Richmond Greeks 2060 Season Preview

[wdoupis]

Last season the Greeks had an up and down year where it never seemed to be able to get going but we still managed to win 91 games and get a playoff berth. The team made a nice run in the playoffs beating Dillonvale in 5, Moose Jaw in 7, then in typical Greek fashion blowing a 3-2 series lead vs Miami and falling 1 game short of a World Series appearance. Reinforcements were brought in with the plan to do all we can to win one in the next season or two before the team looks completely different and we shake things up while cleaning up the finances. Here are your 2060 Richmond Greeks.

The Rotation

1. Jeremy McGuire: You know my motto, when disappointed in your team just go and trade for the best SP in the game and that is what we did. McGuire had another dominant season in Rhode Island that saw him win the Cy Young and we expect him to keep doing his thing in Richmond for years to come.

2. Chris Oliver: The future HOFer just keeps on dealing as he enters the twilight of his career. Coming off another great season that saw him finish with a 2.78 era in 227 innings and striking out 269 batters. He also set his career high in war with 7.9 for those of you who care about that. Also gave us some big time pitching performances in the playoffs and did all he could to get us a ring.

3. Motoshige Noda: Was not quite himself last year as he ended the season with a 3.79 era and an era+ of 115. That is coming off a 4 year run of sub 3 era seasons. We expect him to return to form this season as the defense seemed to hurt him last year and we improved the defense in some key areas this season.

4. Jim Reyes: Dragoon is coming off his worst season since his rookie year but we do not think he is at the end just yet. The ratings are all still there and we expect Reyes to be his usual dominant self as he wraps up this HOF career.

5. Jorge Mata: Not much to say here, he is not very good and even took a big hit on his stuff. We will trot him out every 5th day and just hope to score 7 runs.

The Pen

Leonard Kessler: In a very frustrating season in the pen Kessler was the acquisition that actually worked out and he was lights out for the Greeks after we acquired him. We hope he can keep that going and be that stabilizing force in the 9th.

Jeffrey Martinez: A reliever who we absolutely love and think he has a very bright future with the Greeks. He will be the set up man and ready to take over the 9th next season or possibly sooner if Kessler stumbles.

Justin Sutherland: He was disappointing with the Greeks last year after 2 seasons of trying to acquire him. We are hoping for a bounce back year where he can pitch high pressure inning and dominate lefties late in games.

The Lineup

CF Dax Hicks: He is the premier leadoff hitter in the game along with Torres in NE and has been a superstar for the Greeks for 5 seasons. We expect more of the same from Dax. Hit .330 with about 15 HRs while stealing 40 bases and playing CF. One of the best players in the game in his prime so no reason to expect anything different.

1B Ignacio Ruiz: Ruiz has made the move over to 1B after the trade of Thomas Campbell. He should be much better at 1B and let us maximize that great bat of his. One of the best LH hitters of the last decade and he is still crushing. Last season hit .339 with 31 HRs and he is showing no signs of slowing down.

RF Morgan Evans: One of the big acquisitions we made to this lineup and we have high hopes for him. We hated to trade Lee Robinson but in hopes to upgrade our defense landing Evans is one hell of a consolation. Coming off a season where he hit .300 with 39 HRs we would be thrilled if he gets near those numbers again while playing above average in RF.

SS Richard Todd: Wow, we finally found a way to get him back to the team that drafted him. It was our biggest regret in our NDL career trading him but now he is back and hopefully can help us get that elusive 2nd title. He is coming off his typical Todd year hitting .315 with 30 HRs and throwing up an 8.4 war

C Stu Kirk: Another all-star year for the guy who was always over looked on those Boston juggernauts and has quietly been a superstar for the last decade. Last season hit .315 with 34 HRs while hanging on to his mantle of best C in the game.

DH Brady Hamilton: Acquired in the Morgan Evans trade with Chicago we are relying on him to give us that much needed power we lost from Thomas Campbell being shipped away. He has the potential and two 40 HR seasons under his belt but they were in Hillsboro so I am not sure if that counts. Here is to hoping he can bring it.

LF Salvador Martinez: Last year had another season that seems to be much better then he should be so hoping we get lucky one more time. He hit .292 with 31 HRs and we need that kind of production to keep him around as he seems to be a pretty terrible person.

3B Clinton Hester: Hester has been a godsend since coming over from OCD and last season was his best. He hit .300 with 20 HRs and played an ok 3B. Hoping for a similar offensive season while playing better defense this time around.

2B Stanton Witt: He has been a good backup the last two seasons for us and this year he will get bumped up to full time duties. We just hope he can play average defense and hit somewhere around .260. Not much expectations here.

Season Outlook

The biggest issue last season was a crazy underachieving bullpen and a horrible defense. Reyes and Noda had down years for their standards and our defense probably was a key cause in all of this. We have a lot of new faces as Richard Todd was brought in to replace Mario Sanchez at SS, Morgan Evans taking over RF, Ruiz going to 1B where he should be very good and all of this will hopefully result in a much improved team defensively. Jeremy McGuire was brought in to anchor the staff as well. We did lose some talented relievers in Jose Cruz and Gerardo Pacheco but they sucked for me anyways. Overall the lineup is improved, pitching staff is improved, and defense in improved. With all of this and the money we took on for this season we are in title or bust mode.

I think we are the favorites in the AL West and as tough as it is this year if we stay healthy this team should win 110 games and the West while making a real run at the title.

Good luck to everyone and lets have a great 2060 season!!!!!!!!!

[DRWebs]

Hard to see any team slowing this one down, especially with that rotation come playoff time... Title or bust!

[Cnasty]

Best Greek team ever assembled? I’d say yes.

[DRiccio21]

rotation is absurd, i stopped reading after that.

good luck to the rest of the AL

[Wasted Memory]

rotation is absurd, i stopped reading after that.

good luck to the rest of the AL

He'll blow it, in true Richmond fashion.

[Wasted Memory]

Better get it done this season Billy. Going to be a long couple seasons for you after 2060. Can't wait.

[wdoupis]

Better get it done this season Billy. Going to be a long couple seasons for you after 2060. Can't wait.

I think from 2061-2063 you won’t have to worry about the Greeks much. We will still have some studs but it will take a season to get out of debt so they won’t be very deep teams and I may just decide to trade Dax and the boys and go full rebuild. Been a long time since I got to do one of those

[Uuaww]

nice right up and some big names on this team... wouldn't mind beating you in the Series.

[Wasted Memory]

Better get it done this season Billy. Going to be a long couple seasons for you after 2060. Can't wait.

I think from 2061-2063 you won’t have to worry about the Greeks much. We will still have some studs but it will take a season to get out of debt so they won’t be very deep teams and I may just decide to trade Dax and the boys and go full rebuild. Been a long time since I got to do one of those

If I were you I'd go ahead and start the rebuild now.

[shel311]

Best Greek team ever assembled? I’d say yes.

I think this is the best non-Boston team we've seen in, I don't even know, 20+ years?

120 wins and a title or bust!

[The_Niddler]

Who's Dillonvale?

[wdoupis]

Who's Dillonvale?

Oops, still adjusting to this Nashville thing

[GeorgesGoons]

I hope they all get AIDS, completely bypass HIV and straight to AIDS! FUCK Richmond!

[wdoupis]

I hope they all get AIDS, completely bypass HIV and straight to AIDS! FUCK Richmond!

Ouch, what did I do to George

[GeorgesGoons]

I hope they all get AIDS, completely bypass HIV and straight to AIDS! FUCK Richmond!

Ouch, what did I do to George

Nothing, I was just trying to get the Beef competitive.