2062 Vancouver Mounties

[trmmilwwi]

2062 Vancouver Mounties

Here we are, 2062 and we still have Monty teams in the great white north. Yep, tariffs don’t play here in the BBA. We allow players to sign and play wherever they choose, even in places like London and Cairo. If you got the dough then they will show up.

Which leads us to the Mounties. They are currently sitting at the 2nd lowest payroll in the league, roughly $52 million. Only Louisville is lower and they sit at $51 million. This appears to be a budget team but let’s dig in a bit more.

Their salary page shows that they have some big ticket guys at the top with SP Motka Beteev at $13 mil, roughly 25% of the team’s payroll. He was a key acquisition this past offseason when he received a 4 year deal worth $47 million to play north of the border. The deal holds two team options so he may be trade bait later in the year when the restrictions lift. He came over from the GBC so Vancouver might be trying to catch lightning in a bottle here.

Next on the salary list is SP Gamal bin Badr. The last name sounded familiar so I took a look at the list of player sin the league to see if he had a brother playing or if I knew him. Well, no other bin Badr’s but there are a metric shit ton of bin’s in the league now. I love the diversity we have but it makes it tough to differentiate some of the players. There are 4 bin Fadil players that don’t seem to be related for instance, they are Afghan, Bahrani, Lebanese and Israeli and 16, 17, 17 and 18. A huge push in the middle east in the 60’s for sure. Back to bin Badr, is he a youngin also? Nope, a 34 year old vet. He’s been around, Vegas, Vancouver, Vegas, Atlantic City, Vegas, Atlantic City and now back to Vancouver. He’s like a joint that Matt, John and Aaron are passing around at the winter meetings. But is he any good? A career 4.38 ERA with generally a .500 record (91-86). He was the other big splash in the free agent period for Vancouver this year when he signed a 2 year, $13 million deal to be the 2nd pitcher in line.

Rounding out the top of the salary list is SP Trout (Tom) Miller at $5.5 million and SP Mr. Reliable (Stephen) Clulow Jr.. I love me some players with nicknames as there seems to be hidden potential with these fellas. How do these two look? Trout was a big free agent acquisition 2 years back in the ’59-’60 offseason and he posted a very good year in ’60 with an ERA+ of 116 but dipped last year to 88. His career ERA+ of 107 suggests a bounce back year for him. Mr Reliable was acquired via trade before last year and was about expected with his 77 ERA+ last year. He is 27 so he may have room to grow.

Those guys appear to be the starting pitching with 3000 (Rusty) Miller filling out the staff. This miller is a young hotshot from Des Moines that has some nasty, nasty stuff and a pitch repertoire that makes catchers blush. His sinker is stealthy. 3000 has had a great start to his career with seasons of ERA+ of 124, 108 and 129, he just can’t stay healthy. Hopefully this year is the one he puts in 30+ starts and shows the league what he can do. On his way to 3,000. 3,000 what we don’t know but he is on his way.

It is not secret that Aaron is building this squad with hand picked starting pitching and a bunch of players around them in hopes to string out a bunch of wins with duct tape, glue and band aids wrapped with gauze and twine. Will it work? Well, let’s take a look at the fellas with the bats to see what kind of backup these top 5 players will get shall we?

Ok, how to assess these 9 or so players that will play every day for the Mounties. I mean the roughly 50% of the salary will only play every 5th day. The other $25 million needs to buy roughly 1,458 games of play. What does Aaron, the master trader, have up his sleeves for these dudes? Let’s start with the list of starters that was leaked by an inside trainer with the team when he was sipping Canadian whiskey down at the Granville Strip, where the girls are better than the whiskey since 2025. No bourbon sucks, amirite?! Here’s the list he was perusing on the bartop;

C Mitchell Goater
1B Sam Corkum
2B Fadeuka Hadonov
SS Oskar Lojdahl
3B Javier Valles
LF Greg Clover
CF Miguel Montero
RF Zhi Li
DH Royce Hinkle

Well, I recognized a few names on this young gents list. Hinkle, yeah, that rings familiar. But I don’t think it was Royce. Let me check my phone. It was Royce. Yep, that was the kid we scouted last year for the ammy draft. Royce went at pick 13 and even though he is young at 21 years old, he is fully ready for the show. Solid pick by Vancouver there. Good contact, great power and won’t strike out a lot but his defense can be shaky. Not bad for a cheap solution at the DH spot for sure. Low priced talent that can make you feel tingly is not a bad thing.

Ok, let’s see. Corkum. That’s a name I know. Let me google this guy. Ummm, 22 years old, played the last 2 years with poor results. Oh, I remember him now. This guy got traded around like a mixtape from the ‘80s a few years back. First traded to Mopes, then the Tropics and then to the Mounties. He’s got some miles on him. He seems to have gotten better with contact and while he won’t hit a lot of homers he should be adequate at the corner. He could have maybe used some defensive training at 1st but I assume Vancouver had other holes to fill.

