56.11-Casinotes- Midseason Musings

[chicoruiz]

Let’s take a look at the current state of the Gamblers as they limp toward the middle point of the season…

-Second baseman and leadoff hitter Yodo Sato is limping around on crutches after fracturing his tibia. In his absence, Rule 5 pick Sam Kelley will get his chance to prove that his current .324 batting average is not just a mirage driven by small sample size. Yoshi Tamura has been promoted from single-A; he’s in no way ready to play in the bigs, but he was the only other middle infielder on the 40-man, and management is disinclined to spend money on a six-week replacement. There’s also Breslan Hadingham, but he’s just so….Breslan Hadingham-y…

-Good news: Jared Dixon, another Rule 5 guy, is crunching as a DH, and Craig Hughes, Bill O’Toole, and rookie Michael Harris are also exceeding expectations. Bad news: The guys I paid actual big money for are currently pooping in my chili. Tyler Ober (12 million) is hitting .208, Lee Hogan (12.5 million) is just okay, and Bronx Cortez (9.5 million) is OPS-ing .706. If two of those guys could start playing to their past performance levels, I might have something. Is that too much to ask?

-I guess in the interest of being complete, I have to talk about pitching, but it’s with reluctance that I do so. Troy Torres and his 8.10 ERA have finally been jettisoned from the rotation, leaving me with five guys whose ERAs are all between 5.00 and 6.25. This is not good. Guo-Liang Chen is a stalwart in the pen, and I still have hope for James Robinson, but other than that, any pitcher on the ATC staff would be oh so available. Anybody up for a reclamation project? Anybody???

[Trebro]

Have you looked at when they are falling apart as the starter? You might consider pitch count limits especially if you have a decent bullpen.