Off Topic
Zimmer Awards Received
November 12, 2042: Yellow Springs – I think it was Bill James who said that a lot of what people think of as pitching is really defense. Perhaps this is true. The Nine staff led the Frick league with a 3.91 ERA and were the only team in the league to post a value south of 4.00. It’s BABIP of .275 was the best in baseball.
Today Nine infielders Dong-po Thum (3B) and Luis Pena (SS) were named as recipients of the Frick League Zimmer Glove awards. It was Thum’s third-straight award, and the second in three seasons for Pena. By the league’s advanced metrics, the Nine infield was 46 defensive plays above average, second best in all of baseball to Edmonton’s 63.5.
Perhaps Thum and Pena were a large part of that pitching success?
“I’m excited to win this award,” Pena said. “I take a lot of pride in my glovework, so I admit that when I came up short last year, it motivated me to work harder.”
Thum to 2B?
The Nine made some people raise their eyebrows when they chose to play Dong-po Thum at second base later in the year and into the playoffs. Yes, Roberto Viramontas had been hurt, but the club had just traded for Sean Maguire and had rookie Blaine Tyler to play the role. To move a Diamond Glove quality defender into a new position in September was gutsy.
Thum took to the challenge, however, and by the post season he had people thinking that maybe he’d played there all his life.
It’s apparently enough that manager Sam Brewington and the front office are apparently considering asking Viramontas to move to third and have Thum at second full time next year. A lot may depend on how Viramontas recovers.
Either way, both Zimmer winners will be returning to the fold in 2043, Pena looking to max out his second arbitration year salary and Thum looking to make his point before approaching the Free Agency marker. Clearly the team would like to keep both around for longer, but finances will likely have a lot to say about that going forward.
As Frankie Franklin, one of the Voices of the Nine, said in an interview yesterday: "It's hard to put a $130M payroll into a $110M cap,"