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Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 9:18 am
by Simon
Thanks guys :D

Btw we just claimed catcher from Toyama: Eitoku Hirano !+)

Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 10:44 am
by roncollins
Thank goodness. :)

Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 12:02 pm
by Simon
Obviously hes not the kind of upgrades we're looking for, but he cant be worse than our current catchers. Just another option to choose from.
Also hes 26yo with 3 options and minimum salary, so I risk nothing.

Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 5:19 pm
by roncollins
You saved me from running him out there again next year. Now I can use Renaldo Garcia with a clear conscience. :)

Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 5:34 pm
by Simon
i should do the same thing with my Joe Johnson ;)

Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 2:43 pm
by Simon
No more walls on Mexican border - a closer look at SA team
Image
By Joe Ricotta
Calzones.com
Full article featuring all the fancy pictures you will find here: link
-------------------------------

SAN ANTONIO, March 31st -- There's still one more week of Spring Training before Opening Day, but i think it's safe to assume there won't any major changes before first game of the season. So let's go ahead and take a look at San Antonio 2025 edition. Before discussing roster changes though, there was one more huge thing that happened in the offseason.
San Antonio finally decided to lower walls behind right side of the field in their ballpark by around 30 feet. Yes you read that right, by thirty feet and are now 10 ft high. Still a bit higher than the ones on the left side, but it should help our left handers a lot.


We made an effort and asked few of our fans attending spring games what they think about it. Let's see what they had to say.

Fan nr 1 - "I think it's a good change for sure. I should be able to see the field from those seats now. I will miss all those graffitti though."
Fan nr 2 - "I for one am not a fan of this change. I used to buy ticket for sunday afternoon game and just sit there in the shadows and listen to the sounds of the game. I didn't care about watching actual game. And price for those tickets was very low too!"
Fan nr 3 - "I don't care, i have season tickets for behind the plate seats"
Fan nr 4 - "I think it's a good change because it will help our left handed batters, especially Ruben Memde and Jack Speed. Me - "They've been traded to Crystal Lake". Fan nr 4 - "What?! Ok forget what i just said."
Fan nr 5 - "I'm a collector, among other things i have a piece of Berlin Wall and i've been to see Great Wall of China last year. For this April i planned to visit Elysian Fields with my family to see Calzones Wall. But they destroyed it, how disappointing."

As you can see opinions differ, i guess we'll have to just wait and see. But let's have a look at what's really important, 2025 roster!



San Antonio's 2025 PEBA roster - Starting Lineup and Bench

Keep in mind these are only my predictions, a lot of things can happen in one week. But as of now, starting lineup should look like this:

C - Jose Cruz - awful year from him in 2024, we hope for much better this time around.
1B - Jorge Esparza - new acquisition from Fargo for two pitching prospects. He looks like well rounded player without any clear weakness. He's also hard worker and on cheap contract, perfect for Calzones.
2B - John Shoemaker - another new guy in the lineup. This one comes from Crystal Lake. Looks pretty much just like Jack Speed, just right handed and maybe a bit better glove. He better perform, because he is one of only 2 guys on the roster with any kind of speed.
SS - Roberto Diaz - one of very few players we can rely on every year. Steady 3.7, 4.5, 4.3 WAR in past 3 years and we expect nothing less from him in 2025.
3B - Adrian Fuentes - not the greatest last year from him, losing 60 games on 4 different injuries throughout the year didnt help.
LF - Tom Higman - 30 years old rookie from England. his first official baseball game will be in PEBA vs Florida. I never heard of this guy and i don't know why would SA front office trust he is ML ready from the start.
CF - Yoshii Ohayashi - I heard rumours he was shopped around in the offseaosn, but man im glad he's still with us. He was hard carrying this team last year, leading team in homeruns, runs, RBI's, WAR and was it's best defender. He was also close second in hits and stolen bases. He basically did it all and mostly all by himself.
RF Jimmy Hudson - maybe his last chance to prove his worth on PEBA level.
DH James Heard - mercenary signed only few days ago for 1 year, but should provide much needed power to the lineup.

Bench - most of the guys here are familiar faces we saw last year as well:

Backup C: Vincent Ward - good glove and decent power, but his bat rarely connects with ball. Shouldnt start many games.
Infielder: Fred Jones - good glove at every infield position and decently looking bat is all we need from bench infielder. He's also one of the few guys who can run bases.
Outfielder: Charlie Tucker - he's been around forever. His biggest asset is his glove, and he probably will see quite a lot of playing time, depending on other corner outfielders' performance.
Outfielder #2 / Pinch hitter - Mario Ortiz - i didnt count if i actually have enough space for him, but if so he will be first bat off bench to show up in the game. 29 homeruns last year was 2nd on the team, but on low avg and obp.



San Antonio's 2025 PEBA roster - Pitching Staff

Not many changes here. Starting rotation should look like this:

Junior Cook - after one of his better years and it's his contract year, so he should be better than ever.
Xavier Mota - low stamina doesnt really bother him, 3.16 and 2.58 ERA in past two years in SA.
Jorge Codova - one of the few homegrown players and a pretty good one.
Goro Honma - the only new guy in the rotation. He comes after terrible year in NT, but that means he comes cheap.
Bob Burns - first player Kuliszewski ever drafted in San Antonio and has been trying hard ever since for this pick to work. Burns received more chances than any player ever will. He's slowly improving, but it may be too slow to achieve big things predicted by SA front office at draft time.

Bullpen should look pretty much the same as last year with maybe few minor leaguers making their debuts: closer Ine, setups Hall and Caballero, middle relievers Nakano (coming back after long injury), Cesar Fuentes, Hoyt Gardner as long reliever and the only new guy in the pen, traded from Crystal Lake Jose Carmona. He may start few games as well, but for now long reliever.



Final verdict - conclussions

So what do we take out of it? Is this team finally strong enough to get into playoffs or will fall into mediocrity once again? On paper these guys look a bit better than '24 version, but you never know. Im for once cautiously optimistic before next season, we lost few guys, got few guys back, team doesnt have clear weakness if catcher Cruz stops f&^* around and should be good enough to make playoffs. (except for that there are only 3 guys on 25man roster who can run, and one of them is on bench).

But we can as well come short again, i guess we'll wait and see, right?
Go Calzones! :bang:

Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 5:09 pm
by Garrett Pack
Great write-up! Love the comments from the fans ;-D

Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 12:13 pm
by Sandgnats
Thank you for the CL reference lol

Re: In the meantime in San Antonio...

Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 4:55 pm
by Leones
Mr Kuliszewski, tear down this wall! :)