Pitching Staff
| Role | T | Pitcher |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | R | Erik Brooks |
| Starter | R | Jerry Stone |
| Starter | R | Enzo Bouton |
| Starter | R | Yoshii Takuda |
| Long Relief | R | Ruben Flores |
| Long Relief | L | Tokugawa Yamashita |
| Middle Relief | L | Jorge Quinones |
| Middle Relief | R | Angelo Rodriguez |
| Setup | R | Brian Groves |
| Stopper | R | Andres Gonzales |
| Closer | R | Jorge Duran |
Those are the three "bulk" starters that we expect to pitch 600 of our 1,458 innings. From there, it could be a lucha libre match for the 4th and 5th spots. On this depth chart is Yoshii Takuda. When healthy he is a solid pitcher. He even had a 1.98 ERA in 14 spring innings to win the job. But at 36 and wrecked, who knows what we are going to get and how much. That is a big reason we brought in Phil Cole. Cole is a 38 year old pitcher who is currently injured. He is out for 5 more weeks and can spend another 4 on rehab. I'm pretty sure that sometime in those 9 weeks Takuda may need a break. Essentially these two players are viewed as one $8 million 50 rated starter. And if both are healthy.. that is just gravy.
There is currently no #5 starter listed as we don't need one in week 1. That pitcher will end up being either Yamashita or Flores, probably depending on handedness of opponent and who is more rested. Yamashita is a long time pet of mine who always seems to outperform his ratings. He is wrecked also. But as we are about to get into, there is probably no team deeper with SP than us. Flores is a rotation snub after going 14-0 with a 2.31 ERA last season... what? No that isn't a typo or an ai glitch. Flores killed it last season. But I like to be a realist and not over rate my team. No way he comes close to repeating that. I always like using the lefty/righty dual swingman platoon and these two are the perfect ying and yang for that role.
Getting back to my comment about starting pitching depth. I just listed 7. You want some more? Henry Wemp and Antonio Garcia will start the year in the minors. One or both will come up soon as we are going with 11 pitchers in week one. They will pitch in bullpen unless circumstance dictates otherwise. Also in bullpen is Andres Gonzales who would be a starter on most teams. That makes 10. Prospects Wayne Humphries and Rich Ashe could be ready at some point this season. 12. While AAAA veterans Zach Davis, Dmitr Zhivlyuk, Stan Barnett, and Floyd Turner make 16 pitchers that may possibly be better that some starters on other teams.
The bullpen is where I feel scared a bit. I intentionally left things open for improvement. Duran and Gonzales are the only "sure fire locks". I do not expect Quinones and Rodriguez to last the year. Between our bevy of starters over flowing into the bullpen and near ready prospects such as Humphries, Ashe, Luis Gonzales, and Jose Lopez, it's only a matter of time before they get pushed out. I think we are about to see the new pitching guard taking shape over the next season and a half. For now though, the plan is to hoard the extra depth utilize our flexibility to shuffle players in and out to limit fatigue.
So that's the pitching. We do not have an ace and have a lot of injury concerns. But we do have great depth and some potential on the way.
