Four Faces of Fear
(Four future hall of famers once feared for their bat, are causing fear to Brooklyn as the grim reaper looms)
When the Brooklyn Robins signed Cisco Guerrero to a bad contract in the winter of 2034, it was the definitive moment when a window was put on this short run. The Robins had been stock piling pitchers and defensive first position players for years. The idea was that they could get aging corner players with elite bats with ease. That they did. With Chris Workman, and Nightmare already in toe, Brooklyn traded for Mario Balderas, Alfredo Martinez, and Fernando Cruz. Those 5 players are all arguably Hall of Fame type players. But with the exception of Cruz, the rest are past their prime, injury prone, and could have one foot in the grave.
It's a high risk gamble that could perhaps net Brooklyn a Landis. Or perhaps not. We've seen both ends of the spectrum so far. In 2035 the bats hit and Brooklyn made it to the Cartwright. Yet in 2036 Workman missed some time with injury and struggled, Nightmare lumped a bit and the Robins totally wiffed on the playoffs. Everything really relies on these four players this season.
Chris Workman- His defensive struggles are well documented. His move to 3rd base has had plenty of peaks and valleys. And offensively he dropped .18 points in average and .35 points in slugging. There are huge question marks in pretty much every part of Workman's game right now. One thing that has stayed steady, however, is his ratings. The soon to be 36 year old Workman has shown no signs of lumping offensively and is still 6/8/6/9/7 VS RHP. So was 2036 just a down year? Can Workman bounce back to a 285/.383/.472? Brooklyn feels it's at least a possibly. Just not nearly a sure thing.
Alfredo Martinez- A-Mart is just 31 years of age. He probably won't be lumping anytime soon. But for a team only concerned about this one season, an injury is just as big as lumping. And there is no greater injury rist then Martinez. Even though he has stayed fairly healthy the past two seasons, every sim starts with a cautious scan of the injury wire and a sigh of relief when his name is not highlighted.
Mario Balderas- In my mind I had always pictured Balderas to be the first to lump. This doesn't appear to be the case. The 34 year old RF increased his WAR by .5 in his second Brooklyn season and is showing no signs of slowing up. Still, he'll be 35 in a couple of months and for a right handed batter who relies on bat speed. That is always worry some.
Cisco Guerrero- Nightmare has started to lump and is clearly not the bat he once was. He dropped 43 points in average last season and 90 points in slugging. He's probably the single biggest reason why Brooklyn stunk last year. At this point we can only hope that he stops the bleeding and put up similar numbers as he did last season. .290/.346/.465 is still a decent enough line.
So as you can see, these four batters will be the key to the season. We know this team is going to pitch. The difference between 80 and 95 wins is up to the offense. Brooklyn really needs all four to succeed in order to achieve the ultimate goal. If any one of them fall to injury or lumping... well, it looks like our fears will come true.