Crawdad Chronicles 61.05 - An Offseason of Questions

[JimBob2232]

Having missed the playoffs - and with (probably) the oldest roster in the BBA - the New Orleans Crawdads will be looking to re-tool once again this offseason.

Gone will be 43 year Old Juan Rivera, 40 year old Juan Donetavez, and 40 year old SP Kinzo Iwamoto...and their $32M Salary in 2061. How will New Orleans use this cash?

Coming back are really only 2 starting Pitchers in Micah Harrington and John Lucas. Jayin Ranjani might be better suited to the bullpen, and Arturo Travino is also a free agent. New Orleans may re-sign Travino, but there is concern that the 29 year old might need an over-pay to keep him around.

The Bullpen finished 15th in the JL - so definitely needs an upgrade. MR Carlos Miranda, who in 2060 went 14-7 with 30 saves out of the closer role (!!) reverted massively in 2061 with a 6.62 ERA.

They enter the off-season where they were all year, without a real 1B. This should be an easy hole to fill, but then again, they plugged it with 43 year old Juan Rivera last year...so...

And the middle IF remains a disaster as it has been for years. Jason Newton continued his on-again-off-again routine, and hit .327 with 3.1 WAR, but his fielding at 2B yeiled a -9.8ZR in 89 games.... Rookie Neo Stromburg was called up in May and modeled himselff off the Jason Newton model, hitting .304 but with a -2.4ZR at 2B in 27 games... Fellow Rookie nazeem Bin Kareem was expected to be the opposite, but had a -4.7ZR in 87 games to go along with his .206 bat. Rule 5 pickup John Mcleon chipped in with a -10.2R at 2B to match his .189 average at the plate. The Crawdads keep cycling players through...but recent history hasnt been favorable to solving this problem.

The Outfield is in pretty good shape. The 'Dads are expected to pick up the Team Option on 35 year old Jamie Angwin who chipped in with a 5.1 WAR and solid corner OF defense. 35 year old Jared Boll, once a main-stay in the OF - has been relegated to a backup role, and signed a 1 year 1.5M extension. CF Eduardo Correa will return after an MCL strain kept him out the last 2 months of 2061. And Sophomore Adib Bin-Nasser really came on in 2061 at the plate - hitting .313/.405/.492 and 2.4 WAR. Bin-Nasser though struggeled in the field. Some improvement there (and maybe not striking out once a game) would be a huge value to the team.