Poblanotes 2048.1- 5 To Watch (the Sequel)

[chicoruiz]

Last year I did a “5 To Watch”, and it was fun (I at least had fun with it), so I thought I’d try it again. BTW, of last season’s five, two played marginally, two couldn’t stay in the bigs, and one played okay but elected for free agency at year’s end.

So here we go again; not the best players, but players that interest me for various reasons:

1. P Jorge Garcia- He had never been a starter above AA when necessity forced me to give him a try in the rotation. He responded with a 3.72 ERA. Nothing in his past performance indicated that as a possibility. Can a guy who’s bad as a reliever become a legit starter? HIs WHIP was 1.62, so I'm afraid I know the answer to that one but I'm gonna roll him out there and see what happens.

2. P Mark Perkins- After a pretty darn good 2046 in the BBA, he found himself banished to AA and even short-season A in 2047. I have no idea why such a move was made, but I bet there was a reason. I have a feeling I’m about to find out what it was.

3. IF Richard Drouin- Middle infield was one of the gapingest of my many gaping holes last year. After failing to find a match with the top free agents, I decided to bring back Drouin, my old lucky charm from my days in Jerusalem. Normally I’d be leery of a UMEBA guy, but Richard has had some success in the BBA too, so I’m hoping for the best.

4. OFs Kade Lebowski and Sef Baday- Two for one here. Lefty Kade got 216 PAs last year and OPSed .829. Righty Sef got 89 PAs and OPSed .805. Together they could be a pretty cool RF platoon; or they could be fool’s gold, in which case Brady Greer would probably be the next man up.

5. 1B Dave Owen- He’s not even on the 40-man, and he’s a long shot to see the majors anytime soon, but I had to include him here because I’m pretty darn jacked about getting him in free agency on a minor league deal. In three professional seasons, he has absolutely crushed the ball; he’s 24 and he’ll start in AAA this year, and time will tell…

[scottsdale_joe]

Interesting possibilities.
Some striking similarities with what Cairo is looking at.

[mragland]

Interesting stuff here.

I know I'll be watching Drouin with interest. Not a lot of data points for guys moving from the UMEBA to the BBA.

I'll be rooting for Lebowski. You gotta love a guy with more stolen bases than strikeouts. Plus I long for more confirmation that 'ratings ain't everything'.

[shoeless.db]

Letting Perkins walk after the 2046 season was a tough one as the dude is just a gamer despite his mediocre ratings. Give him another shot.