Frogger - The Diary of the San Juan Coqui

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Nigel

Frogger - The Diary of the San Juan Coqui

#1 Post by Nigel »

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December, 2023

As the Ocelots packed up all the equipment and everything for the move to San Juan there were eight players that wouldn't be going with them. Seven players all heading towards their mid-thirties were all released as the franchise desperately sought to reduce the payroll. The one exception was sadly only 26-yrs-old as doctors advised him to retire.

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Left fielder Takahiro Fujihara suffered an injury filled 2023 before breaking his leg so badly on Sept 12th that the doctors finally advised him to retire.

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35-yr-old pitcher Cris Reyes had only made eight relief outings in 2023, in fact in his career that saw him play for four PEBA franchises he only made 92 appearances (63 starts) posting a 23-27 record with one save and a 3,79 ERA. He'd also made 105 appearances foe Edo in the LRS.

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34-yr-old Jose Padilla came over in a 2022 trade with Neo-Tokyo but missed a big chunk of 2023 with a hip injury. He eventually made 82 appearances, mainly at DH, hitting .221 with 11 homers and 41 RBI.

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33-yr-old Right fielder Cheol-chung O made 123 appearances in his only year in Rio Grande. He hit .245 with 23 homers and 75 RBI

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36-yr-old reliever Travis Hanson made just 27 appearances in his only season in Rio Grange going 1-4 with a 4.02 ERA

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33-yr-old third baseman Josh Shafferis leaving at the end of his second year with the franchise after playing 173 games for Ocelots where he hit just 5 homers and 58 RBI

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34-yr-old infielder Mario Tessier after a 10 year career in New Jersey spent his last year in Rio Grande making 107 appearances all around the diamond, hitting .286 with five homers and 36 RBI

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32-yr-old lefty pitcher Jun'ichi Yoshino signed off after his only year in Rio Grande. He had made 20 starts going 7-8 with an ERA of 3.81

Cutting these players has allowed the new franchise to shave the best part of $40 million off the pay roll. With the move to San Juan the franchise will try to build from within and attempt to go with several of the Triple-A Texarkana (who went 83-55 in 2023) gaining promotion to the new Coqui
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roncollins
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Re: Frogger - The Diary of the San Juan Coqui

#2 Post by roncollins »

Shaffer always seems like he should be better.
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Re: Frogger - The Diary of the San Juan Coqui

#3 Post by Borealis »

Good to have the wiley Commish kinda back in the saddle... and with a nifty new blog to boot!!
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Re: Frogger - The Diary of the San Juan Coqui

#4 Post by roncollins »

Not that we have any grudges against Josh Shaffer or anything. :)
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Re: Frogger - The Diary of the San Juan Coqui

#5 Post by Sandgnats »

I sense no animosity toward the gentleman from this conversation.
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Re: Frogger - The Diary of the San Juan Coqui

#6 Post by Nigel »

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December, 2023

Arriving at the Ballpark of San Juan it was a hive of activity. Workmen were hard at work installing the new 8,000 seats that the Puerto Rico Tourist Company had paid for and the new stadium sign “PRTC Stadium” had just been lifted into placed.

When I last saw Señor Luis Munoz Rivera we had discussed possible selections in the contraction draft. He had left the exact selections to me but had impressed that at least one of the selections had to be Puerto Rican, he wanted to build a side here that the Puerto Ricans would identify with and the quickest way would be to have local heroes playing for the team. When we met this time in the GM's office he was beaming “We at the PRTC are so pleased you managed to achieve our aim, the people are already looking forward to following his career.”

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José Gomez
Yes, even picking at 21 I had managed to find a decent Puerto Rican available. Being reasonably happy with what we had at major league level and also mindful of the franchise's financial position I hadn't really been looking for someone to slot straight into the Coqui ,more for someone that was two years on so away from breaking through. So I was pleased when 22-yr-old Puerto Rican José Gomez born in San Juan fell to me in the first round. The lefty pitcher reached Double-A for the first time in 2023 with the New Jersey organisation posting a 16-2 record with a 2.35 ERA in 28 starts. Despite only having a slider and a sinker he has spent all his pro career as a starter and owns a 34-23 record. He has also gone 2-1 in six post season starts and is developing as a strikeout pitcher, reaching the 150 K plateau last year for the first time in 2023. He will be heading for Winter Ball to learn a curveball. He was named the the #11 prospect in the PEBA at the start of 2023 and was runner up in the GNL Double-A AML Outstanding Pitcher award voting in his first year at that level.

