Starscreams | Sad Sack Stars Lose Loren Larson (55.05)

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Starscreams: A Valencia Stars Baseball Blog

Sad Sack Stars Lose Loren Larson

07/11/2055
Brianna Robles, Starscreams contributor

A question that comes up often when talking with Valencia fans is: “Are the Stars even trying?”

They certainly don't appear to be. The latest piece of evidence we have is the 2055 amateur draft. The Stars front office has pleaded poverty, with team general manager Alejandro Suárez saying that the club didn't have the budget space to sign their first round draft pick, college junior third baseman Loren Larson, a well-regarded big league prospect with a fair bit of thump.

Assuming that Stars leadership isn't gas-lighting us, how on earth does the Valencia club find itself in such a position? How did the Stars go from team on the rise in the Pacific Division and regular postseason participant to this, whatever this is? Has the suddenly absentee team owner just cinched the purse strings tight? Why?

These are questions to which no satisfying answers have come to light. For whatever reason, the Stars find themselves at 24th in team payroll, have largely sat out the international free agent market, and most recently passed on their first round draft pick because they didn't want to spend the money. As the association comes out of the all-star break, Valencia is sitting at sixth in the Pacific, 16 ½ games out of first place, with a tough to take run differential of -91. The club isn't giving its followers a ton of reasons to be excited for the present or to hold out hope for the future. We just wait for signs of life from what appears to have become a moribund and directionless club.