2064.04; Preseason Ramblings

[shoeless.db]

Season #2 of the Cobble Hill experiment begins soon. My thoughts going in:

* PAYROLL
For the second straight season, I've found something other than player salaries to be our biggest expenditure. Last year, we paid out $21.85m on coaching salaries (and firings..) while only spending $19.3m on player salaries. For 2064, we'll begin the season with a player payroll of roughly $20m while having already spent just over $24m on IFA signings. I look forward to finding new and exciting ways to spend money on anything but Cobble Hill players in 2065 (the Draft? .. hmm .. our stadium?)

* PITCHING STAFF
I'm overly optimistic with the quality of our pitching compared to last season, despite not having one pitcher who began the year in Cobble Hill last season on the likely opening day roster in 2064. The rotation will include a stable of youngsters with little to no BBA experience: 1. Labonte, 2. Medina, 3. McHone, and 4. and 5. options include Buettner, Lewis, Betancourt, or some guy named Phil Cole. The bullpen is trending towards becoming a strong point for the Robins in 2064, headlined by youngsters Madrid, Broomhall, and J. Gonzalez.

* DEFENSE
With the need for some semblance of an offense in 2064, the Robins will sacrifice a decent slice of defense at the corners of both the infield and outfield due to our overwhelmingly elite defense up the middle at CF, SS, 2B, and catcher.

* OFFENSE
We'll once again sport a dead-bat bottom four of our daily lineups with the elite defense trade-off, but I'd gladly hold up our top five hitters of both platoon options against the upper crust lineups in the BBA. We should be much improved offensively with a full season of 3B Ismael Delgado and the Robin's top prospect 1B Santiago Rodriguez.

* MONEY
With current projections and accounting for draft signings (and my typical inability to sit still during the season), we'll finish 2064 with a profit of roughly $40m, shipping half that to Bonus Funds and the other half as cash to start 2065 (with likely nothing to spend it on again... oh, well)

* COMPETITION
With free agency being a one pump and dump (straight onto the face of the River Monsters, damn them for stealing Peyton from us) and most farm systems as barren as @jleddy's Tinder DMs folder, the influx of improved pitching and hitting for a team who went .500 after mid to late June last season has the potential to tease some life from an understandably jaded Robins' fanbase.

* PROJECTION
We're going to finish .500 or better this season with a sliver of hope running into September of making the playoffs.

[jleddy]

I'd love to see a Cole renaissance storyline this season. I'd also love to light him up for 8 runs in 2 innings in April, causing him to retire and start working the sports memorabilia circuit.

And for the record, I've moved on from Tinder. My Feeld in-box runneth over, thank you very much.

[shoeless.db]

I'd love to see a Cole renaissance storyline this season. I'd also love to light him up for 8 runs in 2 innings in April, causing him to retire and start working the sports memorabilia circuit.

And for the record, I've moved on from Tinder. My Feeld in-box runneth over, thank you very much.

I almost added in my projections that Charm City will once again roll over my upstart squad like they did in 2063. We're just not built to compete with the Jimmies yet.

[jleddy]

We're just not built to compete with the Jimmies yet.

Don't write yourself off early...

[DugoutDesperado]

I always like to see how you are going about your rebuild ... and taking notes.

I always love the references to the other owners ... the tinder DM folder is classic.

[Chuck V]

You have more than 1 starter with a 4 stuff rating, but good movement and control. It will be interesting to see how they pan out.

[Trebro]

How are you feeling at this point in the year?