It’s Morning Again in Cascadia

It’s morning again in Cascadia

Today, more young talent will go to work for the Axemen than ever before in the team’s history. With earned run averages at about half the record highs of 2023, nearly 3,500,000 fans will flock to The Tostitos Dome, more than at any time in the past four years. This afternoon, 25 young men will attend Spring Training, and with player ages at less than half of what they were just four years ago, they can look forward with confidence to the future. It’s morning again in Cascadia, and under the leadership of General Manager Edelman, our team is prouder and stronger and better. Why would we ever want to return to where we were less than four short years ago?

2025 Team Projections

70-56, .555 WPCT, 3rd place
Team MVP – Timothee Brandi
Team Cy Young – Neil Hinz
Team Rookie of the Year – Aniceto Navas
Comeback Player of the Year – Soong-yong Kim

It’s been quite the dramatic off-season in Portland. With the team in a dire financial situation after signing Miguel Gutierrez to one of the largest contracts in team history and then getting relegated, the team was forced to watch the greatest free agent class in league history from afar. And there sat the team GM, tears streaming down his face, as he peered out the window on a dark, rainy day that was representative of how he felt deep down in his soul.

As he sat there, the general manager thought to himself, “how do I work this?”. He thought to himself, “where is that large automobile?” He thought to himself, “this is not my beautiful house.” He thought to himself, “this is not my beautiful team.” And then he picked up the phone and called the DC Eagles.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. This story of love and heartbreak, honesty and deception,desperation and hope all began on an unseasonably warm day the first day of December, 2024. It was on this day that the first domino fell, and Portland General Manager Michael Edelman made a trio of trades to acquire 34 year old starting pitcher Ricky Colon, 29 year old designated hitter Matt Breen and 23 year old shortstop John Chamblee. It’s the former two that were the big names, but it was the latter player who really allowed the team to make a significant transformation.

Portland’s General Manager has long preferred teams that are built around pitching and defense, but until now he simply never had the right pieces in place to make that happen. And it wasn’t until the wheels fell off the team’s defense last year that he experienced the necessary amount of pain to motivate the change.

Portland’s defense was nothing short of awful at some key defensive positions in 2024. It all started with starting catcher Carlos Bonilla, who ironically won the award for the best fielding catcher in the Silver League last year. But if voters had looked beneath the glossy 2.0 ZR exterior, they would have seen that the fruit was rotten on the inside. Bonilla has always been an awful game caller and pitch framer. One Portland scout described it by saying that the position of catcher “doesn’t come naturally” to Bonilla.

Pitchers were never quite satisfied with Bonilla’s skills behind the plate, and the results showed when many of them underperformed year after year. In 2024 for example, pitchers had a 4.49 ERA throwing to Carlos Bonilla compared to a 2.77 ERA with backup catcher Ruben Hernandez.

The Axemen also struggled to put up serviceable fielders at shortstop where Brett Mandell had a -4.2 ZR and in centerfield where Livan Juarez put up a -9.6 ZR. It was clearly time for some changes.

The first change involved moving Brett Mandell to second base, where at first he struggled mightily but by the end of winter league, he had gotten his ZR back to even and scouts were confident enough to give him a 65/80 rating at the position. The next change involved prospect Soong-yong Kim taking over in centerfield. Kim has posted a +18.1 ZR in a combined 121 games for the team’s minor league affiliates. Behind the plate, the Axemen got a look at 2024 draft pick Aniceto Navas in Winter League and loved what they saw. At third base, the team added 2024’s Silver League fielder of the year Nick Ramos, who managed a +8.9 ZR. And shortstop Chamblee was the final puzzle piece. Chamblee’s posted a +11.4 ZR at shortstop throughout his career and Portland scouts regard him as one of the best defensive shortstops in the league.

As previously mentioned, Portland also acquired starting pitcher Ricky Colon to give the team some added rotation depth, as well as designated hitter Matt Breen, who figures to be the team’s leadoff hitter against righthanded pitchers. The team loved his production against righthanded pitchers last year (.292/.382/.575) and believe his lefthanded swing will play perfectly to their ballpark. Hopefully by using him at designated hitter, he will be able to stay healthier than the equally fragile Bretrando Toro who the team traded for him. The issue with Toro was that most of his value came from his defense, but in having to play the field he would often injure himself.

And thusly, we arrive at the finis magnum. In a move to try to improve the team’s pitching, the Axemen made the bizarre move of trading arguably their best starting pitcher in 2024. Twenty five year old Jose Lopez will certainly be missed on the team. He was young, and as a lefthander he was a perfect fit for the Tostito Dome. But that’s not to say that he was not without flaws.

The team never considered Lopez to be a legitimate number one starter because he could never pitch deep into games. And there was also the issue of his production not quite matching up to his peripherals. With a FIP 0.70 runs higher than his ERA, the team worried that his value would never be higher. So they made the painful decision to trade him. However, in doing so they made a move that the team’s front office believes not only will help them be more competitive in 2025, but also longterm.

In return for Lopez, Portland acquired veteran starting pitcher Neil Hinz and veteran closer Dennis Jones, as well as highly regarding pitching prospect Antonio Cruzrivera, who the team say as the best pitcher available in last year’s draft.

In doing so, the team addressed multiple issues going into 2025. Hinz was a workhorse in 2024, pitching 192.1 innings and compiling a 4.3 WAR. And his 3.21 career ERA ranks fourth among Premier League starting pitchers. Dennis Jones gives the team a legitimate closer to help lock down games, which the Axemen were in desperate need of last year.

But the team hopes that pitching prospect Antonio Cruzrivera will develop into the true star of the deal. Portland scouts love his potential, his ability to pitch deep into games and his leadership qualities and believe that along with prospect Gilberto Beltran, he could give the team a powerful 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation for years to come.

It’s morning again in Cascadia.