52.03 London Line Drives Aug 7, 2052: It's Reigning Men

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52.03 London Line Drives Aug 7, 2052: It's Reigning Men

Post by Trebro » Tue Oct 18, 2022 11:30 pm

As Team Continues to Slide, McMonigal Raids Comfy Couches for Players
by Niles Standish


Cairo – Greetings from beautiful Egypt, where you don't need to read hieroglyphics to know that the London Monarchs are not very good. Despite new GM Rob McMonigal's "suggestions" (I received some calls from inside the organization that they were not necessarily appreciated, but who can take the word of anonymous phone calls?), the team sputtered to another 1-5 week, though admittedly they were far more competitive, with three of the five losses coming by a single run and 2 coming in the final inning, with the team's premiere reliever, David Prigent, taking the loss.

It's been a bad time for the 2051 star reliever. Despite saving the lone win against Athens (a 2-1 affair in which Prigent pitched 2 scoreless innings to preserve the team's dignity, such as it is), he's now 3-8 on the year with a gruesome 5.79 ERA and allowing over 2 baserunners per inning. While I myself often enjoy playing with many men on a diamond, that's bad for any player, let alone the supposed best pitcher. Will McMonigal allow the manager to keep using him? Is it overuse because the rest of the staff is just that bad? It's hard to tell at this point but it's almost impossible to believe Prigent will be retaining his flat near King's Cross past the end of the season.

Not all looked bad compared to what I've been witnessing, however. Some lineup changes look to have brought a spark of life, even in the losing efforts.1B Andrés Hernández was on fire, batting .292 with a home run, but was buried in the sixth spot in the order. Nerdal hit .263 in the leadoff role, showing some spark from second base. RF Sang-mok Kim had 2 home runs and knocked in 8. But Carl McFayden only hit .227 in the second spot in the order. 3B Nicolai Reshetkov'd the bed, managing only 3 hits and 3 walks. The offense generally remains offensive, and even when it explodes for 5 or more runs, the pitching gives up at least 6.

These are problems that not even a magician could fix, but McMonigal clearly has an idea of how to try: Throw new people at the problem.

Over 50 minor league contracts were sent out and accepted, at a variety of positions. So many that not even this reporter could keep track. "Where will they all go?" I asked McMonigal.

"On a set of chartered planes all over the organization," he replied.

"Any to London?"

"We'll see," he said with a grin. "We'll see."

On the other hand, there are three players who will be supplanting someone in the organization soon, namely the waiver claims. Let's look at them, shall we?

RP Carlos Campos from Sao Paulo, is a hard-throwing fastball pitcher whose ERA is nothing to write home about, but his WHIP is only 1.35 this year, thanks to k/9 ratio over 8. While not the player who gets you to the playoffs, he should be a better bullpen option for the Monarchs and his July numbers showed significant improvement. A good choice by McMonigal here, I think.

RP Su-yeong Pak is a more questionable decision, coming off a disastrous July with a 12 plus ERA. Even if you don't like the stat, that's terrible. His career stats are much softer and just mediocre, not catastrophic, and McMonigal is likely hoping he can return closer to that baseline. Still, yikes.

The "jewel" (if one can ever say that about a waiver claim) is P Itze Woertgen. He can start, which definitely has appeal, and his ERA is a tidy 3.13, though his FIP is over 5, causing some concern. A swing man (my favorite type!), he has 3 pitches and a sharp WHIP of 1.17. Also from Sao Paulo, this one looks like a potential keeper. Or if not, at least not quite so awful as Harry Ackland and his over 7 ERA.

Until next time, I'm Niles Standish, reminding you to keep your balls clean. Especially when overseas! Ta ta for now!
Rob McMonigal
Yellow Springs Nine Sep 2052 - ????

London Monarchs Aug 2052 - Sep 2052

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Re: 52.03 London Line Drives Aug 7, 2052: It's Reigning Men

Post by Jwalk100 » Wed Oct 19, 2022 1:21 pm

Reshetkov'd the bed. I see what you did there.

Good article!
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