Charm City 2061.8 - How Far Can They Go Part 3 - 2B, SS, 3B, and OF

[DaveB]

Alright we looked at the pitchers, catcher, and 1B/DH let's take a look at the rest of the infield.

Second Basemen:

Major League Roster:

There are currently only two players in the organization who were with the team when I took over back in 2051. Seldon, who was part of the first series, was one and the other player is Dave Ackerman. Ackerman has been one of the best second basemen in the league since coming up we extended him last year through 2066. Usually I don't sign players with a wrecked injury history to long term big money deals, but I want Ackerman to retire in Charm City and he was too important of a player to our team to take a chance on him leaving via free agency.

I'm not really sure where to put Enver Kuscu on this series because he plays everywhere except catcher and pitcher. I might consider plopping him as a pitcher or catcher at some point in the future just for giggles and to say we have a guy who plays everywhere. He's one of my favorites, but he's also a utility guy.

Minor Leagues:

James Darvell is one of our two top middle infield prospects. I decided to put him here because I feel he's a little behind defensively. Darvell was our 3rd round pick in 2055 and has slowly made his way through the organization up to AAA. He had a cup of tea last year in the majors for us appearing in 7 games. I think he needs to improve his defense to be a regular in the majors, but at the very least he should be a very solid backup middle infielder long term with maybe more if the development complex helps out.

BNN has Jesus Llado listed as our 15th rated prospect. There's certain qualities I look for when drafting and one of those is a players ability to move around the field. Llado is one of those types. He's listed as a 2B, but he should be able to play everywhere on the field. If he's unable to find a starting job he'll be a useful utility player. I like having options around the field for depth purposes. Llado is one of those types.

Shortstops:

Major Leagues:

If you're a NASCAR fan you'll know this reference, but António Martínez is the Joey Logano of our team. We recently named Martínez our starting shortstop after trading Jim Vineyard to Vancouver. Martínez isn't a good fielder by any metrics, but he's on pace for a 5.0 WAR on the season. If he's playing like that he's a starter regardless of what he's doing with the glove. I do feel like there is more defensively, but he's going to need to find it in the developmental camp this winter.

Speaking of the Vineyard trade Jose Villa was the reason I went with the trade. I traded Villa to Vancouver a few seasons back. When he became available I decided to try to reacquire him. He's a steady defensive short stop and will be used as a defensive replacement for Martínez in the late innings. The other reason for the trade was finances. Vineyard was projected to earn 3.7 million in his last go through arbitration while Villa is projected to earn 1.2 million next season. With the cap being lowered to 110 million next season the 2.5 million savings for a backup shortstop is a plus.

Minor Leagues:

I spoke earlier about Darvell being one of our top two middle infield prospects. Ramon Garcia is the other one of those two. Garcia was drafted in the 3rd round in 2054. He was just promoted to the active roster with Martínez suffering a 2 week DTD injury. Garcia is going to be in the majors for us somewhere next season as he's in his last year option year. He previously has had 2 stints with us. Like Darvell he's a player who needs to work on his defense to have a starting job. If he cleans up his defense, he's a starting shortstop in the league. Right now I think he projects to be a better version of Enver Kuscu. That's not a bad thing.

Jesse Sanders isn't listed on our BNN top prospects page, but he's a player I'm quite excited by. I think he can stick at SS defensively, and he should also be able to be a plus player defensively in CF. Sander bat leaves a bit to be desired, but if he's vacuuming up baseballs on the infield I'll be satisfied with him when he reaches the majors in about 3-4 years.

Third Basemen:

Izz al Din bin Riyad was the runner up in the rookie of the year last season and made the all star team. Our 2nd round pick in 2055 he's steadily moved his way up to being our starter at 3B last year. Izz is a player who can move around the field and has shown that he has what it takes to be a steady MLB 3B. While Izz doesn't have the elite tools that other 3B have offensively he's shown that he is an asset defensively.

Minor Leagues:

Shimpei Kobayashi is what I would consider our top pure 3B prospect. He was our first pick in 2058. The conversion seems to have taken some of the luster off him, but I still have faith. He's got 15-20 homer power and I think he should be able to have an OPS around .750 if he can reach the majors in the future.

