2030 NL West Preview

[brewersgm]

The NL West had three postseason teams last year. It has four of the last six Pennant Winners, and three of the last five World Series winners, including last years champion. San Francisco will look to defend its title while looking to win the division for the first time since 2027. They'll have to try and knock off the Dodgers who are responsible for three of those pennants and two of those World Series. The Arizona Diamondbacks will also look to get back to the postseason for a second consecutive year. The Colorado Rockies didn't make the playoffs last year, and haven't since 2020, but they will be running out a roster that should be improved from last year. The Padres meanwhile look like they will stay mired in mediocrity as one of two NL teams to have never made the playoffs in the PBA.

1. San Francisco Giants

2029: 93-69, 2nd place NL West. Defeated Arizona in NL Wild Card Game, Defeated Milwaukee 4-3 in NLDS, Defeated Philadelphia 4-3 in NLCS, Defeated Cleveland 4-1 in World Series.

Who they were: Vic Black firmly put his stamp on the Giants in his first year as their GM by winning his first PBA title. Black's teams are known for their power hitting, even if it costs them on defense, and power hit they did. The Giants had an .800 OPS as a team finishing 2nd to only Milwaukee. The additions of 2B Tomas Espassandim, OFer Juan Castoreno, and SS Andres Gimenez added to an already good Giants lineup and made them great. Also key was the late season waiver wire acquisition of one of the best hitters in PBA history, Andrew Benintendi. Sources say that was not a good day in the Milwaukee front office. The lineup pared with the Giants pitching tore through the postseason. Alfredo Estevez came into his own as one of the PBA's best starting pitchers and Shane Baz put in another excellent season. Octavio Lopez, Marshall Patch, and Ricky Valencia formed a formidable trio in the bullpen.

The only thing keeping this team from the division title was the second worst defensive efficiency in the league but that didn't matter in the postseason. The Giants presented a lineup not even the best pitching in the league could solve on the way to a title that had eluded them for years under previous GM Dave Twibell.

Offseason Review: After an incredibly active offseason in 2029, the Giants elected to largely stay put and run it back with their title team. Luis Paez was reunited with his old GM from Baltimore to be the new SS. Unfortunately for the Giants last years stand out Andres Gimenez had a mishap skipping stones at his favorite lake and will miss the season with an elbow injury. Triston Casas was signed in FA as an additional power bat and rotation insurance. Marshall Patch was traded to the Rangers for a draft pick and a prospect. The team still has 50 million in budget space so it's possible some additional moves are made as the season progresses.

On the Farm: It's not the farm it once was in Twibell's heyday but it's still a top 10 unit according to OSA. Mario Vazquez, last year's 1st round pick and Aaron Allen a 2022 1st are probably the closest premier hitters to the majors but they both are 1B/DH types currently blocked by some of the best in the league in Kelyn Klattenburger and Juan Campos. Antonio Soto is the team's top prospect and can play almost any position on the diamond but he's 17 and years away from the majors. Chris Rourke looks like a future mid rotation starter but he's still a year or two away from the majors. Clapper Toreev might become the first MLer ever from Turkmenistan, but if he does it also won't be this year as he's just shy of 20 years old.

The Giants have the pieces to make trades to add to the team if necessary. However last years offseason and graduations have left the farm weaker than you'd think when it comes to the Giants

Best Case Scenario: This team has the talent to win the most games in the PBA and defend their title.

Worst Case Scenario: A weak left side of the infield and defense lead to the team losing in the WC Game.

Key Questions: You non-tendered Ryan DiSibio and traded away Marshall Patch. Those guys have been solid contributors in the past and still had/have team control, why the decision to move on, and who is replacing them in the bullpen?

Last year Tatis supplied a glove at 3B but not much of a bat. Are you confident in Mike Bishop to replace him or are you looking at bringing in a new 3B?

2. Los Angeles Dodgers

2029: 99-63, 1st place NL West. Lost to Philadelphia 4-3 in NLDS.

Who they were: The Dodgers have never had a losing season in the PBA, and they won their 8th NL West title last year. They were 4th in the PBA in OPS at .788. Their pitching took a step back from usual excellence though, sliding to 19th in the PBA. Unlike the Giants  they could field at a league average level and that likely made the difference in winning the division. The lineup was anchored by the pair of Luis's Urias and Robert and free agent acquisition Eric Drouet. Urias won the batting and OBP titles, and Robert had his third Dodgers season with 30 HR and 100+ RBI. Despite his K rate rising far above normal Drouet was able to put up a 4 WAR season in only 95 games played.

