46.17 Checking the Locks: Final Results

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46.17 Checking the Locks: Final Results

Post by crobillard » Fri Feb 19, 2021 7:59 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
Roberto Puente
Steven Collins III
Pepe Espinosa
Joey Nethersole
Jose Salas
Girolamo L'Archibudelli
Bill Morley
Pedro Huerta
Jose Martinez
Amos Swallows
Lando Klomp
Luis Espinosa
Chandler Hall
Ramon Martinez
Ryosei Akiyama

Near lock:
Toshikazu Noguchi
Miguel Deleon
Lorenzo Leon
Patrick Cross
Itze Woertgen
Antonio Gonzales
Fedaku Bbosa
Joey Piccoli
Jose Luna
Victor Ortega
Albert Love
Shinsaku Sato
Derrek Herapath

Trying to get in the door:
Juan Colon
Rusty Burkhead
Vincent Vanderhugen
Semer Hakimi
Juan Carlos Ortiz
Rafael Gonzales
Emilio Medina
Antonio Gonzales
Juan Solis
Carlos Jimenez
Martin Villa
Cristian Chavez
Gabriel Soto
Tokimasa Ihara
Jorge Limon
Jose Duarte
Manny Baca
Mike Henderickson

Last season at this time I was talking about the hole in the middle of our infield. I think we pretty sufficiently solved that with Puerte's addition, at least for now. After spring training last season we added L'Arch and Cross. L'Arch transformed our offense into something much more OBP focused and he can probably take some credit for this team producing so many runs consistently. This season we traded Jorge Huerta and if our bullpen really struggles than everyone will be wondering how things would have gone if we kept him instead. We had an opportunity to keep nearly our entire team from the Landis series win intact and we chose to remove a rather large part in Huerta so we could add Martinez and Luis Espinosa. Martinez is really good, but he has such limited stamina that it will require a pretty drastic change in the way our bullpen is assembled and utilized. Turns out it's not too easy to replace around 150 innings a player has provided you out of the bullpen for six consecutive seasons. Any decisions made here will probably take the bullpen into consideration above everything else. Espinosa is great acquisition as his 11 stamina along with Klomp and Woertgen's ability to stay in the game long will allow our bullpen to rest and they'll hopefully be able to soak up innings really well. With so much pitching talent coming up it's a good time for a reconstruction of the pitching staff even if they're not all ready right now.

We have 17 sure fire locks which is an increase of three over last season's final results. All three additions came on offense. Puente, Nethersole and L'Arch were the additions within their positions. If all sure fire and near locks make the team we'll have 30 players on the active rosters, so we have the most competition we've ever had this season. It's more difficult than ever to make the team as someone trying to get in the door and at least three near locks will get their heart broken this spring. It's worth noting that there's never been a single season since I took over Edmonton that I haven't had someone that was trying to get in the door make the team, so this process actually works and it is always pretty surprising the decisions I make once the decisions actually matter and I'm not just writing a team news. Here's where we stand all all 30 players:

Catcher - 2
Infield - 6
Outfield - 6
Rotation - 7
Bullpen - 9

This actually looks really similar to last year as far as pitching goes except flipped. Last year we had nine starter options and seven set in the bullpen. Now with all the competition in the bullpen we have nine bullpen options. We also gained one in the infield and two in the outfield. It will be really quite interesting how I make a decision here. We carried about 14 pitchers into nearly all of our games last season. I always like having a lot of pitching options so we can play matchups, but it's also because I have a lot of confidence in a lot of different pitchers. Obviously we can't carry 16 into each game though. No major injuries thus far through spring training *fingers crossed*. Let's hope that continues.

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Re: 46.17 Checking the Locks: Final Results

Post by CTBrewCrew » Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:41 am

Always interesting to see how the mind of a championship works...
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Re: 46.17 Checking the Locks: Final Results

Post by crobillard » Sat Feb 20, 2021 12:37 pm

CTBrewCrew wrote:
Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:41 am
Always interesting to see how the mind of a championship works...
Yeah, this is my favorite series. I did this years ago when I had Halifax too. It just helps to get my thoughts down. I don't think about the end result too much just where I stand on the player. I think most years these decisions are pretty difficult, but this year has to be the most challenging one yet. So many good pitchers and a lot of different ways to go. Your preview was exactly right with where I stand on Solis. Do I keep him over Leon will be a difficult decision for me because I really like Leon's bat as a pinch hitter, but potentially platooning L'Arch with Solis has some pretty awesome advantages too. Tough decisions.

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