2044: Jacksonville Hurricanes

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RonCo
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2044: Jacksonville Hurricanes

Post by RonCo » Sat Sep 05, 2020 12:45 pm

Image Time has run forward a few season, and Gregg Greathouse has fairly firmly entrenched himself into the seat vacated by longtime GM Tyler Simmons. This is always a daunting task, especially when the club had been so successful for so long, but—and let’s face it—had been left to flounder at the side of the road due to life events and other sundry stuff.

Let’s take a look-see and try to determine how it’s gone.

The big news of the day is the team’s decision to dump a ton of money to sign star catcher Hsin Mei, recently of the Aztecs in Mexico City, to a one season contract. “Hollywood” is 33 years old, but proved he had gas in the tank, and could well be in the last stages of putting together a viable Hall of Fame application. At 45.6 WAR and 356 HR, he’s almost in the chase at the catcher position as it stands. A stint in Jacksonville shouldn’t do anything to hurt that.

The deal makes some sense in that it can’t help but make the team better, might well draw some fans, and also allows the club to save a season of control of one of their better young catchers. Perhaps that might be 22-year-old Pepe Prieto, a switch hitter who really could use a AAA season to bring the defense up to snuff.

This is valuable to note because, let’s face it, the Hurricanes are a very young team who are still working on their overall identity. Offensively they’ve got some kids who can play. The issue will be depth, and finding a few guys to help on the hill.


The Bats

Jose Zuniga is often the first thought that comes to mind when you think of Jacksonville's offense, and for good reason. Despite an off-year, he still murders RHP. But last year he was joined by 23 year old Pancho Costa, who dropped 2.8 war While hitting 17 homers and registering a 112 OPS+ in his rookie season. Insiders suggest he'll be better than that in 2044.

The rest of the infield is full of youthful intrigue Jeremy Pickens will likely hold down 2nd base again. After an exciting Cup of coffee in 2042 , Pickens responded poorly to a full time role last year . At 23 years old the club expects good things this year , but fans say It's time to put up or shut up for the kid from Redding CA. he'll join shortstop Daryl Pris in the middle infield. Pris Is still among the league's best defensive players, But fans are anxious for him to also bounce back from a subpar 2043 at the plate. Pickens and Pris simply registering respectable seasons would go a long way to shoring up Jacksonville's prospects this season.

Third base a quandary for in the club. Holden Dickson has a ton of power but difficulty getting is bad on the ball, while fellow 23 year older Theodosia Narciso Had a reasonable September with the club and appears to be able to at least hold down the slot. Neither are likely to be big number producers in 2044, but Jacksonville doesn't need them to be anything more than respectable to take another step forward. It's a quandary because of their similarities both bat right both 23 years old. One wonders if a trade might be in the offing.

Call roll if you look at it just right you can see a glimmer of hope in the Jacksonville infield.

The outfield is paced by 23 year old, left handed hitting center fielder Omer Dijkstra. Like many of the hurricane's strongest players Dijkstra’s Ricky season came last year and after a period of adjustment registered respectably. The Dutchman’s glove What's above average in 136 games, And while the numbers what eyepopping it's clearer he can do damage against righthanded pitching and probably hold his own well enough against lefties to be a full time player.

Of equal interest is Julio Uribe, who—let me know when you start sensing a pattern here—debuted last season. He’ll be 22 this year, and while the glove is sub-standard, his .290/.348/.414 slash last year has people excited. Extending his 1.1 WAR to a full season, and adding a bit of development makes some wonder if 2044 might see a bit of a breakout.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it looks like right field will be a problem. Scanning the hurricane roster suggests that Manager Lothar Platz dash might just flip a coin as spring training comes to an end and let the fates decide who to sacrifice.

Again , as with the infield , this is a collection of players who barring injury should be able to win a few games. it's the kind of offense that gets to be sneaky good because no one expects the 23 year old inquisition. As the world turns, expect Jacksonville’s offense to become respectable, and if Holden can apply enough power to augment Zuniga and Costa, you might find the club surprising a lot of people.


