2046 Mumbai Metro Stars Preview

[chicoruiz]

Coming off their thrilling and unexpected championship, Mumbai finds itself in a situation like a guy who recently got set up on a blind date with Halle Berry; no matter what happens from here on, it’s going to seem like an anticlimax. Nevertheless, with a new GM and several new faces, they will soldier on, hoping lightning can strike twice.

CATCHER: Dan Clapper(.731 OPS, 1.7 WAR) is a solid, unexceptional catcher, maybe a tick above average. That’s nothing to sneeze at; lots of teams would love to have him. Hotha Popo played out of his mind for the part of 2045 he spent in Bucharest; once he moved to Mumbai he resumed his former identity as an average, card-carrying member of the Backup Catchers Union.

FIRST BASE: Carlos Reyes (.805, 3.5) seems to have the edge over Andy Seekins (.827, 1.0) but they’re really pretty much the same person. Reyes doesn’t enjoy hitting against lefties, so this may end up as a platoon situation till one of them steps forward.

SECOND BASE: William Drew comes over from the BBA with first call on the job. If he looks over his shoulder, though, he may see prospect Ivan Lovett coming up behind him.

THIRD BASE: Sancho Castilllo (.782, 4.5) is one of the big studs on the club. If he were to fall down a well or something, Reyes could swing over and cover third adequately.

SHORTSTOP: 20-year-old Matthew Hewat (.620, 2.8) tore it up in AAA but once promoted, regressed to just being a glove-first guy who’s not a total embarrassment offensively. No prospects appear to be beating down the door, so he’ll likely get another whack at it this year.

OUTFIELD: Left to right, it’s Juan Hernandez, Weaver Ripley, and Luis Gonzales. Hernandez is another BBA import who brings gap power and base stealing ability. Ripley (.824, 4.0), the highest-paid Metro Star, has big-time power but seeks to curb his whiff-tastic ways; he’s led UMEBA in strikeouts the last three years. Gonzales (.836, 0.4) came over from BBA Long Beach in midseason and found the UMEBA to his liking. Young Baden Goulding is probably the top reserve.

DH: Keiran Filby (.695, -0.4) needs to up his game to remain as the bigger half of a platoon at DH; his glove won’t suffice anywhere else. Seekins gets the call against lefties.

STARTERS: Ronald Eglinton is coming off a torn labrum; the hope is he can regain his dominant AAA form. Gennady Zachinsky is a similar story; he missed basically all of 2045 with a torn UCL. Fingers crossed…Jose Lima comes over from Omaha; he’s a former 20-game winner and only 28, but recent results have been spotty. Jerry Grenfell worked successfully out of the pen last year after skipping AAA entirely; he’s currently listed as the #4 starter. Stephen Clulow is a back-of-the-rotation workhorse; if he ends up being their #5 starter they’re in good shape. Prospect Peter Ramsey, a two-way player, might be the next man up if there are no more moves before opening day.

BULLPEN: Knox Sked is an elite closer at age 19; the UMEBA seems to produce good young closers like my yard does dandelions. Vicente Ventura is almost twice his age, but still flinging it to great effect. Damon Odgers is a lefty who could end up getting some starts, and Sancho Torres comes over as a waiver claim from Bucharest. There are a couple of nice bullpen arms a year or two away, too.

Just as doing the Bucharest preview filled me with despair, this preview filled me with hope. I may never have a collection of talent like Jim Cox has, but I think maybe I can aspire to be like Mumbai. And they won it all… We’ll see what the baseball gods have in store, I guess…

[tylertoo]

Mumbai finds itself in a situation like a guy who recently got set up on a blind date with Halle Berry; no matter what happens from here on, it’s going to seem like an anticlimax.

...the UMEBA seems to produce good young closers like my yard does dandelions.

Lol, some great lines there. Excellent preview of an excellent team.

As after reading the Impalers preview, I now go off to weep in a corner.