HSH - Taipei

HSH - Taipei






2016 Record - 57-103
Projected Record - 60-100
Key Additions - Justin Morneau (free agent), Fernando Rodney (free agent), Scott Hodges (free agent), Eric Dalton (free agent), Eric Valent (free agent), Theodore Unger (trade)
Key Losses - Roy Oswalt (trade), Antonio Mule (trade), Nick Swisher (free agent)

It's a tough time to be down in the World League. With the heavily unbalanced schedule, a team has to face high-powered offenses like Chiang-Mai, Kyoto, Osaka, London and Paris over and over again, and when your pitching is as bad as the Tai Fong.....let's just say that it's like being the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East.

As Taipei enters it's 5th year in the league, what has it accomplished? One third place finish and a bunch of pain. Now we hear they are going to rebuild again, but start by trading stud 24-year old Antonio Mule to division rival Kyoto (along with ace Roy Oswalt). Sure, they cleared a lot of cap space and nabbed the #2 pick in the draft, but is this the way to go? A lot of high draft picks haven't resulted in a ton of major leaguers (outside of Mule, their most productive draft was 2013). So what can we expect?

The offense scored a measly 628 runs (dead last in the league) and OPS'ed .739. Now, without Mule, might it be worse? A lot of new faces here, including former all-star hitters like Morneau, Dalton and Hodges, but will they succeed here? A rebound from Dalton (remember when he was hitting 50+ HR?) coupled with further development by Maple/Posedel/Alten would go a long way, as this offense HAS to score runs to be successful.

Why? Because this pitching is rough. Roy Oswalt was an interesting experiment, and despite losing 18 games (thanks, offense!) he posted a 3.64 ERA with 248 K's. With him out of the picture (and off the books), it looks like it's Ron Mexico and the boys in 2017. Mexico has skills, but he's a hot head who can't keep his mouth shut and the fans are tiring of his antics. Tim Redding and Jason Davis? Old and busted. Apparently none of the minor league arms are ready to step up. Rodney was a very good pickup for the bullpen, but he's clearly not enough to get the team ERA below 5.00.

So, barring some sort of baseball miracle, the Tai Fong are doomed for last place again. Their pitching is terrible and the offense won't be able to make up the difference. Can GM Dylan Goforth make this draft picks count this year?

PROJECTED LINEUP

3B Scott Hodges
CF Tom Maple
1B Dan Posedel
LF Eric Dalton
RF Eric Valent
2B Larry kargel
C Gene Alten
SS Troy Tulowitzki

SP Andrew Brown
SP Ron Mexico
SP Eric Ridener
SP Tim Redding
SP Jason Davis

CL Fernando Rodney