Pitching:

Here’s the rub for Jacksonville, though. Carlos Rodriguez will return to anchor the staff. At 33, he’s essentially been earning the big contract Greathouse gave him at the beginning of his tenure. Alejandro Rodriguez, 29, is a major league pitcher. But unless you pitch in Mexico City every game, you can’t expect to exist on only two real starters, and the world behind these too gets pretty thin. At 24, this is the year for Domenic Blondell to show 2043 wasn’t a fluke. If he can manage to throw 150+ innings at a 4.28 ERA again, that would be a big deal. At question, though is that .268 BABIP that accompanied those numbers—the jury is out, but acquittal looks promising. Sabir Askeri It's another question mark. His 4.14 ERA in 95 innings last season would play, but his home run made makes pitching coaches cry. if he can keep the ball in the park and Blondell can do his trick, suddenly the hurricane staff looks more presentable.

Those are two big ifs, however.

Look for 27 year old journeyman Nick Mobley to get first shot at the 5th starter role. Mobley is another guy in the mold of surprise waiting to happen . His repertoire includes four solid pitches, but to date he hasn't been able to put them together in a fashion that would make him effective enough to carry the staff in any way. On the other hand he eats innings , it could be the kind of picture that can put together a month that impacts the standings . So who knows?

The bullpen has a similar feel to the rotation in that 24 year old Fernando Guerrero and 22 year old Angel Gomez combine to make a solid 1 two punch at the top . Look for them to get as many high leverage innings is Plotzdasch can arrange.

After that it gets squishy Hector Gonzalez--again with the 23 years old thing, right--could well be that third leg of “Rectes Rule of Three,” or maybe 25 year old Alfonso Guzman could fit that bill. Gomez threw a solid 57 inches in his debut season last year. if he can repeat things will look better.

Look for team to lean on John Bartlett early in the season, hoping he’ll eat up the middle innings. After that fans will hold their collective breath as a whole squadron of youth steps up to take their cuts, the most intriguing of which might be 20 year old Takehide Gertrudes. I’d guess he will break with the team, but who might well start at AAA to get his numbers up. Gertrudes may well get a chot at that 5th starter role, too.

Bottom line here is that the pitching staff is a herky-jerky mix of age and youth, with five, maybe six reliable arms and a whole bunch of youthful enthusiasm in the second wing. So in a way, this is a pretty exciting team to be watching. Unfortunately, that way is not the way fans enjoy.


Overall Assessment:

Greathouse took over a team that was on the way down, and ran a fire sale to capture future value. As a result, the club won only 53 games in 2042. They recovered to 64 games last year, despite a few unexpectedly rugged performances. The addition of Mei brings a certified professional bat into the lineup and a steady presence in the clubhouse. Also, common wisdom says that very young teams—which this one is—progress over time. The question, of course, is how much?

I’m betting on the Hurricane bats to improve pretty dramatically on the paltry 604 runs they produced last season. Their standing of 12th in the league should jump, IHMO, considerably. Let’s say up to 8th, give or take.

The “good news” on the pitching side is that their 722 runs put them dead last in the Johnson last year against everyone except Wichita, whose staff really shouldn’t count. It means they only need to get a little better to leapfrog several teams. Unfortunately, I’m not sure they have the arms to do it. It will take some pretty serious development to make it happen, anyway, and while I’m a fan of the club I’m not sure I’m ready to make a bet on it.

Let’s give then a couple more wins for that addition of Mei, and a couple more wins for development. Then we’ll add in two more for a regression to mean bounce back. It’s a dangerous equation for a projection, of course. If even one of those pitchers catches fire, the Hurricanes look better. If two of them do, a total reassessment becomes required. Same thing with those hitters. But we’ll stick with it for now.

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Re: 2044: Jacksonville Hurricanes

Post by CTBrewCrew » Mon Sep 07, 2020 8:09 am

Nice review
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Re: 2044: Jacksonville Hurricanes

Post by DugoutDesperado » Sun Sep 13, 2020 8:55 pm

Just got around to reading this. Very interesting read for the people in Cane-nation. Thanks

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