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The 2024-2025 campaign in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League is very close to start, we are only 17 days away from the opening day, which will be on October 12, most of the teams have already opened their training camps and several figures are joining their different franchises, the Cardenales de Lara began their journey on Monday 23 of this month, at the Antonio Herrera Gutiérrez stadium in the capital of the State of Lara, Barquisimeto, in these first days have been the pitchers who are in greater number in the field training, still waiting for the position players, some are still fulfilling commitments with their different teams around the world, the red birds come from losing the final of the last tournament against the Tiburones de La Guaira, for that reason I will be analyzing the possibilities of the Crepuscular throughout the coming season.
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Although it has not been said officially, it cannot be denied that the Cardinals are going through a renewal process, especially in the area of pitching, this was their weak point in the final of last tournament, despite having been reinforced to face the Tiburones in that final round, they could not face the strong offense of the escualos, the red birds have traditionally had a great pitching, that led them to dispute 5 finals in a row, Néstor Molina was released, the same happened with the right-hander Williams Pérez, but he did accept the invitation to training with the mission of earning another opportunity, for his part Raúl Rivero is still with the team, but it is not yet known what role he will have, possibly as a starter in the first weeks of the tournament or as a long reliever.
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The Lara team is structuring its importance based on pitching, out of six available slots, 5 will be for pitchers, the rotation for this edition is expected to be completely different from last year, Luis Oviedo returns to the Cardinals after 5 years of absence, he comes from opening games in the Mexican league and will surely do the same with Lara, another Creole starter who will be with the Cardinals from very early on, is Maximo Castillo, Brayan Perez is called to be part of the rotation, these would be the three Creole mainstays of the starters, and two imports should complete the rotation of 5, in the relief they will count on Edwin Escobar, Gomez, Lugo and Hernandez as those much needed lefties, Vicente Campos who has been in recent years the closer, should be moving to pitcher the seventh and eighth, one of the announced imports should assume the role of closer and preserve the Crepuscular's victories.
Los planes iniciales serán darles a las jóvenes promesas más tiempo de juego, mientras se van reportando algunas figuras, peloteros tales como, Andrés Giménez, Williams Contreras, Gabriel Moreno y el novato sensación en estos últimos días en las mayores, Luisangel Acuña, son peloteros que poco probable jueguen en Venezuela con los Cardenales, tendrán que apoyarse en los experimentados Gorkys Hernández, Juniel Querecuto e Ildemaro Vargas, por eso es que llegó a la conclusión que los crepusculares no las tendrán fácil, hay equipos que vienen mejor estructurados y eso pesa a la hora de clasificar, quizás luchen un cuarto o quinto lugar, lo bueno para ellos, es que en la pelota cualquier cosa puede pasar.
Traducción de idiomas: Deepl
Revisión ortográfica: Spellboy
Portada y banners: Canva
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Offensively things are not very clear, as we could have some absences, Hernán Pérez still has no date to join Lara, because at the end of August he underwent surgery for a shoulder injury, the recent major league graduate, Javier Sanoja, said that his participation was in doubt, They will only count with an imported player for their offense, such as Rangel Ravelo, who in the last postseason has not been able to produce as expected, it was thought that he would not return with the red birds, but they are giving him a vote of confidence.The initial plans will be to give the promising young players more playing time, while some stars are reporting, players such as Andres Gimenez, Williams Contreras, Gabriel Moreno and the rookie sensation in recent days in the majors, Luisangel Acuña, are unlikely to play in Venezuela with the Cardinals, They will have to rely on the experienced Gorkys Hernandez, Juniel Querecuto and Ildemaro Vargas, that is why he concluded that the Crepuscular will not have it easy, there are teams that come better structured and that weighs at the time of qualifying, perhaps they will fight for a fourth or fifth place, the good thing for them is that in baseball anything can happen.
Language translation: Deepl
Spell check: Spellboy
Cover and banners: Canva