Brewer, who he developed a good relationship last season.

Projected Opening Day Starters

C - Katsumi Kato
1B - Pepe Madrid
2B - Lloyd Braun
3B - Sancho Castillo
SS - Motonobu Yamashita
LF - Ricardo Ruiz
CF - Felix Roman
RF - Dennis French
DH - Ismael Alfonzo

Projected Opening Day Rotation

SP - Julio Alicia
SP - Pancho German
SP - Robin Cooper
SP - Leroy Hoffman
SP - Eugenio Asseldonk (this kid got beat up a lot in grammar school with this last name)

Storylines to watch this season....Boise's 5th starter (will "Asseldonk" continue to relive painful childhood playground memories and get his A** beat up by BBA hitters), and catching. Which of these youngers will step up to replace potential future HOFer Brewer

2043 Prediction - I see this division not getting decided until the last week of the season, with Boise winning its 2nd division title in 3 years, topping off at around 92 wins, just eeking out Edmonton (last years division winner) for the title.

[jleddy]

Good stuff! I'd love to see 92 wins and division crown. We're shooting for 90 wins and a runner-up in the division but still a Wild Card spot...your article will be shared with the team to let them know what's expected out of us!!