- kerry_k.jpg (20.96 KiB) Viewed 240 times
Good evening, baseball fans. I’m your guy K-Dog, here to cover your T-Bears. Well, this month has flown by, hasn’t it? Last season seemed to drag on and on with all the losing. Thankfully, there’s a happier tone around the club now. No it’s not a fever-pitch playoff buzz. Not yet. We’ll have to see if that’s something the team can work toward. But we’ll certainly take what we can get.
There’s a few days left in April, but let’s recap some of the notable things going with Moscow right now. As you may have heard, the GBC Draft just started. And just before taking the air tonight, we got the news that the T-Bears selected SS Takamasa Masuda with the #2 overall selection. There’s a lot of talented college grads in this draft, and Moscow GM Mike Bauer decided to nab this shortstop prospect. The scarcity of good young middle infielders in the BBA and GBC has been lamented often by GM’s in our league lately. That probably was a big factor in this selection. In college this year, Masuda hit .330/.404/.556 in 315 AB with 3.0 WAR. Very solid numbers. Maybe he’s not gold-glove material, but he’s solid in the field. Acceptable range and he’s solid at avoiding errors and turning DP’s. Offensively, he’s a slap-hitter with the ceiling to become a premier one in the GBC. He can also swipe bags, tallying 62 steals and only getting caught 6 times in college. New Moscow manager Dan Caldwell, who has a love for the running game and has been getting the T-Bears headed in that direction, has to be thrilled with this pick.
A lot of fans have been asking me what we think Bauer will do with his first draft. I’ve been digging into some old Jackrabbit draft logs, and this is a GM who prescribes to the best-player-available approach. He doesn’t react to major league need and fly guys up the majors in a year or less. He can be risk averse. So don’t expect huge gambles or bonuses on high school prodigies in these early rounds. With all these quality 22-year-olds in the draft, keep in mind that they’re not eligible for rookie ball and would need to be allocated to the A-level Kyoto Frogs if they make the team. The Frogs are currently doing great at 8-2 already. And the rookie level Panjin Fighting Knights team currently has over 50 players on its roster. So, the odds of the organization signing any undrafted free agents is very low, as they pre-built their depth prior to the draft. There is going to be a big roster crunch going on soon with the T-Bears lower minors.
Well enough about the minors and draft, let’s move on to the 14-11 T-Bears. It’s been a nice start, though the team has recently taken some injury hits. 2B Ari Ernalia will be on IL for a few months, and we’ve gotta hope that the partial labrum tear doesn’t affect his defensive value when he comes back. LF Godofredo Chucha was 100% playing like a man in his contract year seeking a giant payday before getting sidelined by injury. If he continues his 0.987 OPS production when he gets back in a few weeks, he may change Bauer’s mind about a big extension. It has to be hard to sign corner OF to a large second contract when it’s far and away the deepest position in the game. It’s a tricky situation: Chucha was the first-ever pick at #1 overall by the franchise, yet the fanbase feels indifferent about him. This will be a situation to watch in the coming months.
Onto the other success stories of this early season. The pitching, while not GBC-leading, has looked a lot better. Defensive catcher Ben Wilkins has been getting a lot of starts and his work behind the plate has been favorable for the T-Bears starters. The biggest beneficiary is Siaosi Kane, who is 2-0 with a 1.72 ERA and 3.52 FIP. It’s hard to think of Kane as an ace because of his limited stamina. Going 95 pitches in a game is pushing it. But nonetheless the team has to think about moving him up in the rotation soon to make more starts.
It’s also been great to see our closer Riyadi Subandrio back in his elite form. His 10 saves easily lead the GBC. He should be a shoo in to represent Moscow in the GBC All-Star game.
On the hitting side, we’ve had amazing production from rookie CF Eng-hee Shen. .372 average, 7 homers, 22 RBI, 1.092 OPS with 13 steals. He’s quickly becoming a core piece of this team. But unfortunately, this day-to-day back injury looks like something that needs time to heal up. I’ve been hearing the team will put Shen on the IL to get it taken care of. That’s probably the right call. The injury replacements for Chucha and Ernalia have not been crapping the bed and can do enough to keep us afloat. Shen, if healthy, could be the difference maker that would carry Moscow to the playoffs.
After this break from our sponsor, I’ll take your calls, and we’ll discuss more T-Bears. Back in 60 …