Bobby Spong had 3 WAR out of the bullpen to lead all Dodger's pitchers. He who shall not be named and Arturo Pedroza also turned in fine seasons giving the Dodgers their usual menacing back of the pen. Travis Tyre did yeoman's work winning 17 games and leading the NL with 96 appearances to make up for the ineffective starting pitching. Eduardo Rodriguez, Joey Wentz, and Matt Cleveland battled injuries so it was up to Thomas Szapucki and Grayson Rodriguez to make up for them, and while both had solid seasons it wasn't enough. The Dodgers didn't have the pitching to be able to win in the NLDS, as a rematch of last year went the Phillies way this time.

Offseason Review: The Dodgers pulled the coup of the offseason acquiring one of the PBA's most talented SP in Pat Cypert from Atlanta. All it cost them was the 108th pick in this years draft. They also re-acquired SP Dale Messina from the Marlins in another great move, costing them only two mid tier prospects. These two additions give the Dodgers a brand new 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation which should be a big improvement from last season. They lost Thomas Szapucki in free agency to Colorado. Matt Cleveland also left, but that's addition by subtraction.

Luis Robert opted out of his contract in an awful move by his agent and signed for less money with the Phillies. Andres Chaparro, another big bat from last year is still a FA. The Dodgers brought in Patrick Leonard to slug in these guys absence. He's hit 156 homers over the last three seasons, so that should be a big addition. They also brought in Jaden Ancrum. It will be his first time wearing different colors from black and orange. He disappointed last year in San Francisco and now heads to the other side of the rivalry. If he gets back to former Oriole ways he'll make Dodger fans very excited and Giants fans very mad.

On the Farm: The Dodgers found part time electrician Victor "Sparky" Perera on the streets of Santo Domingo, DR in early December and the 16 year old is already considered the 3rd best prospect by OSA. He's a lottery ticket but a good one. Cody "Loose" Saunderson cost the Dodgers 8 million to sign in 2027 but the 19 year old Australian has blossomed into a five tool threat with huge power potential in CF. He says his favorite player is Will Dulihanty so the kid has a bright future. Besides these two the Dodgers have one more top 100 prospect in Brazilian and Venezuelan national Rubem Ortigo. Ortigo throws five plus pitches but has trouble commanding them. There's a lot of risk but he's only 20 though so if the command comes around he could be a #2 starter. The farm falls off after this trio but the potential of Sparky and Loose is enough to give the Dodgers the #2 farm in the game according to OSA.

Best Case Scenario: A reliever no longer leads the Dodgers in WAR and wins as Cypert and Messina combine to give the Dodgers rotation the punch it lacked last year. They win the division and their 3rd PBA title under Ben Vincent

Worst Case Scenario: Patrick Leonard starts to look every one of his 37 years at the plate and the team's offense takes a step back as the Dodgers exit the playoffs in the WC game.

Key Questions:

Cypert is a pending FA after the season, any thoughts on extending him?

Your rotation has 4 lefties, including the two new acquisitions. The Giants have a lineup that is heavily left handed. Do you think the new look rotation will be able to limit the San Francisco bats?

3. Arizona Diamondbacks

2029: 93-69, 3rd place NL West. Lost to San Francisco in NL Wild Card Game

Who they were: The Dbacks had a top 5 offense, a decent pitching staff and, a below average defense. It added up to a solid WC team that couldn't quite get past the Giants. Led by OFer Tony Sierra's league leading 6.6 WAR and 3B Gard Ford's league leading 135 RBI they hit a ton of homers in their hitters park. They had 4 30+ HR hitters in Sierra and Ford, as well as DH Jimmy Torres and LF Pedro Tapia. Six other players besides this quartet also had double digit HRs.

On the pitching side Husky Robinson was the only SP who made 30 starts and they were good ones. He had 205 Ks and 4.1 WAR to lead the team. Sixto Sanchez, Adam Holmgren, and Michael Kopech pitched the next most innings and besides Kopech they had solid ERAs in the 3s. Young phenom Jim D'Amico again failed to stay healthy but did put up 2 WAR in his limited innings. The bullpen wasn't great but featured a reappearance of former Cy Young winner Franklyn Kilome. Boyd Vander Kooi lead the team with 33 saves despite an ERA in the 4's.

Offseason review: The Dbacks lost a lot of pitching in FA. Vander Kooi signed with the Mariners, Kilome is in Belgium, Kopech in Egypt, and Sanchez is still unsigned. D'Amico and Holmgren suffered injuries that will cause them to miss opening day and likely a lot of the first part of the season. They didn't add anyone to replace them opting to go with internal options without much history. However they lost almost no one on the hitters side and are bringing back the same strong lineup as last year.

