Your 2048 Phoenix Talons

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GoldenOne
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Your 2048 Phoenix Talons

Post by GoldenOne » Wed Sep 01, 2021 5:58 pm

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2048 Phoenix Talons
What Happened Last Year?
You guys know the drill by now. The Talons had sneaked into the Wild Card picture in mid to late September. Players were healthy, sentiment was high. But Talons fans still had that nagging feeling that it just can't be real.

Turns out the fans were right. On the morning of September 29th, 2047, the now familiar email showed up in inboxes acrross Central Arizona. "Talons Fans Devastated by Playoff Elimination". The final day of the regular season. Never mind that the team had two games yet to play, in Mexico where else, and won both of those. So, for the fourth season in a row, the Phoenix Talons lost the final Wild Card slot on the final weekend of the season.

Some might call that a decent run. After all, you have a team that has been competitive for almost half a decade. But when a franchise strives for mediocrity for so long, they neither achieve their goal nor perform the necessary steps to rebuild and try again. If you stall in third gear, you have to downshift to first to get moving again.

Even so, there were some highlights. First and foremost is the Talons bullpen, widely regarded as one of the best in the BBA. Led by Tiernan O'Macken, Gilberto Sosa, and Adergazoz Ouakili, the Phoenix relief corps shortens games and takes pressure off the starting rotation. In fact, the Talons have been able to implement a strict pitch count program in order to keep the starters healthy, with sometimes as few as 80 pitches before the bullpen takes over. O'Macken took home the 2047 Egan award for his efforts.

As mentioned, the rotation remained healthy, being led by Feliciano Rafael as he continues to cement his Hall of Fame case. Don Smith had another 4+ WAR season. The rest of the rotation was competant, and hitters like Liann-wei Mao and Pankratz Isekenmier had typically decent seasons. But the list of good hitters ends there. Even the vaunted slugger Pedro Guzman saw his year-over-year WAR fall from 7.1 to 3.0. And beyond those three players, not a single batter recorded a WAR above 0.9. Which means, despite having one of the best pitching staffs overall, the Talons finished toward the bottom of the barrell offensively.

Key Losses
Starter Luis Colon and his 185 reliable innings are gone, and LF Justin Jackson and his 39 home runs will depart. CF Abdelwahab Kamade has retired and is now a coach in the organization. Other less consequential names not making a return include second baseman Luis Cruz and reliever/swingman Jose Rodriguez.

Key Additions
You may have heard of this guy: Roy Minty. The Talons traded some spare parts to Yellow Springs to get Minty back, after dealing him away years ago to get O'Macken. Minty was decent for YS last season to the tune of 2.1 WAR, but the key will be to keep him healthy and prevent him from tripping all over himself. Another trade saw the Talons trade away a young CF prospect to get slugger Donald Miller, who hit 39 home runs last season and recorded a 6.6 WAR campaign in 2046. The club's sole FA signing of interest was Edgardo Diaz, who will platoon at 1B vs lefties.

Pitching Summary
With Minty replacing Luis Colon, the rotation looks much the same as last year. Feliciano Rafael looks to pad his stats for eventual HOF induction, and the ratings suggest he is morphing into a wily control artist. Don Smith got off to a slow start this spring, and the scouts have been unkind to his ratings lately, so many eyes will be on him to start the season. Tomas Ramirez will be counted on for steady innings in the #3 slot, while 23 year old Albert Krant will be tasked with his first full season as a member of the rotation. Meanwhile, Minty takes over for Colon at #4.

The relief corps is as before, led by the Big 3 of O'Macken, Sosa, and Ouakili, all of their skills as sharp as ever. Next down the depth chart are lefty Jeremy Smith and righty Jason Clark, either of whom could close out games for virtually any other team but in Phoenix are relegated to middle relief. Mathieu Vallete is still welcome as long as he doesn't let his attitude get in the way, and the 12th man will be rookie Fransisco Hernandez, drafted in the first round just 10 months ago.

Lineup Summary
The Talons acted pretty quickly to sign Yi-ke Hsaio to play second base, but hes overrated at this point and last had a decent season in 2044. Donald Miller is the big addition, and he will do much to lift this offense from the bottom of the league. The Talons even got half his salary paid for, but the challenge will be keeping the FA-to-be after the season. Isekenmier, Guzman, and Mao return, and the pressure will be on Guzman to get back to his tremendous 2046 output as soon as possible. Once promising power hitter Ramiro Hernadez is here for his last arb season after totally whiffing his 2047 campaign. The supporting cast is still the same, with Zimmer winners Warrington Gillette and Ian Patrick Anderson in their all-glove-no-bat glory. And will someone please explain why Ramao Saturnino still has a job, in CF of all places??

Farm System Summary
You know what, we're gonna skip this part because all the Talons seem to care about is signing a bunch of washed up 50 rated players to help their Single A team win 100 games.

Oh, wait. Murray Healey. That's it. That's the farm system.

OVERALL
Much the same as before. Great pitching. Unbeatable bullpen. A lineup that, though improved with the addition of Miller, is still laughable. A non existant farm system. Up against the cap once again with no room to even sign their own players to an extension, much less bring in help for a playoff run.

Honestly we can't wait for the collapse to come, and it's gonna be brutal. And the club doesn't even seem to have the ability to make good trades as the ship sinks from under them. So while it would be a good idea to get returns for guys like Pankratz Isekenmier (or those amazing relievers) while they still can, it likely won't happen. Honestly, have you seen the Talons' trade analyses lately?

PREDICTION
86 wins and missing the final WC spot. But not on the last day. Like a couple weeks before or something, just to change it up a bit. Then, the rebuilding will begin. We mean, it HAS to. But no one is sure the front office has the ability to even get that right.
Last edited by GoldenOne on Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Your 2048 Phoenix Talons

Post by jiminyhopkins » Wed Sep 01, 2021 6:46 pm

Maybe someday we'll get it right... :(
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Re: Your 2048 Phoenix Talons

Post by Jwalk100 » Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:18 pm

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CTBrewCrew
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Re: Your 2048 Phoenix Talons

Post by CTBrewCrew » Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:02 pm

….its always sunny at dennys.
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