One For The Thumb: 2015 Otto Preview
The "Hecklin Section" isn't so rowdy these days. Once amazing field-level seats now alternate between rusted and warped. Long gone are the summer afternoons spent watching the river behind centerfield roll by. No banners hang in Abluevetala Park at Montgomery Yards. A decade later, residents in the capital of the Yellowhammer State remain blue.
900-plus miles northeast, a starkly different picture is being painted in broad orange strokes. Last October 28 marked the fourth time in the past six years a parade has wound its way through Syracuse, NY only to culminate in front of the Carrier Dome. (And why not? They play every other sport in that building.) In contrast to literally every other enterprise that has set foot in the city over the past half-century, The Otto-man Empire is flourishing.
Big League Chew
The offense is led, as it was en route to its record-setting championship last fall, by Robinson Cano (5th in 2014 2B points despite just 14 taters--and only two through June 10) and Yasiel Puig (HE'S QUICK HE'S STRONG HE'S ACTIVE! Willie Randolph would've loved coaching him up back in Alabama). Matt Kemp, if healthy, will prove Petco Park quite playable; new addition Mike Zunino possesses some of the best raw power (22 HR in 476 PA last season) in the league at his position; and Evan Longoria annually produces excellent value at the hot corner regardless of the carrion surrounding him in St. Pete.
Pitching, however, is the true reason why Otto's name litters the champion's column. Adam Wainwright refuses to slow down, averaging 771.6 pts over the past three seasons (including his up-and-down return from TJ). His Defectors Cup Day 1 CG-SHO last September 17 effectively put the championship on ice. Ace 1A of the staff is Nationals mound maven Jordan Zimmermann (hey Birds! remember me?), who will continue to be undervalued around the league right until he gets 2 years and $45MM too much on his next contract. Last year he managed to lower his BB/9 (1.3) and raise his K/9 (8.2, up from 6.8 in 2013) rates, while making his second All-Star appearance and finishing 5th in NL Cy Young voting thanks in large part to lofty WAR (4.9) and FIP (2.68) numbers. Otto also has a fairly nice little bullpen, led by David Robertson and Greg Holland putting up K/9 figures that look like typos. Phil Hughes was tremendous last year but needs to prove he can do it again. Gio Gonzalez likes to alternate excellent and watch-through-your-fingers starts. Jose Quintana has been too-quietly solid three years running and seems poised to put together a whopper 2015 campaign.
Jurickson Profar Memorial Minor League Watch
Yankee 'specs as far as the eye can see. (No, I said "'spec", you retrograde troglodyte.) Rob Refsnyder is likely the closest to the show but 1B Greg Bird might wind up the best MLBer of this lot, pairing excellent power with sound plate discipline.
As far as non-Yankee prospects go (*double-checks to make sure such a creature exists*), Colin Moran's got the pedigree (6th overall to Miami in 2013) but Arismendy Alcantara wins on points and name-awesomeness. However, he needs to cut (waay) back on his whiff rate and might never get to settle in at one position given manager Joe Maddon's lineup-juggling tendencies.
In addition to very young pinstriped athletes, this farm system also contains some current major league (for lack of a better word) talent. The aforementioned Alcantara starts on most days, much like Yankee SS Dere– Didi Gregorius (sorry, force of habit) and Astro OF Colby Rasmus. If I had to pick one from this group to make the biggest 2015 impact, I'd go with new-Brave SP Trevor Cahill. While not O.Co, he's moving to a more neutral/pitcher-leaning park and could put up decent counting stats if the Braves don't play as poorly as most prognosticators expect.
Prediction
It would have been nice had I written an Otto preview for 2014, as I could've just copied and pasted most of this section from the previous edition. Winning less than 105 games and the division (now the Harris, rather than the Global, Farmington, Atlantic and South pennants he's previously claimed) would be a surprise and disappointment. As the title of this piece references, it's Just Win, Baby! mode year-in, year-out for the Empire. The optimist in me (optimistic in my team's chances, that is) says he stumbles in the semis or cup finals. The realist says he's even money with Brook and Shup to be last man standing.
