Codgers look to build on turbulent 2039 season

[Codgers]

45. The Palm Springs Codgers rostered 45 players doing the 2039 season. The team shuffled 45 different players through the active roster and still managed to win 76 games, 27 more games than the 2038 season. There was a complete makeover of the team at the trading deadline that saw 11 players from the active roster and 7 more from the farm system depart. Four draft picks were surrendered but finally the Codgers management feels like they have a foundation to build upon.

The team has built a solid young core lead by a young starting pitching staff that averages 23.2 years of age and accounted for 769 innings pitched in 2039. James McCoy, Shigochiyo Yamaguchi, Takaski Yamamoto and Nathan Comyn were all over 180 innings pitched and are currently expect to be joined by rookie Sergio Melendres who posted a respectable 3.04ERA and 0.90WHiP in four end of season starts. Or maybe it will be Brant Haines who threw 97 innings for the team out of the bullpen. Or possibly a veteran free agent will be acquire via trade or free agency. It is known Codgers management would like to find an impact lefthanded starter.

While the bullpen is not spectacular, it is fill with solid young arms who are under team control for the next few seasons. Rookie Timothy O'Slattery notched 26 saves with a 2.40ERA, trade acquisition Bertrand Baverstock and his left arm were strong in a setup role throwing 70.2 innings with a 2.04ERA and 0.96WHiP. Hyun-seung Kim was a pleasant find for the Codgers, the righthander started the season in AA throwing 33.2 innings before moving to AAA. He was dominant in AAA posting a 0.33ERA and 0.81WHiP in 27 innings before being called up to Palm Springs where he posted a 0.56ERA in 16 innings of work in relief. It is rumored the team will pursue 1-2 end of game options this offseason.

Offensively the team has challenges but the Codgers are hoping outfielder Robby Rollins, shortstop Hyung-oo Chu and infielder Javier Cervantes are building blocks. Rollins hit 14HRs but was average at best offensively his rookie season. Cervantes showed he could hit in a small sample size with a .349 average. The team shuffled through several veterans hoping to find some offense and hit pay dirt on Antonio Canseco, who was brought in with McCoy on a trade with Arlington. The team saw Canseco as a salary dump and even consider releasing him but instead he hit .320 and 12HRs in 77 games with the Codgers, easily their most productive hitter. Lead off hitter Adam Barnes posted respectable numbers hitting .280 with 10HRs and 43SBs. Codgers management has been very vocal in their desire to upgrade the offense. First base, catcher, DH and the corner outfield are all areas that could use an offensive upgrade.

The Codgers have been intentional on the defensive side of the ball. GM Rob Sullivan made a serious commitment to his teams defense with the acquisition of shortstop Hyung-oo Chu. Giving up his 2039 first round pick and outfielder Shan-Tang Chen to bring Chu to the Codgers may prove to be an overpay but it stresses the importance Sullivan puts on building defensively up the middle. 2039 free agent signees second basemen Manuel Jimenz and centerfielder Juan Mendoza are also strong defensive players who need to find more offense in their game to be consider a core pieces on a contending team.  Both Cervantes and Benjamin Gentileschi are solid defenders at third base with the latter expected to move into a utility role with the departure of Vasil Albers. Sullivan is still looking for a solution at catcher where his trade for Antonio Mesegue was a bust. The Codgers will be aggressive finding their foundational catcher or a solid stop gap until them find or develop one.

When Sullivan took over the team during the 2038 season his first order of business was to create future payroll flexibility. The team said goodbye to several expensive veterans or players who were about to receive big arbitration payouts. 2040 is finally the season the Codgers see the results of those moves. With the $7MM savings the team gains by withdrawing their rights to Vasil Albers they enter the 2040 offseason with a payroll of just $74MM. They believe their pitching staff is close to a playoff caliber pitching staff and with a couple strategic additions it could be a top five pitching staff. Look for the majority of resources spent to be on repairing an offense that was the eighth worst offense in the entire league, only two teams hit fewer homeruns.

They have some help on the way in stud prospect Hisashi Takeuchi and Carlos Ocasio but they are two seasons away and may end up as trade assets. Having just graduated a large number of their top prospects, the Codgers minors is still a top ten system but the majority of the players are early in their development.

The team finished five games under .500. At minimum the team wants to play competitive baseball into late September but make no mistake, the playoffs are the goal.

The Codgers plan on being active in both free agency and the trade market. Moving forward they will be weighing both the short and long term impact of each personnel move trying to strike the balance between maintaining a long contender window versus adding expensive, aging pieces to win now. The priority will be young, cost controlled players who fit in with the timeline of their core players but the team will not hesitate to add a veteran that helps win more games now.

The playoffs or bust? Check in on Opening Day