61.12 Black Monday Sees Four Blazers Demoted / Waived

[Bob Breum]

Bob Breum had had enough. Here he was, working hard to fill the seats in Ubisoft Field, and the team had a losing record at home. The fans didnt pay to see the team lose.

The problem, as Breum saw it, was a failure to score runs. In 16 home games, the Blazers had scored a total of 51 runs, just over 3 runs per game. Only lowly Vancouver had scored fewer runs/game at home. Montreal had lost 3-0, 4-3, 6-3, 4-1, 3-2, and 6-2 at home. In only one home loss had they scored more than 3 runs: a 17-5 blowout loss.

Naturally, the worst offenders played shortstop and center field. Ever since trading away Qutuz Mahdi, the club had struggled to fill the shortstop position. Rookie Eduardo Galván showed promise, but he was out for two weeks with an oblique strain. He had brought in the left-handed Victor Frazier to platoon in center, but Frazier was hitting .149.

His DH platoon wasn't much better. Last years Rule 5 acquisition, Luis Chávez, was hitting .227. The right-handed Cristo Manuel was hitting .267/.279/.417 (95 OPS+).

Identifying the problem was only half the battle. Where was he going to find replacements who could hit?

In center, he noted that António Hernández, the right-handed part of the platoon, was actually hitting right-handed pitching better than left-handed pitching, albeit a small sample size. With little to lose, he decided to dissolve the platoon and demote Victor Frazier. He knew that Hernandez had worked hard on his strength and conditioning during the offseason and felt that he would be up to an everyday role.

At shortstop, the metrics said that the teams super utility guy, Júlio Torres, had a positive zone rating there. Torres was hitting .236/.367/.432 (127 OPS+) with 5 stolen bases and almost as many walks as strikeouts. He would move Torres to shortstop for now and reevaluate when Galvan returned.

That left DH. He called up his AA manager in Mississauga, Ron Whitney. On paper, the Spartans had a couple of players who were off to a hot start and might be candidates.

Herman 'Sheriff' de Jonge is a right fielder who was part of the return in the Miguel Martínez trade before the 2060 season. He is a lanky 6'6" with a cannon arm. He has plus power and a plus hit tool.

Juan Hernández was Montreal's fourth round pick in the 2060 amateur draft. He had three years of college ball under his belt and has flown through the system. He possesses a plus-plus hit tool and plus power.

Whitney was enthusiastic about both youngsters, "The Sheriff is the whole package, boss. He hits for both average and power and takes his walks. He is equally comfortable against righties and lefties. He's just abusing these AA pitchers. He's ready. He's got nothing left to learn here."

"As for Juan, well, I'd like to keep him a bit longer. He's struggling against right-handed pitching."

"Ron, we don't need him to hit righties. How is he doing against lefties?" Breum asked, already fully aware of the answer to his question.

"Boss, he loves southpaws. You can just see his face light up when they bring in a left-handed pitcher."

"Good to hear. Get those boys packed up and send them my way."

Breum looked at his notes.

DEMOTED:
1B/DH Cristo Manuel
CF Victor Frazier
RF/DH Luis Chávez

WAIVED:
2B Candrakesa Surati

PROMOTED:
1B Juan Hernández
RF Herman de Jonge

Breum had a final thought before he turned to other business. If one of these new DHs didn't pan out, he thought that perhaps the team's new 2061 first round pick, Denes Terovolas, might be ready to step in. He had never seen a draft pick that was as major league ready as this kid.

[BaseClogger]

Seems like the prospects I sent you for Mahdi are kind of stalled out but they're still young.