Last season, our plan was, and I quote, “Blow up the outfield and the DH position and bring back the rest.” Another lesser to-do item was to find a backup catcher who could hit better without degrading our framing. Otherwise, we had an infield that was among the best in the business and a stud starting catcher.
Let’s start with a table that illustrates our 2059:
| POS | 2058 | 2059 | Δ WAR |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | 5.5 | 3.2 | -2.3 |
| 1B | 4.0 | 3.2 | -0.8 |
| 2B | 6.3 | 2.1 | -4.2 |
| 3B | 5.7 | 3.5 | -2.2 |
| SS | 5.7 | 4.1 | -1.6 |
| LF | 2.0 | 0.5 | -1.5 |
| CF | 0.9 | 1.2 | +0.3 |
| RF | 0.0 | 0.6 | +0.6 |
| DH | 0.7 | 2.8 | +2.1 |
Catcher:
Our starting catcher, Calvin Johnson, was coming off a career year at age 37. Some regression was expected. Regress he did, from 4.5 to 0.6, finishing with a .196 batting average. The good news is that our newly signed backup catcher, Felipe Delgado, stepped in and played well, putting up 2.6 WAR and 14.9 framing runs in 107 starts for us, allowing us to hit our target of 3+ WAR at the position.
Johnson has a team option for $14.6 million. We will decline it and allow him to become a free agent at age 38. Delgado, also 38, is signed for another year at $3.2 million.
If we cannot find another solid catcher in free agency, we’ll probably promote 30-year-old career minor leaguer Hiba Majaliwa from AAA, a left-handed hitter. He hits right-handed pitching relatively well, but his framing skills are average at best.
First Base:
The abrupt aging of Montreal lifer Lineu Aldo changed our plans. Last season, Aldo put up 3.7 out of the 4.0 WAR at the position. This season, he could no longer field and was not hitting well enough to hold down the DH job.
We moved last season’s left-handed DH, Leonardo Rodríguez, to first base, starting against right-handed pitching. We called up rookie 1B Dan 'Tangles' Wilkinson to man the other half of the platoon. Rodriguez posted an OPS+ of 139 vRHP and Wilkinson hit for a 164 OPS+ vLHP, combining for 3.2 WAR to hit our goal. Rodriguez is 24 and Wilkinson is only 21, so we’re pretty well set at first base.
Second Base:
Last season, Miguel 'Thrillseeker' Martínez was an All-Star starter and a Gold Glove winner for us. Then came the double whammy of OOTP 25 and the May 3 collision on the basepaths that gave Miggy a season-ending concussion from which he has yet to recover. OOTP 25 reduced him from a 70 overall player who was ranked in-game as the 4th best second baseman in the BBA to a 50 overall player who was ranked mid-pack. He got off to a slow start, hitting under the Mendoza Line in 100 at-bats before his injury.
We brought up a AA player, Bill Atkinson for his glove. He’ll never be a Gold Glove infielder, but he’s very solid. We did not expect much out of his bat. Drafted out of college in the 2057 draft, he was about a year away from being ready, but we had no one else with his glove. He hit .300/.369/.423 (124 OPS+) in almost 500 plate appearances and is here to stay. If we had left him at second, we may have come close to the 3+ WAR goal.
Unfortunately, shortly after we lost Miggy, we also lost our Gold Glove shortstop Qutuz Mahdi, albeit for only a few weeks. We slid Atkinson over to shortstop and played a number of other replacement-level players at second base. That hurt both our shortstop defense and our second base production.
Ideally, we’d platoon the switch-hitting Atkinson with the right-handed Miggy next season, with Mahdi playing shortstop. But reality says we probably aren’t a playoff team for the near future, so we traded Mahdi at the deadline for prospects.
The plan, for now, is to play Miggy at second base next season and hope that his sub-Mendoza performance was just a small sample size aberration. We will be sending Miggy back to the Player Development lab to continue to work on his contact skills.
Third Base:
“Steady Eddie”, Eduardo González, is a Montreal lifer who just continues to produce, year after year. In the last six seasons, he has hit for a 130ish OPS+ every year but one; that year he hit 150. He’s 38 now, but Durable. Both his contact and his defense are showing signs of age. He gave us 3.5 WAR last season at third, but I think it’s time to move him to DH and hope that he can still produce his 130ish OPS+ there. He will be in the last season of his deal, making $12.6 million.
We have a third baseman who is ready to take over the hot corner, Tom 'Gauntlet' Allen. He’s only 24, but he is big league ready. We gave him a taste of the BBA in September, and he responded with .289/.333/.553 line in 42 plate appearances. Very small sample size, of course, but he’s hit at every stop and now has two seasons of AAA under his belt.
Shortstop:
We are going to really miss Qutuz Mahdi. Between his injury and the trade, he only played half a season for us, but still managed to accrue 3.2 WAR. He has one year left on his deal; I expect San Fernando to extend him.
