10 Burning Questions on The 2055 Rocky Mountain Oysters (Team Preview)

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niles08
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10 Burning Questions on The 2055 Rocky Mountain Oysters (Team Preview)

Post by niles08 » Fri May 26, 2023 9:57 am

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What moves did the Rocky Mountain Oysters make this off season?

Free-agent signings/Rule 5/Waivers:

• LF Kieran Rinn(Rule 5)
• C Ron Shiplack(4 yr/$37M)
• 2B Carlos Flores(4 yr/$12M)
• LF Pancho Costa(4 yr/$32M)

Trades:

• Acquired OF Chris McFadden from Brooklyn in exchange for 3B Jorge Lugo.

Departures:

• RP Francisco Salgado(0.6 WAR)
• LF Cinema Jones(4.5 WAR)
• SP Bernie Stuart(2.7 WAR)
• LF Cinema Jones(4.5 WAR)

Rocky Mountain’s season ended just short of the Brewster Series last year, and shortly after the dominoes began to fall as both Cinema Jones and Bernie Stuart announced their intentions to exercise their opt out’s, leaving Rocky Mountain with a few holes to fill. Thankfully, that also left Rocky Mountain plenty of cap room to fill those holes and despite their recent signings still rank in the bottom 25% of the league in payroll with nearly $20M to spend.

Rocky Mountain had plenty of strength’s last year, but one area of concern was their bullpen. With Francisco Salgado leaving for free agency and Stuart not around to go deeper in games any longer, their bullpen remains a piece that they should try to shore up this off-season.

Had they had less cap space, I would scrutinize their deals, as they did not need to add another catcher of Shiplack’s quality, nor did they need to spend as much as they did on Costa, who appears likely to simply be used as a DH against lefties where he may finish the season with 150 plate appearances. Granted, these are shorter contracts than the 4 years appears as each have 2 years of team options, they still could have spent that money on some lock down back end options.

Justin Niles off-season grade: B-
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Players to watch

Team MVP?

Mailk Bin Mazin, 1B/3B: It pains me every time I hear his name, knowing that he was once our top prospect, but there is no doubt that he is the MVP and leader of this team. He put up 7.5 WAR last season on his way to the Sawyer award. What can he do for an encore in his “contract season” and with his rumored greed, what sort of contract will be command? $20M a year? $25M a year?

Most likely trade candidate?

Pedro Gomez, C: This is likely more of a released candidate than anything, but with Shiplack signing, the team is not going to carry 3 catchers. Even if the team didn’t sign Shiplack, Gomez wasn’t likely to have a .409 BABIP again this season to justify even his $1.1M salary. His work behind the plate hasn’t been satisfactory in years. It’s time for him to hang it up.

Most likely to take a step back this season?

Resurrection Santos, CF: This would have easily been Gomez, but I think he is going to be released, so cover your Oysters Oyster fans, you won’t like this. I think Santos is going to take a major step back this year. Wait, you're a moron. You're picking a 22-year-old to step back? Yes and Yes. He isn’t going to hit a triple slash of .345/.363/.529. His glove will still be stellar, but a major reason for this is against left-handed pitching he isn’t going to hit .301 again, nor while his BABIP against righties be .387. You’ll get 4 WAR from him, but not the 6+ that you had last year.

Who has the most to lose (or gain) this season?

Youngsters in the bullpen: This team is going to need somebody to step up in the bullpen this year. There are several young guys who are capable of making a difference and they should get the chance to prove themselves. Guys like Joe Shaw and Paul Berry immediately jump out. Potentially, even Ken Steele could find himself in the back end of a bullpen?

Most likely to have a bounce-back season?

None: I searched quite a bit here, but I couldn’t even find anybody who stood out in the minor leagues that I thought had a poor showing last year for the organization. Usually this a good sign, except when you're heading into a new season, and there are a few candidates for regression.

Likeliest to outperform their projection?

Adam Neal, OF: This is a sneaky contract by Rocky Moutain, who signed Neal to a minor league deal with a major league option worth $1,500,000. Neal is a solid player in the outfield, and especially does well against left-handed pitching. Despite not appearing in a BBA game since 2051, I expect Neal to get some plate appearances with RMO and potentially end up starting against lefties for them as the season goes on.

Rookie most likely to make an impact?

Micah Harrington, SP: Easy one here with the departure of Stuart. Harrington pitched in 8 games last year, throwing 44 innings, just 6 less than the 50 that would have disqualified him from being a rookie. Expect Harrington to have a mid 4 ERA and be in contention for ROTY honors come the end of the season.
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How good is the Oyster’s farm system?

No. 1 prospect: Micah Harrington (#14 overall)

As mentioned, Harrington is going to play this year and likely be a rookie of the year candidate as he attempts to fill the void left by Bernie Stuart. Harrington, at age 23, looks like he has the tools needed to succeed with a 5 pitch arsenal led by a cut fastball and curveball. He hits 100 on the gun with ease.

Organization’s ranking: No. 18

Behind Harrington, the Oysters have Allan Uecker, who looks like an eventual everyday catcher for much of Harrington’s future career. It quickly falls off after him however, with just 6 other prospects ranked in the top 500 (and none higher than 250).

What to expect from the Oysters this season?

OOTP Season Projection: 95-67

Justin Niles season projection: 92-70

The Oysters are clearly in win now mode, hoping for their third straight postseason berth, however they have failed to win the division the past 2 times. Despite fewer wins than the prior 2 years, I think this is the year they finally take the division, earning the first round bye but they must shore up their bullpen.

Bold prediction:

Malik Bin Mazin signs a 6-year contract extension during the season worth a total of $112,000,000 on his way to his second consecutive Sawyer award.
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Re: 10 Burning Questions on The 2055 Rocky Mountain Oysters (Team Preview)

Post by GoldenOne » Fri May 26, 2023 10:24 am

Nice! You listed Cinema Jones twice though. I mean, he was valuable to the team, but not enough to list him twice.

The hope is Harrington can almost reproduce what Stuart did. Also, last year we were really hurting against LHP and the acquisitions so far reflect the focus on that so we expect to be better there.

There really wasnt a lot of Closer-type RPs on the market this season. Hopefully the call-ups can perform better and some of the returners can perform up to where they should be. But, if anyone has a closer-type that they are looking to get rid of, let me know.
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Re: 10 Burning Questions on The 2055 Rocky Mountain Oysters (Team Preview)

Post by trmmilwwi » Tue May 30, 2023 12:34 pm

Love seeing the name Uecker! ;)
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