2065.04 - Opening Day Roster for the 2065 Chicago Black Sox

[R.Umali]

Here's your defending Frick League Heartland Division Champs
(might not get to say that again!)

STARTING PITCHING

1. Adam Hines (31). Went to Dev Lab and apparently increased velocity. He's on a mission to get back to the playoffs.

2. Forrest Rockburn (22). The least cerebral player of the roster, the guy makes up for it with stuff. Board bet: he wants more total K's than Hines. Promoted to SP2, he may get that chance.

3. Stevie Bodine (29). The Captain of the squad and future coach of the Rockville Bulldogs, the man aims to win more than 12 games. Surely his best years, when he went 12-6 in '62 and 12-9 in '60, are not behind him already?

4. Orlando Rúbio (26). He shined in ST (2.76 ERA over 16.1 IP, 2 HR allowed, though only 6 K) and he's started before in '62 and '63. He's primed to Carlos Moya's place.

5. Tolya Shiller (25, 2058 rd 2). Tolya also had a good ST (3.27 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 18 K over 22 IP) but his past sips of coffee, despite his one win being the win that returned Chicago to the playoffs, have not been good.

5. Tony Radtke (25, 2056 rd 1). Tony "The Bern" Radtke emerged last year despite shaky control (77:161 BB:K, 1.37 WHIP). He gave the Black Sox 183 innings to a 3.89 ERA and 1.37 WHIP. But he had a poor ST (14.2 IP, 5.52 ERA, 9:14 BB:K) and will start the season in relief. But by the time this gets published, he'll most likely have replaced Shiller as the SP5.

BULLPEN

Closer: Nakamaro Hori. The return of Nakamaro "Sundown" Hori is one of the main reasons for optimism in Chicago. Hori was on his way to a stellar season as the closer. He went 31-for-35 in Saves, had 27 shutdowns to 5 meltdowns, and pitched at 2.24 average leverage. Then he went down with forearm inflammation for 3 months.

Setup Guy: Iván Villarreal (21, 2064 rd 1). The heir to the closer role, Villarreal profiles as the real deal with a deadly curve and cutter combo. He's listed as "fragile" but Black Sox nation is hoping for a "fragile close to normal" kind of injury proneness.

Other Arms: It's kind of unfair to be lumped in this classification because Bobby "Fang" Sherman (34, 2052 rd 1) was a significant acquisition in free agency, from a Team News perspective. The Sox have always been a "vibe" and Fang defines it. The fact that he's also "wrecked" is something we all acknowledge but kind of skip over. 2052 scouting discovery Razvan Chilom (29) and Augusto Ayala (35) should both give reliable, sub 4.00 ERA, middle-inning relief. Robinson Peña, on the IL for most of last year with an arthritic elbow, is a question mark. He had some good starts in 2063 but is really here just for depth.

HITTERS

C. Marcos Echevarría (28, 2057 rd 7) returns as the primary catcher for a third year. He has an amazing arm and threw out a career-high 27.3% of base stealers. Replacing Dale Olds as backup is Rahimat Sulayman (23, 2060 rd 3, trade). This is his rookie year. In AAA, he threw out over 40% of base stealers the last two seasons.

1B. Timofei Gadomsky (26, 2057 rd 4, signed as FA) played all 162 regular season and all 9 playoff games last year. Listed as "fragile", it'll be another tightrope walk if he does it again. And if he does, he'll play for another 30 HR.

2B. Jeff Feagin (21, 2061, rd 2) is listed as the #23 prospect by the BNN. He came in hot as a September call-up, slashing .419 / .486 / .839 over 35 PAs. This spring, he slashed .344 / .379 / .672 over 66 PAs. He hit 4 HR. He is as "Fan Fav" as you can get.

3B. Steveland Morris (37, 2046 rd 1 by the Long Beach Surfers) was a very fun get at free agency. Also "wrecked", he did provide Portland with 127 game starts last year. He alone will triple the Black Sox SB totals.

SS. Ángel De La Cruz (26, 2055 rd 2) returns for his 5th season as a starter (and 7th overall). 3 consecutive down years has also seen de la Cruz fall in the lineup.

LF. Dave Matthes (24, 2061 rd 1) returns for his 4th season in left. He's tempered his lower HR totals each year with higher average. Last year was the first year he hit over .300. He'll start the year atop the batting order.

CF. Bob Hills (28, 2053 rd 5 by Sacramento) replaced Dan Morris, whom the Black Sox could not re-sign. We're hoping the dramatic fall off, hitting .282 in 2063 to .191 in 2064, was just an aberration.

RF. Tony Cochran (25, 2057 rd 1) hopes to take a further step forward. There's a 40-HR season in his bat, I know it!

DH. Jesús Suárez vs R and Enrique Caballero vs L. Suarez is a 24-year old rookie and is currently #96 in the BNN 100, while Enrique Caballero is a 27-year old veteran of 3 years.

Other Bats: The bench bats are AAAA guys. Each of them have had cups of coffee and each failed to impress. Yet when they return to AAA-Rockford, they hit above .300. These guys are: José Easton (2061 rd 8), José Bowens (27, 2054 rd 6), and Carson Blevins (23, 2062 rd 3).

HOPES

1. Make it back to the playoffs.
2. Win the Frick Heartland.
3. Adam Hines or Forrest Rockburn win 20 games.
4. Tony Cochran 40 HR / 100 RBI.
5. Steveland Morris: 100 games / 75 SB.
6. Stevie Bodine > 12 wins.

FEARS

1. Losing record.
2. Steveland Morris: 10 games / 10 SB.
3. Stevie Bodine < 12 wins.
4. Chicago Owner gobbling $20m.
5. Attendance < 3m.
6. Bobby "Fang" Sherman Team News < 5.

[BaseClogger]

Not sure I’ve seen a player as old as Hines complete such an important dev lab program.

[BaseClogger]

Guy with a sub-4.00 ERA is not good enough for this rotation. What an impressive bunch, even without Moya.

[RonCo]

Fun to see Rahimat Sulayman make it up. He and Al Schumann had different paths.

[mragland]

Ah, Adam Hines. The only good thing to come out of my acquisition of Daniel Pepper.

[BaseClogger]

Ah, Adam Hines. The only good thing to come out of my acquisition of Daniel Pepper.

Vargas was a decent little pitcher for a minute and Sacramento is giving Red a chance to establish himself. It was a really good return for a rental.

[R.Umali]

Fun to see Rahimat Sulayman make it up. He and Al Schumann had different paths.

As long as Nashville and Twin Cities continue to steal tons of bases, a player like Sulayman's going to have a chance with the Black Sox!