2046 Riyadh Red Crescents Preview

[woods]

2045 record: n/a

2045 recap: In December, a surprise announcement came that the UMEBA would be expanding to include two new teams, including one in Riyadh. While many may write off an expansion team from any hope of actually competing, don’t sleep on the Red Crescents, as their first move was bringing over GM Rich Young, the incumbent United Cup winner with last season's Mumbai Metro Stars.

2046 outlook: As the GM of the other UMEBA expansion team, I am personally well aware of the caliber of team Riyadh was handed (basically nothing but replacement players), and I find their building strategy very interesting. It looks as if the plan this winter was to improve all positions on the field, but very slightly. To that end, the Red Crescents have doled out a lot of small contracts to free agents, averaging about $1M or so, in the hopes that each of them will turn into a 0.5 WAR–1.0 WAR player. Get enough of them together, and their combined positive production will translate into winning games, while mitigating the risk of one injury completely derailing the season. That's the theory, anyway.

The biggest contract they handed out was for 25-year-old outfielder Juan Martínez, for three years. He’s a plus left fielder with a good bat and tremendous speed on the basepaths, but he still has room to grow. Prioritizing Martínez was a good “now and for the future” move, as he’ll be in the majors this season and will probably be the club’s starting left fielder, but he’s young enough that a couple years down the road he’ll be even better, just in time for the team to start seriously being competitive in the league.

In the Rule 5 draft, they picked up Australian outfielder Wes Makepeace from the Impalers. He’s a next-level power bat who hit 56 homers between two levels in the minors in 2044, but he doesn’t have a ton of range in the outfield, so the Crescents' plan is to use him mostly as a DH.

They also picked up castoff outfielder Aurelio López, who was a two-time All-Star with Beirut, and switch-hitting third baseman Juan Domínguez, who was once a pretty solid prospect in the BBA, but never quite panned out.

To boost the defense, they added defensive wizards Nikita Schipper and Rodrigo Ríos, who will form the double-play tandem and basically mean death for any ground balls hit towards the middle of the infield.

Catcher Mike Schofield has good leadership skills and is a defensive stud, and center fielder Mike Martin is singlehandedly trying to rewrite the narrative that center fielders can’t have great arms, making the Crescents very strong “up the middle”.

On the pitching side, the rotation will be led by former BBA All-Star Juan Nicto, whose All-Star days (okay, ‘day’) are long behind him, and veteran Manuel Peña. Peña led the UMEBA in losses last year, but at least give the historically injury-prone pitcher some credit for staying healthy.

Luis Oliva, Francisco Cardona, Luis Gracía and Sean Gardner were also all added on low-risk contracts. It’s unclear whether they’ll all be in the starting rotation, but at the very least, they give the pitching staff some good depth.

Bullpen roles have not yet been announced, and will probably be sorted out in Spring Training, but the candidates for closer include Juan Alfonzo, a two-pitch guy who racks up a ton of strikeouts, and a pair of groundballers, ‘Cha Cha’ Carrasco and Derrick Falter. All three were plucked from the BBA in free agency.

2046 prediction: 64-98. The Crescents have done very well to add depth, to make their inaugural season as painless as possible. But, as anyone will tell you, the first time is always a little bit painful. Without a star player, they will be lacking middle-of-the-order production, or an ace who can stop a losing streak. Those things will come with time, and of course with the draft picks they’re looking forward to having. But until then, we should not count on Riyadh to be a serious factor in the league.

[CTBrewCrew]

This will be an interesting study in how fast rich can get them to a contending team.

[chicoruiz]

Congrats on a great set of previews, Woody. I’m in a unique position to appreciate all the work you’ve put in on them; it paid off.

[RichY]

Good job Woody, Yeah we won't be good but I have to try.

[usnspecialist]

hey manuel pena is still around and kicking. Look at that.

[RichY]

hey manuel pena is still around and kicking. Look at that.

Yeah he was actually on the team when I got here but I might have signed him anyways on sentiment.

[usnspecialist]

hey manuel pena is still around and kicking. Look at that.

Yeah he was actually on the team when I got here but I might have signed him anyways on sentiment.

he was in one of my first big BBA deals (and then went out in one of the biggest deals in league history), so I always have a soft spot for him.