Mid-Season Report-Offense and Lineup

[hetz23]

When it comes to the Pearl's offensive attack, there are some nice complimentary pieces. Rafael McKinna and his league leading OBP number of .414 comes to mind (he led the league in 2044 with a .415 mark). 1B/2B Wally Geoghegan is having a nice season, slashing .305/.374/.440. 2B/SS James Holman has also been steady, the former BBA player last seen with San Fernando, has put together what will now be his third consecutive very solid season as a Pearl. As nice as these complimentary pieces are, the Pearl offense gets its horsepower from three main sources. Each one of "The Big Three" have their own interesting path and surrounding circumstances. Let's have a look:

Sadaharu Oh III-
The grandson of the legendary Japanese slugger has come over to the UMEBA after a solid if not spectacular run for Las Vegas and Portland in the BBA. The result has been fantastic as Oh has battered UMEBA pitching to the tune of 93 homers and a combined 12 WAR over the combined years of 2043-2044. His current season, while good, has shown a slight downtick in just about every major offensive category. Make no mistake, even at his current pace he will have put together a third consecutive amazing year. Still, his situation will present one of the more interesting decisions this far in GM Hetzer's short tenure at the helm in Manama. The club drafted two corner outfielders in the most recent 2045 amateur draft and they are both highly touted. The 29 year old OF will be due another hefty arbitration raise in 2026, so there could be a point when Manama decides to move on from their slugging outfielder.

Joshua Koka-
Joshua Koka came into the 2045 season on the cusp of superstardom in the UMEBA league. Some could say he had already arrived there after a 2044 season that saw him bang out 51 homers with a whopping 146 RBI and 1.006 OPS. This was all at the age of 24. So it is sort of odd that we look at his 2045 campaign so far and shrug our shoulders. A 133 WRC+ and 3.4 WAR is nothing to be ashamed of and a ballplayer at any level would be proud to put up those types of numbers, but he figures to finish well below his homer and runs batted in numbers from 2044 and his OPS is 150 points below his sublime campaign from last year. The question remains for the young star... is he the premier player from 2044, the very good player of 2045, or somewhere in between?

Mario "Buzzy" Guerrer-
Teammates call him Buzzy but fans have started to give him the moniker "Super Mario" after the iconic Nintendo character. Guerrer is still slugging at a superstar level at the age of 33. From 2033 to 2041, Guerrer averaged 36 homers per year and topped the 100 RBI mark nine times. Then, after a down year in 2033 in the BBA, he was mysteriously dropped. Perhaps that is an investigation for another day but instead of wallowing in anger and self-pity for his abrupt treatment by the BBA, all he's done is just destroy the UMEBA league. He is currently one homer shy of the Holy Grail of offensive production, the Triple Crown. He has 18 more RBI's than his closest competitor. 18 RBI's is a good month for some players. It will be interesting to see if a DH will get consideration for MVP, but if there was ever one deserving, Guerrer is the guy.

[RichY]

As the GM of a team that's trying to just get some above replacement production from my OF, I can only dream on players like Koka and Oh.