58.10- Three To Dream On

[chicoruiz]

The second half of a season is the dead zone for teams out of the playoff hunt. This is the time of year when such teams hold open auditions for players they’re on the fence about, trying to get a read on whether these guys can theoretically be part of the next relevant edition of the team. Let’s look at a few cases in point from the Gamblers:

-KENT JOHNSON is a guy who’s kicked around the majors and upper minors since 2054, never really getting a lot of innings. He’s been typecast as a reliever, but I’m going to try him in the rotation for the rest of the year. He’s got three pitches and decent stamina, so on paper there’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to make the switch. Plus he’s only 25 and has a career 3.71 ERA in the bigs, so I’m optimistic. Probably just cueing myself up for some heartbreak, but that’s baseball…

-GERALD MITCHELL is a recent waiver claim. I’m going to plug him in at second, where incumbent Matt Hewitt had a monster April and then remembered he was Matt Hewitt. Gerald is 26 and hasn’t had much of an opportunity to showcase his skill set recently. What he does is draw a bunch of walks; if he can hit over .200 he’ll have a nice OBP. If not, well, that’s a position I was planning on addressing in the offseason anyway.

-WILL PATTERSON is somewhat different than the other two in that he’s gotten plenty of chances; shortstops who can field like he can tend to get a lot of slack. Will was hitting well under .200 for me in the early going, so I signed Francisco Garcia, who can at least hit a little. Then as fate would have it, I got an offer of a half-decent prospect for Garcia (I collect half-decent prospects; it's a hobby), and so Will will be a fixture for the rest of the season at short and in the #9 batting slot. Maybe he’ll surprise me; I doubt it though…

[Trebro]

how'd things work out in your opinion?

[chicoruiz]

Well…..Johnson looks like a keeper; he’ll start 2059 in the rotation. Mitchell is an “if all else fails” option at second next year. Patterson will be given fifty dollars and a suit of clothes and escorted to the city limits.