The Team's Good Picks:
Kose Fukedome and Kelly Johnson are great picks. Matt Holliday, Alfonso Soriano, and Manny Ramirez have never dazzled anyone defensively, so a fourth outfielder is crucial in late innings. Fukedome fills that position well and his left handed bat could be a real asset off the bench. As for Johnson, he fills a gaping hole at secondbase. He can leadoff or bat lower in the lineup with tremendous patience, despite strikeouts. His defense is better than advertise. The one caution, although minor when it comes to a weak offensive position of second, is his streaky bat.
The Team's Bad Picks:
Clearly selecting a 35 year old catcher in the first round and paying him 30 percent more was a risky investment. What is worse, management did not target a younger catcher to grow into the new position. Michael Barrett does not start and is not a defensive catcher. Last year he fought with Big Z in Chicago, prompting a trade. He does have a good bat, but he is getting older as well and does not have a starting spot with the Padres. Also, the team is really shallow on the corners. Alex Gordon is a young stud who really struggled last season, but Prince Fielder is really coming into his own. If either suffers an injury, a trade is crucial to salvage the position. Lastly, the team did nothing to address lefty arms. Come late innings against Brooklyn, a team with heavy left handed bats, not having a lefty out of the pen could kill playoff hopes and runs.
Overall: A
The pitching rotation is solid with Ian Snell, Jered Weaver, AJ Burnett, Derek Lowe, and Brett Myers is one of the stronger rotations. Durability will be a concern as Weaver opened last season on the DL. Lowe and Burnett are not strangers to the Harden-Hermida Lists. Brett Myers will be crucial if Liriano returns to a healty rotation, as he may move to the bullpen with Rivera, Gagne, Qualls, Heilman and Morrow. The lineup can swing for the fences with the best of them (East teams and Yuma). There will be plenty of strikeouts but the team can make up for that with the stolen base with Soriano, Rollins, and Gordon. Depth and lefty arms should be a source of concern, but Vegas has the potential to challenge for a crown with this team healthy (but big question mark with health).
5 comments:
Very intresting on his rotation. I'm not sure how "solid" it is. Meyers hasn't been worth a darn starting for the last couple of years (especially last year), Burnett is too damn inconsistent, Lowe is very overrated (he can be great like Webb if only he mixes his pitches up), and Snell plays for a horrible team and I think it will affect his drive to succeed when his team is stinking. I like Weaver, but red flags went up last year when he lost speed on his fastball. Without it, his other pitches are nothing cause they are too similar in speed. IF he can stay healthy and build around a better fastball, he will be great. Weaver and Lariano are pluses if both can stay healthy and Lariano returns to form, but the rest of the rotation is shaky and overrated.
His line-up: great and established. PROBLEM: money. TOO expensive. They produce, but for a price and it will hurt them soon because without future cap room, they will hurt to expand talent in other areas of their team (they have more $$$ Stocked in their OF than anyone in BARB I think... can do better and get great production for less $$$). Should trade to improve arms because this is what is going to hurt this team.
OH by the way, Offense won't get it done. It has been tried by Frostbite, Yuma and my team to hit your way into the playoffs... but all have faild because of lack of quality arms. That is why the team shouldn't have a A overall. You cannot outhit every team every time. You can't be good without great arms! Really, there are no A teams!!!
First and foremost, they do not play in the East or the West. Thus they are easily the favorites in the Central. Second, each team has $110 to play with, so even if the outfield takes up $100, he can still have a damn fine lineup. You are absolutely correct about his rotation, which I am sure I pointed out. Myers can really rack up Ks, so can Burnett and Snell. I have said many times you have the best rotation in BARB if they remain healthy, which I do not think will be the case. On the otherhand, a team like Vegas who has a ton of injury concerns, I have a feeling they are going to have a healthy rotatoin this year. But it can certainly bite htem in their butt, later. But they will none the less have no problem reaching the playoffs even if Burnett, Myers, Liriano and Gagne get hurt.
Ron, here's your history lesson for today:
In 2003, I built a lineup that almost resembled the fabled Murderers Row of the 1927 Yankees. We crushed the ball all over the place. My team led the league in runs, scoring almost 150 more than the second-best team. We hit 250 homers. The pitching staff wasn't bad at all. I was second in ERA and led the league in strikeouts by almost 200. That team won the first B.A.R.B. championship. 2003 was the only time I had an extremely powerful lineup. So yes, it is possible to hit your way into the playoffs (with good help from the arms, of course).
Hey, I plan on hitting my way into the playoffs. I had a tight rein on my starters in 2007, and I expect that my bullpen will carry a heavier load than other BARB clubs this season, as well. I remember 2003 painfully well. I had the best pitching, by far, Ronald, but the Squirrels blew me up in the playoffs with their bats.
Anyway, I think you can win either way, it's just harder to win without a lot of offense in a league like ours, where every club has more than one superstar player. And that, Ronald old man, is why you haven't made the playoffs yet. You never have the depth to contend. Never. That's your flaw yesterday, today and tomorrow. You are always trading two guys who aren't hot for one guy who is, and that's why you have the best rotation on paper but nothing in your system for a rainy day. All I can say is, don't have any injuries.
Post a Comment