Final Spring Training Report and Season Predictions
Chicago finished in a 1st place tie with Duluth for USA spring training honors with an 11-7 record. That is a finish that could be very acceptable to the Chicago faithful (and a surprise to the GM). Below are the final spring statistics (in pictures).
Opening Day Roster
Starting Five
SP #1 Yale Hulburt (RH Age-37) $20,000,000
Spring Numbers 1-0 3.24 ERA
SP #2 Val Imbert (RH Age-32) $10,000,000
Spring numbers 0-0 9.82 ERA
SP #3 Curt Hopkins (LHP Age -22) $507,500
Spring numbers 1-0 3.12 ERA
SP #4 Kawanari Ohayashi (RHP Age -32) $2,000,000
Spring numbers 2-0 3.00 ERA
SP #5 Bill Lutz (RHP Age -34) $8,500,000
Spring Numbers 0-1 4.32
Summary - A $41 million dollar starting rotation that is probably $15 million over paid. Hulburt and Lutz would be great if they can hold those spring numbers anywhere close to that in the regular season. Hopkins is going into the middle of the rotation simply because he is a lefty and I wish we had more LHSP’s. It's a lot of pressure on him, but he is a tough kid. Imbert had a dreadful spring but we will shrug that off as just well spring. Ohayashi is the #4 SP as he did enough in a couple of spring starts to get the job.
Johnson and maybe Avila are in the bullpen but could be given starts if the need arises (hopefully not). Goerts is also in the pen and could make a spot start, but the consensus is that those days for him are over.
Bullpen
Closer - Pat Wright (Age 31 LHRP) $5,000,000
Spring numbers 1-0 0 saves 4.32 ERA
SU - Larry Stott (RHRP Age -29) $2,400,000
Spring Numbers 0-0 7.11 ERA
SU/MR Joe Johnson (RHP Age-28) $3,000,000
Spring numbers 1-1 4.05 ERA
MR - Mario Avila (LHP Age-27) $507,500
Spring numbers 0-1 4.66 ERA
MR - Jim Garcia (RHP Age-38) $507,500
Spring numbers 0-0 2.84 ERA
LR/ES - Sam Goerts (RHP Age- 40) $507,500
Spring numbers 0-3 10.50 ERA (yikes)
MR/SP - David Butler (Age -26 LHRP)
Spring numbers 0-1 13.50 ERA
Bullpen Summary - Again the top 3 guys were shoe ins and where all the money is spent (only $10.4 million). Stott had a spring that is making us worry about that contract we signed with him. As you can see we went with the veterans and sent the younger guys down. Next season the plan will be that 3-4 of them will assume position in the Architects bullpen.
Prospect LHRP Roy O’Brien and RHP Kieron Aplin both completed the spring games with a 0.00 ERA. The club almost kept O’Brien up, but decided to give him some time at their AAA club so they could work with him. LHRP Pepe Aragon also performed well pitching to a 1.04 ERA but again he was also sent down.
St Joe’s bullpen for this season
Loren Summers will be closing, and O’Brien will be the top setup guy. Aragon, Randolph will also be appearing in middle relief. Alpin would also be in the pen but the Joe’s need another pitcher in the rotation so he will start there. RHP Dustin Raldolph rounds out the bullpen arms. Chances are while the Architects will still be managing their financial concerns that a group of these men will be in the Architects bullpen next season.
LHRP David Butler made the club, but his position is shaky at best. His spring ERA of 13.50 almost cost him the position and may still yet. The Architects will be checking the waiver wire and are also interested in another veteran RHP that they may sign.
