2076 Moose Jaw Diamond Dogs Preview

[TheGobOne]

SUMMARY
The Diamond Dogs bring back essentially the same team. The only new addition to the lineup is young CF Andrew Yates. Anchored by a strong rotation - including Angel Ruiz who will start opening day for the 4th consecutive year - and an above average bullpen, the DiamondDogs look to take the AL Central again. It's getting tougher and tougher each season as every team has gotten better and added quality young pieces. I predict, before this decade is out, we may see the first ever (that I could find) entire division finishing over .500 as the young guys on the competition develops.

Strengths - Pitching and defense (the Van der Bas CF experiment is over lol). Ruiz/Huang are a deadly pair and both are aces anywhere else in the league.

Weakness - No true "superstar" hitter. Hodges is as close as it gets but health has been a small issue. Munoz had a great year and if he does it again then maybe he's a "superstar". Just a bunch of above average hitters.

Record Prediction - 99-63


LINEUPS

vs RHP
LF - Clark
DH - Hodges
SS - Munoz
1B - Sanchez
RF - A. Torres
3B - L. Torres
C - Aguirre
2B - Bowman
CF - Yates

vs LHP
LF - Van der Bas
1B - Sanchez
DH - Hodges
3B - L. Torres
SS - Munoz
RF - A. Torres
C - Aguirre
2B - Bowman
CF - Yates

Bench
2B/SS - Hunt - Cheaper, younger version of Pedro Munoz.
1B/3B/OF - Quinones - Super utility guy. Too valuable to leave in the minors.
OF - Martinez - Pinch hitter vs RHP due to his juicy RHP splits.
C - Luna - Ya, he's backup catcher.


PITCHING

Rotation
Ruiz - Huang - Thomas - Garcia - Williams

Likely Danny Thomas' final year with the Diamond Dogs as money gets tight. He's been a rock solid 2/3 guy for years and we will miss him.

Bullpen
CL - Patterson
Spc. - Robinson
Middle/Long Relief - Rich/B. Sanchez/McCoy/P. Sanchez/Holder

Jack Patterson mans the Closer role until Benitez is back but he looked pretty good in his rookie year. The rest of the squad fills in as needed and does a great job when asked to take the ball.


DOWN ON THE FARM

Hitters
CF - Russel - 70 POT - ETA 2078 - Future CF for the Dogs has progressed very nicely. A rare breed of RH power-hitting CF that you don't see too often.
2B - Hardy - 69 POT - ETA 2078 - Such a strange player. Insane pop, decent eye, great speed, average D except his DP. More likely to 1B than 2B.
SS - Todorovic - 63 POT - ETA 2078 - Great name. Looks like a plus defender who can handle the bat. Hopeful future SS for the Diamond Dogs but no rush since David Munoz is just hitting his prime.
LF - Herrera - 60 POT - ETA 2078/79 - Essentially the RH version of Armando Torres. Not great D, but not awful. Big bat. Feels like RH power hitters are more rare than LH so excited to see what he can do against the insane amount of great LHP this league has.

Pitchers
RP - Wiley, Roman, Allen - Lumped all these guys together because they are basically clones. Nothing much to say, just your prototypical big stuff RHP. ETA 2079 for all 3 though WIley might make it a little earlier.

What's Missing
Absolutely zero good SP or C specs has me a bit worried but with so many valuable pieces and the core rotation in the bigs being still very young not really a concern.

[Ry]

good luck this season.

[Cnasty]

Love it.

[Wasted Memory]

Good luck MJ.

[Graywolf357]

Beat Bowie!!!! Good luck

[TheGobOne]

I shall never not post a season preview again. Thank you based OOTP gods.