2002.01 : Buffalo Sauce - Gladden on the Plank

[mrbornac]

With the 7th highest payroll in the MBWBA at the start of the season, and with 13% of the season already in the books, things are not looking good in Buffalo for the new regime, lead by MB(W)BA veteran Matthew Bornac.

Thankfully, there are no titans in the FLA, so that gives the Bison some promise of the ability to contend, but seeing the lackluster results this far, Buffalo will need to make some drastic changes in order to compete for the postseason or a championship in 2002.

If anything has been made clear in the early going, it's that this is not likely going to be a good year for the initial goat of the team, Ken Gladden. After 5 starts, he has seen his position move down from the ever-important 3rd starter spot down to 5th and only when everyone else is tired slot. With two quality starts, he has given his team a chance in 40% of his efforts, but the absolute abysmal results in his other three games means that he has little leverage in his walk year to get an extension with the team he has been with for the previous four seasons.

Another issue facing the new staff is the over-abundance of catcher/first basemen on the squad. Looking to make an impact soon (based on some juggling and maybe some roster adjustments) is C/1B Ralph Butt. How this poor kid ever made it through Junior High, I will never know, but he does appear to have some talent with the stick, so he is likely to get a shot soon.

Another player we are watching closely is closer Richard Wasson, who has given up a run in 3 of his 9 appearances so far, a trend we do not appreciate in our closer. There are high hopes for him being able to fill this ever important role however.

[Al-Hoot]

Gladden would make my team, so that shows you how bad things are over here.

I guess I would just keep putting him out there; his prior seasons haven't been so horrid.

EDIT: But for $10 mil, yeah I would expect more better.


And I think Ralph Butt went to school with Chicago's George Fagg, and the latter seems well-adjusted enough.

Fixed link to Fagg.

[mrbornac]

Yeah, for the 10mil he is pulling in, I would expect better then Steve Trachsel type numbers.... but, then again, maybe that is appropriate.....

He will get marched out there for a while longer. Maybe this is ghads way of making it so I can resign him for real cheap....

[recte44]

His BABIP is in line with the past several seasons. Clearly, his control has lost him and that has been the difference. Even at his best, Gladden was not more than a middle of the rotation workhorse type.

[mrbornac]

His BABIP is in line with the past several seasons. Clearly, his control has lost him and that has been the difference. Even at his best, Gladden was not more than a middle of the rotation workhorse type.

The maddening thing about this is that he took a hit to both stuff and movement over the offseason, but his control got better...

Damnit.

[cramsey51]

Without reviewing, Buffalo's issue was always the defense. Perhaps that is contributing to Gladden's numbers?

Ralph is a sensitive kid at heart, and does not appreciate being the butt of any jokes...HA!

Nice to see Buffalo have someone steering the ship again though!