57.24- 14 Thoughts On 14 Pitchers

[chicoruiz]

Some day I will understand why pitchers immediately become ineffective as soon as I acquire them My current working theory is that I’ve assembled a group of ground-ball pitchers without giving them the primo defensive infield that would take advantage of their tendencies. Gonna fix that for 2058; if that doesn’t work, I’m assuming some sort of voodoo curse is in play.

Anyway, here’s my quick and dirty primer on the Gamblers pitchers currently on the roster:

SP STEVEN ANDERTON- Coming over from New Orleans, his ERA jumped by more than a run, but his WHIP actually improved. He’s signed through 2062, so he’ll get lots of chances to right the ship.

SP EDDIE ARMSTRONG- Lefties destroyed Eddie in 2057, which isn’t good because there are quite a few of them in the BBA. Currently sporting a 6.75 ERA; he may have to figure things out from a seat in the bullpen.

CL AUGUSTO AYALA- Came over from Sacramento with the idea that he would be the closer. Saved 29, but totally lost the location of home plate, walking 35 in 55 innings. It’s over by the catcher, Augusto…

SP BRUNO BUGBIE- The “good” Bugbie brother, he so far has managed a winning record, which is hard to do in 2057 Gamblers world. He’ll be in the rotation again next year.

RP SCOTT BUGBIE- The “bad” Bugbie brother; his stats went into the toilet after coming over from Nashville. Demanded a trade in mid-season; he’s a pending FA, so that will work, too.

RP GUO-LIANG CHEN- The first of three relievers on my roster who consistently post numbers that are mediocre, but not bad enough to just ship them out. I’ll probably keep one or two of them; probably Guo will be the most likely to be kept.

SP ANTHONY JONES- A pleasant surprise; I signed him just for the hell of it (I had drafted him in El Paso), and he rewarded me by being a pretty decent innings-eater when others faltered. He even earned a modest extension.

RP JOSH MILLER – Second member of the “mostly mediocre reliever” trio; he actually spent most of the season in AAA Wilmington. He’s arb-eligible, and I think I can resist offering him a contract.

SP JAMES ROBINSON- Part of my return for trading away Carlos Flores; I don’t want to talk about it. James was once highly regarded, but stunk up the joint in 2056. Bounced back a bit this year and may get another shot in the rotation.

SP ANTONIO SANTIAGO- His pitches come in a little too straight for him to ever be more than a back-of-the-rotation guy, but somebody has the start the fifth game of the season, I guess…

P TODD SCHROEDER- I gave him a 6.6 million dollar contract last offseason, and I should have just flushed 5 million down the latrine and been 1.6 million ahead. Another extreme groundball dude who might improve with better defense.

SP TOK TAKAHASHI- Well, they loved him in Wilmington, but every time I give him a chance in the big leagues he reverts to the same old barely adequate guy. Probably won’t be back.

RP BHADRASA THIMANNIYA- Stuff-positive but wild project acquired at the trade deadline. So far he shows a lot of walks and a lot of strikeouts in a small sample size. The next few weeks will tell me more about his future viability.

RP WILLIAM WARREN- The third and final member of the “mostly mediocre reliever” trio. He’s 31 and his stats are headed in the wrong direction. If he wanted to be offered arbitration, recording a -1.3 WAR wasn’t the way to go about it.

And that’s about it. There wasn’t much help at AAA last year, but there are a few guys in AA that could show up by midseason. In the meantime, I’m reluctant to throw a bunch of money at a grade-A starter, so I’ll probably just try to shore up the defense and bullpen and hope that the baseball gods smile on me, instead of the sneer they seemed to have in 2057.

[Trebro]

My record with FA pitchers sucks. I feel you.