The 2023 Season, the 10th season of play in the Roger Dorn Baseball League, is officially underway as the league has opened the gates to player movement before Draft Day.
Several teams have been busy as four official deals have been announced with the St. Joseph Jokers completing three of the moves as GM Rick Steen rebuilds his Keeper Roster for 2023.
In total so far, Steen has added four Keepers at $19 combined who are projected for a total 1,334.0 points this season while leveraging their deep crop of draft capital acquired last season.
Check back for the latest and any additional moves on the first day of the 2023 Season.
Lunatic Fringe acquire 1B Matt Olson (2/$46) from Lake Merced Goutfish for 2023 2nd Round (16th Overall) and 6th Round (79th Overall)
Flush with pitching options to work through before Draft Day, Lunatic Fringe GM Tony Guglielmi quickly addressed their concerns at the plate with the addition of thumper Matt Olson from the Lake Merced Goutfish for a pair of 2023 Reserve Draft picks. Olson mashed 34 home runs in 2022 with 402.5 points, following up his breakout 2021 season where he posted 483.0 points in his final season in Oakland.
His addition will take care of first and corner infield for the Fringe with Ryan Mountcastle (2R/$3) teaming with Olson at the positions to start 2023.
With a pair of deals Wednesday, Lake Merced Goutfish GM Ryan Atkinson added four Reserve Draft selections to their stockpile.
Alamo Short Stacks acquire C Joey Bart (Minors) and 2023 3rd Round Pick (44th Overall) from St. Joseph Jokers for RP Kenley Jansen (3/$7) and IF/OF Chris Taylor (3/$3)
The Alamo Short Stacks and St. Joseph Jokers linked up on a three-player deal that will send the 2019 1st Overall Reserve Draft pick Joey Bart to the Stacks along with a 3rd Round Pick in exchange for a pair of affordable keepers in Kenley Jansen and Chris Taylor.
Bart provides the Stacks with three viable options behind the plate to open 2023, joining Will Smith (2/$31) and Luis Campusano (Minors) who appears ready for an activation and timeshare with Austin Nola in San Diego.
With a lack of depth at the position, the Stacks have reportedly entertained flipping Bart to fill their shortstop position after expected Keeper Brendan Rodgers lost eligibility at the position in 2022. A strong Spring from Bart could push Smith out the door, saving the Stacks $30 in cap space and allowing the club to add another Keeper to their plans.
The Jokers are poised to open up what they view as a strong window of contention led by activations Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Wright, Gabriel Moreno and MJ Melendez. The presence of the last two catcher eligible options made Bart expendable, allowing GM Rick Steen to boost up the club's Keeper Roster with Taylor filling multiple positions and Jansen slotting in at the top of their bullpen after ranking as the 7th best reliever in 2022 while posting 41 saves.
St. Joseph Jokers acquire RHP Noah Syndergaard (2/$1) from Lake Merced Goutfish for 2023 2nd Round (29th Overall) and 7th Round (99th Overall)
With Kyle Wright and Ross Stripling the only starters expected back, the St. Joseph Jokers were looking to bolster their starting rotation as soon as possible. GM Rick Steen took their first step in that direction with the addition of Noah Syndergaard from the Lake Merced Goutfish for a pair of 2023 picks.
Expectations were somewhat muted for Syndergaard heading into last season, as he missed all of 2020 and nearly all of 2021 due to Tommy John surgery. As it turns out, they may still have been too high. He remained healthy all season, but his performance on either side of a deadline-day trade to Philadelphia left a bit to be desired with an overall 3.94 ERA and just 261.0 points.
His primary problem was that his strikeouts all but evaporated. After carrying a career 26.4 K% into the year, he dipped all the way to a 16.8 K% last season. A significant drop in velocity was the primary culprit; his fastball and slider averaged 98.1 and 91.1 mph, respectively, prior to his surgery but dropped to 94.5 and 85.0 mph last season. His 5.5 BB% walk rate should keep him as a competent innings-eater.
Syndergaard joined the Dodgers on a one-year deal and will look to produce a similar resurgence to Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney, who turned strong 2022 seasons in L.A. into multi-year contracts in free agency.
Following a pair of trades Wednesday, the Goutfish now hold three selections in the 2nd Round.
St. Joseph Jokers acquire RHP Tyler Mahle (3/$8) from Maltese Falcons for 2023 3rd Round Pick (39th Overall)
The Jokers continued their roster overhaul with another big addition to their starting rotation.
Tyler Mahle struggled with injuries and a poor start to the season to finish with an ugly 4.40 ERA, but most of his underlying metrics were similar to his previous seasons. Mahle got off to a terrible start with a 6.32 ERA through his first 10 outings, but righted the ship with a 3.03 ERA and 10.2 K/9 in his next six starts. He then missed three weeks with a sore shoulder but returned to make three starts before he was traded to the Twins at the deadline. He made two starts for Minnesota before going on the injured list for shoulder inflammation. He returned in late August but didn't even make it through one start before another setback to his shoulder (rotator cuff weakness) and was shut down for the year.
When healthy, Mahle had similar strikeout rates (9.4 K/9) and walk rates (3.2 B/9) to the past few seasons. ERA estimators such as xERA (3.49) and FIP (3.87) show he may have been unlucky as he did have just a 69.5% LOB. Mahle could benefit from the move to Target Field as he struggled at Great America Ballpark at times (5.63 ERA in 2021). If his shoulder problems are not an issue, he'll be a mainstay of the Minnesota rotation.
CBS Sports projects a big bounceback with a strong 411.0 point projection, including a 3.10 ERA in 157 innings of work.
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