Team Report

Team Batting:

Desmond

Cano

Frazier

Belt

.

Ortiz

Team Report

Team Batting:

Hardy

A. Hill

Dominguez

Teixeira

Freese

LaRoche

We first wanted to acknowledge the terrible tragedy of the passing of Oscar Taveras.  We can’t even imagine how difficult it must be for his family, friends, teammates, etc. to accept such a loss. My condolences certainly go out to them.  After a pretty successful run over several years, the Los Angeles Halos seem to get old over night after the 2013 season. Therefore, 2014 began the rebuilding process whereby instead of trading off the farm hands for established talent, the team began to accumulate young talent for a depleted farm system. This season several farm hands from 2014 will get their first cup of coffee with the big club: (1) Fire-baller, Michael Foltynewicz, should get some time in September with a target of 2016 to start helping the club probably initially out of the pen; (2)  Alex Guerrero could at least be a meaningful bat off the bench in 2016; (3) Rymer Liriano could get some Abs this year off the bench, mostly as a defensive replacement and the club is hoping he could be in RF in 2016.   Prior year’s holdovers on the farm are: (1) Jorge Alfero one of the top catching prospects, still several years away as a catcher but his bat could help the big league club as early as 2016; (2) another highly rated catcher, Gary Sanchez, is in pretty much the same situation as Alfero; (3) Hunter Dozier has made the move to 3b and could be competing for starting 3B in 2016; and (4) Austin Meadows might be one of the most exciting young players on the farm. He is still 2-3 years away but has the potential to be a middle of the lineup corner OF.   The 2015 draft focused on a SS of the future and the club feels very excited about the young talent that was drafted. Trea Turner might be the closest to the big club with an expected 2016 arrival. Though he might never be a star, he certainly has a high floor. The other 3 SS drafted; Willy Adames, Jorge Mateo and Ozhaino Albies are all 3-4 years away but all have very high ceilings. Also drafted was Rob Refsnyder a high floor 2B who should contribute in 2016 at least as a utility player and competing for starting 2B in 2017. With their last couple of picks the club grabbed two high ceiling starting pitchers: Kyle Freeland, a very intelligent LH and Erick Fedde whose value dropped after TJ surgery but when healthy should become a highly ranked pitcher.

For possibly the first time in the franchise’s history the strength of the club might be young arms. We aren’t saying they are the most talented arms, but after years of cobbling together a rotation of veteran arms the rotation now is on the right side of 30. The ace of the staff is Corey Kluber (29) and he is joined by Tyson Ross (28), Andrew Cashner (28), Wily Peralta (26) and Shelby Miller (24). They still have Jake Peavy the veteran of the staff for now, but if the club falls out of the race could be sent packing to a contender. Peavy is also the only remaining member of the 2013 starting rotation.   2015 will also see a new and hopefully more effective bullpen as this year they have a legitimate closer in Hector Rondon. He will be supported by Drew Storen, Zach Putnam and the return of Joba Chamberlain all from the right side. On the left side is Zach Duke, Jerry Blevins and TJ House.  For the second year in a row, the club will not have its trade mark power so they will rely very heavily on their pitching staff.

At least we shortened the list from last year which was : “not enough pop, major questions in the rotation, no true closer to name a few”. As mentioned, the club feels big improvements were made to the pitching but unfortunately not much changed with the offense. Pretty much the same names as last year and the results could be pretty similar to the 2014 version that hit only 114 homeruns (11^th in the AL).   

Last year’s GM Thoughts were:

For the first time, the Halos aren’t heading into a season with championship expectations but rather the hope of playing “.500-ball” and somehow stealing a final wild card spot.   

This ended up being extremely accurate as the club finished 82-80 which left them in a tie for the final wildcard spot. Literally, they then stole the final wild card spot by beating Philly 3-2 in the 163 game of the season. 2016 could be the identical situation as the club hopes to hang around .500 and sneak into the playoffs. Despite the rebuild, the club has a string of never playing under-.500 (11 seasons) and 10 straight playoff appearances which they would like to extend.

Team Report

Team Batting:

Segura

Callaspo

Seager

Mauer

Machado

In an attempt to address a weak rotation, a large number of pitchers have been drafted:  Appel, Beede, Harvey and Manaea all have the potential 2/3 starters.  Although not a aaa player, Steven Souza may provide productive numbers this year for the Rays.