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António Correa
My second and final pick in the draft while not born in Puerto Rico was someone I couldn't pass up. 23-yr-old shortstop António Correareached Triple-A in the Charleston franchise for the first time in 2023. He posted a +6.2 ZR at shortstop in his first time at the level and reminds me a lot of London's Chris Long in his minor league days. Unfortunately I don't think António has the drive and enthusiasm to quite reach Longs level and despite hitting .280/.326/.429 he could struggle to really make an impact with the bat long term but with experience and his base stealing threat he could become the cornerstone of the Coqui infield in a few years.

It was time for me to hanker down with all those depth charts and see just exactly where we are in terms of attempting to gain the franchises third straight post season appearance while keeping the payroll around its current mark. After the franchise's financial past it will take several years of building from within to steady the ship
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Re: Frogger - The Diary of the San Juan Coqui

#7 Post by Leones »

Good stuff here and I love the name of the blog. :)
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Re: Frogger - The Diary of the San Juan Coqui

#8 Post by Nigel »

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January 2024

As the year ticked on to 2024 and the strains of Auld lang syne had died away the PEBA's newest franchise completed its first trade. Reliever Marcos Gonzalez and outfielder Shojiro Kotara found themselves on the way to Hartford while the Harpoon sent pitcher To-wai Zhou back to the Caribbean.
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Zhou could well bag a rotation slot in 2024
33-yr-old Marcos had done well as a setup man in 2023, his second in Rio Grande, but he was 33 and blocked from the closer role by Jorge Nunez while Shojiro was a promising outfielder at Triple-A but very similar to several others down in Texarkana. He probably was the best of the bunch down there but the opportunity was taken to grab 25-yr-old To-wai who already has 41 PEBA starts under his belt. With plenty of bodies jostling for a bullpen spot and a settled major league outfield it was a worthwhile risk to grab a young starter with an array of pitches who was already showing signs of establishing himself as a strikeout picher by mowing down 169 batters in 2023. To-wai started in the Mexican league and came straight over to the PEBA at 23, his WHIP has been coming down each year but he has been hampered by some unfavourable BABIP's. He will be a strong contender in spring camp to grab the fourth or fifth starters role

-- Thu Aug 18, 2016 6:58 pm --
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January 2024

Studying the infield


Looking through the depth charts and last year's stats here's what stands out

First Base


29-yr-old Richie Norman has spent the last 340 games plus on the RGV first base and I see no reason to change that. 71 homers, 256 RBI and a 285/.318/.465 triple slash line is more than acceptable and Jon Lange will enter spring camp attempting to win the back-up job for the second straight year.

Second Base

25-yr-old Shigekazu Shimizu spent his first year in 2023 at second for RGV being defensively sound (a ZR of +4.0) and cracked 10 homers as well. A batting avg of just .230 means he won't be a lock for the job but it's his to lose

Shortstop

Injuries played a big part in the season of 37-yr-old José Rivera after 12 years with Aurora he signed on with RGV and missed half of camp with an injury and a torn back muscle on April 8th meant he only played 36 games in 2023. He posted an acceptable ZR of +2.3 and a batting avg of .275 which gives him a good shot at retaining the job in 2024.

Third Base

24 yr-old Bob Vollmer was the #12 prospect in the Dominican WL when he hooked up with RGV. Now after spending the last two years turning out just over 200 times for Triple-A Texarkana hitting 13 homers each year and a total of 111 RBI at the hot corner he will get a crack at being the Coqui's starter and making his PEBA debut in 2024. His main rival will be 31-yr-old FA signing Adam Chandler who appeared in the PEBA for New Orleans in 2018 & 19 but since then has bee sloshing around in various minor league systems most recently in Florida.

Potential Backups and fillers

24-yr-old Min-u Yi spent most of 2023 at Shortstop thanks to Rivera's injuries and posted an outstanding +9.4 ZR but unfortunately could hardly hit a lick. His defence at both MI positions may well win him a roster slot. 25-yr-old John Dickson is the outsider to win a place. Having spent three years at Triple-A he can run like the wind and play all round the diamond but to be honest most of his hitting and defence is distinctly average.
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