Kentucky offseason update

[Thoroughbreds]

It has been another eventful offseason for the Kentucky Thoroughbreds. After a successful 105 win season that saw them win 2 rounds in the playoffs, they did not sit back and stand pat.

Early on in free agency, Kentucky went big game hunting and in a somewhat surprisingly quick move they landed starter Roberto Rivera, who is a career 67-23 with a 2.94 ERA. He was also a Golden Arm winner back in 2033 with Shin Seiki. He signed a 6 year 134 million dollar contract that will see him remain in Kentucky until at least the age of 35. He is definitely a top of the rotation starter, but the big question mark is his ability to stay healthy, largely due to a chronic back injury. He did manage to make 33 starts last season, but he averaged just over 20 starts over the 3 years prior. Definitely a big risk with such a large contract.
"Obviously it is something we have to watch closely and monitor" said manager Paul Connor "We are going to have to watch his innings and if needed give him a rest once in a while. We have 7 guys on this team who easily can be starting so we are not too worried about it. Our goal is to make the playoffs and that is when we want Rivera healthy and ready to go"

Kentucky has a deep rotation now with the likes of Petiet, Yi, Park, Jimenez and Rivera now in the mix. All of them - except for Park - are under the age of 30 as well.

The 2nd signing for Kentucky was 30 year old Louis Kossan who has spent his entire 7 year career with a division rival, the New Orleans Trendsetters. Kossan hit .286 with 64 RBI last season. The veteran Kossan gives the Thoroughbreds some much needed depth on the infield as he can play 2nd, 3rd and shortstop. He may even play a little bit of first base. Even though Kossan is not as good defensively as Dale Spencer he could challenge for the starting second base spot since he he brings more offence to the table. "Kos will big a big addition to the team" said GM Torgerson. "He hits lefties well which is something we needed - he will see some time at all the infield position. Plus he is a good addition to the clubhouse - been a hard working blue chip kind of player his entire career. The fans here will like him a lot once they see the effort he brings each and every game."

Last but not least the Thoroughbred finally added a left handed arm in the bullpen. It came in the form of 6 time all-star and 1 time PEBA champion Jose Gomez . Kentucky paid a hefty price for the 36 year old reliever, giving him 5.1M dollars for each of the next 2 seasons. Gomez is one of the best relievers in the history of the PEBA, from 2028 to 2035 he had a streak of 8 seasons where he had an ERA under 2.00. 2 seasons ago his ERA was 1.03.
While he isn't as dominant as he once was he still has very good stuff and more importantly he is very tough on left handed batters. The big question will be can he continue to be effective for 2 more seasons.

It wasn't all gain for the Kentucky this offseason. Gone to Aurora is fan favourite Rocky Kowalski . Kowalski amassed 173 homers and 595 RBI in his 6 and a half seasons in Kentucky and had many clutch moments in a Thoroughbred uniform. "We wanted to keep him, Aurora is getting a good player" said Torgerson. "We had so much depth in the outfield and the way Dan Gore hit last season we didn't have much room at the DH spot either. I hope he has a big year and proves us wrong for not bringing him back!"
The silver lining is that Kentucky made a qualifying offer so they will get a draft pick at the end of the first round in the 2038 draft. They lost their original 1st pick in the Yi trade so it was nice they could get back into the first round.

The other player that left was starter Jose Mora who was traded to Crystal Lake for a 3rd round pick. It was a bit of a surprise as Mora has been a really effective starter over the past 3 seasons. "With the depth of our staff we weren't sure Mora was going to have a spot in our rotation" said coach Conner. "We didn't feel it was fair to him at this stage of his career - he deserves to be starting somewhere. It was nice to get a pick in the third round - we need to restock our minor league system a little. I think he will do well in Crystal Lake"

Free agency is not quite over but it would be a bit of a surprise to see Kentucky do much more this offseason - but you never know.

Once again, catching Florida looks unlikely but with an extra WC spot and this offseason it looks like Kentucky is pushing for another playoff run.