2045 Hawaii Tropics Preview

Team, Division, League, Playoff, and all other comprehensive previews go here.
User avatar
Dington
GB: Recruiting & Development Director
Posts: 4811
Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2020 12:06 am
Has thanked: 2073 times
Been thanked: 1147 times
Contact:

2045 Hawaii Tropics Preview

Post by Dington » Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:29 pm

2045 Hawaii Tropics Preview


Image
The Pacific Division runner-ups finished 2044 with a 92-70 record, their most wins since 2026’s hangover from winning the 2025 Landis. The 2045 Hawaii Tropics team will be largely the same squad returning with one glaring difference after losing CF Ronnie Hubbard to free agency. The Tropics finished 2nd in runs scored and 7th in runs allowed in the Frick League last season and hope to reproduce similar numbers moving forward. Let’s take a look at their roster and see how they’ll stack up this season.

Pitching

Once again, Hawaii will depend on their ace Alaric Wullenweber as the right hander seeks his first Steve Nebraska Golden Arm Award after finishing in the top 3 of voting the past three seasons. Fellow RHPs Zak Johnson, Niccolo Destefani, Jesus Gonzalez will fill in nicely behind Wullenweber, but they may want to invest in a LHP to deal with the amount of left handed sluggers in the Frick. Stephen Taub is their main weapon against lefties and was good out of the pen last season posting a 3.21 FIP. FA signing Steven Bobovnik should replace the loss of Douglas Wils and the bullpen should improve after an underperforming season amongst the relievers.

Infield

Power hitting 1B Gary Allen looks to repeat the success he saw in 2044 with a .953 OPS. His success is crucial to Hawaii’s offense, as it lacks any other star power in the infield aside from C Ron Shiplack. SS Fernando Rodriguez doesn’t have the bat to make up for average defense at the most crucial position up the middle, but looks like the best candidate for SS again. The same can be said for 2B Jack Nichols and whoever will play 3B as top candidates Ben Vaive and Ernesto Angel more closely resemble AAAA players. The Tropics will likely want to upgrade here, although options may be limited.

Outfield

Bastião Fardos and Mike Campbell will continue their slugging ways while manning the corner outfield positions, but losing Hubbard in CF will be tough to overcome. Manny Garcia will likely see the bulk of the playing time in CF, but Michel Noël may see time versus southpaws. With leftfielders Bronx Cortez and Jose Camacho on the bench, depth is not a problem.

Designated Hitter

Ernest McBride is one the BBA’s premier hitters. A fractured hand cut his 2044 season short, but he was able to return in time for the playoffs. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to shake off the rust from missing two months of playing time and was ineffective. Hawaii will hope he returns to form in 2045 and hits homeruns near a 10% pace as he did in 2043.

In summary, 2045 looks like a promising season for one of the BBA’s most balanced teams. The uber-competitive Heartland division may limit the Pacific division to one playoff spot, so Hawaii will want to win their division. In order to do so, they may need to trade one of the veteran outfielders in Fardos or Campbell in exchange for an all-star middle infielder. They shouldn’t lose too much production with Camacho and Little Bron able to slide in and perform at a big league level. As things stand, you can expect to see Hawaii finish 88-74 and just missing out on playoffs.
Image
Nashville Bluebirds GM
HOW I BUILD A WINNING TEAM <---Click
Kuwait City GM 2042-43
2043 UMEBA United Cup Champion*

User avatar
Jwalk100
GB: FL Pacific Division Director
Posts: 3039
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2020 9:42 pm
Has thanked: 1817 times
Been thanked: 771 times

Re: 2045 Hawaii Tropics Preview

Post by Jwalk100 » Wed Nov 25, 2020 3:10 pm

Nice!
Image
ImageImageImageImageImage

sjshaw
Ex-GM
Posts: 587
Joined: Sat Mar 30, 2019 4:09 pm
Has thanked: 292 times
Been thanked: 105 times

Re: 2045 Hawaii Tropics Preview

Post by sjshaw » Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:44 pm

Good preview! Hawaii always plays us tough. Scary team.
GM, Louisville Sluggers, end of 2038 - current

Image

User avatar
RonCo
GB: JL Frontier Division Director
Posts: 19807
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2015 10:48 pm
Has thanked: 1981 times
Been thanked: 2901 times

Re: 2045 Hawaii Tropics Preview

Post by RonCo » Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:12 pm

Is this Wullenweber's year?
GM: Bikini Krill
Nothing Matters But the Pacific Pennant
Roster

User avatar
Dington
GB: Recruiting & Development Director
Posts: 4811
Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2020 12:06 am
Has thanked: 2073 times
Been thanked: 1147 times
Contact:

Re: 2045 Hawaii Tropics Preview

Post by Dington » Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:18 pm

RonCo wrote:
Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:12 pm
Is this Wullenweber's year?
Poor guy. He’s the YS9 of Nebraska’s, albeit a much smaller sample size.
Image
Nashville Bluebirds GM
HOW I BUILD A WINNING TEAM <---Click
Kuwait City GM 2042-43
2043 UMEBA United Cup Champion*

usnspecialist
Ex-GM
Posts: 6652
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2017 9:39 am
Location: Manama, Bahrain
Has thanked: 207 times
Been thanked: 776 times

Re: 2045 Hawaii Tropics Preview

Post by usnspecialist » Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:31 pm

While never a superstar, taub is a guy that has made a nice little career for himself. Wullenweber is of course, monster monster and well on his way to putting up an HOF caliber peaks which is a nifty way to build your case.
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

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Previews”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests