Tempe Tribune

March 2020

Offseason 

The Tempe Knights were pretty quiet in the off-season. The one big transaction came in November with a trade between the Knights and the Crystal Lake Sandgnats. Tempe received relief pitcher Jose Paz and sent OF Matt Carter to Crystal Lake. While giving up some offensive firepower with Carter they bolstered their bullpen with Paz. Jose has filled a needed right handed setup role for the Knights. Other than that deal, Tempe was quiet. They chose to stay out of the free agency bidding for this season and opted to promote some young talent from within. Only time can tell if this is a move of strength or a move to save ownership much needed cash in a tiny market area such as Tempe.

2020 Outlook

Pitching

Starting Pitching: This is still a considerable concern for the Knights. The rotation is set for the 2020 season with Ashley-L, Soto-R, Salinas-L, Lee-R, Olivas-R.

Kenny Ashley is showing steady improvement and may turn out to be a quality starter. George Lee still has a lot to prove. He has potential, but just hasn’t had that break through that every manager is looking for. Maybe this will be the year for him. Now Gerardo Soto is an interesting pitcher. He came over is a trade with pitching prospect Bartolo Esquivel in exchange for Clayton Lewis who has turned out to be an ace for the Connecticut Nutmeggers. Soto had a good 2 very good but short seasons for the Nutmeggers, but faltered after coming to Tempe. The Knights are hoping Soto bounces back and show the potential they were hoping for. The Knights also re-called up Jaime Salinas who beat out Drake Fisher who had an awful spring. Salinas had a good year back in 2015 but hadnt pitched very well til last year for AAA Chandler Waxers. So he’s earned another shot at the bigs. Marcos Olivas will fill out the starting rotation. Olivas has 4 good pitches with some potential. He must pitch well this season cause he knows that Esquivel is chomping at the bits to pitch in the bigs.

Bullpen: This is an area of improvement for the Knights. CL Cruz-R, SU Paz-R, SU Puente-L, MR Belanger-R, Zhao-L, Tinker-R, Medina-R, Cuevas-L

Raul Cruz will take on closing duties this year and the Knights are betting he will feel right at home with his new job. New addition Joe Paz is another elite pitcher who will handle the right handed setup job and rookie Luis Puente will handle the left handed setup job. The Knights moved former closer Dominic Belanger to a middle relief role. He should help strengthen the first tier relievers. The rest of the Knights relief core are Li-Ben Zhoa who had a good year last season and a terrific spring. Sergio Tinker had a 3.60 ERA in 66 appearances last year.  Tomas Medina who didn’t have a very good spring but pitched well last season with a 3.86 ERA in 42 appearances. And Estaban Cuevas who has not pitched well since coming to the majors. He does show potential and is left handed. He beat out Aydan Hoffman who had an absolutely horrifying spring.

Lineup

The everyday lineup is Tempe’s strongest asset and was one of if not the top offense in PEBA last season.

Infield:

At the catcher position there is a change a comin. Rookie Bob Turley will take over the catching duties. He is a defensive juggernaut and if his stick can just be mediocre it will be a big improvement at the position. Richard Wymer will play the backup role while veteran Chad Hull was put on waivers. At first base Ken Knight is returning from an incredible season. He hit .299 with 102 RBI’s in the four hole. At second base Gabriel Lopez beat out Steve Scherer who was sent back down to AAA and veteran utility man Johnny Sloan. Lopez had a great spring as did Sloan but Lopez’ defense was the deciding factor in that competition. Robert Barraclough returns as the Knights starting shortstop. He has amazing defensive skills and a decent bat to boot. At third base is one of the leagues top players Javier Padilla. Sloan will be playing the utility infield role and may pounce on a position of his own if someone shall falter. Dwight Carver has been called up to back up Padilla and will have some DH appearances.

Outfield

In right field is another one of the top players in PEBA Tony Figueroa.  Figueroa will be moving to the lead off position. Tempe has been trying to find someone to embrace the lead off spot and hopefully Tony is da man. In center field coming off of a sensational rookie year is Gonzalo Juarez. He hit .306 in his maiden voyage and the Knights are hoping for big things from this young man. In left field will be Eric Springer. Springer has been a solid hitter in his career with a .290 average for the 30 year old. Norm Bruce will handle the DH duties along with some action in the outfield. Bruce hit .306 last year with 71 RBI’s. He is a .293 career hitter and averaging 78 RBI’s.

The Farm

The Tempe Knights have some hopeful prospects down in the farm. Some who have had a taste of the big show and others who have a fork, a spoon, a plate and a bib just waiting chow down on some big league action.

Pitching:

SP Bartolo Esquivel, RP Geoff Lawson, RP Juan Bravo, RP Bobby Bryant and 19 year old prospect SP Hector Rivera.

Rivera is coming off of a torn rotator cuff which is a concern for the Knights organization. But he is young enough for the Knights to be able to go slow with him and hopefully develop him into a good major league pitcher. Both Lawson and Bravo are 21 and pitched tremendously in AAA last year. I am sure it was very tempting for the Knights to call them up this year, but hats of to Tempe for not throwing them into the fire with they still can develop their skills to a higher level. Same goes for Esquivel. The Knights are planning on holding Bartolo down one more year before bringing him up next season. Now according to sources, Bryant is one who may see some major league action this year. Depending on how things go he is on the edge from being called up or keeping him down for another season. But everything points to him having a shot this year at some point. Aurelio Lopez didn’t have a very good spring and was sent down to AAA for some fine tuning. He is also expected to be called up and playing in the bigs this season

Lineup

The everyday players down on the farm is not as strong of an aera for the Knights as the major league lineup is. There are weakness’ throughout the organization.

The bright spots are: 20 year old center fielder Tim Churchill, out fielder Bruce Miller and shortstop Brian Coleman. Churchill was acquired in a trade with the San Antonio Calzones last season. He hit .300 in A-ball before being called up to AA where he hit .235. Tempe is planning on moving him up to AAA this season where he can work with legendary hitting instructor Luis Arroyo. The plan is to keep him there for 2 season and then see where he’s at. Both Miller and Coleman are long shots. Miller hit .270 in short A-ball and Coleman hit .314 in short A-ball. The 22 year old Coleman was a .360 career college hitter and averaged 129 RBI’s per season. He has top notch defensive skills to go along with his stick. He is also expected to be moved up to AAA to work with Arroyo.

Closing 

Tempe had a decent spring and all signs are looking up. The starting rotation is still a big concern for the knights and if they perform as bad as they did in spring training it is gonna be another long season in the hot sun in Tempe. The bullpen is stronger and the lineup is just as stronger if not stronger than last year. So to wrap this up the Tempe Tribune sees the Knights going 74 and 88 this year. That is a 7 game improvement over last year. The starting rotation will hold them back again. It will be a  little too much for the bullpen and the everyday lineup to overcome.