Bandit Post, Vol 1.3, 1996

[aaronweiner]

Oh boy.

Birmingham figured they had survived their first sim despite not playing particularly well. Unfortunately, no one bothered telling Birmingham that they also might really be that bad. The Bandits had a horrific 2-7 sim to lower their record to 6-11 and despite playing some of the league's better teams and dropping two one-run games to Hackensack, the mood around Birmingham has certainly shifted.

"It's too early to say that we're in trouble, but I've been part of rebuilding teams before and I often notice the mood in the clubhouse start to get bad when things are going wrong," said big righty Hayden Finch. "There's just this look around clubhouse that we're in trouble and that there's nothing we can really do about it yet."

A few things have plagued the Bandits. The biggest problem has come offensively, as the team is 11th in team OPS and dead last in runs scored and runs per game. There are some fairly obvious culprits offensively. John Wright, who had a breakout season with 21 homers last year, has a startling .401 OPS this year. Brett Favre and Medric Wood are both hitting for power and average, but both are drawing so few walks that they're not getting on base otherwise. Hector Fernandez has continued his inexplicable struggles at the plate.

"The offensive collapse has been a full-team effort and can't really be blamed on one guy," said catcher Pluvius Avis-Albus, one of the few Birmingham players to perform well in the first three weeks. "I hope we figure out a way to right this ship, or we're going to go down with it."

The pitching staff hasn't been an enormous help either, as the team ERA has slid to 4.25 this season, much higher than last year's 3.62 mark. While not having Hi Brown could be blamed for the issue, it's much more likely that other players' slippage has not helped.

However, everyone notes that it's far too early to panic in the Heart of Dixie.

"We're not getting a lot of production anywhere," said Bandit manager Lou Brown. "It has to get better than this, and we're going to ride it out together."

Transaction Notes:

Birmingham lost Dean "Superman" Cain off waivers but managed to retain more valued utility man James Triplett. The Bandits also claimed pitchers Angel Miranda and Angus MacGyver off waivers, retaining Miranda and sending MacGyver to AAA Monroe. Birmingham also optioned veteran lefty James Randolph to AAA Monroe to make room for Miranda.

[recte44]

Sometimes you just start slow. Maybe that's all it is.