Manama musings 2.0

[jjw]

Two more weeks into the season -- about 20% of the schedule -- the Pearls continue to lead the Burt League, now by 4 games (increasing their advantage over Jerusalem by 3 games) and also continue to have the best record in the Association.
The team's performance at the plate, on the mound, and in the field remains top notch: Manama has the best BA, SLG and OPS in the Association, is 4th amongst the 10 clubs in OBP, and also has the best team ERA and leads the Association in strikeouts. And Manama is succeeding through good fortune alone (although that cannot be ignored -- they have been remarkably free of injuries to date), as the pitching staff's BABIP leads the UMEBA as well. On defense, they continue to lead in defensive efficiency, and are 3rd in both team zone rating and fielding percentage.
The club's standout players at the plate remain Patrick Strolz, who leads the Association in BA at .395 (and his .471 OBP has him ranked 4th), Taylor Barfoot, who leads in four-baggers with 10 (although his rate has dropped off considerably from his furious pace in the opening weeks) and is second in RBIs (trailing Jerusalem's Dane Licht's by one), and Kinfu Lugano, whose slash numbers -- 327/368/542, with 23 RBIs that rank him tied for fourth in the Association -- have also been impressive.
On the hill, Edgar Sosa is 5-0, putting him first in the Association in wins, and also leads in ERA at 2.45, ERA+ at 185, and ranks second in BABIP at .200 behind teammate Rick Claris' .189. Sosa has also been stingy when it comes to walking batters. Claris has been hurt by the long ball (he's surrendered 9 so far, which ties him for 4th most in the UMEBA) and walks (here he also ranks 4th in BB allowed) and these are both concerns, but he's 3-1 with a 4.24 ERA and there is hope he can return to last season's brilliance (14-4 with a top ranked 2.75 ERA). In the pen, last season's standout closer, Owen McKelvey, has been bi-polar: when he's been good he's been very very good, but when he's been bad he's been horrid. McKelvey leads the Association with 9 saves but also has a 9.00 ERA. He's being shifted to middle relief for the time being, until he shows signs of regaining his form, and set-up guy Huang Cheng will take over closer duties in the interim (or maybe for more than this -- the Pearls have always tried to be flexible with bullpen roles, believing any decent hurler should be able to take on any relief assignment at any time).
When it comes to pitching, Manama has several other guys assigned to the pen who could probably do well in starting roles: José Velasquez, Santiago Zúñiga, who have 2.70 and 2.31 ERAs respectively, and veteran Wayne Mawle, whose ERA is an outstanding 1.29. All three have been decent starters at times in past seasons (especially Zúñiga) and, to be honest, all hope to return to the rotation. The youth of the bullpen staff -- Mawle is 34 and Juan Gonzalez is 27, but all the others are 24 or younger -- and the starters, all five of whom are 24 or younger both bode well for the Pearls' future. Moreover, this all gives the club both flexibility and depth at pitching, which is aided by their AAA club's staff, which has a number of good (albeit probably not yet major league level) young pitchers.
And finally, to my fellow UMEBA GMs, this pitching depth provides for possible trades, should you need good hurlers and are willing to part with players who meet Manama's needs for the present and immediate future: second basemen/middle infielders and outfielders (especially if they can play well on defense at CF).