Wise Kraken 46.2032: Are the Kraken Tanking?

[aaronweiner]

It's already mid-May, and with a number of Carolina Kraken prospects potentially ready to perform in the major leagues and the team's offense mired squarely in last place in the Johnson League, the question has to be asked: are the Carolina Kraken tanking in 2032? We asked three local sportswriters to chime in with arguments on both sides in our first edition of "Three Up, Three Down."


THREE UP: Of Course the Kraken Are Tanking


Kony Tornheiser: Wait a second. You're telling me that a team with the second best farm in the BBA didn't have one player they could call up to make this team better? That they had to go out and sign a guy like Eddie Macy in Week 1 just to have a major league DH? That they keep using Bill Lewis, who, let's face it, looks great out there but can't pitch. That they ONLY called up Sean Spits because they TRADED Manny Vargas, their only obvious solid veteran reliever? Come on, they're not putting forth 100%.


Itch Malbom: Every week, I hear about another player at AAA who should be in the majors but hasn't been called up yet. Last week it was Armando Rasquilha, this week it's Yi-ke Zang. It's almost criminal what they're doing to Soupy Xuan, who's just dominating AAA again for the third year and they're playing him at his third position in three years. Ricardo Maldonado could be recalled. Some of these guys are already on the 40-man roster even.


Jally Senkins: Listen, if you have the guys, you should play them. Not sure what the team's excuse is for not playing Maldonado yet, because he just had a solid season at AAA. Xuan either. You don't think Xuan could push aside Carlos Graciano in a half second? Eddie Macy is better than Mario Guerrer? Francisco Flores might be the best catcher in the organization, and I know he's just 17, but what a great story that guy is, he's going to be special. Those three guys could probably push the Kraken up 5 spots offensively.


THREE DOWN: The Kraken Are Not Tanking, Stop Asking

Kony Tornheiser: We're talking about a team that lost $20 million last year, and they're paying $32 million to Valeri Kharlamov this year and they're still losing money. Probably only two or three of their minor leaguers are really ready to come up and make an impact, and people talking about bringing Francisco Flores to the majors have to know that's a crazy idea for a 17 year old kid to come up. That's a good farm, but it's not like they have an obvious superstar they're keeping down.


Itch Malbom: The Kraken did a decent job of going out there and getting some stopgap guys, and look at their pitching staff: not one guy is 30 years old and most guys are 24 years old or younger. It's hard to say they're not playing young players when their whole pitching staff is young players. They could have probably traded Jorge Vargas and they might be able to trade Davis Locke, but there hasn't been any buzz about that. It's not their fault that guys like Chris Klein and Chet Gabriel aren't hitting.


Jally Senkins: Carolina needs to stop hemorrhaging money, we get it, but they're also spending money to make money. They're just $4 million below their budget and they keep insisting that they're waiting to see some growth from their players before they start calling all of them up. It's still hard to understand why Xuan isn't in the majors, but scouts insist that most of the guys that the fans want the Kraken to play aren't really ready yet. All I'm thinking is that we'd better see some of those guys by the end of the year.


We here at the Wise Kraken pass no judgments on the team, but we're also looking forward to seeing how some of the kids handle the major league level.