45.11 Checking the Locks: Final Results

GM: Mike Neugebauer

Moderator: neugey

crobillard
Ex-GM
Posts: 2936
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2014 7:38 am
Has thanked: 297 times
Been thanked: 240 times

45.11 Checking the Locks: Final Results

Post by crobillard » Fri Nov 27, 2020 2:31 pm

This is a series where I will evaluate the options in each position leading into Spring Training. This is the last part of the series. I will be providing some results for the locks I chose, how it compares to 2044 and I will update it with a later post with which players make the active roster for Opening Day.

Sure fire locks:
Rainer Scheffer
Carlomaria Donadoni
Steven Collins III
Pepe Espinosa
Jose Salas
Po-sin Shi
Pedro Huerta
Chandler Hall
Jose Martinez
Amos Swallows
Fedaku Bbosa
Lando Klomp
Jorge Huerta
Ryosei Akiyama

Near lock:
Juan Colon
Miguel Deleon
Joey Nethersole
Bill Morley
Itze Woertgen
Freddy Delgado
Antonio Gonzales
Ryosei Akahori
Diogo Lindt
Alexandre Renard
Albert Love
Shinsaku Sato
Zhi-xin Chien

Trying to get in the door:
Pablo Espinoza
Christophe Claudel
Semer Hakimi
Kevin Mitchell
Kel Bacon
Juan Carlos Ortiz
Rafael Gonzales
Roberto Puente
Winston Abernathy
Lorenzo Leon
Antonio Gonzales
Bob Plummer
Martin Villa
Sixto Rivera
Lance Carter
Jorge Limon
Freddy Diaz
Jose Duarte
Manny Baca
Cristian Chavez
Tokimasa Ihara
Victor Ortega

Lots going on this spring after many changes in the pitching staff and a big ol' hole in the middle of our infield, this of course leads to a lot of competition, but I added so many different pieces just so I could take a peek at everyone and we also have a lot of minor league options running out that we're contending with. Let's start at the top though with how it compares to last year.

We have 14 sure fire locks which has to be our lowest number in a long time. Between our middle infield competition, the competition to carve out more roster spots for the bench and the starter/bullpen competition, our depth is thriving. If all sure fire and near locks make the team we'll have a full 27 man roster. There's obvious issues with that, that we'll get into in a sec, but it's worth noting that three of those players are injured to start the season, so three players trying to get in the door will get a chance at the start of the season. I always love when that happens because it means that three players that really weren't supposed to make the team, made it.

Catcher - 2
Infield - 5
Outfield - 4
Rotation - 9
Bullpen - 7

This is pretty wild. So we're down one outfielder from this time last year and up three starters and one reliever. That's never happened to me. I guess those injuries last season really made me stock up in potential starters. Of course that actually changes if the players are productive as starters and we have a couple of pitchers that I listed as starters that are a bit questionable there and are probably more suitable for bullpen work, but with our injury history it's a very good thing that we have so much flexibility.

crobillard
Ex-GM
Posts: 2936
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2014 7:38 am
Has thanked: 297 times
Been thanked: 240 times

Re: 45.11 Checking the Locks: Final Results

Post by crobillard » Sun Nov 29, 2020 10:40 am

Your 2045 Edmonton Jackrabbits:

Catcher
Rainer Scheffer
Juan Colon

Infield
Carlomaria Donadoni
Steven Collins III
Pepe Espinosa
Miguel Deleon
Joey Nethersole
Kel Bacon
Roberto Puente

Outfield
Bill Morley
Jose Salas
Po-sin Shi
Pedro Huerta
Lorenzo Leon

Rotation
Chandler Hall
Jose Martinez
Amos Swallows
Fedaku Bbosa
Lando Klomp

Bullpen
Ryosei Akahori - INJURED
Freddy Delgado
Diogo Lindt
Albert Love
Shinsaku Sato
Zhi-xin Chien
Jorge Huerta
Ryosei Akiyama - INJURED
Victor Ortega
Martin Villa

Going into the spring, Edmonton needed to find a second baseman, a designated hitter and they needed to sort out their bullpen after some losses. The roster above is pretty definitive. The team is moving towards a clear DH platoon with some infield and outfield redundancy in Leon and Bacon. The likely starters at second base is probably a combination of Puerte and Nethersole. Trying to win the job in the spring, Nethersole crushed the pitching with a .924 OPS in 52 at bats.

That's three players who were trying to get in the door that made it, but before we get into who didn't make it, there is one more. I eluded to this possibility previously, but without Akahori to start the season we needed a lefty and Ortega fits the makeup of someone who might be successful for us. It helped that he also pitched in 17 innings during the spring and only allowed five runs. I think anyone who read throw my posts on pitching would think that Gonzales, who was a near lock, would have made it through. The issue with Gonzales was that he looked really bad in the spring as a starter. He pitched in 21 innings and allowed 27 hits, 18 runs and five homeruns. Perhaps he would work through his issues, but since last season he also performed poorly in Phoenix in 68.1 innings with a 6.45 ERA and 1.61 WHIP, it was an easy decision to have him start the season in AAA and probably call him up later.

Another pitcher that was expected to make it on the active roster was Woertgen. Fans have been wanting to see what the team had in Woertgen since the Robert Menzies trade was made. His spring was solid too with a 4.13 ERA in 24 innings and a solid WHIP at 1.17. The 24 year old is running out of time, but he's missing a point of stuff so this decision was probably just made because the team feels confident in their pitching staff and they want to save arbitration clock time on Woertgen. I'm guessing we'll see him called up at some point during the season. He's been performing too well in AAA to hold him down for too long.

Some other interesting notes: Tokimasa Ihara missed the active roster. He was figured to be a long shot for the rotation, but possibly could make the bullpen due to the need for a lefty. However, after his abysmal first 10 innings for the team last season in which he allowed 13 runs and then in spring training he allowed 18 runs in 21.1 innings, the thought is probably to use him only as a reliever going forward, so the team wants to get a longer look at him.

Future stopper, Cristian Chavez will start the season in AA and likely end up in AAA by the end of the season. Chavez is rated 9/8/6 actuals with 8/8/2 pitches and 11/8/8 potentials with 10/9/5 pitches. There's an opportunity to be a starter there if that changeup fills out since he has 6 stamina, so the team is very conservative with him. I wouldn't be surprised if the soon-to-be 21 year old is called up next season.

Hakimi and Ortiz are in AAA and they become immediate callups if there is any time missed by Nethersole, Espinosa or Puerte. Having those kind of depth options has always been really important to me and at one point I considered having all of them as my starter, so I wouldn't feel bad about putting any of them in that position.

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Edmonton Jackrabbits”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests