2049 Valencia Stars Preview

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2049 Valencia Stars Preview

Post by Dington » Wed Nov 24, 2021 5:51 pm

2049 Valencia Stars Preview


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Pitching

Valencia’s gunslingers improved their ERA by over a run between 2047 and 2048. The Plainsman, Ken Arroyo, laughed at the idea of a sophomore slump and proved he will a force to be reckoned with in the Frick League. Despite being limited to mostly bullpen duties in 2047, Micheal Dixon proved to be a top of the rotation starter with a 3.01 ERA in 32 starts in 2048. Greg Jackson is coming off his best season as a Star and Harold Newbold pitched well in his rookie campaign, but will miss the first few weeks of the season due to an ankle injury. The team expects big things from rookie, Carlton Day, however, they will have to be careful with the towering southpaw as he is suffering from a little elbow stiffness after his first week in spring training. Jorge Magdalena, Ron Smith, and Jacob Smiley will all offer depth in case of injury.

The revamped bullpen is stronger than ever headlined by veteran, John Olson. The sheriff closing out games now has a posse of deputies to help shorten games. The Stars traded for Martin Román from the Bluebirds and signed pistol slinger, Jorge Huerta, and Steve Harrison in free agency. If it wasn’t going to be tough enough scoring runs in the first 7 innings, hitters won’t have much more luck in the final innings either.


Infield

Valencia didn’t have much to write home about behind the plate in 2048, but addressed those issues beginning with the trade deadline acquisition of youngster, Clinton Tyler, who shows promise of being an every day BBA catcher. But then things got really crazy in the offseason and Valencia unloaded their top two highly coveted prospects for 3-time all star, Roelof Klooster. Many can argue that they overpaid for the veteran catcher, but the Stars are all in now that they’re within striking distance of a playoff berth. Free agent sluggers, Edgardo Diaz and Juan Mateo, were given enormous checks and will split duties at 1B. Probably another overpay, but again, this team is going for it! Rookie 2B, Yodo Sato played extremely well in his first cup of coffee last season, batting .356 in 104 ABs. The 21 year old expects to bat well over .300 in the BBA with great speed at the top of the lineup, however he doesn’t have much pop or Zimmer awards in his future. His double play partner at SS should be Thomas Jefferson, who was just barely above replacement player value in his rookie season. He won’t dazzle with the bat or glove, but is about as ordinary as they come. He has yet to retire this season. Kenan Reis cashed in on a tremendous 2048 season and turned his 4.5 WAR season into a 3 year extension worth $25.5M. Stars fans are really hoping he is able to be at least half the player he was in 2048, although based off previous seasons’ WAR totals, that doesn’t seem likely. If Reis regresses back to his norm this season, one of the other infield bats will need to step up.

Outfield

This is not your Haney’s outfield. Frederick Brisset is the star outfielder who crushes RHP and provides Zimmer-level defense, but has a glaring weakness against LHP which should limit his effectiveness. Julio Garcia is a more consistent option and doesn’t have a platoon split like Brisset. He is a liability defensively, however, so he will need to hit 30+ HR to make an impact. Jim Lorenzen might see time in CF against LHP and it appears there will be another platoon in RF with Ramiro Hernandez and Gene Meade. Angel Perez had a solid 2048 stint and has started spring training on fire, so he could work himself into the lineup. Valencia doesn’t have a lot of pats remaining in the farm, but could use a solid everyday outfielder. If the Stars pitchers can keep the ball on the ground enough it may mask the lack of range of the outfielders.

Designated Hitter

Lee Stone should be the every day DH for the Stars, but could lose some ABs to Perez against RHP. Stone is a rock in the middle of the Stars lineup and put up an OPS+ of 131 and hit equally well against LHP and RHP.


GM Morris Ragland improved the team’s win total from 70 to 78 last season and I expect to see another improvement this season. Afterall, they sold the farm, so I would expect Morris would be upset with anything under 90 wins. Alas, the team still has a few holes to fill and their defense is suspect. Although the pitching staff is great, they might allow to many balls in play for their liking. Sacramento will still easily win the Pacific, but Valencia should challenge San Fernando and Portland for second best. The bigger challenge would be securing a wild card spot. The strength of the Heartland might lock up all four wild card spots again, but if they beat up on each other enough, a Pacific team might sneak in. I see Valencia winning 86 games, but failing to make the playoffs.
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Re: 2049 Valencia Stars Preview

Post by mragland » Thu Nov 25, 2021 8:01 pm

For a team with seven straight seasons below .500, I'm tempted to say that 82 wins ought to be the measure of success.

Here is where I'd like to see improvement. These are the team's records from last year:

0-6 against Madison
0-6 against Yellow Springs
1-5 against Nashville
2-4 against Omaha
5-11 against Sacramento

8-32 against those five teams.

Against quality teams, the Stars fell, and often. A lot of room for improvement there.
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2048 Caleca Winner

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Re: 2049 Valencia Stars Preview

Post by Dington » Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:25 pm

Nashville seemed to have a problem with Valencia prior to last year which was really frustrating. How did you find the team records last year? I couldn’t find it.
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Re: 2049 Valencia Stars Preview

Post by mragland » Fri Nov 26, 2021 9:54 am

I keep an old version of the game around so I have access to the prior year's reports.
Morris Ragland
President, Baseball Ops, Beirut Cedars (8/25/46 - 10/23/47)
President, Baseball Ops, Valencia Stars (10/24/47 - present)
925-891 Lifetime Record
2048 Caleca Winner

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." - W. Churchill

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Re: 2049 Valencia Stars Preview

Post by usnspecialist » Sat Nov 27, 2021 1:45 am

Dington wrote:
Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:25 pm
Nashville seemed to have a problem with Valencia prior to last year which was really frustrating. How did you find the team records last year? I couldn’t find it.
Statsplus also has results of every head to head match going back to 2036 under the historical tab.
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Havana Sugar Kings/San Fernando Bears: 32-50 (1608-1481)
Des Moines Kernels: 52-

League Champion- 34
JL Champion- 34
FL Champion- 36, 37
JL Southern- 34
FL Pacific- 37, 39
Wild Card- 33, 35, 36, 40, 43

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Re: 2049 Valencia Stars Preview

Post by CTBrewCrew » Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:54 pm

mragland wrote:
Thu Nov 25, 2021 8:01 pm
For a team with seven straight seasons below .500, I'm tempted to say that 82 wins ought to be the measure of success.

Here is where I'd like to see improvement. These are the team's records from last year:

0-6 against Madison
0-6 against Yellow Springs
1-5 against Nashville
2-4 against Omaha
5-11 against Sacramento

8-32 against those five teams.

Against quality teams, the Stars fell, and often. A lot of room for improvement there.
YES!!! Quality and Madison in the SAME sentence!!!!
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