Starts with one of the top talents in the minor leagues in Byron Buxton. 

The team is still competitive.  It is tempting to cash in a player or two on the farm (Buxton) or who I am waiting on to reach his potential (Machado), but I'm hoping that patience will reward me with a bigger window of competitiveness down the road.  My current rotation is still weak, but I've tried to offset that this year by having a deep bullpen that I can turn to.

3rd Place -- Good chance of a playoff berth, but not enough starting pitching to go far (again).

Team Report

Team Batting:

H. Ramirez

Schoop

Rendon

Rizzo

Cuddyer

Goldschmidt

Loads of players down on the farm.  Capitals are in year number two of taking over and franchise and attempting a completely over haul.  With that being said, most of the focus is been down on the farm.  We carried over three aaa players that we are hoping will get called up this season with hopefully making an impact in two years.  Blake Swihart, Carlos Rodon and Francisco Lindor are in their second seasons with the Capitals.  We are counting on them heavily in the future.  In addition, we drafted 7 more aaa players including Arizona Diamondback signee Yasmany Tomas.  We are hopeful that longer range Outfield prospects Nomar Mazara and Micheal Conforto continue to hit well as they move up the ladder.  Also, we are hoping that Kyle Kubitza, Jake Thompson and Tom Murphy get the call to the big leagues sometime in 2015.  In the longer range category, Kyle Funkhouser should have a terrific Junior season in college and get drafted in the top ten next June.

Team strength clearly lies up a the plate and not on the mound!  Veterans Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Rizzo, Hanley Ramirez, Anthony Rendon and Alex Gordon provide the offensive punch.  Juan Lagares is an outstanding defensive player in Centerfield.  Just like on the farm, the Capitals have acquired many young players in our push for the future.  We are counting on Dilson Herrera, Steven Moya, Ryan Rua, Carlos Sanchez, Andrew Susac, Jorge Planco and Jonathan Schoop to take steps forward in their careers this year.

Pitching, pitching, pitching.  As in, there isn't any!   Capitals will be sending Chris Archer and Edison Volquez out there for their regular turns but it's going to be a grab bag after that.  We have some long bullpen guys like Brad Hand, Erasmo Ramirez and Brandon Workman that can provide some relief.  Pitching is a major weakness.

Again, Capitals are trying to overhaul the franchise and become competitive next season and beyond.  It's going to a long season but we are hopeful that many of our young players will continue their career arc in the right direction for 2015!

Team Report

Team Batting:

Castro

Beckham

Donaldson

Alvarez

Harrison

Vargas

Team Report

Team Batting:

Bogaerts

Odor

Francisco

Davis

Bogaerts

Rosario

Everything else

It's Year 2 of the Isotopes and we're just happy to be here.  Hoping that a few of the prospects (Correa, C.Seager, Winker, the Zimmer brothers) join Joc, Bogaerts, and Mookie in the show sooner rather than later.

Team Report

Team Batting:

Cozart

Bonifacio

Asche

Reynolds

Santana

Team Report

Team Batting:

Escobar

Gordon

Arenado

Butler

.

Pujols

Not nearly as high profile of a farm system as in previous years, Gotham still has depth, but took their approach to off disk players a little bit differently this year. Other than taking a flyer on Kang in the 4^th round, we stayed away from taking off disk prospects early. Instead we took a few shots at backend top 100ish prospects, even one that is probably not in anyone’s top 150 in Courtney Hawkins. Also grabbed Dansby Swanson, whom we like a lot, if he can step into SS this season Vandy and handle the position as I think he can, maybe he becomes a top 5 pick this year’s Rule 4 draft. That said, as with any prospect, there is always a bunch of ‘hope’, ‘maybe’, ‘ifs/buts’, it’s all a crapshoot really. That, coupled with the fact that we had the highest percentage of top 100 prospects protected coming into the draft as we have had in the previous 4 years, it seemed like the year to wait a bit.

Rotation and MI depth. Given the rate pitchers get hurt, I wanted to have 8 or 9 guys I could possibly use at all times. I feel like I am just about there. The hope is that Gotham’s MI depth will continue to evolve and that we get enough success from the position(s) to have potential trade chips to move for the OF we need. Youth is also a strength. Other than Pujols and Axford, the entire roster is under 30, most quite a bit younger. If they take another step forward collectively, Gotham may be able to put together a number of competitive years in a row.

