Bandit Post 6.1, 2000: News and Notes

[aaronweiner]

Nastay No More

We think it's safe to say that no player has lumped more in the past year than Luke Nastay, who has fallen basically off a cliff this season at the age of 36. His numbers look fairly okay, but that was largely due two his outstanding April and May months - when he still had most of his stuff left. He's had a respectable 5-6 record since May 1, but that record is deceiving: since May, Nastay's lowest one-month ERA has been his September mark of 5.02 and he's been off the field more than on it.

Nastay, who has been asking for an extension, is guaranteed to be given his outright release at the end of the year and won't be offered arbitration. It's possible that this will be the righty's last season in an MBBA uniform.

Said Nastay: "I haven't been pitching well for a while, but I've done a good job for the Birmingham organization and I hope that someone will recognize that somewhere."

Nastay has a career 171-130 record, a career 3.84 ERA and 2694 career strikeouts.


Dewey Avoids Buyout

Mark Dewey had a terrible first four months of the 2000 season, but his strong play down the stretch for the Bandits has convinced them to keep him around for one more season.

"After a very rough first half of the season, we were willing to let Mark Dewey go," said GM Aaron Weiner. "However, his strong pitching down the stretch has convinced him to keep let him play out his contract with us."

Dewey was outstanding down the stretch, allowing just two runs in 15.1 innings in August and September.


Jack Dark Finishes Strong

Jack Dark missed most of the first half of the season, and after a weak 1999 campaign and pedestrian numbers in July, some team insiders wondered whether the extension given to Dark would come back and bite them.

However, Dark finished August with seven homers in the month, and followed up that effort with a .324 average and .915 OPS in September, so it appears that the Space Assassin might be back to normal. He's almost certainly locked in as the starter at third base next year, giving the Bandits three good infielders, and four good hitters in the infield.