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Old 12-09-2021, 10:27 AM   #676
ayaghmour2
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Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 3,010
Start of Spring Training!

Spring Training doesn't officially happen until Monday, but our most recent sim brought us to the start. The FSJ Preseason Predictions have the Cougars leading the CA, but the always inaccurate first batch of Spring Training predictions have us just 79-75, and if we finish that poorly, I won't be able to describe my anger in words. They think John Lawson will hit .326/.399/.482 with 18 homers and 93 RBIs while Dick Lyons will finish 15-15 with a 3.25 ERA, 67 walks, and 46 strikeouts. Looking back towards the Spring, we really don't have many roster battles to deal with, but I still plan on inviting a lot of NRI. Below are a list of guys in camp, with players denoted with a * are considered locks for the roster.

LHP Bob Bliss
RHP Joe Brown
RHP Pug Bryan
RHP Luke Conway
RHP Grover Donahue
RHP Milt Fritz*
LHP Cal Knight
RHP Billy LeBeau
RHP Dutch Leverett
RHP Jim Lonardo*
LHP Dick Lyons*
RHP Pete Papenfus*
RHP Harry Parker*
LHP Walker Pearce
RHP Allen Purvis*
RHP Joe Schell
RHP Dick Strunk
RHP Eddie Quinn*
LHP Rusty Watts
C Harry Mead*
C Steve Mountain
C Mike Taylor*
C Johnnie Williamson
1B Ray Ford*
1B Lou Kelly
1B Cuno Myer
2B Bill Dickens
2B Mickey Fulton
2B Stu Johnson
2B Freddie Jones*
2B Ollie Page*
3B John Lawson*
3B Johnny McDowell*
SS John Barnard
SS Freddie Bennett
SS Tip Harrison
SS Billy Hunter*
SS Oscar King
SS Skipper Schneider
LF Calvin Brown
LF Rich Langton*
LF Bobby Mills
LF Leo Mitchell*
LF Vince York
CF John Johnson
CF Aart MacDonald*
CF Carlos Montes*
CF Harry Schad
CF Orlin Yates
RF Leon Drake*
RF Tommy Sandstorm
RF Tom Taylor
RF Aaron Ward

The biggest battles this Spring will be in the bullpen, as the rotation and the lineups are already set. Joe Brown and Pug Bryan are out of options, so I'd prefer them to have a good Spring, but I can't really see myself waiving either one. Brown because of his obvious upside, and Pug, well, because I really like Pug. That makes things tougher for Rule-5 pick Luke Conway, last year waiver claim Dutch Leverett, and breakout lefty reliever Cal Knight, as I'm probably going to carry nine pitchers and they all can't make it. The lineup is pretty solid as, I know exactly which eight players are going to spend the most time in the lineup. Then, I plan to give Rich Langton and Ollie Page semi-regular at bats. Langton will give an off day to Leo Mitchell, Carlos Montes, Leon Drake, and Ray Ford, especially in the seven game weeks. This will give him three games in left and one in right, with Drake manning center for Montes and Mitchell moving to first for Ford. Page will give an off day to Freddie Jones and Billy Hunter again, as well as now John Lawson. When Lawson is off, Page will take short and Hunter will move to third, as Hunter has much more experience at the hot corner then Page. A few bench spots are taken, with Langton, Page, Harry Mead, and the out of options Aart MacDonald, so I really won't have much to deal with assuming we are able to stay healthy. To make things easier on myself, I'm turning off seven day lineups for the Spring, and I'll let rookie manager Clyde Meyer do his thing. Yes, that means Ollie Page starting for now, but at least that should keep Freddie healthy! Surprisingly, he also has Papenfus as the #2, a huge boost from the general stopper role that Walt and even Meyer used to have him in. I think Peter the Heater may finally be a good starter, even Tom thinks he's the second best starter in the organization now, but I don't think I'm ready to push Fritz or Parker out of the rotation. This is good news as if Lyons starts to slip a bit, I know Pete is ready to hop in, but unless his walks are nearly gone, I think he's going to start the season as the stopper, with the occasional start in a rough stretch of games.

We still have time before the Opening Day prospect lists are published, but a few of our guys have gotten a boost. The system now ranks tied for 5th with the Gothams, as our Jones' are now officially top ten prospects, back-to-back with Donnie 9th and Johnnie 10th. Lou Eaker snuck into the top 100 at 96, giving us 7 in the top 100. Even with the trades, we still have 21 in the top 250 and 47 in the top 500, but our 45 and 47 are our Rule-5 Picks, who aren't guaranteed to remain Cougars. Surprisingly, Ira Hawker snuck into the top 200 at 196, as he continues to shock me. He's definitely going to get more starts, and he could be a very lucky find.

Last edited by ayaghmour2; 12-14-2021 at 02:21 PM.
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