We ended last year’s Empire with one haunting sentence, “All Empires must come to an end.” We did a full autopsy of their 2018 season. We did not see a whole lot to celebrate. The team missed the playoffs for the first time. And that was after making the finals 2 out of the previous 3 years before that.
2018 season had a lot of promise after some key additions in Shawn, Reggie and Khurram. But the team never gelled. It seemed like a bunch of mercenaries playing without a purpose. The chemistry and clutch gene was almost nonexistent. Close games? They lost em. Win or go home? They went home.
The league had zero sympathy for them however. This is the team that has never won a championship but a perennial front runner. Faizal, Jason, Prince and co., had a clear agenda this year. Get more committed guys. A 20 man roster isn’t the solution to attendance problems. You need core group of committed guys week in and week out.
New Additions:
They went out and got the two best Free Agents out there in Nick Yip and Jay Yip. Yup. What a way to put the whole damn league on notice. Two 10 rated superstars that are literally top 5 players in the league. They both are middle of the order power hitters that can hit .700+ as well as play elite level defense. MVP candidates right from the get go.
In addition, they have added Matthew Garguilo, who is taking his talents from the NL division and setting his sights in the upper division. He is a solid bat but weak defender and can be a problem in the clubhouse.
Another couple of additions were an under the radar addition of old wily vet Ramin Rasuli and Fernando Lopez. While neither player is upper echelon players, they are the type of depth additions and solid team guys every team needs to shore up their team.
Overall:
The team is still returning the core of Faizal, Chris Mui, Jason Reis, Pete Banta, Prince, Dheeraj, Khurram, etc. We expect a team that is stacked 1-10 every week. If they have attendance issues, they have the depth this year to still win any given week. Faizal has worked hard this off season, and the proof is in the pudding.
Lineup: You have Dheeraj that is one of the best leadoff hitters in the league along with Khurram to set the rest of the lineup. In the middle of the lineup you have Nick, Jay, Chris Mui, Matt G., Peter Banta and Jason Reis. Rounding out in the bottom of the order you have players like Faizal, Ankit, Prince, Ramin, Fernando, etc. This team is deep as heck.
Defense: They were extremely weak in the field last year. They lost Shawn from the Outfield but should gain an advantage with so much new elite talent being bought in. We expect this team to be a vacuum out on the field.
Grade: A++. Getting one Yip on the team would have been a A when you consider the other moves they made. Getting two Yips? Yup. A++.
Prediction: As our BOLD PREDICTIONS stated, we expect this team to go all the way to the Finals in 2019. Keep in mind, in a division with 6 elite teams, EVERY WEEK COUNTS!
