2055 Twin Cities River Monsters Team Preview

[RT60]

Twin Cities fans must be pleased with the 2054 season. An 11-win improvement from 2053 to finish with 87 wins and a spot back in the playoffs. In the first round of the playoffs, they reeled off three straight wins in elimination games to upset Louisville, a team that many thought could fly under the radar to win it all. Twin Cities then took eventual runner-up Sacramento to 7 games in a thrilling Doubleday Series.

Can they again compete well in the best division in the BBA? Did they make the necessary adjustments to keep up with the juggernaut in Omaha or the enigmatic front office in Louisville? The pundits say yes, with most predicting a whopping 96 wins! Are they right? Let’s find out.

Infield

At 1B, GBC-to-BBA success story Marco Acheson returns for the second year of his three year/30M contract. Marco had a great season, hitting .312/18/70. Look for Marco to put up similar numbers this season. Maybe this summer in pools across Minnesota, one will not hear “Marco…Polo” but “Marco…Acheson.”

At 2B, the offseason acquisition of Edgardo Encarnacion for 3 years/10.8M gives the team options alongside the returning Ignacio Venegas. Both are fantastic defensively and on the base paths and will provide serviceable offensive contribution. Encarcion will likely turn out to be a great pickup.

At SS, Luis Pena comes back to start the first year of his 4-year/34M contract. After coming over from Omaha last season via trade, Luis failed to replicate his All-star and Diamond Glove 2053 season. Losing six weeks of the season to injury did not help and may be a harbinger of things to come for the 35-year-old. Another Diamond Glove is certainly possible, but offensively Luis might not have as much in the tank this season. Expect a more modest offensive output this season while maintaining his defensive wizardry. Twin Cities needs Luis to stay healthy.

At 3B, former first overall pick in 2051 Felix Ramos returns. The man can get on base (he led the league with a .451 OBP in 2051 and should be expected to break .400 this season). He will be joined again by Roberto Rivera who returns for the last year in his two-year/16.5M deal. Rivera had a quiet year offensively last season, but look for him to have a resurgence at age 31 as he tries to maximize his next contract.

At C, Andy Elmer returns for the second year of his 4-year/$18.5M deal. He is one the best defensive catchers in the game and that should continue. Offensively he is rather light but that is not why he is in the league. Look for newly-signed backup catcher Dave Butler to contribute more offensively when he gets his starts.

Outfield

In LF, the Omer Dijkstra experiment is over after the player’s one-year contract was not extended. In comes free-agent signingMike Brodt on a three-year deal. Brodt looks like a quality signing. He will surely become one of the team’s captains and keep them on track. He is solid defensively and should contribute a decent amount of offense. It will be interesting to see if Twin Cities calls up highly touted prospect Anurodha Nayar. After getting 22 AB last year, it looks like he is ready to make the jump and will give Twin Cities an interesting platoon option.

In CF, Bernardo Garcia is gone and replaced by Murad Abdul-Alim on just a one-year deal. Abdul-Alim is a low risk deal for a player that will be solid defensively, but he will not move the needle offensively. It’s possible that Twin Cities gives prospect Bill O'Toole a chance to see what he can do.

In RF, 37-year-old David Simpson returns and should continue to put up solid offensive numbers. Last year he led the league in OBP (.414) with a .916 OPS. Twin Cities will need Simpson to produce. Despite his age, he is an iron man, and should live up to expectations.

DH

Sertac Safavi will return after signing a one-year/5M deal. Safavi has yet to replicate the numbers he put up in 2051 with El Paso, but he did have a decent resurgence last season, hitting .294/31/119. Expect him to put up similar numbers this season.

Starting Pitching

Small moves are important in ham radio and when your pitching staff did well enough to get the team 87 wins. Gone is Juan Garcia and his 32 starts and 12 wins. Is that a small move? Not sure, but looks like Twin Cities made a smart move letting the 36-year-old file for free agency. Juan is still waiting for the phone to ring because many know his asking price right now is not worth the risk. Also gone is Jafar Haamid and his 10 wins in 27 starts. He also is still waiting by the phone.

Coming back as likely anchor of the rotation is Erik Brooks. The former first round pick in 2047 has been pretty consistent since his 13-win rookie season in 2051 (after just one total start in AAA). Look for Brooks to put together his strongest season yet. Twin Cities fans know they need more than 11 wins from him if they expect to make the playoffs.

Also returning is Jerry Stone, the team’s first round pick in 2052 (4th overall). Expectations were certainly high for Jerry after a pedestrian season in 2053 where he won 9 games in his first full season, and he exceeded them with a stellar 15-game campaign. Jerry is throwing with confidence so look for him to be even better this season.

Also back is 8-game winner Jose Martinez. If he can keep the ball in the park, he will be a game-changer. Unfortunately, I expect him to keep giving up too many longballs. Look for more of the same from Jose.

It looks like highly-touted prospect Ivan Martinez might be staying for his full first year with the team. The #97 prospect in the league, scouts think he could be a future #1 starter. The team’s success likely hinges on how well Ivan handles the pressure.

The #5 starter will likely be free agent signing Curt Fields, who comes back to the Twin Cities organization after being traded a couple seasons earlier to Rocky Mountain. Curt can’t seem to get a regular gig at the major league level, but he loves Twin Cities. In 2052 he had 13 wins for the River Monsters. Fans would be happy with less, but I think Curt might be a big surprise this season.

Relief Pitching

Look for Twin Cities to have a decent bullpen this season. Ernesto Delgado, Raul Lopez, and Eric Buckson will all return after a fine season. Peter Fuller will also return and will surely best his pathetic year last year. Peter is simply too good not to bounce back. Melvin Simpson will also return but I don’t expect much from him. He may not be worth the new 4-year/7.6M deal he just signed. Fans are excited about the addition of extreme groundballers Sergio Herrera and Luis Rubio. Sergio particularly looks like a good addition, but Luis doesn’t seem to be switched on, which is not good as he likely starts to trend downwards at age 33.

Prediction

Twin Cities are mostly the same team that almost got to the Cartwright Cup. Some wise additions and subtractions have set the team up for continued success. I think this team could actually do better than 87 wins, though ultimately I am not as bullish as other pundits. 96 wins seems like too many in this crowded division, but 88 seems just right.

[ae37jr]

Great preview. Thanks. I share the same feeling that we are more or less the same team as last year. I'm banking on Ramos and Fuller to have bounce back years, two solid rookies in Martinez and Nayar, and hoping that we added more depth to round out roster.

Nayar will almost definitely break camp with the team. Brodt was brought in to be a safety net. He is a great short side platoon who can step in to start if Nayar fails.

I'm trying to find a roster spot so I can platoon O'Toole in CF. Right now he is our 28th man. The guy has always out performed his ratings. So maybe he'll be better than he looks. If not, we also have Winston Farthing. I try to have 3 options at every position that I'm at least somewhat comfortable with in case the apocalypse happens.