Albuquerque Road Runners

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MLB Expands to 31 teams

November 22nd, 2005-- The City of Albuquerque was never in contention for the 'Spos, and now we know why. Oil tycoon Ace Digglers and Commissioner Bud Selig announced in a press conference today that a new team would be joining the National League West. That team is The Albuquerque Road Runners, whom Digglers has been planning for years.

"I brought several scouts down to Mexico and the rest er Central America and did me some scoutsin'. I've gots me some ballplayas through them means and bin working em out at the ranch. The front office will be headed by my new GM, Dave Forst. Dave's n intellectual un from da A's organization. Wur real glad to have 'im."

The teams four minor league teams are the the Albany Unimportants, the Lubbock Losers, the St. Paul's Saints and the Portland Peeons. The team is built around local talent and some youngsters from Central America. It is doubtful they can compete this year, but they have a ton of upside, and, heck, its the NL West, anything can happen.

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Catchers:
You will start to sense a theme in the positional descriptions. We have huge upside at the catcher position. The major league starter is the redundant Will Wilson. He is 21 and has a 79 OVR rating. His peak is 94. You know he's a stud cuz he went to Miami. The 1st backup is 18 year old Stew Lehman, who is 79 as well but will peak at 89. The 2nd backup is Carl Garuffi. He's a fan favorite because of his super-cool last name. OVR 73 peak 81. In double A 20 year old Jeff Everts toils as a major league ready catcher who will never have a career in the roadrunner organization. OVR 70 PK 72.


First Basemen:
Only two players of note here. Starter and #7 hitter Kyle Sylve is a 20 year old with 65 OVR and 86 PK. His upside is sort of a poor man's Jim Thome. He won't reach it here because of...

Jack Rubenstein, 18 out of Fall River Central High School (MA). His OVR rating 70 is already better than Kyle, but he's young so we'll try him in R first. He's only 5'10" but he's got a big boys swing and the power to match.

Second Basemen:
Guess what! More crazy upside!
The place holder is Rick Schore, the #2 hitter. He's rated 66 but thats as good as he's going to get. He is 22 years old. Next we have 19 year old Javier Aguilar, with a 54 overall rating and a 95 peak. In AA there is one of the crown jewels of the organization in Dan Hertel. He is a 58 with a 99 peak. One fear about him is that he's 21 and needs to start improving because arbitration comes soon.

Third Basemen:
This is one position where the Road Runners are stocked right now but don't have much of a future.

PSYCHE!!
They only have one stud at this position however, and it is the top Latin American prospect so far, Venezualan Fausto Rodriguez. Back home he was known as the latin Mike Schmidt, but we think he could hit for an even higher batting average than Mike, with the same power. Or he could burn out. He is rated 62 with 93 peak. He's in Rookie League with the Peeons. The placeholder is 20 year old Dominican Isidoro Polanco and a sweet uppercut stroke which could land him 25 HR's this year but limit his chances to be a solid hitter.

Shortstops:
The only SS in the organization is Fausto Rodriguez's former teammate in the homeland, 19 yr old Pedro Fernandez. Besides a horribly stereotypical Latin name Pedro has nothing going for him, stinking now (54) and projecting to be below useful starter-ness at his best (73). He is the 8 hitter.

Left Fielders:
Nothing interesting here. 3 guys, including starter Ronnie Apollo, that project to be league average.

Center Fielders:
Here the fun begins. Leadoff hitter Nathaniel Bennett (5'7") is a guy who can already play, (74) and could be great (94). He is also friendly than anyone in the world. Then there is AAA prospect Ivan Castrilli. A minimite (5'10") from Colon, Panama, Castrilli is an egotistical jerk with the personality of a menstrual hippo, who only the pompous friendly Reed Helmuth (more later) could befriend. But boy can this kid play. He is rated 66 but has peak 99. He has a wide based even skill set with no rating under a 70 and a flashy (90) fielding rating. He is 18, and may move to LF to accomodate Bennett, who has less speed but better instincts which have led to better range.

