Boardwalk Empire #2 2023: Adding A Big Arm.

[Cliche]

Our rotation has not been particularly strong, even last year during our title run. For years it was very mediocre but we went out and got Mingo Boone. So we finally had an ace. We picked up Bolota, so we had a solid lefty. Alfonso was a reliable veteran. But we've never been exactly star-studded. So when we traded Esteban Benitez to Greenville in the off-season, I knew we were going to have to find a replacement at some point. Benitez was a workhorse for us (two years in ATC, 240+ IP in both) and he was a big part of why we were able to make our playoff run last year.

As much as I like McDonald and Galvan and Carr as homegrown guys, they're all back-end starters at best. With Alfonso losing a step I didn't really want to have more than one of them starting for us. So I knew I needed to get active and make a move. The good news is we had payroll room this year. But thanks to some big contracts kicking in, next year will be a lot tighter. So my original plan was to find an expensive proven SP that was on an expiring deal. Which is sort of what happened, but not exactly.

Enter new starter Gabriel Campos. Campos is in his 12th MBWBA season, and has never posted an ERA of 4.00. His highest WHIP ever is 1.21, and he hasn't gone above 1.14 in a decade. He strikes out a ton of hitters, and walks very few. He's exactly the kind of power arm we needed to pair with our current group. He's also got a 16 million dollar team option for next year, which means we'll have some hard choices to make this winter. But in the end the lure of a potential Championship was too much for me to pass up on. So we sent our #1 prospect Patrick Lue to the Sluggers along with Orlando Bragaghio, Roberto Ibarra and Mark Little. That's a decent haul of talent to give up for three months from a starting pitcher. But I felt like it was necessary for us to attempt to defend our title.

The move most likely costs McDonald his rotation spot, and probably his roster spot since our bullpen is pretty settled in. But I will most likely ride the hot hand at the end of the rotation. It's also possible we make another move before the deadline, but I will be crunching the numbers and be careful with our finances which are in good shape currently.