37-13 Checking the Locks: Active Roster Results

[crobillard]

This is a series where I will evaluate the options in each position leading into Spring Training. This is the last of twelve parts. Here are the results and our active 27.

Catcher - Eric Fabre, Larry Ledezma

After Miguel Valencia dropped a point in power, the advantage of choosing him over Ledezma went out the window. Valencia is slightly worse defensively, so he was behind the eight ball with me already. Ledezma is young and is a solid hitter. He wont challenge Fabre for the starting position, but he could be serviceable if Fabre has any injuries. I feel okay with Fabre as my starting catcher. I'm not in a big rush to replace him, but if ever an opportunity arose I don't think I'd delay in replacing him.

Infield - Dusty Rhodes, George Bluth, Dong-soo Chon, Luis Soto, Felix Arrojo, Juan Rodriguez

Dong-soo Chon was added during the spring and he is a very welcome addition to the team. Not only does he provide a sizable bump to fan interest, but he probably gives me and incredible double play combination with Bluth. Those two together can probably make any defensive play imaginable. You will notice Steven Collins III is not on this list. I know he just got a fantastic bump in contact to a 9. It's really tempting to have him start. He was solid in the spring too, with a .279 batting average, a homerun and eight RBIs. I don't know how to pull full spring training stats. I am just using box scores, so no idea how many at bats that was in. He was good though. I am keeping him in AAA for now though because I'd like him to continue his strong progression this year and learn at least LF, I may try him at SS as well and see if he can get a six rating there or something. Nakao Honma is an unfortunate casualty on the roster. I would love to keep him on the active roster, but contracts will prevent me from doing it. Honma will be sent down to AAa. Soto is probably our best infield bat off the bench and likely the first guy to play in a position if anyone is hurt. I would love to dump Rodriguez, but his five million dollar salary through next year keeps him on the roster. I guess he has some positive qualities on defense. Arrojo could be our starter at third base unless I change my mind on Collins at some point. He doesn't have a ton of range, but he's excellent defensively at third otherwise. With as much range as the team will have at shortstop, I think we should be fine. Arrojo is not a great hitter and definitely cannot be in the lineup vs. a LHP. In that case, Soto may come in at second to put a better bat in the lineup. Soto may see time at second vs. RHP too at some points. However, he's our only backup option at first base if anything happens to Rhodes. He has not had any major injuries in his career though and has Iron Man status, so I'm not overly concerned about that.Leonardo Martinez]Leonardo Martinez[/url] didn't make the cut and will be sent back to AAA. He hit fine, but he was the contender for the DH position if Crauen continued to fizzle and sputter. One other consideration about the infield is that Luis Costello]Luis Costello[/url] can play second in a pinch.

Outfield - Mike Gilbert, William Wood, Luis Costello, Mitch Dalrymple, Declan Crauen, Gordon Burkett, Santiago Gonzalez

The Gilbert/Suzuki platoon was not as great as I had hoped it would be. Gilbert was good, but Suzuki was not. Suzuki played himself out of the near lock status and will find himself in AAA to start the season. Costello saw time in left field to gain a rating there. He had no rating in left and shot up to four during a very limited few games, so I think he will be fine if I stick him in left to start the season. Wood will stick to center field. In the past it was Wood that moved to left, but I like his defense better than Costello's so I'll be keeping him in center. Dalrymple still owns right field. Crauen is likely to keep DH duties vs. RHP. Crauen was not fantastic at the plate last season. I really like to see more out of my DH's, but the potential is there and he tore it up at the plate during the spring. Versus LHP Gilbert will replace Crauen at DH and Gilbert did fine at the plate during the spring, but will always see a lot of time vs. LHP since he hits so well against them. Burkett fills a backup defensive role while Gonzalez is a solid contact bat off the bench.

Starters - Hiroyuki Rin, Bobby Lynch, Chet Parrish, Jesus Ramos, Maxime Manceau

Rin was a late acquisition to the team. He has not started in eight seasons as his ratings are much better suited for a reliever, but he will be starting on this wrecked team. I was hoping that Derrick Terry, Taisuke Suzuki or Justin Sproule would prove that they deserved a spot in the rotation though and I thought based on past performance that Terry would be at least okay or maybe Suzuki would show why he got a spot in the rotation in the first place, but no dice on any of those fronts. Rin will be a starter at least to start the season off. If he was in the bullpen, he would be one of my best relievers and similarly I'd want him on the mound for as many innings as I could get him for anyways, so I'll throw him out there and hope for about four or five innings of work. He'll have a short leash though with every start as I don't want his arm to fall off and for him to start throwing beach balls to the plate. The rest of the rotation isn't too much of a surprise Ramos has a similar makeup to Rin, but has faired better for longer as a starter than Rin. I'm not surprised Manceau got a spot in the rotation. If he got shelled in the spring I would probably pull him from the rotation, but he played well. He had a 3.15 ERA in 20 innings. That's certainly well enough to keep his spot in the rotation on this team.

