[DD Martin]

2055 Opening Day Roster
Position Players

Starters in bold

C Sean White (age 30 B-L) 2056 contract $7,500,000 is signed through 2056. Acquired as a free agent signing March 1st, 2055
Last Season (Thunder Bay) 289/345/840 115 OPS+ 17 HR’s 63 RBI’s Career 274/324/786 109 OPS+ 105 HR 328 RBI’s

The budget constrained defending champions could not afford to give a new contract to White and they have another stud catcher in the lineup. We wouldn’t have been thinking about signing a catcher, but with the injury to rookie Juan Duran and the fact that we had a very right handed hitting lineup last year. He was a no-brainer signing. He’s a pretty average defensive catcher overall, but capable and has some pop in his bat. This might be a 1-year deal as his 2056 contract is a player option.

C Chi-Yong Lee (age 28 B-R) 2055 salary $950,000 and is controllable through 2059. Signed as a minor league FA last offseason on February 20 2054
Last Season 240/350/760 104OPS+ 14HR 45 RBI’s (was a rookie)

Made the club to backup starting C Joe Hunt and ended up taking over mid-season. Hunt was then dealt to Duluth at the trade deadline. Was expected to share time with rookie Juan Duran this season, but then looked to be the starter until the signing of White. Was a playoff hero last year and is probably hard done by not getting the starting gig for this season. Average defender.

1B Reegan Osborn (age 24 B-R) 2055 Salary $507,500 and was signed to a long term extension buying out his arbitration years and several years of FA. Signed through 2061 Draft in the 1st of round the 2049 Draft)
Last Season 295/423/988 163 OPS+ 36HR 91 RBI’s Career 304/419/997 65 HR 181 RBI’s

2053’s rookie of the year followed up with another outstanding season and was the Division Series MVP in the playoffs. Has tremendous power and a great eye as he led the GLBL in walks with 111. Will likely have 100 home runs after this season at the age of 25 and if he can stay healthy, might…might challenge Daniel Huffman’s HR records (487 for Chicago and 504 career), but that is a long ways off.

2B/IF Ken Noseworthy (age 33 B-R) 2055 Salary $13,600,000 (free agent after the season) Acquired in a trade from Owen Sound in 1944 and re-signed as a free agent in February 2053.
Last Season 253/382/856 129 OPS+ 26 HR 81 RBI’s Carerr 237/344/781 116 OPS+ 217 HR 635 RBI’s

Noseworthy can play all over the infield and moved over to 2B when Thomas Arnaud came up for good last season. Surprisingly good defensive infielder for the power hitter he is. He strikes out a lot but also delivers many big hits like in last year's playoffs in game 5 and 6 against Toledo. We will review if we can re-sign him as the season goes along, but with the youth coming up and SP Cedeno’s big contract we might not be able to keep him. Right now his agent is talking 5 years and $50 million to re-sign.

SS/IF Walker Dunse (age 34 B-R) 2055 Salary $9,000,000 with $9 million player option in 56 and $9,000,000 club option in 57. Acquired as a free agent signing March 8 2053.
Last season 281/336/423 103 OPS+ 6HR 52 RBI’s Career 277/319/725 107 OPS+ 25 HR 415 RBI’s

Dunse was signed as the 2B in 2053 but then moved over to SS to accommodate Noseworthy moving to 2B and Arnaud coming up to play 3B. He is a great 2B and is average at SS. He has led the GLBL the last two seasons in doubles hitting 50 and 47 respectively. There is uncertainty in his contract as he could opt out. Odds are we would only try to keep one of Dunse or Noseworthy with our future SS due to arrive next season.

3B Thomas Arnaud (age 26 B-S) 2055 Salary $507,500 controllable through 2059 Acquired via the 2050 draft 1st round
Last Season 309/341/829 120 OPS+ 20 HR 104 RBI’s Career 307/337/820 21HR 113 RBI’s

Arnaud was up too many days at the end of the 2053 season and that stint cost him last year’s rookie of the year award (We plan to make it up to him in a contract offer next off-season). Switch hitter with a good defensive glove at the hot corner. With 1B Osborn makes up a great young nucleus at the corner infield positions.

3B/1B Cruz Torres (Age 32 B-S) 2055 Salary $507,500 and controllable through 2059 Acquired off waivers from Duluth Sept 2054.
Last Season (Duluth) 280/357/797 111OPS+ 0HR O RBI’s Last season AAA 286/383/847 133OPS+ 5HR 30 RBI’s Career 241/301/666 76 OPS+ 3 HR 17 RBI’s

Torres is here to be a switch hitter off the bench and be the primary backup to 3B Thomas Arnaud. While he doesn’t have the career numbers to be a starter or much of a bench bat, he hasn’t been given many opportunities. He will get his opportunity this season.

SS/2B Simon Lefevre (age 37 B-S) 2055 Salary $2,500,000 free agent after season Acquired as a minor league international free agent at the age of 31 from the independent leagues.

