59.3- Who's Gonna Catch Them Flies...

[chicoruiz]

The middle infield crowd scene described in our last report repeats itself in the 2059 Atlantic City outfield. There is a definite plethora of guys who don’t hit quite well enough to man a corner spot, but lack the glove for center. In addition, several of the candidates suffered significant drops in production from 2057 to 2058. Let’s look at how it all might shake out…

Free agent signee Khayyat Isa will man center field. Isa has exhibited a recent pattern of being good in odd-numbered years, and not so good in even-numbered years. This is good news of course, since 2059 is an odd year, but in all honesty even his even-numbered years would be an improvement over some of the recent Gambler performances out there.

Was it only two years ago that LF Lee Hogan was an all-star? Yep. Last year, though, Lee shed 200 points off his OPS, and his grip on a lineup spot looks tenuous. It would behoove him to bounce back a bit.

Right field will belong, at least in April, to rookie Carlos Allen. Carlos was amazing in AA two years ago, then very good in AAA last year, so we’re hoping for good things from this 21-year-old,

If either of the corner guys falter, Jim Redmon would get first call. Jim put himself on the Lee Hogan path by following a stellar 2057 with a meh 2058. I wish he could play center, but no…

The rest of the candidates include:

Steve Pick can play center a bit, has a little bit of gap power, but has never really blossomed like I hoped he would. Joe Winters, a former rule 5 pick, had a nice year in the minors and might force himself into the conversation. I gave Ed Wolochow 200+ plate appearances to prove himself last year, and I was rewarded with -0.7 WAR. Bryan Haynes has kicked around the league a bit, but I have a sneaking suspicion that if he gets a real chance he might be okay. It would take an Isa injury for that to happen though…

Adam Alomar and Glenn Branham are long-time farmhands who will bide their time in AAA for now., unless one of you guys wants them.

Okay then… My pitching and catching are for better or worse pretty much the same as last year, so I’ll shut up now...