2046 Cairo Pharaohs Preview

[chicoruiz]

It’s hard to know where to begin and end with a preview of an expansion team. Their situation is by necessity kind of up in the air; you could name 60 guys who could conceivably get playing time, but at this point in my preview-writing career, the romance of creating links has pretty much faded, so I’m going to try to restrain myself. Anyway, for better or worse, here we go:

CATCHER: Diesel Dave is, from what I can gather, a legendary figure in the Brewster universe, both on and off the field. Between the lines he’s also unique; he swings from the heels at any pitch that does not actually hit him, and the results are what you’d expect: lots of dingers, lots of weary trudges back to the dugout. Marc-Andre Pare looms as the backup option.

INFIELD: I’m going to break from my tradition here and lump all the infielders into one humongous paragraph, since the situation here is pretty fluid, and there’s a whole lot of platooning going on right now. Nico Eijpe is not without some virtues: He can play any infield position (right now he’s the first baseman), he’s got gap power and he’s a team leader. His skill set unfortunately does not extend to getting on base frequently, except in his outlier 2042 season. Omar Ibarra and Winston Abernathy may share second, though Ibarra will miss some time this spring with a thumb owie. The much-traveled Lou Cotton could also slot in here. When not playing second, the aforementioned Abernathy will split time at the hot corner with Adrian Ramos and perhaps Francisco Hernandez. Sergio Ramirez and rookie Rick Chambers are penciled in at shortstop. Honestly, not much to say about any of these names; they’re more suspects than prospects, and a couple of judicious waiver claims in the days to come could render this paragraph moot.

OUTFIELD: Toby Peck has left field to himself right now; he has no great strengths, but no great weaknesses either, and he’s coming off of a nice year in AA (of course, when you’re 29, you’re kind of expected to do well against AA competition, but why rain on his parade?). Rule 5 draftee Freddy Ayala has speed and great defense to offer, and not much else right now. Howard James looks like a solid option in RF; he has the on-base skills that this team desperately needs. Right now he’s slated for a platoon with Guillermo Ramirez, who’s coming off a down year in AA, but who is not without his charms. Beyond that are a large number of fringe-y guys hanging on to their big league dreams by a slender thread.

DH: Righty Jose Serrano and lefty Seinosuke Muto are a perfect platoon DH match; they both hit for power, and they both play defense in a way that causes baseball purists to weep for the state of the modern game. If either of them ever has to actually play a position in the field, I suggest they wear shin guards and maybe a chest protector.

STARTERS: Hey, look… it’s Johan Trojka! Just acquired in a trade with Manama, he’s certainly the best pitcher, and probably the best player, on the Pharaohs. Past him, the dropoff is fairly precipitous. Miguel Ortiz is a 27-year-old rookie who’s seldom taken the mound the last two seasons. Sandro Plumey has a nice AAA resume, but his two stints in the BBA were not experiences anyone will remember fondly. Bronislaw Kauphsman has a nifty slider, but a reputation for fragility (right now it’s hamstring soreness). Jaques Villalmanzo has alternated good and bad seasons in AAA before regressing to AA in 2044; he seems to have watched 2045 from the sideline. Pancho Lopez is a lefty with decent stuff, but he still hasn’t done anything in AAA to give one hope. Jesus Torres is another lefty who, like Villalmanzo, did not accrue any stats in 2045. Jose Olivas has some big-league experience, and a shredded elbow to show for it. His return should help the cause.

BULLPEN: This may be, top to bottom, the strength of the team, and I suspect they’ll get plenty of opportunities to prove it. Lefty Robert Hobbs got four million bucks to close games for the Pharaohs; on paper that looks like a good investment. Nick Snyder once led the BBA in saves; he’ll probably tell his mates in the bullpen all about it at some length until they want to strangle him. Phil Brown rose as high as AAA, then sank back down to single A. I don’t know why; he looks like a usable arm to me. Takeo Morita is a knuckleballer who’s listed as “wrecked”; how does a knuckleballer get wrecked? Jorge Olvera is a sleeper here.

For Cairo this year, winning games is secondary to the goal of identifying players that can be part of the next good Cairo team. The work will continue all season, and by the all-star break this team may look very different. If they can find a half dozen players a year, well, in three years you’ve got yourself a ball club. At the same time, the clock is ticking on guys like Diesel Dave and Trojka; can Cairo build a winner before the contracts of these guys run out? Stay tuned…

[woods]

Great job, I do not envy the work you had to do to figure all this out. The infield situation is just as confusing to me, but hopefully after Spring Training a few guys will stand out from the pack...