5 Year All-Half Decade Team.

[niles08]

The UMEBA is currently in its sixth season and while I will be the first to admit that I have paid less attention to the UMEBA, it is fun to look over there at all-star voting time and see some old favorites doing well. With that in mind, I thought I would create an all-decade team for the first 5 years of the league's existence, a half-decade team if you will. If someone has already this then I apologize, but regardless this is another set of eyes and another point of view from what theirs was.

Starting first at the catching position. There have been a few catchers who have made their mark in the UMEBA but nobody has done better than Jose Romero. He retired in 2030, taking a full 7 years away from the game before returning in 2037 to join Mumbai. He has accumulated a 15.4 WAR over five seasons with the club winning the United Cup in 2039. A sweet resurgence for a guy who never made it past AAA wit Twin Cities.

At first base, my gut wanted me to take Patrick Lue or Jack Hankey but even in fewer seasons, you have to hand this to Mauro Garcia. The former Calgary player who spent 3 seasons in Calgary before signing with Cairo in 2039 where he has been ever since. He has accumulated an even 15 WAR in just 3 seasons as it looks like he has finally found his swing in the UMEBA.

Second base was another tough choice between Chester Owens or Jeffrey Verkade. I went with Verkade on this. Verkade simply played better defense than Owens, substantially you could say. Verkade, the former Edmonton Jackrabbit and Des Moines Kernel finished his UMEBA career with a 118 wRC+.

At third base, despite Toshio Taguchi leading many batting categories, Jeffrey Cunningham is the man here. Cunningham not only has a 20% better bat than the rest of the UMEBA, but his defense has been very good. At 9.9 WAR in 408 games, this was an easy choice.

At shortstop, there haven’t been many great bats but the defense of Baltasar Fronteiro is enough to give him the nod here at what is arguably the weakest position in the UMEBA. Fronteiro spent time in Hawaii, Atlantic City, and Yellow Springs before finding a permanent home in the UMEBA.

Moving into the outfield grass, in left field you have to question whether you prefer more stick or more glove when looking at two deserving individuals. Aymeric Barajas, formerly of Omaha and Las Vegas has a 116 wRC+ and a 11.7 WAR while David Hall, formerly of Huntsville(Chicago), has as 133 wRC+ and 13.0 WAR in nearly the same amount of games. Barajas has been better with the glove but a 15% difference in batting is enough for me to give the nod to Hall here.

Rovering in center, you would think we would have a no brainer here with Jin-Guo Long who has 13.8 WAR since 2037, but Maximo Quezada is making it interesting with 11.2 WAR in 2 fewer seasons having entered the league in 2039. Quezada who had BBA stops in Charm City, Louisville, and Omaha made a name with his glove and that hasn’t stopped in the UMEBA. However, this is the 5 years half-decade team, and Jin-Guo Long gets the nod here especially with his impact in Jerusalem winning the United Cup in 2040.

In right-field, we have another 2 horse race with Vincent Bonin, who was at one point in Vancouver’s organization, and Flynn Johnson who up until 2038 was a Crusader in California. Bonin has a 10.6 WAR compared to Johnson’s 10.1, however, Johnson has logged one less season in the UMEBA. Johnson gets the nod here thanks to his 2 United Cup trophies with Jerusalem in the league’s first 5 seasons.

Starting Pitching Rotation:

We have 2 very easy choices at the top of the rotation in Ramon Suarez and RJ Hughes, both of who are currently in the BBA thanks to the Rule 6 Draft. Both had nearly identical UMEBA statistics though 145 games pitches and I would take either to anchor this team in the UMEBA.

Not far down the list is Roberto Gomez who came up through San Antonio’s system before retiring for 7 seasons and returning in 2037. The 36-year-old has a 4.13 ERA and 14.9 WAR in the UMEBA over the past 5 seasons. Gonzalo Delgado is an easy 4th man on this team. Delgado spent most of his bulk time in the BBA with Twin Cities and successfully made the transition over to the UMEBA.

Abel Gibson is my swingman. He has started in the UMEBA, he has pitched in relief, but regardless he has done both well. He has a 4.32 ERA in over 800 innings pitched and a 10.9 WAR. He came up through the Louisville club, bursting onto the scene in 2031 and 2032before fading quickly and finding himself in the UMEBA by the age of 30. He is probably one of the more decorated UMEBA players having thrown 325 innings of BBA ball to a 3.85 ERA in his career.

When the ninth inning comes around and we have a lead I am sending Corbin Torres out to close it out for my club. Torres has 85 career UMEBA saves and a 3.94 ERA. In 223 innings he has a 2.3 WAR. He pitched in the BBA for Vancouver as primarily a starter, having a 3.51 ERA and 3.6 WAR over 261 innings before being released when it was announced he would miss another a total of 24 months due to a torn UCL. Everything seemed to be doing well for Torres until the 2042 season when he was sidelined with a torn labrum.

[Spiccoli]

Fun article... I guess Aubrey Anderson didn’t tear up the UMEBA like I thought he might

[usnspecialist]

3 former (cunningham, fronteiro, gibson) and 1 current (hughes) reps for my franchise on this squad!!

[bigmike13]

Great idea

[Clayman]

Barajas gets most of his at bats at DH, a .972 at left doesn't fill you with confidence. Gibson just got a contract extension, blows hot and cold as a starter. If I can get an half decent starter specially a righty he'd be in the pen where he's more reliable. Nice to see a BBA GM dipping his toes in the UMEBA, bit sad Hardy didn't get a mention as he's my favourite Athens player but I see the reason why he wasn't although he is rated #1 shortstop

Good read though.

[HoosierVic]

Ha! Nicely done. I'm glad Aubrey Anderson didn't make it - he stiffed me when I was running Mumbai, and I still hold a grudge. Now, as then, stuff it Aubrey Anderson!