Mister Ed and others join River Monsters in roster shakeup
The 2055 season is going just about as expected for the Twin Cities River Monsters. The team is currently firmly planted as the 6th best team in the Frick League and likely headed to a 3rd playoff birth in the last 4 seasons. As we approach the trade deadline, there wasn't much expected in the way of roster turnover. The team doesn't hold enough cap space or prospect capital to make a big enough splash to be considered a favorite. So, status quo seems to be way to go. Yet here we are at the start of the dog days and Twin Cities just flipped a large portion of their roster for one reason or another.
Fields out, Takuda in
Feeling the need to add a solid 4th starter to join Brooks, Stone, and Martinez for a potential playoff run, TWC decided to add Yoshii Takuda to the rotation. Curt Fields ended up being the odd man out here. Fields was brought back to TWC in a loyalty play. Curt with a C, blew out his arm during the River Monsters Cartwright Cup series in 2052 and the team felt the owed him a chance to get his career back on track. With a lack of optionality in the teams pitching staff, Curt was reluctantly DFA'd. We hope he clears waivers and we can find a way to keep him around for a September call up.
Butler out, Moreno in
Catching has been a bit of a black hole for us the past several seasons. Andy Elmer put up a huge pitch framing season in 2053 and we've been stuck on that ever since. Dave Butler was brought in to split time with Elmer, but he sucks too. Octavio Moreno is a borderline Hall of Famer nearing the end of the road. As long as we keep our expectations low, he should be alright. In Atlantic City he was still the focal point of the offense. Here, he is just the next guy up. Will probably bat 7th and get a few days off a week. Probably the most important factor here is his popularity. Twin Cities is hell bent on becoming a big budget team and Moreno keeps the team's Fan Interest on overflow.
Licht in, Nayar out
We signed the injured Dane Licht earlier this year as an excess signing. With Nayar and Simpson manning the corner outfield spots, Safavi at DH and Acheson at 1B, it wasn't really clear where Licht would play. But we figured he could cover 4 spots in lineup, so it would probably work itself out. While nobody is hurt, Anurodha Nayar hasn't broken out like we had hoped. Since he still has options, he will go down until the September 1st callups.
Rooney up, O'Toole Down
Ed Rooney is the uber talented defensive wizard of a CF'er that Twins Cities looks to build around. While he isn't much with the bat, his defense was 11/11/11 when drafted. He has since dipped to 10/10/11. We suspect that lump is largely a rounding situation as his minor league stats seem to support that he is a horse out there in center. At just 20 years of age, this may just be a cup of coffee to get his name to fall under the "players eligible for postseason" list.
Ramos out, ??? in
For the second straight season, Felix Ramos is going to miss a lot of time late in the year. This team was built on depth, so it's really not a big deal. Luckily we have 70 rated Roberto Rivera there to plug in the hole left by Ramos. The more compelling storyline here is that this injury opens a roster spot if TWC would like to add another bat at the deadline.
Pena out, Perry in
Not a big one here. Pena is just out for a few days. How do you replace a 10/11/9/10 SS? Easy, just call up the 11/11/10/10 one in Triple A.
Abdul-Alim out, Falchonelli in
Falco is returning from injury to give us a little offense/defense platoon with Rooney.
