Dugout Dirt 2042.03- Starting Rotation Assessment

[DugoutDesperado]

Roughly one-third of the way through the season, the Jacksonville Hurricanes find themselves in seventh place of the Johnson League Atlantic Division with only the Charlotte Cougars behind them. The 20-33 record is lower than what the Cane Nation was hoping for as they filed in on opening day.

One of the things hampering the Canes to this point is their starting pitching. Chris Kelly went 0-3 with a 10.38 ERA prior to being officially diagnosed with an inflamed shoulder. He is expected to miss the remainder of the season. Carlos Rodriguez then followed suit about one month later with a torn UCL in his throwing arm. Unlike Kelly, Rodriguez was having an impact on the mound after a slow start with a 2-3 record and a 3.81 ERA. Rodriguez is also expected to miss the remainder of the season. That is roughly $30M dollars that the Canes will not see any return on that investment during the 2042 season. If you look at salary accumulated on the injury list, Jacksonville has been the second-most injury plagued team only behind Edmonton. However, the Jackrabbits are still tearing up the Frontier division despite their injury woes.

The updated pitching rotation now consists of Alejandro Ramirez (5-2 record), Esteban Sanchez (4-4), Adel bin Ibrahim (0-2), Abel van Gastel (0-6) and Kellie Chimanga (2-6). While Alejandro Ramirez is a solid contributor, the rest of the rotation is made up of guys who have historically been on the bubble for the #5 slot and AAA.
Next year’s picture will depend largely on the recovery of Kelly and Rodriguez. With both pitchers being on the 60 day DL, their trade stock will not be high enough to try and trade them. Dominic Blondell looks like a decent prospect in AAA and will be likely called up next year. With Ramirez currently wanting to test the free agent market to look for a team that could contend, the starting rotation for 2043 has just as many questions as this year’s team.

[HoosierVic]

Yikes. That's a lot of money tied up on the IL.

[usnspecialist]

that kelly injury is brutal, especially for a rebuilding team.