Melbourne 2124 Year In Review

[Dembe Kihiga]

The year 2124 was one filled with high points and low points for the Melbourne Meteors, a team seemingly struggling to find a direction. At times acting like a title contender (without the record to back it up), and at times acting like a team preparing to enter a full rebuild, the Meteors season wound up turning out fairly well for a team in their position: young, moderately talented, and prepared to become a contender within a few years.

Trades for roster players: Any discussion of the Meteors' season must begin with their many trades. Only 3 players in the Meteors' Opening Day lineup had been with the team the year before (and one of those, Bill Hurley, only joined the team at the 2123 trade deadline). It would be impossible to describe every trade, and many of the most significant ones occurred in the waning days of 2123, so they cannot truly be part of this post. I will, however, highlight a few key trades for roster players that impacted Melbourne this season, both good and bad.

July 3rd with Buenos Aires - This trade saw Melbourne send 3B Ricardo Peralta to Buenos Aires for a 4th round pick. This trade was a clear win for Melbourne, as Peralta hit just .179 with Buenos Aires before retiring.

July 3rd with Cairo - The Meteors traded outfield prospect Sean Bethune and $750,000 to Cairo for SS Roberto Reyes. Reyes was disappointing in his time with Melbourne, but is young and should improve. Bethune, though, performed well at Cairo's A-level minor league team, and shows signs of developing into an above-average major leaguer. It is too early to declare this trade a loss for Melbourne, but it's not looking great so far.

July 31st with Black Forest - Melbourne's Nabibukhsh Sadozai was traded to Black Forest for a 4th round pick. Sadozai was very vocal about his distaste for Melbourne, telling the Times "I hate this place. Everything is poisonous and our GM keeps trading everyone on the team. Get me out of here!" He got his wish and immediately signed a 2-year contract extension with Black Forest. This appears to be a steal for the Foxes, as he posted a 2.45 ERA and 0.73 WHIP after the trade. But of course, the Meteors were able to get value out of a player who would have otherwise left for free agency, which is always good.

July 31st with Rome - The Pedro Vargas saga saw an unusually restrained end to a ridiculous sequence. Rumors that Meteors GM Bob Weinberg sent team representatives to break into the offices of other GMs and praise Vargas loudly are as of yet unconfirmed, but it's certain that Vargas was very much on the block. A reliever who at times put up brilliant numbers, and at times left us all wondering how he even played in the major leagues, Vargas was eventually dealt to Rome for a 4th-round pick and SP prospect He-ping Ting. Vargas is reportedly in contract talks with both the Meteors and Generals.

July 31st with Paris - Trading Sadozai and Vargas might trick the intelligent baseball fan into thinking the Meteors were in a rebuild. GM Bob Weinberg, though, never does the intelligent thing, and after decimating his bullpen for 4th round picks, he traded one of those 4ths, plus a 5th rounder, to the Paris Fleur-de-Lis for 3B Guda Baloch. Baloch hit .295 with 7 home runs in his 54 games with Melbourne. Though his contract is large ($9.8 million this year), it decreases every year until 2127, and the Meteors are in decent financial shape regardless.

July 31st with Ottawa - Continuing the "Are they rebuilding or not?" confusion, Melbourne sent young CF Toru Yamaguchi and a 3rd and 5th round pick to Ottawa for star outfielderMitch Qiao.  A bat-first, defense-sometimes right fielder, Qiao hit .342 with 13 home runs in 53 games with Melbourne this year. Just last week, Qiao signed a 3-year extension at $5.5 million per season. This seems to be a pretty cheap price for a star outfielder.

November 27th with Manila - In a "good for both teams" deal, Melbourne dealt backup LF Mark Hughes to Manila for backup LF Javier Quezada and SS Christopher Grotefend. Quezada's salary is much higher than it should be, but Hughes's is also fairly high, and Grotefend is likely to slot in as Melbourne's new starting shortstop after hitting .272 with Manila last year.

Player development: There were positives and negatives to this aspect of the Meteors' season. Prospects such as OF Srikant Hattangady and SP Hung-K'uei He are, according to the team's management, probably going to be ready for the majors this season, while other, younger prospects, such as RF Daimano Ghislieri and SP Ramón Ayala, continued to develop nicely. Another positive sign was SP Jorge Pérez, who had put up mediocre stats in the minors and one brief major-league stint in 2123, but this year burst onto the scene with a 3.27 ERA and a 15-6 record.

Of course, the development world was not all good news for the Meteors organization. Several major-league pitchers took significant steps back, most notably former ace Harold Threlfall, who posted a 3.33 ERA in 2123 and a 5.11 in 2124. Meteors GM Bob Weinberg, when asked about Threlfall's disappointing year, said "I don't get it. He was 28 years old, no big injury or anything, I really don't get it. Maybe he's on drugs. Not the good ones, either. Wait, are performance-diminishing drugs a thing? Is he on those?" Threlfall's agent declined to comment on allegations that he is using PDDs.

Outlook for 2125: The Meteors are a team with a fairly bright future. Led by Qiao, Baloch, C Brandon Crabb, veteran 3B/LF Guillermo Carvajal, and hometown favorite 1B Tristan Vantassell, their lineup is strong with no obvious holes. The pitching staff is a bit more problematic - Jorge Perez and Jian-zhang Cheng are poised to lead the rotation, but spots 3-5 remain a problem spot. A lot depends on whether Hung-K'uei He is able to take a step up and begin to fulfill his potential. Melbourne's bullpen will be suffering a little bit due to the loss of Vargas and Sadozai, but GM Weinberg has reportedly been in talks with several high-profile free agent relievers. This team will not be a title contender in 2125, but should be able to reach a .500 record and potentially challenge for a wild card spot. That is, unless they make some ridiculous trades. It's been known to happen.

Dembe Kihiga is the beat writer for the Melbourne Meteors. She is very grateful to be living in Australia at the moment, mostly because it's not Argentina.

[Kevin]

NIce job, Bob.