2013 Valencia Preview

[wualumni]

in 2012 Valencia had a disappointing season going 73-89 and missing the playoffs for the 14th straight season. A lot of their young talent that they have built up over the many years of losing has arrived recently and it's time for these young talented players to perform. Their roster is littered with highly rated players and maybe 2013 will be the year they all blossom together or will a 15th straight season not in the playoffs be the result?

Off-Season Moves

Key Depatures - OF Tony Alvarez (Waived/Designated), SP Bob Blaisdell (Waived/Designated)

Key Additions - SP Jayden Walker, MR John Edwards

Offense
Catcher - Returning at catcher for the Stars is 2012 Rookie of the Year winner Jason Dunn. Last season he led the team in every major hitting category finishing the season hitting .291 with 30 HRs and 96 RBI while posting a .877 OPS. Veteran Juan Rodriguez will serve as Dunn's backup and may get the occasional start to give the budding star a day off when needed.

First Base - Vicente Medrano will be the primary man at 1B in his 4th full season with Valenica. In 2012 he hit .280 with 13 HRs and 60 RBI while posting a .775 OPS in 126 games. Willie Hudson will serve as the primary backup at 1B getting some starts occasionally against right-handed pitching.

Second Base - Former 1st round draft pick Roger Rouse is back as the starting 2B after an average season in 2012. Rouse is one those players that really needs to step up his game soon. He was expected to be an "on-base machine", but that really hasn't happened yet after five seasons in the big leagues. In 2012 he hit .266 with 6 HRs and 54 RBI while posting a .732 OPS.

Third Base - Another 1st round pick in Jared Stuart will be playing 3B against righties this season (and playing SS against lefties). He missed a decent portion of 2012 with a strained forearm and never really was able to get it going. He finished the year batting .233 with 13 HRs and 36 RBI while posting a .707 OPS. Alonso Perales will start against lefties this season. In 2012 he hit .216 with 0 HRs and 34 RBI while posting a .541 OPS.

Shortstop - Travis Cantrell will be starting at SS in 2013 against right-handed pitching (and will be the DH against lefties). In 2012 he had a very nice season batting .270 with 11 HRs and 67 RBI while posting a .736. Against lefties Jared Stuart will move over from 3B to play SS.

Outfield - The Stars will go with a platoon at all three OF positions to start 2013. Jared Delger will start at CF against righties and LF against lefties. In 2012 he hit .237 with 15 HRs and 42 RBI while posting a .770 OPS. Yi-lin She is back for his 10th season with the Stars and will start in LF against righties. He had another solid season in 2012 hitting .257 with 28 HRs and 80 RBI while posting a .807 OPS. Rookie Cecil Bradley looks to get most of the playing time in RF against RH pitching. He has some very good power although it has never really materialized on the field. In limited action in 2012 he hit .278 with 4 HRs and 13 RBI while posting a .770 OPS in 22 games. Carlos Quick will be manning CF for Valencia against lefties in 2013. Last season he batted .225 with 3 HRs and 15 RBI while posting a .633 OPS in 54 games. Will Simmons will be the starting RF against LH pitching this season. He will also be the DH against RH pitching.

Designated Hitter - Will Simmons will handle the DH duties when facing a RH starter this season. in 2012 he hit .266 with 5 HRs and 44 RBI while posting a .741 OPS. Travis Cantrell will move from SS to DH against left-handed pitching.

Starting Pitching - Valencia's pitching staff has changed a good bit since the beginning of 2012. Allan Howse was acquired in a trade with Carolina in May of 2012 (Howse has now been traded five times in his relatively short career) and the Stars signed Jayden Walker in the offseason from the EBA. Brian Middleton continues to be the Stars ace of the staff leading the way. The 27-year old hard throwing right-hander didn't receive a whole lot of run support in 2012 but still managed to go 12-11 with a 3.71 ERA and 2nd best 1.04 WHIP. Youngster Mario Méndez moves up to the #2 spot in the rotation after another solid year in the rotation. Last season he posted very similar numbers to 2011 going 12-13 with a 4.12 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP. Veteran Allan Howse will man the #3 spot in the rotation after coming over from Carolina last season. For ths Stars in 2012, Howse went 9-13 with a 4.48 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. Free agent signee Jayden Walker will handle the #4 spot in the rotation. He is a two time EBA All-Star, but as we have seen with a lot of EBA signees there seems to be a major transition to the MBBA. We will see how he handles that transition 2013. Last season with Belfast he went 13-7 with a 4.07 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. The 5th spot in the rotation goes to Mark Beadle. He was put into the rotation in 2012 and looks to improve on his efforts from last season when he went 3-6 with a 5.19 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP.

Bullpen - The Valencia bullpen has a different make up to it this season with some former starters now being used in the bullpen. Offseason free-agent signee John Edwards will step into a setup role after a rough season in Marquette last year. Felipe Cruz will also be a setup man for the Stars in 2013 after having a nice season in 2012 where at times he was the closer. Last season he went 2-5 with 21 saves and a 3.28 ERA and a very nice 1.05 WHIP. Sheng Yen will fill a middle relief role after getting moved out of the rotation in 2012. Middle relief duties will also be done by Julian Anderson, Jesús Flores, & Mario Diaz who also came over in the trade from Carolina with Allan Howse. Former rotation member Jesse Mountbatten and Mike Barry will fill the long relief/mopup roles.

Closer - Donald Long will be the Valencia closer in 2013 after having a down year where he closed at times for the Stars, but also pitched in a setup role. Long a 14-year veteran went 3-3 with 8 saves and a 4.36 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP.

Prediction - 2013 may be another tough year for Valencia. They didn't really make any "huge" additions from last seasons team so there will have to be several players increase their production for them to have any chance of ending the playoff drought. Vancouver is still very solid and California will be a tough team to beat as well after going 90-72 last season.

2013 Predicted Record - 73-89 (No Playoffs)

[Al-Hoot]

Excellent write up, Jason. The JLP will continue to be an interesting one to watch.

[leejay56]

great write up,, pitching could be the problem again, Howse looks like he is tanking, ahhhh, the young arms have never hit there pot yet....

[recte44]

Walker is just going to give up a ton of homers as a SP in the MBBA. Look out.