An Old Face in a New Hollywood

[qazhby]

Pitching Staff

SP Quinton McCraw- Acquired in a trade with Bowie. Pitching to a 3.01 ERA last season and 5.4 WAR- signed a lucrative contract extension. Will need to be the ace of this team. Crazy high strikeout numbers- could possibly be the best pitcher in the league. Took him almost 7 years to make it to the majors out of highschool. Won AL Pitcher of the year and resigned for $21 mil a year for 6 years, best pitcher in the AL and it's not close.

SP Fernando Ferreira- Acquired in a trade with Cookeville. Pitching to a 2.79 ERA last season with Cookeville. A solid number 2. Was not a solid two at all really. Ratings started to decine and his low stamina was a problem- only cost 5 mil though

Buddy Wood- Signed for $2.5 mil this offseason. Extreme groundball pitcher- hopefully with improved defense he can continue his solid numbers. 5 rWar season- one of the best pitchers in the AL in 2085- extreme groundball's paired with great defense is always a recipe for success.

Josh Stewart- Will be my opener against LHP pitching. Pitched closer/ setup for me last year. Ratings hit a big decline- was probably the worser reliever on my team last season

Ed Hurley- Will be the opener against RHP. I believe his LHP/RHP splits let him down this year and hopefully being an opener will help with that. Scratch that- Hurley was the worse reliever- the opener strategy did not work out for me at all.

Bullpen
Really nothing special. Finshed 1st in the AL in ERA last season. What a terrible prediction by me.

Raul Valdes- long relief type guy- maybe my 5 starter if the opener strategy sucks. Started/ relieved some, better as a reliever.
Herman Cota- High strikeout/ high control type pitcher- maybe we get lucky and he has a good year if he can limit homeruns. Ended up with 3 war over the season. Finished 2nd in reliever of the year- limited homeruns and we got lucky and he had a great
year.
Joe Bailey- signed for $1 mil in the offseason. Probably my best bullpen guy which is saying something. Wasn't my best bullpen guy, but was great until he got hurt for the season.
Natusme Noguchi- was a starter last season, but low stamina probably let him down more than he would want to admit. Was solid in the middle relief role.
John Critchley- will be my follower for LHP- high stamina so will probably also be used in long relief High stamina, but just couldn't put it together as a starter. Had a 1 something ERA as a reliever last season.
Pat Wallace- will be my follower for RHP- extreme groundball pitcher, so hopefully defense helps with him. Had a decent season, but is getting old, still in my minors

Some more guys but they suck. Rob Penn wasn't listed, but had a great season for me. 2.7 ERA


Lineup

1. 2B Hector Sanchez- Hector Sanchez will be batting lead off for the Halos this upcoming year. He hit .369 with an OBP of .404 last season with a total of 5.9 WAR at 2nd base. Sanchez signed a lucrative contract with Hollywood and will pay dividends for many years to come. Started the season off slow, but really came alive at the end. 5.0 WAR and 129 OPS+

2. 1B Ricky Valentine- Valentine was acquired in a trade with San Diego and will be batting in the 2 spot this upcoming season. Valentine crushes RHP and might possible be our best hitter on the season. Will have him platooning some against LHP- but he isn't terrible there. He will pinch hit a ton there for more AB's against RHP. Hit .288 last season with an ops of over .400. Didn't have the season I expected, but was still good and only getting better. Really expected a big season from him

3. 3B Rich Lewis- Lewis had a somewhat disappointing season last year, but has the ratings to compete with Ventura for the starting job. Will most likely start every other game against RHP and every other game at first base. Hoping for a bounce back year in a contract year for lewis. started the season off slow, but came alive at the end.

4. DH Carlos Delgado- Carlos Delgado was my slugger last year batting .297 with an ops of .923 at LF- will mostly have him playing DH this year with Davila playing LF against RHP. Disappointing season for the slugger, but ratings are still there. He is expensive though

5. RF Carl Curry- the former #1 pick overall made his debut last season with a whisper, but I have big hopes for this kid. Plays a great RF- should compete for gold gloves and has the hit stats to be rookie of the year. Very disappointing season for the rookie, but starting to come into his ratings, expect more from him this year.

6. LF Javier Davila- Former CF who's ratings have dropped a UNC alum so I have a soft spot for him. Should crush RHP based on ratings, but has yet to really show it. Will pinch hit/ defensive sub against LHP. Decent season from the tarhell, he just can't hit LHP for shit. Traded for SP Ron Gross in the offseason

7. CF John White- Minor league free agent signing who I think can make a difference this season. Has over 90 range in the outfield. Started the season off slow, but ended decent, played well in the outfield. I eventually traded for Tom Cross, so he was more of a LHP hitter and backup outfielder

8. C Foster Wood- Free agent signing this year. Has high catcher ability which I love, hopefully can produce at least a 90 OPS+ and I will be happy about that. Did exactly what i expected him to, OPS+ of 84 and really helped out my pitching

9. SS Donald Hamilton- Rule 5 draft pick from Shelby. Hits well enough against RHP, but might get replaced by Enriquez for defense. Played terribly and got benched for Enriquez. Had a negative 1.3 war in like 50 games

Bench
3B Cesar Ventura- will start at 3B against LHP and play about every 3rd day against RHP. Has the wrecked label so got to keep him healthy, but he is a solid player. Traded to Cookeville for some payroll relief, he actually had a solid season in Cookeville

SS Miguel Angel Enriquez- Shortstop defensive wizard- can play all of the outfield positions as well. Can also run- might end up being my starting shortstop if Donald doesn't hit. I love guys like this. Had the 5th best defensive season ever for a SS, and still didn't win Gold Glove because of Walton Burgress. Was a great pickup and will be my starter. Bat is coming around against LHP

C Esteban Aranda - Rule 5 draft pick from Miami- will catch against LHP- might also use as a defensive replacement- has high catcher ability which I like a lot. Great rule 5 draft pick with high catcher ability. Can hit against LHP and will probably play more against RHP this upcoming year

CF Alan Harmon- CF defensive wiz- can run some. Will mostly play as against LHP and as a defensive replacement. Rule 5 draft pick from Shelby. Got released when I picked up Tom Cross


Predictions?
92-70- would be a 26 game improvement over last year. I came to compete. Don't know if I can say the same about a lot of y'all.
91-71 record on the year and appearance in the AL Divisional. Happy with the season, and only think the team is getting better.

[Graywolf357]

Looking good. Good luck this season.

[qazhby]

Thank you! Now let that Canadian fall to me in the draft

[Cnasty]

Once upon a time in Hollywood!

Good stuff man, welcome back.

[DRiccio21]

Awesome to have ya back …
Good luck this year

[GeorgesGoons]

Should be fun competing this year

[qazhby]

bump with season review thoughts

[Cnasty]

Great looking squad with some stud young talent developing. Should be a fun battle with Omaha for a couple years.