The El Paso Chilis, formerly the Wichita Aviators, are a franchise starting over. Attempting to leave behind a legacy of losing where for a decade they failed to make progress as an expansion team and failed so miserably that they actually went backwards. For the first six seasons of the Aviators existence they averaged a respectable 73 wins per season while the last four seasons they have averaged a dismal 58 wins per season. The El Paso front office hopes a change a scenery means a change of fortune for the Chilis.Heading to opening day the Chilis were fifth in the entire Brewster Baseball Association with 4.6 WAR added. A lot of that was due to a few negative WAR players leaving as well as longtime Aviator Duane Whitley JR leaving via free agency. The gains came from three role players added to the roster. Tommy Cochran hit .298 and slugged 19 homers in just 276 plate appearances for Calgary and looks to replace Whitley at first base this year. Veteran 3B Ross Quicker was added as bench depth. 27 year old catcher Jason Bowen is coming off his best season and looks to continue improving on his 26 homers and 86 RBI. It seems like Tony Hernandez has been around forever and he has been brought in to play first base as a free agent. He only played 60 games last year but he has put up some monster years while in San Antonio and the El Paso brass hope the name recognition alone will help sell tickets as much as they hope he can still hit. A young bat to watch is center fielder Chris Jenkins who posted a .5 WAR in just 19 games last September and will likely be the team's leadoff hitter going forward.
On the mound the Chilis are at a crossroad. They have several young pitchers ready to break into the majors as regulars but they could decide to go with some veterans to try to increase the win total for a season that really is already over. For the sake of the future I'm hoping El Paso starts the season with a rotation of arms that are all 23 and younger. A starting five of Jorge Garcia, Gerald Garcia, Sumitomo Takahashi, Ramon Guerrero, and Chris Sackett may not result in the most wins possible but it should set them up for a better couple of years going forward and should be enough to break the four-year streak of 100 losses. The bullpen features a hard throwing righty in Augusto Ramirez who struck out 141 batters in 84 innings but he also gave up 21 homers. A young player to watch in the bullpen is 25 year old Chase Walter. A rookie that had a spectacular spring posting a 0.87 ERA in 20 plus innings including four saves. Walter, a minor league free agent, could end up being quite a steal for the Chilis.
In all I think the Chilis will avoid that fifth consecutive 100 loss season and pass Las Vegas in the standings. I give El Paso 65 wins in 2045.
