Sand Cats Bullpen and Rotation

Talk about a tale of two cities.  The Sand Cats are a great project team but they are going to struggle in an elimination tournament.  Even ignoring some question marks in the lineup this rotation is not at a point where they'll be able to match up against playoff opponents, and without any talented long relievers this bullpen is going to exhaust itself having to come in for 4 or 5 innings every game with next to no margin for error.

I'll save my full thoughts on the team for a more comprehensive write up, but the rotation alone goes beyond question mark straight to why?  I get that this is an expansion franchise, but the Heaters were able to go out and grab superstar talent right out of the gate, while the nicest thing you can say about the Cats is they have a good distribution of right and left handed players?  Sure the bullpen is great but how many leads are they going to be handed?  How many games can you expect your bullpen to throw mistake free baseball for half the game or more?

There's a lot to unpack here, let's start with the rotation.

Rotation

Kerwin Arches is notable on this team for being actually pretty good.  A 36 year old right hander, he belies a B+ overall rating with great control, mid 90's fastball velocity, and sharp break on his slider/curveball/screwball arsenal.  The screwball in particular allows him to move the ball away from righties, giving him options against every batter.  Kerwin isn't going to be an ace on every team but he'd at least be in the conversation for second on most of them.  Unfortunately it's a very sharp drop off.

Beebee Takabasei is a 25 year old right handed (bats left) project pitcher at best.  Average velocity and sharp break with a 5 pitch arsenal drew a lot of scouts eyes' but she has yet to demonstrate the ability to reliably get the ball into the catcher's glove, let alone control the strike zone.  Even top defensive catchers are going to struggle to keep the ball in front of them when Beebee's on the mound.

A promising prospect but nowhere near ready for the Super Mega League, let alone 2nd in a rotation.  5 pitches is fine and dandy but if none of them can hit the strike zone you aren't going to get many outs.

Kandi Sweet is actually a solid third option that should probably be pitching second in this group.  Though her stuff is thoroughly average she is the only left handed arm and boasts a 4 pitch arsenal as well as the ability to hit the catcher's glove from the mound, a skill Takabasei can only imagine at this point.

All that said, Kandi Sweet is a solid 3rd or 4th starter in most rotations who will serve as a stabilizing influence on the young arms and reliably give you 5 innings of 3 run ball, not quite quality start numbers but good enough for this bullpen to step in and shut the door if she can at least keep the game close.  She won't put up lights out numbers but she will do the job.

Last and (for now) least is Trey Mondo, a 19 year old right handed prospect just coming into the league.  Mondo may be an arm worth holding onto for future development because of his solid 5 pitch arsenal but right now probably will not be able to face down the best the Super Mega League can offer.  It's too bad he can't work out of the bullpen because he might be a good long relief option.

In a 5 or 7 game series you could use Mondo as a solid 1 or 2 inning opener before handing off the game to the bullpen, but you would have to find a way to manage reliever fatigue across multiple games.  Even with Kerwin, without a good long relief arm the bullpen is going to be stretched to the breaking point.

Bullpen

The 4 person bullpen is the strength of this team and an obvious priority while building.  It is also young and should be among the best groups in the league for a few seasons to come.  You could in fact argue that this team has a 4 year window to develop and find star players and make a run at a championship before the bullpen ages past its prime (specifically past the prime of closer Ice Vainer).  However, unless the team can find a stronger starting 4 (or even starting 2) the lack of a viable long relief option is going to keep them from covering enough innings to win in the regular season, let alone beat postseason talent.

True to his name, Gasser Morris features a blazing 4 seamer and cutter that's going to create a lot of broken bats.  Though he was originally developed as a LOOGY he has a skillset that will be just fine against either side of the plate, but lefties especially will live in fear of that sharp slider.  Doesn't quite throw with surgical precision but he rarely misses his spots and with that velocity most batters will be standing in their own dust.  On the rare occassion a batter catches up with his fastball he can knock almost 15 mph off it with a strikeout changeup.

Right hander Maverick McMann is one of those relievers with no real weakness to exploit, high 90's fastball with a curve that drops off the table and an absolute wipeout slider.  Superb control will have him dropping breaking pitches right at the edge of the zone for the staring strikeout or making hitters look silly with misses.  McMann could have a claim to best relief pitcher in the league but his numbers could suffer due to overuse in the coming season. 

An expansion draft pick from the Platypi, Jemma Yago is a solid right handed middle relief prospect who at 25 years old has time to develop into a talented control pitcher.  For this season, however, she is not going to be able to shut down many lineups with pitches graded at best sub-par for break and velocity.  Promising for her youth and control, but with bullpen the primary strength of this team it seems odd to use a roster spot on a prospect so many years from contributing.

All that said, as the youngest arm she will have plenty of excellent mentors in this group and could be a good piece in a rebuild.

Closer Ice Vainer rounds out the group with A+ velocity and movement.  Predictability can be an issue with only a 4F and SL to call on so she has not often been asked to complete a 2 inning save, but with a lead and 3 outs to go there aren't many better options out there.  A proven arm in the dog days of summer or the excitement of the postseason, she relies on overpowering stuff over control and hammers the strike zone, creating a lot of broken bats and weak grounders.