April 2, 2018 – Fargo, ND: Coming off an impressive 2017 regular season that unfortunately ended in disappointment, the Fargo Dinosaurs‘s 2018 season arrives with anticipation. With a 93-69 record, the Dinosaurs last year surprised many and won the Great Lakes Division, beating out the previous season’s divisional champs, the Duluth Warriors, by two games. In the first round of the playoffs, Fargo drew another surprise playoff team, the Reno Zephyrs. After losing the first two games of the best-of-five series, the Dinosaurs stormed back to win the next two and force a deciding fifth game. Here the Dinosaurs lost in a close and exciting game, as potential Hall-of-Fame closer Raúl Pinto, in what would prove to be his final game with Fargo, blew the save.

With Opening Day now upon us, the Fargo front office hopes to have put together a championship contender, and at the very least a team that can return to the playoffs and finally make it out of the first round. The team went through a number of changes this offseason, including both surprise moves and tense negotiations with some of the last year’s star players.

To understand the organization’s off-season moves, we must first go back to that devastating playoff loss to Reno. Indeed, the front office had to move swiftly despite the emotional anvil weighing down the city of Fargo after another first round exit. With uncertainty surrounding then Fargo left-fielder Yoshino Miyata’s massive $32 million team option for the upcoming 2018 season, the team found itself unable to negotiate with ace and rotation anchor Armando Gallegos on an extension. Moving quickly, the organization declined the team option for Yoshino Miyata, whose story with Fargo was unfortunately written with too much ink describing various injuries and months of time missed instead of trophies won. Turning Miyata loose freed up enough fmoney to make a legitimate offer to Gallegos, which led to the two sides being able to work out a deal relatively quickly: a four year $71.6 million extension, with the final year a player option for $21 million. Player options are something the organization has previously avoided; the presence of this one is perhaps a sign of the leverage that Gallegos held during negotiations. Nevertheless, the bottom line for Fargo is that they are able to slot Gallegos at the top of the rotation this season.

Gallegos will be supported in the number two starter role by 2017 mid-season acquisition Javier Sáenz, who went 15-4 in 23 starts for Fargo. Saenz’s pitcher profile is fairly similar to Gallegos in that his weakness is the long ball; but he succeeds by striking out a fair number of hitters and limiting walks. The third and fourth slots in the rotation aren’t yet known, but the two pitchers most likely them are Craig Hampton and Bill Lewis. Hampton last season revived the promise of his 2014 rookie season, when he started 32 games and finishedwith a 16-9 record and 2.95 ERA. Last season Hampton again started 32 games, this time going 11-8 with a 3.01 ERA. The Dinosaur front office is hoping this will be another 30+ games started season for Hampton, who has accomplished this feat three of the last four seasons. Bill Lewis, on the other hand, struggled through a tough stretch early in 2017, not unlike his struggles in 2015 (when he had the worst season of his brief career). But he rallied to finish with a 3.73 ERA, starting a career-best 33 games and topping 200 strikeouts for the first time.

The fifth spot in the rotation has been a battle between two pitchers this spring training. Last season Pablo Cisneros appeared exclusively out of the bullpen for the first time in his career with Fargo, and he was dominant, posting a 2.89 ERA in 71 2/3 innings. Yet Cisneros has had past success in the rotation, and was approached by pitching coach Masaki Sato this offseason and asked if he would be comfortable in either role this upcoming season. This was around the time that the front office was negotiating with the New Jersey Hitmen on a deal that would send relief pitcher Axel Loiseau and a 7^th round draft pick to New Jersey for starting pitcher Danny Hendricks and $500,000. Hendricks spent the early part of his career, like Cisneros, bouncing between the rotation and bullpen for San Antonio (before pitching more than 200 innings in 2016 for New Jersey). Last season, Hendricks moved back into the swing role, started 11 of the 24 games in which he appeared. One of these two pitchers will earn the fifth spot in the rotation, while the other will tmove to the bullpen. But considering the inability of pitchers to stay healthy, there is a good chance that both will get time in the rotation this season.

The back end of the bullpen will experience a shake up for the first time in, well… forever it seems. A season after seeing the heart of Fargo, Ramón Flores, depart into free agency, the organization saw another of the old guard move on. Closer Raul Pinto has been a fixation at the back of the bullpen for Fargo since 2008 (he shared the closing duties in 2007 with Guonçalle Malatestiano, before Malatestiano was traded mid-season). Pinto is the PEBA’s all-time saves leader, with 84 saves more than the second place reliever Andrew Sepkiechler. It must have been a hard decision to refuse to bring Pinto back, particularly since the Dinosaurs fancy themselves a playoff contender again this season. But judging by reports during the offseason, and the fact that no PEBA team signed Pinto (he eventually signed with San Cristobal Cajeros De Fortuna in the Dominican Winter League), it is safe to say that his asking price was more than the team could handle, especially after signing Gallegos and still needing to improve other areas of the team.

So with Pinto gone, one might expect the team to sign a veteran to step into Pinto’s large shoes. Instead, the organization has done the exact opposite, handing 2017 rookie reliever Carlos Rivera the closer’s role. No problem, right? Rivera is a fireballer who can reach triple digits with his fastball. He’s had problems with control at times; but he may be wild enough to be effective, as he also does a good job of limiting homeruns and is, in general, fairly difficult to hit. Perhaps the biggest risk taken by the team going into this season, Rivera’s transistion to closer will be a story to follow; for the pressure on the young pitcher to succeed will be immense.

The remainder of the bullpen is less clearly defined. There are a number of relievers that are a lock to make the team, but their roles are not yet clear. This uncertainty is due, in part, to the aforementioned battle for the fifth rotation spot, with the loser going to the bullpen. We can say that the Barney Sharp, Brock Barrett, Dan Edwards, and John Gaines will, in one role or another, pitch out of the Dinosaur bullpen. It would appear that Gaines will be given the opportunity to pitch in the late innings. He performed very well last season prior to a late injury. Gaines is now fully recovered and said to be in top shape this spring. Sharp has been mostly a starter for his career, but will be given the long man role, with the possibility of some spot starts.

Many of Fargo’s pitching uncertainties have been resolved, though others remain. We anxiously await the coming decisions of Fargo’s coaches!