Welp, it's still a work in progress
A few months ago, the Twin Cities River Monsters threw in the towel on the 2061 season. After a near decade run as one of the better teams in the Frick, the River Monsters found themselves as a team about to decline. Several key players had left via free agency, some others were getting older and after years of drafting near the back of the pack, the farm was barron. That's not even taking into account league rule changes to the salary cap and finances that probably hurt Twins Cities as much, if not more than anyone.
After an initial sell off of veterans, the rebuild has been mostly quiet. That doesn't mean the team is sitting idle. The River Monsters have been hard at work on the micro level of the rebuild. Bringing in as many interesting players as they can, throwing them against the wall, and seeing what sticks.
One area of the team that has made some headway is the bullpen. With 2062 being an uncertainty, it's doubtful that the team makes a big splash on established relievers. Rather scoping out undervalued players on waivers, rule 5 draft, and under the radar free agents/trades. If the team competes in 2062, they can always add at the deadline. Let's take a look at some of these projects...
Andrés Gonzáles
By far the outlier of the group. Not only does he make $4+ mil, the team also traded assets to get him. That might suggest TWC has high hopes for the 28 year old side armer. That would be accurate. Those associated with the team are comparing Gonzales to... well, Gonzales, Luis Gonzales that is. A good looking starter who excelled in a stopper role. Andres has seen success the last year and a half in the Flyers bullpen. He had a 2.95 ERA and 1.2 WAR in 91 innings last season. While these season he 2.75 ERA in 36 relief innings. The River Monsters plan to give Gonzales a 160-180 inning workload next year to maximize his strengths as a RP.
Ángelo Rodríguez
Picked up in the rule 5 draft last offseason, Angelo has posted 3.48 ERA and .7 WAR in 51 innings thus far. Not spectacular, but if you can get that production from all low leverage RP, you are golden. He's got the 7 movement that the team covets and makes the league min. Very good chance he'll be back next year.
José Ávila
We had to work outside of our comfort zone when claiming Jose off of waivers. Extreme Flyball pitchers are usually a no-go here. Yet at the same time he was an iron man lefty with 3 plus pitches, and 9 stamina. We've been using him as a stopper for the last month and he has been killing it. 2.80 EAR in 35 IP, good for .6 WAR. Multiply that by 6 and he has been pitching at a 210 IP, 3.6 WAR pace. Now, I don't expect that to be sustainable. But we're confident we can squeeze the most out of him.
Filippio Ioriatti
Grabbing Sacramento's trash pitching is a good rule of thumb. The Mad Popes are so pitching rich that anyone they put on waivers should be claimed by at least 20 other teams. Ioratti is no different. A league min pitcher who I think is closer to a 7 movement than a 5. Nothing spectacular. Just a pitch to contact, high stamina RP who we feel will do above average here.
Francisco Rosales
Rosales is an interesting pitcher that is an extreme groundballer, yet gives up a ton of HR. We are hoping we can lean on our elite pitch framing catchers to maximize his elite stuff and minimize his sub par control. I'm not sure if he is going to work out though. Looks like he is a low 5 movement. So far, so good though. 5 and 1/3 innings and only one hit given up. I guess he depends on what else we find this winter.
Bob Loblaw
I have no clue why I even asked for this guy in a trade. 5/5/6 is not a BBA pitcher. Oh yeah... I asked for him because I thought I was trading my whole rotation away and needed warm bodies. Meanwhile I kept the best rotation in the Frick in toe and Loblaw really serves no purpose other than being a prankster. Yet here we are and Loblaw has thrown 36 innings to a 3.19 ERA. I guess my dumb ass will end up tendering him a contract for next season.
So there it is.. team news number 5 in the books. One more to go. We still have a lot of work to do with the pen. In a perfect world we need at least 2 more late game arms, but as I said, that might not be a priority this winter as we plan to work some magic on the cheap.
