65.04 Montreal Reloads for 2065

[Bob Breum]

After a disappointing 2064 season that was riddled with injuries and held back by underachievers, Montreal hopes to bounce back in 2065. They made one major move and one lesser move at the beginning of the offseason but have been spectators for most of the hot stove season. They signed no free agents of note and currently sit on a $20+ million war chest. They were restricted from serious international amateur free agent bidding because they splurged last season. They are $25 million under the salary cap.

Bob Breum shipped off 2063 MVP Denes Terovolas and 2/3 of the backend of the bullpen to Vancouver to acquire starting pitcher prospect Ignacio Morales and second baseman Miller Shed. Make no mistake, this was a deal about the club’s future, not its present. Erik Breum is very high on Morales. Shed was included to allow Jaime Serna to move from second base to third to replace Terovolas.

Bob Breum sent glove-first shortstop Máximo Gousto to Cape Fear in exchange for outfielder Joshua Ackland. Ackland is a right-handed power hitter who will be deployed against left-handed pitching. He is the club’s only right-handed hitting outfielder. It was supposed to be Ramón Garza, but he has been sidelined for 2065 after surgery to repair his ruptured MCL.

Breum is hoping for bounce-back seasons from centerfielder Clancy Lee and left fielder Manny Burgus as well as a full season from shortstop Reynaldo Serrano. He expects outfielders Jedidiah Marzuq and Teddy Bullock to continue to develop into productive big leaguers. Jesús Ramos, last season’s breakout star, will take over first base against right-handed pitching and DH versus southpaws. Catcher Jim Garrick will be handed the green and gold tools of ignorance with hopes that he can replicate his AAA numbers against BBA pitching.

The plan is to run out a lineup against right-handed pitching with only a single hitter batting from the right side, Jaime Serna. Against left-handers, Breum will have seven batters hitting from the right side, including infielder Fouad bin Bashshar, who will play third base while Serna shifts to shortstop and Jeffrey Loring mans the keystone. Ackland, catcher Luis Campos, and Gold Glover / team captain / first baseman Dan Wilkinson will join left-handed hitters Manny Burgus and Jedidiah Marzuq in the lineup.

Montreal’s Ubisoft Field is a doubles/triples paradise (or hell if you’re a pitcher or outfielder). Breum places a premium on gap power. Five of the batters in the lineup versus right-handed pitching feature gap power of 8 or greater. Against left-handed pitching, seven of the batters are rated 8 or better for gap power and two of them offer double-digit ratings for home run power. Teams will want to think twice before sending their southpaws to the mound in Ubisoft.

Erik bade farewell to his top two starting pitchers, Lúcio Juárez and Luis González, and never really found a reliable fifth starter. Expect a competition in camp for three spots; only Umar Dogar and Samuel Nebraska are locks. Craig Greenway, Damon Yates, Artemis Theodopoulos, Hipakeiki Olba are all in the picture. The team traded away closer Jorge Trinidad and setup man Wlodz Sidelsky; only stopper Adam Bristcoe and left-handed specialist Luis Manuel are assured their usual places in the new look bullpen. Enzo Bouton is in the development lab attempting to improve his control of his knuckleball; he could return to the rotation if he can better harness it. Pablo Guerrero could find himself in the rotation or in the bullpen. Júlio Madrid, Luis Imodian, David Uribe, and Huang Cheng are likely bullpen pieces, but their roles are not yet defined. Pitching will likely be a work in progress early in the season as Erik pieces it together.

[Trebro]

interesting decisions given you have been a playoff level team

[Bob Breum]

interesting decisions given you have been a playoff level team

We expect to remain a playoff team, for this season and many to come. The difficult part is balancing the desire to Win Now! and the need to keep the farm stocked to enable winning in the future, especially given our draft position.

Terovolas is a great player but he never really fit the mold of our desired Ubisoft player. We hope to be able to replace his production with a little here, a little there. Trading him was the only path to acquiring Morales.

Both Gonzalez and Juarez are older pitchers with whom we did not want to get tied down with expensive lengthy contracts that could potentially cripple our finances. We felt it was time for the next generation of pitchers to take a step up.

We have enough cap space to allow us to make a mid-season trade or two if we see opportunities that warrant it.