On the farm: The Dbacks have 4 top 100 prospects. OSA considers them a 10 farm system mostly on the strength of Jose Cadena. The former 3rd round pick is the #11 prospect in the league. He's a lefty with a cutter, curve and forkball combination, and touching 99 on the gun. Most importantly, he's never been injured. He should start the year in AAA and with the injury proneness of a lot of Dbacks starters it wouldn't be surprising to see him this season.

Zaki Wambugu, Dustin Hall and Steve Sachs are the other top prospects in the system. Wambugu is a teenager out of Tanzania who OSA sees as having huge power and contact potential but he's a ways away and doesn't have the glove for SS. But as far as lottery tickets go he's got one of the highest ceilings in the PBA. Hall is a corner OFer and 1B who looks about a year away and should add another strong slugger to Arizona. Sachs is a GB specialist who can throw over 100 but struggles with command. If that comes around he could also be on the team in a year or two.

Key Questions: Why is Pedro Tapia on the bench right now after a 31 HR campaign?

Is team trainer Kevin McGuire on the hot seat? A lot of arms in Arizona have struggled with health and he is not considered very good at working with pitchers

4. Colorado Rockies

2029: 77-85 5th place, NL West

Who they were: The Rockies had 25 WAR from their hitters and 9 from their pitchers. It was a familiar story as a good lineup couldn't overcome a pitching staff with a 5.00 ERA. 9 different hitters had at least 2 of those WAR led by 2nd place RoY finisher LF Danny "Dangerous" Davis. Davis slashed 304/358/531 with a 133 wRC+. The Utah native had a great first year playing for the team he grew up rooting for. Nolan Arenado and David Dahl again did their things and Michael Perez contributed a .300 average to go along with good SS defense.

The pitching was largely 5 guys and a bunch of nothing. Staff ace, Joe McCurley had a 4.33 FIP in his first full season starting but considering the Coors environment it was a successful season. Keith Nield and Tomito Kawamoto joined McCurley in putting up 2 WAR from the rotation. RP Charlie Dougan had an impressive 2.66 ERA in 91.1 innings and South African reliever Makabee Dingane had an ERA under 5 with 1 WAR. Every other pitcher was largely ineffective.

Offseason Review: The Rockies lost star C Rogelio Mendizabal to FA. He overvalued his market and will likely have to settle for less than the QO he rejected from them. Big mid season acquisition OF Jahmai Jones signed with the Rays. Long time OFer Brandon Boissiere is now gone as well after a subpar final season in Colorado. Young 1B Juan Marrufo was non-tendered, and DH/1B Trevor Story is finally a free agent as well. The Rockies now have new starters at C, 1B, and CF. Sam McMillan will split time with young prospect Roberto Gomez who has been praised around prospect circles for his receiving and game calling ability. Dominic Smith and Jake Burger will platoon at 1B. The biggest bat acquisition of the Rockies this offseason was CFer Raimfer Salinas. He brings a true CF glove to Coors, something the Rockies have been lacking and searching for.

Several of the sub-replacement level pitchers are now gone as well, or in AAA. The Rockies brought in Thomas Szapucki to give them a solid and proven starter as a replacement. Several younger bullpen options also look slated to get a chance such as Beau Lucci.

On the Farm: Colorado only has a pair of top 100 prospects, Nate Vance and Alfonso Cruz. Vance should debut this year and Cruz is years away. Vance is a proud alum of the University of Florida. The Coconut Creek, Florida native touches 101 on the fastball with great movement and pairs it with a nice splitter from an over the top arm slot. His other secondaries are questionable, but if he can command them he could be a mid rotation starter. He also can hit a little bit as well, although he's best suited for only a DH or 1B role.

Alfonso Cruz has a chance to be the best baseball player Peru has ever produced. He's only 17 but Colorado has been pleased with his developmental progress in their international academy. Cruz has outstanding contact, gap power and plate discipline potential. Paired with his 80 grade speed he could one day be one of the best leadoff men in the league. Defensively he figures to be a below average corner OFer but he has the ability and height to potentially be a plus defender at 1B. Outside of these two the Rockies have a nice but overdrafted bullpen arm in Travis Johnson and a bevy of Quad A 1B DH types.

Best Case Scenario: Szapucki and Salinas help give the Rockies two things they have long sought after, solid starting pitching and CF defense. The team is able to squeak into a WC in the tough NL playoff landscape.

Worst Case Scenario: The raised mound this season give the team a 6.00 ERA and the talent on the roster isn't able to overcome Coors leading to another lost season.

Key Questions:

Why the decision to non-tender Juan Marrufo? Too expensive?

Is SP Nate Vance going to get a chance to be the first effective player from the University of Florida in the PBA? He looks ML ready.