Position Players
Infield (Starters denoted in Bold)
C Juan Duran (B-R age-25) $507,500
Spring stats 333/467/1008 HR 4RBI 7R
C Ken Armour (B-L age-31 $507,500
Spring stats 227/320/684 HR 3 RBI 4R
1B Reagan Osborn (B-R Age-26) $8,500,000
Spring stats 444/474/1307 4HR 11RBI 7R
2B John Lambert (B-R Age-26) $507,500
Spring Stats 239/300/626 HR 3RBI 11R
3B Thomas Arnaud (B-S Age-28) $5,250,000
Spring Stats 261/333/768 2HR 7RBI 5R
SS Kennelly Mulford (B-R Age-28) $7,300,000
Spring Stats 372/400/1005 2HR 10 RBI 10R
2B/IF Ron Hinton (B-L Age-32) $507,500
Spring Stats 227/306/715 2HR 8RBI 5R
SS/IF Pedro Farrulla (B-R Age-25) $507,500
Spring Stats 263/317/817 3HR 4RBI 6R
Outfielders (Starters denoted in bold)
LF Robert “Rodeo” Leroy (B-L age-32) $20,000,000
Spring Stats 233/361/628 0HR 2RBI 5R
CF Cris Luna (B-R Age-27) $507,500
Spring Stats 206/300/535 0HR 3RBI 3R
RF Marc Nakayama (B-R Age-24) $507,500
Spring Stats 250/297/735 2HR 6RBI 7R
DH Jose Aranda (B-L Age-32) $25,000,000
Spring Stats 280/269/589 0HR 5RBI 2R
OF Joe Justice (B-L Age - 26) $507,500
Spring Stats 367/472/1306 2HR 7RBI 7R
OF Doug Deschamps (B-R Age-34) $507,500
Spring Stats 208/26/603 0HR 2RBI 4R
Position Players Summary
Honestly no real surprises other than the club sent Tom Stone down to AAA. Some speculate this is because he would not receive as much playing time with Aranda back and the club wanting to see what Nakayama could do with more playing time. Others feel that this was motivated by future money. Deschamps makes the team as the 26th man and his big bonus is he is an extremely popular and community minded player. He is always signing autographs and doing events. For a player that has never been a star in the big leagues, he certainly has a big following.
The rest of the positions really were not a shock in who stayed. Larry Davis was optioned with his last option year. He’s a solid contact hitter, with not much pop and his average at best at 2B and 3B. He’s a great defender at 1B but with Reagan Osborn there really isn’t a need for him to be there. Still I would expect Davis to be on next season’s big league club, the signing of veteran left-handed hitter 2B/IF Ron Hinton really forced Davis off the Opening Day roster.
C Doug Hill is a solid 3rd string C who will start at Saugatuck and there is some OF depth with HIckman and John Ross. The club also has veteran OF’s Mark Laursen and Antonio Zamora providing depth as well.
The club would love to find another utility IF somewhere who could be called up, especially to play 3B in case the oft-injured (last several seasons) Thomas Arnaud were to go down.
Predictions
Some crackpot out there predicted that the Architects would win 92 games and run away with the US division. Then Duluth made a trade to swap pitchers with the Owen Sound Waveriders where they traded P Will McNeely and a pitching prospect for SP Jonathan Honore. The last and probably best predication scenario is below that has the Architects finishing 2nd.
As for my prediction, I think finishing 500 would be a great accomplishment for a team that lost so much (basically their top 3 starting pitchers from last season) in their pitching staff. But the offense is good and talented and they could bash their way to victories. I can’t see a playoff spot in the cards, but I won’t turn it down either if we can figure out a way.
Financial Update
With the moves that we made this off-season, while painful, were probably necessary with the new league rules on debt. The club is out of debt right now and is projected to have a positive balance at the end of the season. Our payroll is currently slated to be $10 million less than this season next year and that is before we likely decline the $17 million club option for SP Yale Hulburt. The Architects will also likely not spend the $3 million that is in the budget for any IAFA’s this season and that will further improve the bottomline and get the club in a healthy position for the future. The next couple of years financially the club should be in good shape as long as they play well on the field. There is a bloated payroll (currently projected to be $183.7m) in the 2060 season and also 2061 ($167.6m), but with some extensions and other decisions that should be able to be lowered. Not sure there will be any “big” off-season signing for a few seasons, but you never know. With the young pitchers in our organization we should be able to sail smoothly through the next 5-7 seasons in good financial shape. Fixing things this year, while drastic, were extremely important in getting the club on the right track.