37-10 Checking the Locks: Starting Rotation

[crobillard]

This is a series where I will evaluate the options in each position leading into Spring Training. This is the ninth of twelve parts, including a prediction and end of Spring Training analysis. I will be taking a looking into starting rotation in this post.

Sure fire locks: Bobby Lynch, Chet Parrish, Jesus Ramos
Near locks: Maxime Manceau
Trying to get in the door: Justin Sproule, Derrick Terry, Taisuke Suzuki

The ace in this rotation is unquestionably Bobby Lynch. The young, lefty flamethrower has impressed in his last four seasons, winning the Newcomer of the Year award in 2033 and getting selected as an All Star in 2034. Since then, he's had a tough string of injuries that have kept his time on the mound limited. We really need a full season out of him if we're going to see what this team can actually do. Without him, this rotation is kind of meh. Parrish is definitely going to start on this team, but he has had some wild ups and downs. For the team's #2 or #3 starter, that's not great to hear. Hopefully he can pull it together this year and provide some quality innings. Ramos has really limited stamina rated at a 4. For many years he was decent as a starter, until last year when he was bounced around from starter to reliever and from Montreal to Edmonton. All having various levels of success and failure. He will be a starter on the 2037 Jackrabbits. As recently as 2035 he went 18-7 with a 3.97 ERA in 199.1 IP as a starter so he has the talent.

After those three, the Jackrabbits have some huge question marks. Manceau and Suzuki are the main incumbents to the #4 and #5 spots in the rotation. Manceau is probably deserving based on his ratings, but he gave up a whopping 5.22 runs per 9 innings last season in 205 IP. He's had success in the past, but he needs to do better this year to keep his job. If he gets blown up in the spring who knows what will happen, but with 7/8/8 ratings and 6/8/8 for pitches it will likely be difficult to deny him a spot in the rotation even if he performs poorly in the spring. The Jackrabbits just do not have any depth in their pitching staff. If anyone else performs well on the pitching staff then it's likely Suzuki will be pushed out of the rotation. He's started for a few seasons and he's consistently a high 4 ERA, but last year hit 5s for the first time. His ratings are fine at 9/6/6 and 7/9/2/6 for pitches and for a #5 pitcher in the rotation you can definitely find worse, but the Jackrabbits need better production from their pitching staff this season and that may mean trying different things.

Terry and Sproule are the ones vying for spots in the rotation. I'm not a huge fan of Sproule's ratings, but the game likes him way more than I do, so I figured I would give him a shot. With ratings of 6/6/7 and pitches of 6/6/5/6/6 the unremarkable young lefty is definitely a finesse pitcher. He started in 23 games in 2035 and had a solid 4.17 ERA so despite how he looks there is precedent for trying him out. If he pitches well in the spring he could definitely see some time starting once the season begins. Terry is interesting to me and I would like to see how he performs. At 22 years old, he's never started for any lasting amount of time in the majors. He's fully developed and has 9/5/7 ratings with 8/10/2/7 for pitches. He pitched well out of the bullpen last season to the tune of a 3.76 ERA in 95.2 IP.

Overall, this rotation will likely need a much larger influx of talent for this team to ever be a contender in this league. A better defense would definitely be welcomed and will help this group, but even the best player in this rotation is not really ace material. No one is truly dominating among this group, so it will take better efforts than any of them have done before in order to help this team contend in the Frontier division.

[indiansfan]

Wonder how that drop in movement is going to impact Lynch. He might be good enough to handle the 5 because he is great everywhere else. Be interesting to see.