Season Preview: Seattle Monarchs

Well, it was a big off-season for the Monarchs as a dramatic youth movement was made. Most notably, three fifths of last year's rotation (Garcia, Daye, and Icenhour) were shipped away. All three were good or great pitchers but they were all on the wrong side of 30 and all carried high salaries. Garcia was one of the few 5 star starting pitchers, but is 36 and his contract expires at the end of the year. After last year's disappointing end to the season, I felt like I needed to get younger and build what would hopefully be an overwhelming team in a couple of years.

To that end, I targeted two of the best pitching propsects, Diehl and Shipp, and acquired them in a trade. I also grabbed McGreevey and Sedillo from Michael. Along with Frau, who I got mid-season last year, and Hester, who may become as good as any pitcher in the game (not named Nelligan) I have a pretty good stable of young, talented starting pitching. Four of my five starters for Opening Day (Hester, McGreevey, Frau, and Sedillo) are all pitching for the minimum. Only Peter Bird is left as a veteran starter. I suspect Diehl will be ready to come up mid season or at the start of next year, so there will be a decision to be made there.

I also swapped the aging OBP machine Klopp in the Garcia game, targeting one of the top young outfielders, Sean Arant. Klopp was one of my favorite players, but he was also 34 and I wasn't sure how much longer his bat will last. Assuming (hoping) I can resign Arant to a long term deal, I have one outfield position set for the foreseeable future. Between Maclin, Machen, and uberprospect Cedeno, I should be able to find solid bookends for years to come. I also have Mudge at first, a great platoon at catcher between Blassingame and Herbert, and a good young second baseman in Armendariz. Willer and Raglin are aging on the left side of the infield, but I hope that another 5 star prospect in AAA, Alustiza, will fill one of those spots in the years to come.

With the money saved by my youth movement, I added Rawlins and two big guns to the bullpen, Deschamps and Contreras, in free agency. Rawlins wasn't a primary target going into free agency, but he apparently wanted to come to Seattle enough to turn down deals with much more money and more years. Having him sign a two year deal for less than $12M per year has pure upside. Either he plays out his contract, or I trade him for something tasty in return. It was a no lose situation. I fell in love with Deschamps last year, given his plus endurance for a reliever and his five-star ratings. Contreras was a fall back plan after Zev swiped Morales. All in all though, free agency been berry, berry good to me.

In the end, I expected when I started the offseason to have a significant setback this season but great hope for the future. However, seeing the final roster, I don't think there will be much of a dropoff this year. My starting pitchers won't be as good as they have been, but my offense, bullpen, and bench are all better. I expect to win over 100 games again and be back in the Cecil Cup. But, given the young talent I've stockpiled, if you plan to knock me off the top of Adams Division, you better strike this year. Otherwise, you may not see the playoffs for some time.