Bullpen: Jorge Huerta, Arturo Lopez, Taisuke Suzuki, Derrick Terry, Ricardo Valera, Wen Huang, John Jefferson

Terry and Suzuki were both rotation contenders that have been pushed out. They both should be good enough for the bullpen and possibly longer stamina options to come out of the the pen for three innings or so to help Ramos and Rin. I was really torn with Valera and Martin Bacardi. Both of them just dropped a point in stuff. Valera is getting paid 1.6 million and Bacardi was signed to a minor league contract so I ended up keeping Valera on however I may have to release him if his ratings continue to plummet. Jefferson and Huang both had terrible springs and I really wanted to find a way to start them out in AAA and try other options, but it wont work out that way because of contracts. I'll have to start the season, see how they do and evaluate whether I was to keep them on the team. I wanted to try out Elizondo, but to be fair he hasn't seen any time at all yet in AAA and has dominated in A and AA, so his season will start in AAA and I may end up bringing him onto the active roster if all goes well. Elizondo is a lefty with reverse splits. He pitched okay in the spring with a 4.15 ERA in 13 innings. I have more confidence in Huerta and Lopez out of the bullpen than anyone else and I'll try to have them come out for as many innings as I can. They both had outstanding springs. The only question with them is which one will close and which will be the setup man.

[RonCo]

I was offering Rin a spot in Yellow Springs with the idea of using him as a starter, too. Missing out meant I brought Ernesto Ramos up just a bit earlier than I wanted...but I'll admit I'm interested ins seeing how Rin handles the load.

[crobillard]

I was offering Rin a spot in Yellow Springs with the idea of using him as a starter, too. Missing out meant I brought Ernesto Ramos up just a bit earlier than I wanted...but I'll admit I'm interested ins seeing how Rin handles the load.

Yeah, it's risky, but I don't love any other options. I like Rin. If he does really poorly then I'll just move him back into the bullpen. The issue is that I'm not sure I have anyone better than how I think Rin will do lol. I may try putting him on a pitch count and seeing how he does with that.

[Lane]

Fabre is really good.

I'd keep Collins down until he got closer to that 12 CON, or until I thought his morale was bad enough to negatively impact his development.

[crobillard]

Fabre is really good.

I'd keep Collins down until he got closer to that 12 CON, or until I thought his morale was bad enough to negatively impact his development.

Great point on Collins and his morale. I will have to keep an eye on that. I don't think I will be able to hold back Collins any more after this season. He's already gained two points of contact since the end of last season though, so hopefully I wont feel like I need to hold him back. I really want those contact points though, so I'm really hoping he picks them up quickly.

[recte44]

I wouldn’t be able to keep Collins down.

[crobillard]

I wouldn’t be able to keep Collins down.

It’s certainly not easy. It seems like the development of players has changed in the league since I was last here too. Just a cursory observation, no data I’ve pulled. I don’t want to fuck up getting his pots with my greediness. Even with the extra contact points this season he’s still only mediocre in AAA so hopefully I’m making the right choice.

With everything I’ve said though, there could totally be a time this season where my patience runs out and I call him up out of frustration that no one can hit at third base lol. It’s something I’ve thought about.

[Ted]

I wouldn’t be able to keep Collins down.

It’s certainly not easy. It seems like the development of players has changed in the league since I was last here too. Just a cursory observation, no data I’ve pulled. I don’t want to fuck up getting his pots with my greediness. Even with the extra contact points this season he’s still only mediocre in AAA so hopefully I’m making the right choice.

With everything I’ve said though, there could totally be a time this season where my patience runs out and I call him up out of frustration that no one can hit at third base lol. It’s something I’ve thought about.

I'm curious what you mean by the development of players changing. I'm not disagreeing. You left right after I got here, and as you've mentioned, it's been a bit. I'm interested in your perspective on what is different.

[crobillard]

I wouldn’t be able to keep Collins down.

It’s certainly not easy. It seems like the development of players has changed in the league since I was last here too. Just a cursory observation, no data I’ve pulled. I don’t want to fuck up getting his pots with my greediness. Even with the extra contact points this season he’s still only mediocre in AAA so hopefully I’m making the right choice.

With everything I’ve said though, there could totally be a time this season where my patience runs out and I call him up out of frustration that no one can hit at third base lol. It’s something I’ve thought about.

I'm curious what you mean by the development of players changing. I'm not disagreeing. You left right after I got here, and as you've mentioned, it's been a bit. I'm interested in your perspective on what is different.

Well, like I said this isn't based on anything I've actually looked into, but movement is definitely different. Ratings didn't go beyond 10. There are a lot of pitchers with high stuff. Seems like more than before, but there's always been a lot. This is a little more difficult to explain, but batters with 8 contact and the rest of the ratings are decent, don't hit as well as I expected. All of that has changed how I've have seen players develop in the past. Of course it could just be rust. I haven't really touched OOTP since I left the league. With all of that said, I really need to look into this more in order to speak more knowledgeably on the topic.

[Lane]

MOV changed with version 19, most pitchers dropped by 1 point.

Matt changed the ratings setting a few seasons ago to display ratings greater than max.