Along with IF Ken Noseworthy and P Pat Wright, Lefevre is the only other player still remaining from the Architects 2050 World Championship team. Solid glove first backup at middle infield, but while a switch hitter he struggles to hit the ball consistently, which is why he lost his starting job several seasons ago.

1B Manuel Gonzalez (age 32 B-S) 2055 Salary $507,500 free agent after the season Acquired as a minor league signing in August 2054.
Last Season 0-1 1BB Career 232/305/383 110 OPS+ 20HR 69 RBI’s

Started several years for Owen Sound but then sat as a free agent for several seasons after falling to the AAA level for 2051. We took a flyer on him and while he is not proven, he is a quality defensive glove at 1B in case of injury to 1B Osborn. Gonzalez is on the bubble to keep his job as he was the last man to make the 26-man roster over 2B/U John Lambert and Lambert’s versatility might bring him up early in the season.

Outfielders

LF Matt Graves (Age 30 B-L) 2055 Contract $3,240,000 signed through 2057, Acquired via draft pick 2046 4th Rd.
Last Season 237/321/716 92OPS+ 13HR 40 RBI’s 44 SB 3 CS Career 240/323/718 94 OPS+ 43 HR 140 RBI’s 115 SB

Graves is our starting LF against RHSP as he definitely struggles against LHP’s. He is not a star but is a solid supplemental option and speedster out in LF. He can play roughly average defense in LF and is passable in RF but hasn’t had much practice. We had been looking at a LF in FA, but then signed another big name. While I love his speed, I do wish he could get on base a little more often so we could use it more.

CF Cris Luna (age 25 B-R) 2055 Salary $507,500 Acquired via the draft in the 2052 5th round
Last Season (rookie) 201/245/563 50OPS+ 4HR 21 RBI’s 204 PA’s

Luna was the top prospect in the GLBL top 100 list when he was called up. While older when he was drafted, he was still developing and we rushed him up. The primary reason was the falling defense of the recently retired Antonio Mendez in CF. With age Antonio just couldn’t patrol CF and was better suited to LF. Luna still struggled in the spring and we will watch his development as the season progresses. We don't have a ready yet prospect for CF, but there are several at AAA. But if he struggles we might be looking for a stop gap CF this season to give him more time, if we can find the right fit.

RF Jim “Prowler” Ashley (Age 35 B-R) $2055 Salary $20,000,000 on contract through 57 (team on in 57). Acquired via free agent signing February 2053
Last Season 288/368/913 142 OPS+ 26 HR 103 RBI’s 27 SB Career 281/351/824 137 OPS+ 181 HR, 697 RBI’s

The Prowler was signed in 2053 to address the lack of quality corner OF’s we had at the time. He has been a great addition to the lineup despite his selfish sometimes attitude. Age has not yet begun to catch up with him. He still has a great stroke and he is really the only true sure fire starter we have in the OF.

DH/RF Jose Aranda (Age 30 B-L) 2055 Salary $24,000,000 signed through 2059 (player option in 2058, team option in 2059). Acquired as a free agent signing February 24, 2055
Last Season 288/370/957 147 OPS+ 36 HR 103 RBI’s Career 385/351/908 254 HR 682 RBI;s 145 OPS+

Aranda was our big bat acquisition in the off-season. We felt we needed a big lefty slugger and we got him. Aranda will strike out, but he will also put a lot of fear into any pitcher in the league. His defense says he should play DH, but he can play RF (better than LF anyway) so if we need a boost, you could see Aranda in RF and Ashley in LF and then search for a DH if we don’t want to use our inhouse options.

OF/2B Samuel Amsden (age 29 B-S) 2055 Salary $1,300,000 controllable through 2057. Acquired as a scouting discovery as a 16 year old in 2042 out of Aruba
Last Season 221/294/710 89 OPS+ 3HR 13 RBI’s Career 229/323/723 95 OPS+ 50 HR 158 RBI’s

Amsden is another switch hitter (see a trend here on my bench) that can play the corner OF and is fairly well adept at playing 2B. That flexibility gave him a leg up and he doesn’t have options left. He’s going to have to prove it this year to be retained because his arbitration number almost left him off this year’s team. We won’t be able to afford a $3 million dollar below average player next season.

The position player that didn’t make the squad out of the spring, but maybe should have is 2B/U player John Lambert (Age 24 B-R) has 132 service days 2055 Salary $507,500. Lambert can play 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the infield and all 3 OF spots at a solid clip. He hit 238/304/685 for us last season in just 23 PA”s and he had similar numbers at AAA 235/354/849. He is not a big time starting position player, but he is a quality role player who still has some room to grow. I would expect him up before mid-season, as if nothing changes we will need a backup to CF Cris Luna and the others just aren’t quite ready.

C Juan Duran is our future starting catcher but we have time to let him fully recover and not rush him back up. He was up for 61 days last season after we traded C Joe Hunt and he should be a very good big league catcher. He is the #44 prospect in the GLBL.