It’s been two years in a row that the Richmond Spiders have been the last place team in the league, and this year the rebuilding stops and the winning (hopefully) starts. The season started with a purge of most of the untalented players on last years MLB roster.
We have promoted 4 players that I hope to build the core of the team around in the coming future. Red James (RF) is a first round draft pick from season 15, and he’s legit at the plate. He will be a welcome addition to a line-up that was putrid last year.
From a pitching perspective, Torey Olivares, Herb Leary, and Phillip Seay were all promoted this year. Olivares was signed as an IFA in season 19, Leary was a first round pick in season 17, and Seay was acquired in season 18 from Baltimore for Russell Collins.
The other key moves in the offseason were extending set-up man Miranda’s contract, and landing a couple key pieces in FA. Geraldo Pimentel (C) and Marcus Lamb (SS) are some aging vets, but will hopefully bring some offensive punch to the Spiders line-up this year. We also signed some pitching help as well, Xavier Maxwell and Hanley Perez should be able to add some stability to a very poor rotation from a year ago.
Overall the Spiders franchise has had only 1 season in 20 years over .500, I hope to make it two this year. The future looks bright in Richmond!
Rochester Rodents Of Unusual Size
Rochester is still looking to avoid the early season holes we keep digging every year.
The starting offense returns intact, but our bench has undergone a bit of an overhaul. Welcome to new comers Oswaldo Guapo to handle LF & 1b duties and John Worthington to cover SS late in games. Both come with much better offense than we have had in the past w/ former SS’s Garland & Parker who were defense only. Still looking for these guys to hit like they should, especially since there arb numbers are about to really increase next year or two…then it will be decision time on this group.
The pitching staff has traded our #1 starter Willie Estrada (lost as type A – don’t get me started on the compensation situation!) for serious ace & megabuck contract havin’ Harry Palacios. We have also brought up a couple noobs to fortify the pen in former #6 pick season 18 Frank Mauer and Orlando Marmol. Pitching staff has a lot of control overall & very nice splits – should be a strength.
A lot of our top prospects are gone in the Palacios deal….but we have Howie Boyle developing for the pen, last year’s #1 pick and a few compensation picks to refortify the system.
New York Knights
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Washington D.C. Whalers
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