For now, Bill Atkinson is our incumbent shortstop. His defense ratings are 7 range and 8/8/8 otherwise, rating 7 at shortstop. He had a zone rating of -5.8 in only 38 starts at shortstop, but a positive ZR at both 2B and 3B. It’s not ideal. As observed earlier, I’d love to platoon him at 2B, but that isn’t going to happen unless a new shortstop falls in our lap during the offseason. We’ll be out there beating the bushes. If you have a surplus glove-first shortstop, please feel free to inquire regarding a trade.
We will be enrolling Atkinson in the Player Development lab to work on his shortstop play.
Left Field:
As bad as our outfield was last season, somehow left field was even worse this season. Our incumbent left fielder got hurt early on, and the rookie that I thought would be a good replacement was not. Several auditions later, we settled on 30-year-old Tom Jacobs, a journeyman whom I had signed for minor league depth. He hit .292/.333/.446 for a 117 OPS+ over 102 starts and stole 13 of 15 bases successfully. He earned 2.2 WAR spread among the outfield positions; if he can continue that production at left field over a full season, we’ll hit our 3+ WAR target.
Center Field:
Center field is my great white whale. I have yet to reel in a genuine center fielder for the Blazers for the long term. I’ve had a bit of luck here and there, but no one has stepped up to lay claim to the job. We are not any closer.
After an unsuccessful attempt to play the 39-year-old Michel Noël, we called up 21-year-old OF Clancy Lee to play center field. Lee is like the outfield version of Atkinson; he can play any outfield position, but center is not his strong point. He played half a season in center for us without complaint, but I think Clancy and the Blazers will better off if we play him in an outfield corner.
The plan, for now, is to play 22-year-old António Hernández in center. He is a real center fielder, but he’s not yet demonstrated that he can hit big league pitching. At least he can run; he stole 8 of 9 bases.
Right Field:
This was another cattle call, with several players auditioning for the job. I’ve concluded that Lee needs to play here, assuming Jacobs sticks in left field. I think Lee can give us the production we need at the position. He can run, too, stealing 16 of 18 bases.
Designated Hitter:
We had good luck with Dan Moore, a waiver wire pickup, as our left-handed DH, but he faded down the stretch and his agent has delusions of grandeur regarding an extension.
The plan is to play Eduardo Gonzalez at DH.
Summary:
Our elite catcher + infield of 2058 still managed to earn 3+ WAR at every position in 2059 except for second base, where we had the Miggy injury. Production decreased at every position, though. We traded our shortstop, we are declining our catcher’s option, and we are moving our third baseman to designated hitter. We are getting younger (and cheaper) at almost every position. With the exception of catcher and DH, none of our position players will be over 30. Half will be 24 or younger.
Our outfield train wreck continues, but I am confident that Lee is a long-term solution going forward at one of the corner spots. I have less confidence in Jacobs, but he’s earned the job for now. Center field? I’ll be happy if Hernandez can hit above the Mendoza Line and can give us 2+ WAR.
DH should, emphasis should, be solid with Eduardo playing full time, but Father Time could show up at any moment to take him from us.
Performance Improvement Plan:
We are in the process of reloading. I have no burning desire to make a free agent splash at this point, as I don’t believe that doing so will put us in the playoffs here in the Johnson League. Apparently, they’ll let almost anyone into the postseason over in the Frick League.
- Concern: Replace catcher Calvin Johnson, whose team option we plan to decline.
Plan: Promote from within or sign an inexpensive free agent catcher with strong framing skills.
- Concern: Replace shortstop Qutuz Mahdi, whom we traded away.
Plan: Play Bill Atkinson at shortstop, where he is a relatively poor defender. Better yet, obtain a glove first defender via trade or free agency, then platoon Atkinson with Martinez at second base.
- Concern: Replace third baseman Eduardo Gonzalez, whom we are moving to designated hitter.
Plan: Play rookie Tom Allen at third base.
- Concern: Left field fell short of 3.0 WAR goal (only 0.5 WAR accrued).
Plan: Play Tom Jacobs in left field and hope that he can replicate his 2059 performance over a full season in left field.
- Concern: Center field fell short of 3.0 WAR goal (only 1.2 WAR accrued).
Plan: Play Antonio Hernandez in center field. He should be able to post a zone rating of +10 over a full season. Hope that he hits above the Mendoza Line and steals 20 bags.
- Concern: Right field fell short of 3.0 WAR goal (only 0.6 WAR accrued).
Plan: Play Clancy Lee in right field, expecting that assigning him to his natural position of corner outfield will produce 3.0 WAR.
- Concern: Designated hitter fell short of 3.0 WAR (only 2.1 WAR accrued).
Plan: Play Eduardo Gonzalez and hope that he finishes his career in a blaze of glory.
