Manama musings 2.0

[jjw]

Three weeks into the season and Manama, the Burt League 2049 champions, is in first place again (albeit by a bare 1-game margin over their most dangerous league rivals, Jerusalem) and tied for the Association's best record with Tripoli at 12-7. This may come as a big surprise, given the pre-season predictions, which had Manama finishing dead last in the league and winning only 51 games. But those predictions were made before the Pearls signed free agent second baseman Scott Bell, filling a huge hole in the lineup after the departure of Mike England. Bell has played decently so far, and very likely has not yet shown his best (present numbers: 278/296/405). Even so, how could the predictions have been so far off, since the Pearls were returning all of their excellent pitching staff as well as their top 2049 batters?
Of course, these are still very early days, and Manama certainly seems to be playing above its weight when it comes to hitting, as the team is leading the whole Association in slugging and home runs -- led by Taylor Barfoot, who already has 8 HRs and 26 RBIs (!), tops in the UMEBA, and Patrick Strolz -- when in prior seasons this was certainly their greatest weakness. But let's see if the batters can continue to hit with power, or at least at a higher level than last season.
The pitching remains solid, despite some troubles in the bullpen (closer Owen McKelvey has saved five games but was knocked around pretty hard in two others, with his ERA now above 10 - but so early in the season just a couple bad outings can send anyone's ERA soaring) and the set-up guys, José Velasquez and Huang Cheng, also had bad outings in the first week but have pitched solidly ever since. The rest of the pen, the middle relievers, have been fine. And as for the starting rotation, they have a combined record of 10-2, and a few bad outings by Jim-suk Im (he's got those two defeats) and Damian Theophanous have been compensated for by excellent pitching from Rick Claris, Calvin Fletcher (promoted from the bullpen to the starting staff this season), and Edgar Sosa. In sum, on the mound for this season for Manama it's 'so far, so good'.
On defense, the Pearls continue their solid play from last season, and presently rank third in the Association in fielding percentage, defensive efficiency and zone range (all important stats in fielding) and with two new players behind the plate, Felipe Delgado and Patrick Faber (both signed as free agents, both better on defense than last season's starters at catcher), are tied with Riyadh in the caught stealing categories (% and total number of runners thrown out).
Management remains confident the Pearls can at least contend for the league title again, barring any injuries to key players naturally.