Richmond Spiders
It’s been far too long since the Richmond Spiders have broken the .500 plateau. 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 5 players that are looking to fill in some pieces, but not contribute right away. The main pieces of this teams core are young and I hope to build the core of the team around in these players in the future.
Red James (RF) is a first round draft pick from season 15, and he’s legit at the plate. He’s in his 4th major league season.
Also on offense we have traded for 2B Ed Jones. Jones was a first round draft pick in season 14 and we hope his solid approach at the plate will contribute to a team that was near the bottom of the league in runs scored last year.
The strength of this team comes from its pitching staff. Free Agent signings Hanley Perez and rule 5 draftee James Hoyt will fill out the back end of a rotation anchored by young guns Torey Olivares,
Tony Zapata, and Phillip Seay. All are in their 2nd ML season. Olivares was signed as an IFA in season 19, Zapata was an IFA in season 18, and Seay was acquired in season 18 from Baltimore for Russell Collins.
The other key move in the offseason were trading set-up man Miranda. 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
Season 22 has brought about some changes in Rochester. We faced a crossroad as arbitration loomed during budgeting. Following 3-4 seasons now with essentially the same team & only 1 WS loss to show for it changes were in order.
Out goes perhaps our two top players, if not at least top commodities in Derrick Henderson & Emmet Collins, along with some relievers with great core pitching ratings but questionable dur/stam combo to make those effective in Holder & Blank.
Our goal was to improve defensively, get better pitching & increase our bench flexibility. In comes overall #1 draft pick Pablo Durazo, Bengie Plata & young SP Brian Jacobs (nice upside still) along with defensive SS Alving Sanchez. 1b was addressed with trading really nice young prospect Howie Boyle for (5) 70+ offensive ratings bat Javier Hernandez. Then the capper was a boatload for Fred Tobin to give me 5 legitimate SPs.
We aren’t completely dry in the minors, but we have pretty much cast our lot with this group for the foreseeable future.
New York 9
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Washington D.C. Whalers
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