Right Fielders:
Reed Helmuth. I predict he is our best hitter this year, and is just getting started. The right-fielder will hit cleanup and do it well. After one year at Rice Reed joins the Major League team, a 5'9" man with less speed than size. All he does is perform. I might try him at SS if nothing else comes to mind, because of...Terry Graham! Graham is a big, lumbering 6'3 lefty. He fields his position adequately if unsensationally, and hits the snot out of the ball. 66-99, just like Castrilli.


Starting Pitching:
Matt Vinyard, 18, a simple country boy of Louisville, is the Ace. He is a tremendously developed youngster who should hold his own in the majors this year. 78-87. The fun pitching prospect dejure is their top Dominican player, Damon Desiderio. A 6'1" 168 lb beanpole with a Pedro, "dread-fro", this modest youngster will have trouble this year, but could eventually be the best out of them all. 73-90. The #2 starter this year is the incredibly boring youngster Richard Faber from Arizona State. 6'3", 186, he still has to grow into his body, but he will be a solid major leaguer. 70-72.

Relief Pitching:
Kevin Guy is a polished product, a 21 year old mountain of a man (6'7") from Notre Dame who will be an anchor to the rest of the less developed pen. The middle of the game belongs to Keith Doane, an 18 year-old from Texas. He is a rare control pitcher taken from high-school. His high upside depends on him developing a more dominating K pitch than his lackluster changeup. A few MPH on his cheese would be nice as well. 73-90. Finally, there's Jose Miorgas, 21, born in Mexico, raised in Chicago, played 3 seasons at Oklahoma State. Miorgas has little endurance and borderline control, but he throws a 98 MPH heater and a 91 MPH biting slider. Great K-rates should follow him wherever he is. 78-80.

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I will do monthly reviews in the first year because it is just painful to see this team play.


May 9th- The first month of the new era in NL West baseball wasn't pretty for the Road Runners. A 3-27 record was in place, 17.0 games out losing by an average margin of 6 runs.


Bright Spots:

Reed Helmuth .297/.355/.613 9 HR's 23 RBI leads team in all a dat. 6th in the NL in HR's, 10th in isolated power

Matt Vinyard 0-4 35.2 IP


Stains on the Road Runner name:

Everything else

Trades:
None from the 'Runners.

April 1st, 2005

SFG get:
RP Steve Karsay
RP Brett Prinz
RP Dave Elder
RP Ben Julianel

NYY get:
C Mike Matheny
1B Lance Niekro
SP Alfredo Simon

So I'm Thinkin': San Fran continues the never ending quest of attaining as many low-leverage middle relievers without enough stamina to be innings sponges. But they cheated on this one: they got Ben Julianel as well. Ben is Brett Prinz or Dave Elder, but 10 years younger. He's not going to get any better, but now they have a useless middle reliever they can keep for many moons. YAY! The Yankees looked onto their bench and didn't see enough payroll, so Mike Matheny, one of the most overrated players in baseball, was added. Lance Niekro is slightly, well, useless. Alfredo Simon was the key to the deal. He's young and league average and he might get a little better.
Advantage: 4 Kevin Gryboski clones don't match a decent young starter. YANKEES

April 2nd, 2005

FLA gets:
LF Doug Devore

ARI gets:
CF Jai Miller

So I'm Thinkin': Arizona ran away with this one. Miller is just as good as Devore now, and has the superstar potential that makes this a blowout. Advantage: Not even close. D'BACKS/i]

April 11th, 2005

MIN Gets:
CF Eric Reed
3B Mike Lowell
SP Frank Castillo

FLA Gets:
RP Beau Kemp
RP Ryan Rowland Smith

So I'm Thinkin': [i] Minnie gets a decent starter and a very good 3B to replace Corey Koskie. Florida gets to decent, low-upside middle relievers. Yawn Advantage: Minnesota
So I'm Thinkin': [i] Big deal for the