Charm City 2061.1 - 2061 is Going to be a Big Year for These Guys

[DaveB]

As we flip the page to the next chapter of BBA baseball changes occur on every level. Players come and players go. Some players earn trust while others see their trust wither away as other rise to the challenge. We're going to take a look at some of the players who are going to be battling this off season as well as during the season to establish themselves as potential big league players or players who are hoping to re-establish themselves in the BBA.

Catcher Position: This one is going to be a big battle to keep an eye on for me. When we left Justin Bonfield walk into free agency it left us with only Tokimasa Yano as an established big league catcher. Here are some of the players who are going to be battling for the back up catchers role. This to me is going to be an exciting battle over about 120-150 at bats.

John Payne is the favorite in my eyes. He's steadily made his way up our depth charts after being selected in the 11th round back in 2056. He's the only other catcher on the 40 man roster. He's steady defensively as a catcher, but also looks like he won't embarrass himself with the bat.

Manuel Carrasco intrigues me because of his elite defense. If I decide to go with a defensive catcher as the backup Carrasco will be the guy. We acquired him last year from Portland. The question on him is whether or not he'll hit enough to so the defense doesn't go to waste. I think he ends up back in AAA this season, but could see time in the majors.

Cecil Durdle is the wild card of the 4 players I see battling it out for the backup job. Durdle was originally a 20th rounder selected by Vancouver (don't stop battling you late round picks) and we picked him up as a minor league free agent in 2059. He's progressed quite well and is probably the best hitting catcher we have, he does leave a bit to be desired defensively. I might send him to the development lab this off season to work on his defense. We've been impressed with the improvements Durdle has made in 2060.

Finally we have Tadanobu Otani. We signed Otani back in 2056 as a minor league free agent. He's a player who I think is between the previously mentioned trio. His bat looks like it's the 2nd best out of the four players, but his defense we have ranked as 3rd.

Starting 1B/DH: Remember how I mentioned it's a big year to see someone step up. We've got a prime position up for grabs right here. My expectations are that George McCoy is going to be the starter vs RHP at either the 1B or DH position this year. After that it's all bets are off here. Below are some of the players that are currently on the roster that I expect to see battling it out for a job.

Omar Robles has the inside track. Robles broke out last year hitting 15 homers with 50 RBI in a reserve role. The issue with Omar is that I worry about him making enough contact to consistently keep him in the lineup. I think he's a 25-30 home run player if he grabs the starting job. Key point he had a .765 OPS in games as a starter last year with 14 of his 15 homers in that role.

There might not be a player in our minor league system who has done more to improve their stock in our eyes than Jose Cardoza did in 2060. The former 11th round draft pick from 2058 went from an after thought in our eyes to being ranked as the #55 prospect according to BNN. He doesn't need to be added to the 40 man roster this off season so that could dampen his progress to opening day, but if he continues to improve like he did in 2060 he could force his way into the lineup.

Need a walk call Henry Arthur. Our former first round pick from 2056 stepped up his gave offensively hitting a career high 24 home runs in AAA with a 4.5 WAR and .958 OPS. He's one of the main guys I expect to push Robles for the starting job this off season. He reminds me a lot of Geoffrey Dodson offensively, which isn't a bad thing.

Finally our 2055 first round draft pick Nelson Cadiou comes into view. Talk about a turn around. Cadiou in my eyes was seen as a bust going into last season. Cadiou lost 2 points of range after a 5 week battle with plantar fasciitis put him on the shelf in August of 2057. He hasn't fully recovered all the motion that he had, but has worked out at 1B since the injury. Coming into 2060 he was a player who was on the outs in our eyes, but he was able to show some improved power and work the count better as the season progressed. If we had opening day tomorrow he'd be our starting 1B vs LHP. The reason because I think his bat will perform well enough, but I also like that he can at least be adequate defensively on the corner outfield positions vs RHP.

Pitchers: I've mentioned this before, but it's worth mentioning it again, losing John Mellon for 2061 sucks. We had to basically reevaluate what we are going to do on numerous levels for 2061 and beyond. I was leaning on letting Allen Davidson walk via free agency and allowing Mellon slide in. Can't do that now.

We're hoping for a retribution season from Troy Andrews. We signed Andrews in January of 2060 to a minor league deal. He was fantastic in 61 innings in Annapolis posting a 1.62 ERA with a 1.13 WHIP out of the bullpen last season. Those stats along with the injury to Mellon pushed my hand to promote Andrews and push him back in the starting rotation in September as I went to a 6 man rotation. Andrews faired well going 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA and 196 ERA+. He'll likely slide into the #5 role in the rotation as Katsuyuki Heida was not tendered a contract for 2061. The leash will be short with Andrews so it'll be important to get a quick start. I'm not expecting him to have a 196 ERA+, but I'd be satisfied if he took the ball every 5th day and posted a mid 90's ERA+.

Xylon Missiakos and Mike Johnson are seen by us players who are expecting to be among the first line of defense in case of an injury. Johnson had an expresso cup of coffee for us in 2060 seeing action in 3 games, while Missiakos has an entire 6 days of active roster experience to his resume. Both of these guys could either end up in AAA or one of them could see action as the long inning reliever this year depending on how many pitchers we decide to go with, but they're going to have to contend with...

...Candrata Parmar. We acquired Parmar as a waiver wire pitcher last season when ineffectiveness and injuries started catching up to our team mid season. He appeared in 3 games giving up 4 ER in 8.2 innings of work with 10 K's. Parmar requested to go see the BBA pitching guru Nunzio von Fastballious to make the conversion to relief pitcher full time after spending a large portion of his pro career flipping between starting pitcher and bull pen arm.

The final pitcher we're going to look at is Joe Hulton. Like a sweater from Kohl's, we bought Hulton's services from San Fernando for 125k last year after he was placed on waivers. Hulton was OK for us which is why he makes the list. I think ideally, we'll see him returning to the long inning relief role/emergency starting pitcher role that he had last season. He wasn't great however as he posted a pedestrian 4.76 ERA and 93 ERA+ over 51 innings for us last season. Interestingly Hulton posted better stats in the starting rotation (2.84 ERA in 12.2 innings) than he did as a relief pitcher (5.40 ERA in 45 innings). He's a player who needs to show some progress for us this year especially with the young talent that is starting to make its way up through our minor league system.

[BaseClogger]

You’re just the latest guy to try to figure out how to harness Parmar’s potential.

The other SF castoff, I always liked Hulton but his performance for you last season isn’t filling me with regret.

[DaveB]

You’re just the latest guy to try to figure out how to harness Parmar’s potential.

The other SF castoff, I always liked Hulton but his performance for you last season isn’t filling me with regret.

Hulton had a weird year for me and drove me nuts at times lol

[BaseClogger]

His stats reflect more of a 5-6-6 pitcher than 6-6-5.