Throwback Tuesday
Now that someone's gone and pasted the recent posts bar all over the most visited pages, it seems about right to add some (any) content. To commence, here, published in its entirety with absolutely no permission from its owning party, is the 2006 Texas Strangers Organizational Report. This series, like many a tragic early rocket launch, never made it off the ground. However, this little slice of history did give us brief Q&A seshes with a few familiar faces. To view those, bang it here.
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Manager Name: Brad Topham
Division: Pacific
2005 Record: 92-77
Projected 2006 Record: 100-69
2006 Projected Lineup:
1. Jimmy Rollins SS
2. Coco Crisp CF
3. Todd Helton 1B
4. Jose Guillen RF
5. Eric Chavez 3B
6. Alfonso Soriano 2B
7. Ramon Hernandez C
8. Chad Tracy DH
9. Randy Winn LF
This is clearly one of the best lineups of all the defectors and easily in the top five. As a real-life lineup it's a mangers dream with three switch hitters who could leadoff in any lineup (Rollins, Crisp, and Winn). I have Chad Tracy in the DH slot, even though I am sure that if Maggs comes into his own he will own that spot. Either way Tracy adds excellent depth. His position availability at first base and in the outfield is a definite plus. Grade: B+
Top Five Pitchers:
1. Ben Sheets
2. Mark Prior
3. Javier Vasquez
4. Mike Pelfrey
5. Curt Schilling
Again, this is a strong staff, not quite an elite one, but certainly a top five as well. The major issues here are health. Ben Sheets missed some time in 2005, as did Schilling, and Prior (who’s amassing a lot of frequent flyer miles with his trips to the DL). I have added Mike Pelfrey, who probably won't see a cup of coffee with the Mets til 2007, but who's upside outweighs Schilling's projected production. The best comparison for this rotation would be to the Red Sox staff, who have major injury concerns. But with those put aside would have one of the best staffs in all of baseball. Grade: B+
Bullpen:
Depth is key here. The Strangers field a team with many "possible closers." Among these are Chris Reitsma, Chad Orvella, and Mike Gonzalez. The latter two should have productive years, but I can see Reitsma losing the closer role to either Lerew or Devine by mideseason. Furthermore, Lerew and Devine should take a lot of holds away from Boyer, a middle reliever on the Strangers staff. Duaner Sanchez could be real productive for the Mets and find himself setting up Wagner many times this year, he should be the Strangers main Holds weapon (along with Wheeler). Jose Valverde (barring injury) and Tom Gordon, both should put up good fantasy numbers. Grade: B+
Minors:
Unlike the bullpen, the key thing here is a lack of depth. Andy Marte and Scott Baker are the real gems here and have great chances at contributing in 2006. Beyond that you have Russel Martin, Mike Pelfrey, and Javier Herrera who are all good prospects. It thins out from there with Hanley Ramirez, whose top-tier prospect status has dissolved. Andrew McCutchen is good too, but probably won't seem time til 2008. Much of the rest are major league players who could fill holes but have small fantasy value. Grade: C+
Overall: A B+ seems inevitable, but the minor league team is troubling. Regardless, TX can contend now. B+
