Atlantic City 2054 Team Preview

[DaveB]

The Atlantic City Gamblers are coming off a solid 2053 season in which they went 94-68 for a second place finish in the Atlantic Division. According to OOTP The Gamblers lost the 2nd most WAR in the league as of this writing at a total of -8.0. Only Mexico City lost more WAR over the winter at -14.7.

Key Losses:
RF: José Romero
SP: Kevin Shepard
SS: Asher Chuang
1B: Oliverio Luna
OF: Jean-François Hamon
2B: Pete Brace
SP: Jayden Nicholls


Key Additions:
C: Rich Chandler
OF: Arturo Maes
1B: Erik 'Shakespeare' Wignes
P: Josh Miller
RF: Hyeon-uk Hong
MR: Knox Sked
SS: Frederick Manchild
P: Daniel Camacho
1B: António Martínez

The Gamblers appear to be in a bit of a retooling year having lost solid talent like Luna, Brace, Romero, and Chang. Offensively they still have a solid core of players like C: Octávio 'Dog House' Moreno and OF: Juan Rivera to anchor the middle of the lineup on a day to day basis. The big part of the of what will decide the fate of the 2054 Gamblers will depend on the performance of the secondary of players like Carlos 'Big Stick' Benítez, Ernesto González, and Erik Wignes. Benitez and Gonzalez are going to be the key to the Atlantic City lineup in my opinion. The reason is because it's a lot easier to face Moreno and Rivera with no one on base than it is to face those two with runners on base.

Pitching wise they are led by Cy Young Contender Carlos 'Tag' Flores. After him Jimmy 'The Boss' Huggins brings a steady career 105 ERA+ to the #2 slot in the rotation. Listed as the projected 4th starter is the player I feel could be a sleeper Robert Wilson. After those 3 the aforementioned Daniel Camacho and groundball pitcher Topan Adjeng. In the bullpen perennial underrated All Star candidate Steven Flannery anchors the back of the rotation. The Gamblers after Flannery are a bit thin in the quality relieft pitcher field. Knox Sked, my former closer from the Mumbai Metro Stars days, could be a solid addition to the back end of the bullpen as he his experience in the late innings could be quite helpful. I'd expect the Gamblers to keep an eye on left over relievers on the free agent market on cheap deals as well as the waiver wire to try to improve.

Edgar Villalobos is going to have to be huge this year. You might be asking who the heck is Edgar Villalobos? The answer to that question is the Atlantic City trainer. Villalobos is going to be a big key to the success because if he can keep the Gamblers on the field it's going to be huge due to the lack of depth in both the offense and pitching sides of the diamond.

Predictions:
OOTP has the Gamblers finishing tied for 4th in the division with 80 wins. I don't completely agree with that. I see 80 wins as more of a floor for the team. I have them penciled in at 85 wins on the year, but if everything goes right I can see a 90 win season. The reason is because any team that has a potential Cy Young candidate like Carlos Flores and a MVP Candidate like Juan Rivera is a team that can contend unless the sky is falling around them.