2049-0012: Talons Identify Their Two Conversion Candidates, Hopefully This Team News Will Give Them the Points They Need

[jiminyhopkins]

Phoenix, AZ--

The Talons are well known for "converting" a pitcher to a full time reliever, practically every year. But for the first time, the club has Identified not only the customary reliever conversion, but also a starter conversion as well.

The reliever conversion this offseason will be Gil Phillips, one of the pitchers received in the trade that sent Tomas Ramirez to Boise. Phillips already looks like a legit member of the major league pitching staff, but his sidearm delivery and big movement have the Talons believing he can be a shutdown lefty specialist, especially if he drops the weak changeup which can tend to hang in the zone due to his arm angle. Throwing a sinker and a cutter, Phillips can likely excel in a specialist role, as long as he doesn't get hung out to dry against right handed batters.

The starter conversion had been previously identified as this year's first round pick Jeffrey Flowers, who at only 17 is already hitting triple digits on the gun. He also throws a slider/cutter combo, but the Talons thing that he can be changed into a starter with a third pitch, while his youth gives him a chance to regain any lost velocity. The Talons crowd-sourced the new pitch by posting a League Poll on the BBA forums, and the consensus is that Flowers should add a four seam fastball in order to elevate the batters eye level and work up the ladder at times, making his slider in particular more effective.

Hopefully, this 12th team news will give the Talons the 40 points they need to do these two conversions. If not, well, the Talons Electronic Media And Forum Posting Department will just have to get working on some more irrelevant TN's to make sure this can happen.

Go Talons!

[7teen]

Not terrible options. Not sold on the Phillips move though but not a bad pick. Be interested to see how the Flowers move turns out. SP conversions never seem to work.

[jiminyhopkins]

Not terrible options. Not sold on the Phillips move though but not a bad pick. Be interested to see how the Flowers move turns out. SP conversions never seem to work.

I am interested in Flowers especially. I did the trick of generating a league and replicating the players and following the conversion rules.... The results were promising but we'll see!