[Griever20]

Pre-Spring Situation:
We got into the spring with some position battles ongoing here as we have six starters competing for five spots with

Starting rotation: Juan Miranda, Sam Griffin, Brett Asselin

Fighting for the last two spots.

Then, as every season there are

Various Infield Spots: 2B Fernando Perez, 2B Robby Weltzer, 2B James Slowik, 3B Orlando Gonzalez, 3B Mitku Kazemd, SS Rich Meilleur, SS/3B Julian Hernandez

And of course the whole bullpen as usual. We hope for a injury free spring and some development so that we will go into opening day with the best roster in my tenure as a GM! With that being said, here are our development lap reports:

MLB RHRP Kevin Cowden(23, 3*) ->> Improve Control OUTSTANDING
MLB RHSP Juan Miranda(24, 3*) ->> Splitter Improvement SUCCESSFUL
AAA SS Julian Hernandez(23, 2.5/4*) ->> Generate Batspeed NO IMPROVEMENT
AAA LHSP Brett Asselin(23, 3/4*) ->> Improve Control SUCCESSFUL
AA IF Fernando Perez(22, 2.5/3*) ->> Generate Batspeed OUTSTANDING
S A IF Bryan Booth(20, 1.5/4*) ->> Plate Discipline OUTSTANDING
R CF Tyler Dean(19, 1.5/5*) ->> Generate Batspeed SUCCESSFUL
R SS Manny Ramirez(17, 1/5*) ->> Generate Batspeed NO IMPROVEMENT

Injury Report:
RHSP Marty Murrietta strained triceps 4-5 weeks
LHRP Bill Costa Torn meniscus (knee) 3-4 months

Spring Results:

Not that anybody really cares, but we went 18-10 in spring and looked pretty good overall, and while it took some time, we figured out the remaining open roster spots… for now. For the starting pitching, the call was easy with Marty Murrietta on the IL, and Aaron McCreery was adamant that lefty Pablo Mendoza HAS to be on the opening day roster as second lefty sooo… we went with that while the rest of the pen stayed as it was with Adam Rudolph keeping the closer role after a scoreless spring training.

For the rest of the team, we went according to the plan and that means that opening day will be the first Major League start for Julian Hernandez and Fernando Perez… as Perez’ development lab performance translated into a 3HR spring. The emergence of the two top prospects on the other hand meant that some infielders had to lose their jobs… and with a heavy heart, we decided to platoon Meilleur and Weltzer at second and send down Kazemd and O-Go to AAA.

As for the outfield, the group is the same we ended the season on, just the jobs changed a bit. McCreery and the spring stats say that Bobby Martinez(.338 5/6SB) should play every day, relegating V-Rod to platooning with Messer in right field. Let me tell you something. I think this team is going to be pretty good.

Spring Training Pitcher of the Month:
SP Dan Hinton 2-1 3.77 15K 2BB 14.1IP 0.5WAR

Spring Training MvP:
LF Ignacio Benavides .377/.452/.547 1HR 9RBI 27G/23GS

Spring Training Dud:
RHRP Dustin Jenkins 0-1 1SV 8.64 5K 3BB 8.1IP 0.1WAR

Baseball America announced their Top 100 prospect list:
#1 CF Tyler Dean, 20, Montreal Expos (A)(+1)
#2 LF Jason Barlett, 23, San Francisco Red Devils(NMLB)(-1)
#3 2B Manny Ramirez, 18, Montreal Expos (R)(+14)
#4 3B Tony Rodriguez, 19, Denver Seahawks (R)(-1)
#5 3B Julian Hernandez, 23, Montreal Expos (NMLB)(+15)
#6 LF Jim Sherwood, 21, Washington Nationals (A)(+37)
#7 RHSP Fernando Pena, 18, Denver Seahawks (R)(+8)
#8 RHSP Jason Dawson, 19, San Francisco Red Devils(R)(NEW)
#9 CF Aaron Levine, 23, Memphis Bolts (S A)(-5)
#10 RHSP John Flannery, 21, Las Vegas Gamblers(S A)(+14)

Expos further on that list:
#11 LHSP Brett Asselin, 23 (NMLB)(-5) (1st Rounder 2020)
#18 SS Bryan Booth, 22 (A) (NEW) (1st Rounder 2022)
#22 LF Santiago Rodriguez, 21 (A) (+21) (Trade WSH)
#27 SS Gabe Rivera, 21, (AA) (NEW) (Trade PIT)
#70 2B Fernando Perez, 23 (NMLB) (NEW) (Trade JAC)
#71 RHSP Alejandro Corral, 21 (AA) (-50) (4th Rounder 2019)
#88 RHSP Jorge Ortega, 20 (S A) (NEW) (IFA signing 2020)
#99 CF Sam Spangler, 22 (AAA) (NEW) (14th Rounder in 2019)

Unranked, yet promising:
Our trade acquisition R LF Antonio Estrada, a bunch of 3* guys and some relievers.

I was surprised that Dean made it up there OVER Barlett who will start torturing WL hitting starting opening day, and a lot of those guys are up in the majors here… which means we are good this season? PLEASE!