2043 Record (place): 78-83 (5th JL Atlantic)
2043 Pyth: 73-89
2043 Runs Scored (rank): 592, 3.7 per game (13th JL)
2043 Runs Allowed (rank): 659 4.1 per game (6th JL)
2043 Recap: Montreal finished outside the playoffs for the seventh straight season in 2043. The 2043 edition of the Blazers suffered from lackluster hitting that simply couldn't support a pitching staff in the top third of the league. Furthermore, the team won 5 games more than expected. A 78-83 record would make one think a team is much closer to contention than a 72-90 record. Montreal has suffered from a lack of consistency at the helm, but a stretch by Kevin Spencer seems to have rebuilt the farm. New GM Herb DeSpain has some ammo to work with to turn Montreal into a contender.
Key Additions: C Joe Bradshaw (trade), CF Manoell Whanon (trade), 1B Cesar Feliciana (trade), SS Orlando Lopez (trade), RP Raul Luna, SP In-Sung Yi, A bunch of imaginal pitchers, one of whom will probably have a decent year.
Key Subtractions: SP Tadamichi Ando (trade), SP Drees Geestman (trade), Jim Antolin (trade), SP Jorge Hernandez (trade)
Offseason Summary: The in game offseason tracker would tell you Montreal lost 9.8 WAR from 2043 to 2044. That doesn't sound good. However, the overwhelming majority of the lost WAR is in the three pitchers, Ando, Geestman, and Hernandez that DeSpain traded for what could be significant offensive improvement. Montreal seemingly had a surplus of up and coming starting pitching. If the replacements can step in for the guys that departed, that -9.8 number could be meaningless. Last year's Blazers were awful at CF, C, and SS. DeSpain has addressed those positions nicely. The squad also lacked pop, finishing 3rd from the bottom in home runs. Replacing Mons Raider with Feliciana at first may help with that a good deal. In free agency, the Blazers spent too much money on outfielders like John Noble and William Drew, but are in good shape financially regardless. The real question is whether those deals will get in the way when the young hitters and pitchers on this club need arb salaries and extensions. For now though, the club is fine.
Hitting Outlook: So we already know the woes of the 2043 Blazers offense. An important note, is that with park factors where average is just under 90% of normal and HR are held to around 82% of normal, Montreal is one of the hardest places to generate offense in the league. It is easy to get double and triples here, but overall this will be a fairly extreme pitchers park it seems.
Time to see what we're working with for 2044. Lineu Aldo is one of the more exciting second base options in the league. Third basemen Eduardo Gonalzes could anchor any lineup in the league. Both had somewhat down years in 2043, but there's no reason to not anticipate a bounce back. Speaking of bounce-backs, C Joe Bradshaw was certainly picked up anticipating one. Similarly, new first baseman Cesar Feliciana has a chance to improve now that he's departed Sacramento, a park notorious for nerfing left handed power more than one would expect from park factors. On the other hand, maybe Montreal's environment will be just a difficult for him. Either way, the addition of new CF Whanon to that group atop the lineup is a good start at a solid offense. A back end of outfielders Gilberto Villanueva and Keith Schultz, along with DH Jose Garcia is good enough, if not very exciting. The Blazers have right handed options like Peter Crocker and the aforementioned Noble and Drew to help out against tough lefties.
Pitching Outlook: Can Montreal still pitch without Ando, Geestman, and Hernandez? Losing three number 2 to 3 type pitchers is usually tough for most teams to overcome. Lance Harrison and Don Jaramillo are a solid 1-2 punch, especially if Jaramillo can come along with his control. It will be interesting to see how the team uses him if he ever develops as a hitter. Harrison will start the season on the IL with a biceps strain, but one could hope that's just a 3 week setback and nothing major. Jorge Moreno is a perfectly cromulent number 3, who could move into top 2 starter territory if he ever figures out his propensity to give up the long ball. In-sung Yi is more of a question mark. He has the goods to be a decent middle to back end option, but has struggled to put it all together. Leaving Omaha's band box environment may help. After that the Blazers have a number of fifth starter options, none of whom will likely do more than simply hold down a spot in mildly unsatisfactory fashion. Their extreme pitcher's park will likely make one of those options appear more effective than he really is. This starting rotation is thin, and a loss of one of the top two to injury could be devastating to Montreal's hopes.
On to the bullpen. Carlton Casson is a wonderful high leverage option. Raul Luna (control) and Agniruha Gaekwad (homers) both have glaring flaws that will keep them from being reliable. There's not anyone else worth bothering to link, and that spells trouble for the Blazers. At home, they may get away with this, but on the road, expect some frustrating wastes of good starts.
Defensive Outlook: This team looks solid defensively, without any real holes and a serious positive at shortstop. They won't be wowing you on a nightly basis, but shouldn't blow too many games with the glove. Off hand, I think they have improved slightly from last season.
Summary and Projection: Montreal's outcome for 2044 looks to have some pretty large error bars with a lot of ways for things to go south fast. There's been a lot of turnover, and I'm not certain how it will play out. I feel like this should be a B- to B offense, a B- starting rotation, with a D+ bullpen and B- defense. That should be a .500 to slightly better than .500 team. However, several factors could drive things south for the Blazers. Injury could wreck their pitching situation rather easily. The JL has a TON of really tough teams, and I think it's easy to say that in their division alone, Rockville, New Orleans, and Charm City are superior clubs. Atlantic City is probably better. Then there's the park effect issue. They sacrificed pitching for hitting, but what if their park environment neuters the new offensive help? I think this team is probably a little better than .500, but given the confounding factors I'll just project a flat .500 record for them. I wouldn't be surprised by anything from 70 to 85 wins. Prediction: 81-81
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