Well ST is finally underway and the Beavers welcome some new and old faces. Also saying goodbye to some key pieces, but after last year's failure in the Championship series to the Evil Empire, the Beavers needed to ramp up efforts to win.
Gone: OF Luke Pittman, 3B David Paquette, SP CarGo, SP Allan Landry, OF Pedro Rosales, CL Walt Davis, C Takashi Ohayashi and some specs all via trade.
SP Julio Lopez and SP Jules Paradis to FA.
Arriving: IF Jason Jackson, OF Michael "This Is It" Jackson, DH Antonio Garza, SP Nam-cheol Chong, OF Jason Newbury, MR Kenneth Duncan, OF Joe Henderson, SP Jimmy Sanders, IF Cale O'Brien, MR Javier Martinez, SP Nick Reed and SP Antonio Munoz.
The Beaver also secured their future signing the likes of OF Damien Yates, C Danny Kelly, SS Marcos Mesa, 2B Alvin King, MR Jesus Hernandez, SP Javier 'Gigolo' Rodriguez, C/1B Elijah Stuart, MR Lloyd MacBride and MR Arthur Smeeth to contract extensions.
The Beavers may have lost some good SP's to FA, but brought back fan favourtie Jimmy Sanders, young stud Nam-cheol Chong and Nick Reed to help out J-Rod and Harv Phillips.
Even though Spring Training just started the rotation looks locked up.
Jimmy Sanders, Javier Rodriguez, Nam-cheol Chong, Harvey Phillips and Nick Reed.
The pen to pitch behind those spectacular starters.
Trevor McCain, Lloyd MacBride, Arthur Smeeth, Kenneth Duncan, Jesus Hernandez, Javier Martinez, Marcos Dominguez and Wayne Poole.
Catchers, of course, Danny Kelly will be the starter, with returning Beaver C/1B Elijah Stuart platooning as backup C and 1B.
After a stellar rookie year Charlie Murdock will be returning to start at 1B and hope to build to a spectacular sophomore season.
Middle Infielders, of course, the dynamic duo of Alvin King and Marcos Mesa, those two are inseperable in and out of the ballpark, drinking before and after the games working on their double plays even on the womend they take home...
At 3B, the departure of David Paquette was tough to swallow, but Manager George Sime is confident that offseason acquisition Jason Jackson will learn the position to satisfactory standards and bring a well needed offensive boost to the Beavers.
Backup IF: Cale O'Brien will platoon around the diamond as backup for these guys but the Beavers want to carry one more util IF, who will it be, well it may look like Frits den Breejen, or Pedro Gonzales. The end of ST will tell who will get to stay with the big club.
The OF:
Not even up for discussion who is starting in 2 of the OF spots, Zach Hutchinson and Roadrunner Damien Yates.
Which leaves one starting spot up for grabs. With the departure of Luke Pittman, the Beavers made some small minor-league trades for fringe players who fit the Beaver game, speed and contact. Michael Jackson, Joe Henderson, Jessy Veenbrink, Jose Figueroa, Jason Newbury and Julio Mendoza all fit the profile, but only 2 will be kept for the season, again wait until the end of ST to see who!
And at DH, which has never been a strong suit for the Beavers, the team finally decided to fill that spot a priority this year, bringing in Antonio Garza. Garza may have had an off year last year but looks to rebound with his new club.
The Beavers so far are 3-2 in ST, looking to improve on that.
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