Well, it was more painful than I thought, but I got Scotland’s major league roster down to the required 26.
As expected, outfielders José Guillén and Dave Yarbrough made the club on the basis of strong Spring Training showings. Veteran 3B Jack Speed was sent back to AAA, however, and most likely will leave the organization when he’s allowed to opt out after a month.
A few other moves of note:
Veteran Peter Casey was put on waivers and designated for assignment after a weak spring and a disappointing Claymores career, in general. If he makes it through waivers, he’ll likely go to AAA Aberdeen or be released.
Peter Casey
Two Rule 5 pickups were released – OF Kenzaburo Mori and 2B Tyson Cameron, who will return to Kentucky and San Juan, respectively.
Veteran OF Marcos Uribe, SP Orlando Moya, SP Manuel Sanchez, and RP Herb Williams also fell short of the major league roster as they were optioned to AAA Aberdeen. All four of them figure to be back, though, sooner or later.
As it stands, the Claymores will be going with a lineup that features at least four new faces from last season: Guillen and Yarbrough; free agent 3B Michael Manley and C Al Wallace.
The starting rotation, though, is filled with familiar names, while just a couple of new faces have surfaced in the bullpen: Jon Yates and Luis Monsalve, both Rule 5 draft pickups.
In all, the Scottish don’t figure to be very good. But, oddly, they may not be as bad as I’d hoped: the OOTP preseason predictions, rightly, have us projected in last place in the Trans Atlantic Division. But, concerningly, they project us at 77-85.
That’s bad, don’t get us wrong. But it wouldn’t put us in contention for a Top 5 draft pick – it would just make us drab and mediocre.
We don’t want to tank, certainly, but we also don’t want to be just mediocre, either. We must plumb the depths of suckitude and find our rightful spot at the bottom of the standings where the division lead can only be spotted with the aid of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Has the rebuild gone off-track already?
We’ll just have to wait and see.