From the other angle we also have Jorge Aguilera ready to fight for a big league job right now. We bought Aguilera off Boise in 2059. When our scouts looked at him they thought utility player with a bat that could be more. He seems to be living into that. I don't see him as a starter in the BBA, but I could see him winning a starting job if the chance arrives because the only thing he lack to be Izz al Din bin Riyad is a better eye.

Outfielders:

Major Leagues:

Keith Jahnke is out starting center fielder and has been one of the more consistent players we've had since acquiring him from Las Vegas. Jahnke has been a steady mid 4 WAR player with a 120-130 OPS+ player for us. He's got 2 more years of arbitration coming up and I'm hopeful to be able to get him signed long term...

...if we are unable to sign Jahnke long term or if I decide to move Jahnke beforehand then Dallas Sly would step into the center field role. Sly is our top backup outfielder at the moment, but I feel like he can be a starting centerfielder for some teams in the league right now. He's just in his second season in the big leagues so he could be with us for awhile.

Ramón Rodríguez has absolutely punish the hell out of the ball since being promoted last year. In 114 games in since being promoted Rodríguez has posted .293/.359/.640/.999 slash line with 43 homers and 106 RBI while playing plus defense. He's the future of our lineup and has been a huge reason for our team having the start that we have had.

I've been playing OOTP for quite some time and Kazunari Chikafuji is probably the best pickup I've made. We acquired him in the Rule V draft from Sacramento in 2050 and he's been one of the top players in the league since 2050. We have Chick-Fil-A signed through 2062 and I intend on doing whatever I can do to keep him in Charm City after that.

Minor Leagues:

Matt Bamber has really shot up our prospect list within the last couple seasons. We drafted Bamber in the 2nd round in 2059. If for some reason we are unable to resign Chick-Fil-A I think Bamber will be a very good replacement for him. I'm hopeful that we'll see Bamber as our DH of the future as soon as possibly 2062 or 2063.

We got lucky that Yellow Springs decided to return Carlos Macerino from the Rule V draft. I consider Macerino to be our 2nd best outfield prospect at the moment because of his upside. Carlos has the tools to be a plus hitter and the defensive ability to possibly handle the CF role. Going to have to remember to protect him this year.

The final player we're going to look at is Ricardo Gomez. We drafted Gomez in the 5th round in 2059 and he's done a good job at developing since being drafted. I think Gomez has the tools to be a solid offensive contributor. The issue with him is where to put him and also can he improve his defense enough to warrant a starting job.

That's it for the reviewing the players. Our next part of this series is going to concentrate on our financials. I hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it.

[BaseClogger]

I did not see Sly developing so nicely. I think you’re gonna hit on every single prospect I sent you for McNeil. Impressive, Dave.

[RonCo]

I'm definitely enjoying reading these. Always good to see a very good GM work.

On Marcerino and YS9, I'm kind of weirded out on that. Maybe it's me. But if I'm taking a guy like him in the R5 draft, I'm going to commit to keeping him no matter what, simply to add a prospect. It's clear that he's not going to be able to play in the BBA level simply from his ratings...so taking him is saying that the plan is to pigeon hole him up in roster slot #27, and deeply limit his time until I can put him in the minors again next year (or keep him in the majors if he got hit with development luck. I'm interested in what Rob was thinking through that process. Because if he wasn't committed to holding him, I don't understand the value of selecting him in the first place.

Maybe I just don't look at R5 very well. I know it's rare that I select players unless I'm in a rebuild mode, or have a very specific area I want to cover. I guess there's no downside to selecting a guy and sending him back before the season starts, so...whatever.

[BaseClogger]

Ya, simply no downside so why not?

[Trebro]

He simply could not hit anything in spring training and in the end I just went with a gut feeling. I normally hold on to everyone I take in R5, too. Probably should have given it a shot but I didn't. One I'll be thinking about for awhile.

[Trebro]

Ya, simply no downside so why not?

I'm pretty patient but he was so bad in Spring Training it just wasn't going to work. But again not sure I agree with myself now so fortunately i can blame Russell instead hahaha.