Valencia Star Gazer: 1998, Vol. #1

[BigRed Mosquito]

54 games into the 1998 season and the Valencia Stars have a new GM, Toby Green. Toby comes from the ORB2 where he was GM for the Oakland A's for one season, where they finished last. Now he has the keys to a perennial playoff contender? The first order of business was to map-quest Valencia, CA and find out where it was and how to get there. Now that he has arrived, he has learned the Stars have been to the playoffs every year since '95, and the owners expectation is a Championship ballclub. When asked about the expectations and how he plans to handle them Toby replied, "Uh, hey is that a UFO", when the media turned back the new GM had disappeared!

On to the Ballclub, currently this team is 5 games back in the Pacific with a 29-25 record. Caleb Boyette is in the midst of a great start hitting .329 with 11 homeruns and leading the team with 37 RBIs, currently he also holds a .970 OPS. Gary Barr has been hot in his last 8 games hitting .367 with 4 homeruns during that span, he has played 33 games as a CF though the corner spots seem to be where he is best, and it is obvious as of late that this hasn't affected him yet. Left fielder Micheal Malkowski is trying to make up for a poor '97 season, he has 12 homeruns already after putting up just 11 all season last year with the Big League club, hopes are that he is starting to settle in and can be a consistent contributor though his career has been anything but consistent up to this point.

This team is still trying to deal with the Loss of Josh Kellogg, out with shoulder inflammation. Since a poor April and giving up 5 earned on May 5 against Omaha, Devon Hyngary seems to have settled a bit and is doing what he is best at, and that is striking batters out. Currently he leads the team with 91 K's and is among the top in strikeouts in the Johnson League leaders. Wayne Stohlberg hasn't adjusted to his role as the team Closer, and the new GM has thoughts of throwing the 23 year old in the rotation to see what the kid can do as a borderline type starter. Not sure if experimenting is what the owner has in mind, but we shall see.

Stay Classy, and thanks for reading!

[KCCardinalFan]

Stohlberg has the stamina to give it a shot, but the lack of even an average third pitch might get him killed. If you are still in a race, Kellog coming back in July or August will be a huge boost. Welcome to the league!