If I had to pick an area of weakness for the team, it would be power, followed by OBP – I believe we are well below league average in both. If I had to pick a position that could use some improvement, it would be the OF, at least right now. They are young, there is promise, but right now there are no results. Even if the young guys start to pan out a bit, as mentioned earlier, Gotham will be looking to add another OF bat.  

Being the realist that I am, what I have today is a .500 team. However, after a number of years of rebuilding, it’s time to start turning this squad into a more competitive team and continue to add pieces as I go. For example, this is the first year I attempted to assemble a proper bullpen instead of late round inning vacuums and hopeful starters for next season. I also dealt Paul Goldschmidt to bring in what I hope will be my cornerstone at 3^rd base for the next decade. It’s never easy to let a player like him go (he was the first pick I made in TBBL) but because he is 1B only, it’s a spot much easier to fill, even I need to do it with different pieces. Things are starting to take shape in the middle infield, in which I now feel I have a few guys I can mix-n-match over the next few years and get decent results. All things considered, how my outfield pans out over the next couple years will dictate if I remain a .500 team, or take the next step to be a contender. In Polanco, Arcia and Pompey I have strong potential, but will they realize it? The odds of me hitting on all three are slim, but they don’t all need to become stars in order for this franchise to turn the corner. I am hoping for top 45-50 outfielders coming into the 2016 TBBL season, with the hopes that one of them is on their way to top 25 status from there, anything more than that would be a huge bonus. I will also need to make a move for an outfielder eventually, preferably a middle of the order type, as another way to narrow the gap. I am pleased with the depth of starting pitching we have acquired, though I worry about Tanaka. He was destined to be the ace of the staff, but now I don’t know what happens with him. I love for Hutchison to make a big leap for the 2016 TBBL season, and have my fingers crossed that Brett Anderson does as well. So many freakish injuries, but he is still only 26, and hasn’t lost his effectiveness when healthy. The catching situation is not all that different than the one in my outfield; I have a collection of players I like, but the jury remains out as to how effective they will be. Of the group, I think Realmuto will become the lead dog eventually, but whether or not that is 2016, or 2017 remains to be seen. I am not looking for a ton of production out of the position, just a steady hand that can get me 400 at-bats a year for at least the next 5 years or so.

Team Report

Team Batting:

Rollins

Escobar

Holt

Parmalee

Valbuena

Valbeuna

Rats are pretty weak on the farm with one aaa player in Ramsey. We needed to fill out the roster in the this draft to have enough PT to make it through the season. We have some young players in Avasail Garcia, Edwin Escobar, Jimmy Paredes, Anthony Gose, Brandon Finnegan, Eury Perez, Aaron Hicks and Paco Rodriguez who are at points of make or break in their careers and could determine the future strength of the team. If things look bad early, we could be looking to stock up on youngsters early in the season.

Starting pitching seems to be the strength with Lester, Weaver, Roark, Keuchel, and Miguel Gonzalez. The team will have a chance to do as well as the starters allow.

Power is fairly weak the bullpen is fairly suspect. Many Rps have bad splits and that could really hurt us in computer played games.

If we can get some decent Relief pitching and if we are able to balance out our situational players, we could be in the playoff hunt till the very end. Expectations are for over .500 but that might not be good enough. Drafting error in taking the wrong F. Rodriguez really hurt as we could have really used his help in the pen.

Team Report

Team Batting:

Reyes

Walker

Wright

Gonzalez

Nunez

Duda

Farm is improving, but still not a strength.  Bell and Piscotty should be helpful soon.  Feliz, Matuella and Fulmer should be power arms when they can make it to the show.  Jones is a lottery ticket.

The hitting should be better than last year.  Duda is back on track and both he and Peralta should be part of tough platoons.  Posey is solid and has a great PF to help him.  This team should hit a lot of homers especially on the road while we don’t give up many at home.

Our infield defense should be down from last year.  I don’t know what the DMB people were thinking to give so many Pr and Fr ratings to relievers. Our SPs should be good enough to get us one of the top two seeds in the AL bracket.  I am not sure we can match aces with the best teams in the playoffs, though.