BLB PREVIEW 2020 (DL)

[Z]

Aw, with us while against us :) <3

I think my biggest challenge is age, as funclown said, especially as it relates to health. I'm working on it.

I haven't talked publicly about it until now, but Voodoo will no longer catch full-time. I expect him to log about 80 games behind the plate this season. The good news is that the lower catching burden should allow him to play around 155 games, most of the rest of it as a designated hitter.

The other longtime vet in my lineup, Steve Suarez, won't play more than six games in a week if I can help it. Adding Zachary Oldham this offseason will help give Suarez the extra rest.

It's also possible that my team just doesn't hit enough. Maybe our bats don't play as well as they did last year, especially at second, short, and third. I'm not expecting a big drop off there -- I think we might actually be better -- but who knows.

Our pitching should still be near the top of the league.

If I were Pittsburgh, I'd be most concerned about the rotation. Syvertson is good. (There, Mike. I said it again!) Zhang is good. The other guys could be good, but they all had below-average ERAs last season. I guess there is also some uncertainty about how ready some of the hitters are to contribute to a contender.

[mike]

I feel you Z. I got faith in my guys. The pitchers will be fine, and our offense will lead the league in HR, SB and runs. Well be Gucci. I hope it does happen so I can post "volatile" every sim.

And when we lose in the playoffs again, we'll be right back here next year because it seems like it's easy to overlook that the average age of my roster is like 24-25.

And Z- you spelled "better than Dave Toste" wrong.

[Z]

And Z- you spelled "better than Dave Toste" wrong.

Syvertson was better than Toste in 2019.

I'm not prepared to concede he has had a better career or that he will be better than Toste in 2020.

But he was better in 2019 than Toste has been at any point so far.

[Guest]

Yeah idk what the fuck my team is gonna do, your assessment was pretty spot on. The pitching staff is very patchwork-ish...I'm basically using these guys to buy myself time to assemble some decent SP prospects. It's a shame Maurer and Stillwell couldn't stick as starters.

My core guys are all relatively young, so I'm just banking on the current crop of Corr/Hoffman/Hammond/Joiner/Schneider to come up and supplement them. Just trying to get through these next few seasons with defense and bullpen depth until the squad is ready to unleash holy hell on the league.

[mike]

Syvertson was better than Toste in 2019.

I'm not prepared to concede he has had a better career or that he will be better than Toste in 2020.

But he was better in 2019 than Toste has been at any point so far.

That's fair. The next few years will determine this long debated subject!

[PaulC]

BLB PREVIEW 2020

No team improved more this off-season than the California Kodiaks. The additions of DH B.J. Braseel, RP Terry Krause, IF Fernando Lauriano and the trades for SS CJ Wilkinson and CF Erik Hudson, improved the team WAR by 10.5 The Free-Agent departures actually contributed to the WAR in a positive way, to a league leading 14.4 this off-season. Not to mention a full season from top pitching prospects SP T.J. Broughton and SP Silvian Brouwer is only going to boost the all-of-a-sudden formidable staff. The Kodiaks haven't had a winning season since 2004 but all signs point to them having one of their best seasons as a franchise if everything gels. [/SIZE]
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IL + Shavermetrics tomorrow or if someone else wants to do an IL preview, feel free.

Here's to hoping your preview is more accurate than the start of Spring Training. The offence looks good, but the pitching staff has been belted around. I'm hoping that once roles are sorted out in the regular season that will no longer be the case.

[mike]

Here's to hoping your preview is more accurate than the start of Spring Training. The offence looks good, but the pitching staff has been belted around. I'm hoping that once roles are sorted out in the regular season that will no longer be the case.

Paul I'm kinda all in on the Kodiaks this year. I was looking over your team and you're stacked. If I was a betting man, I'd fly out to vegas, buy umd dinner and place a wager on the Kodiaks as a underdog to win the division. I mean shit, you might have the best infielder in the game (excluding 1B) in Morla and the talent is all there.

[Sharkn20]

I love Morla. I wish I could have him.

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[liquidcrash]

I also really like California's team. Was looking at them in game before last sim and they look good. If the young pitchers do well, they could definitely make the playoffs.

[Z]

Paul I'm kinda all in on the Kodiaks this year. I was looking over your team and you're stacked. If I was a betting man, I'd fly out to vegas, buy umd dinner and place a wager on the Kodiaks as a underdog to win the division. I mean shit, you might have the best infielder in the game (excluding 1B) in Morla and the talent is all there.

It's impressive how they nabbed two young pitchers as talented as Brouwer and Broughton with the 24th and 25th overall picks, respectively.

California is going to need a couple guys to make the jump. Maybe it will be Wescott finally eclipsing the 20-homer mark or Finn translating his 2018 spurt over a full season.

Their defense looks rough and they will need the pitching and hitting to be on point.

[PaulC]

Thanks Gentlemen. I'm hoping it all comes together.

I'm still a little concerned about the defence (although improved over last year) and the young guns Brower and Broughton really struggled in Spring Training. I'm hoping that was just do to the lineups and defence not being set up optimally to help the pitchers, but to try to ensure injury prevention.

[umd]

Thanks Gentlemen. I'm hoping it all comes together.

I'm still a little concerned about the defence (although improved over last year) and the young guns Brower and Broughton really struggled in Spring Training. I'm hoping that was just do to the lineups and defence not being set up optimally to help the pitchers, but to try to ensure injury prevention.

Young starters - especially in the DH DL - definitely tend to struggle.

[PaulC]

Young starters - especially in the DH DL - definitely tend to struggle.

Good point! I forgot how nice it was to pitch to pitchers the first two years.