Ok, who is at the other corner. Valles, Javier. Ok, don’t know this one. The interwebs tell me he’s 24 and has played 2 years for Vancouver. Breakout year last year going .242/15/40 good for a 1.9 WAR. Rocket arm and decent defense at 3rd. Not bad. Another early to mid 20’s prospect that is on the way up. Another performer you can get excited about.

These guys are all young. Maybe he’s got some vets tucked away in the middle infield. Let’s see…. Hadonov and Lojdah. Don’t know these dudes either. Hadonov is a 25 year old Russian that is listed at short but definitely looks like a second baseman. He came over from Long Beach in the Koroturk trade and earned one atbat with the big league club last year. “Hey buddy, you know if Hadonov is going to really play at second?” The trainer was 3 deep into Canadians at this point and just mumbled something about a training complex stint at short but looks can be deceiving or something like that. He stumbled off to use the restroom stealing a long glance at the back room on his way. Ok, maybe he will play second. That leaves short. Lojdah. Typing his name in I see he is a 27 year old vet that earned a 5 year deal a few seasons ago. Outstanding defensively and can play both middle IF positions very well. Anything up the middle will find his hands and be gobbled up. Great in the field.

Ok, youth all around the infield. What about the outfield. Clover, Montero, Li. Not household names. Young prospects again maybe? 26, 29 and 24. Not youthful by any means but not vets either. Montero is the oldest, let’s check him out. Good =defensively, almost 4 WAR each of the last 2 years. Was brought over via trade last offseason from Charlotte who bought him a year earlier for $1M from San Fernando. Revived his career as a right fielder but this dudes list has him at center. That could be an experiment. Ok, Clover is the next oldest, we’ll check his history here. Didn’t do much early in his career in Long Beach and then was flipped for that Baldez dude who gets pass around like a bag of doritos at a bong bash. He seems to have revived his career in Vancouver and has some solid years the last two seasons, bettering 2 WAR in each. Stat line of .282/23/68, not too shabby. If he improves a bit on that he may be a solid candidate for being a long term player in BC. Ok now on to Li. Zhi Li. That could be the shortest name in the entire league. I mean it’s gotta be, right? Ok, 24 years old, good with the bat, won’t hit a lot of long balls. I mean he wa sin Calgary and put up 26 homers in over 600 atbats so he is not prodigious with the long ball. He was brought over via trade earlier this offseason. Trainer guy has a note on his sheet with “Dev Comp RF” and a “++” listed. Must mean he is gonna be the right fielder this coming year. Ok, I guess Montero shifts to centerfield. I just cleaned off my John Fogarty LP last night, what a record. No Ty Cobbs or Joe Dimaggios’ here but a solid roster. Not sure how much they’ll hit the ball and touch them all but they should have a chance to score runs if they can put a string of hits together.

Ok, the last starter on the list is Goater. GOAT. Is this the Cobb of the roster? Don’t know his name, let me look him up in google. Huh, 21 years old, played down in Victoria last year and did ok. Decent at the plate and ok catching games. Well, he won’t be winning any awards but he may get a long look behind the plate on most days. Hopefully those vets on the mound can show him the ropes. Trainer dude is back from the john, “Hey, what do you know about that 21 year old from Victoria.” A wry look comes across his face as he deadpans, “From Foxy Lady, Dream Girls, or Pandora’s? I’ve spent a lot of time down in Victoria scouting talent if you know what I mean.”

I did know what he meant and it wasn’t fit for this article unfortunately. Oh well, we have a good bead on who we will see performing for the Vancouver Mounties this coming year. The pen has a bunch of names also but Jesus Garcia seems to be the key. Quite a few vets like Greening, Calrijs and Qasim among others.

It certainly seems like the Mounties have bolstered the starters on the mound, built up a young team at the dish and surrounded themselves with veterans in the pen. Sounds like any good self respecting club in Vancouver (or Victoria if you prefer). I wouldn’t be surprised to see this team get back closer to .500 ball. Let’s go with a rebound to 80-82 that we saw back in ’60. What’s old is new again.

[JRamirez]

Is Zhi Li's BBA's Ed Ott in terms of name length? There are probably other five letter names in the BBA. That Miller guy ought to be a Kernel. He came into the league a year before I did, or I'd be all over him. Now, I still want him. Apparently he didn't care about his home town. Greaser.

[Knucklehead254]

Love it!

[BaseClogger]

For Vancouver it always comes down to whether they hit. Aaron’s teams always pitch and play defense.