5. San Diego Padres

2029: 80-82, 4th place NL West

Who they were: The Padres struggled with the bats, slashing only .239/.311/.383 as a team. They were very stars and scrubs in the lineup with RFer John Yancey and DH Mike Fitzgerald hitting 46% of the teams home runs. Royce Lewis didn't have the best contract year but hit 26 doubles and stole 20 bases. The Padres gave far too many ABs to players like Ernesto Rueda and Daniel Whirley who each had a sub 80 WRC+ over 400 plus ABs at bat first positions. The pitching was a very respectable 12th in the PBA led by a strong rotation of Adrian Morejon, Jeff Henry, Jake Shirey and rookie Tom McCracken. McCracken had one of the coolest moments of the season throwing a no-hitter against Arizona. San Diego fans should be excited about his future. The teams defense was middling outside of RF where John Yancey won a gold glove. It all added up to a .500ish campaign.

Offseason Review: The Padres lost a pair of solid contributors. Royce Lewis and Jeff Henry are gone having moved onto to the Phillies and Yankees respectively. Lewis will be the hardest to replace. They are starting career minor leaguer Justin Lopez at SS who looks like he should have the glove for the position but may struggle to contribute anything with the bat. They made a small signing of SP Chris Rodriguez to try and replace Henry. Rodriguez managed a 3.72 ERA over 30 games started on a horrid Tampa team in 2029, the exact ERA Henry had for the Padres last year. The Padres managed to pick Rodriguez up for 3 years and 21.5 million, while Henry signed for 7 years 146 million.

The Padres looked to strengthen their bullpen and OF defense by signing Travis Crombie and Jo Adell. Crombie has been one of the PBAs best relief arms when healthy but that's a big when. Jo Adell can't hit at all but he can field. He's a poor man's Jeren Kendall and the Padres will hope to get more value out of him in CF than RF where he's been playing for Miami.

On the Farm: San Diego only has one top 100 prospect but he can play multiple premium positions. Wisconsin native Jason Fulton is a SS/CF hybrid who realistically can play any position on the diamond outside of catcher and pitcher. His batting potential isn't the greatest but it's enough where if he hits his ceiling he could be around a league average hitter which would be just fine with his defensive potential. Outside of Fulton there isn't much on the farm but there's an array of mid tier SP prospects who give the Padres some nice farm depth and trade chips to play with.

Best Case Scenario: The new additions make up for the losses and the Padres finish around .500 again.

Worst Case Scenario: The team's lineup still has issues producing runs and the team wins 70 games.

Key Questions: You didn't give Royce Lewis a QO and watched him walk and sign a contract for far more than that with the Phillies. Why not give him a QO?

Greg Kelly had a fantastic first two seasons winning RoY, a Gold Glove, and making an all star team. Last year he was worth negative WAR. Do you think he can get back on track to being the player he was his first two seasons?

[Commissioner Erick]

Why the decision to non-tender Juan Marrufo? Too expensive?

Good question. We didn't think Marrufo was the player he still was even a season before. He never hit lefties and he was going to get a high-teens contract in arbitration. We didn't feel he was worth that. We still would have been interested in bringing him back at a lesser price, hence the reason we didn't trade him, but when we got Jake Burger in the Rule V and had a chance to get Dominic Smith at a cheap contract, we liked how it turned out.

Is SP Nate Vance going to get a chance to be the first effective player from the University of Florida in the PBA? He looks ML ready.

Yes, he's probably our 7th starter this year. He still maybe needs a half season or more of development time, but we like and he'll probably be up in the second half after some injuries affect the club.

[Ben_Dodgers]

Cypert is a pending FA after the season, any thoughts on extending him?

I’d love to extend him. We’ve had some preliminary discussions, but he two sides are pretty far apart right now.

Your rotation has 4 lefties, including the two new acquisitions. The Giants have a lineup that is heavily left handed. Do you think the new look rotation will be able to limit the San Francisco bats?

I didn’t plan it that way, but it’s a nice benefit. And not just against San Francisco.

[vicblack22]

You non-tendered Ryan DiSibio and traded away Marshall Patch. Those guys have been solid contributors in the past and still had/have team control, why the decision to move on, and who is replacing them in the bullpen?

While DiSibio and Patch were very good for us out of the pen in last years title run, but I feel like we still have a bunch of guys who can fill the void.  Eventually we were going to have to move some of the guys out of the pen anyway.



Last year Tatis supplied a glove at 3B but not much of a bat. Are you confident in Mike Bishop to replace him or are you looking at bringing in a new 3B?

We'll give Bishop a shot at third.  If it doesn't work out, we'll look into free agency or a possible trade.