What Happens in Vegas 1995.9- Infusion of legend to pen

[recte44]

Management of the Las Vegas Hustlers has had a notion the entire season that their bullpen has been one of the weaknesses of the team. The stats tell a different story:

Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average 3.47 - 2nd in FL
Starters' ERA 3.45 - 3rd in FL
Bullpen ERA 3.52 - 2nd in FL
Runs allowed 426 - 3rd in FL
Hits allowed 923 - 3rd in FL
Opponents AVG .251 - 2nd in FL
BABIP .311 - 4th in FL
Home Runs allowed 65 - 1st in FL
Bases-On-Balls 251 - 4th in FL
Strikeouts 857 - 2nd in FL

Regardless of this, the Hustlers felt that it was time to really make a move that would bring their bullpen in line with the Long Beach bullpen (Bullpen ERA 2.68 - 1st in FL). And this trade definitely does that.

To Las Vegas:
CL Marty Powers
RP Gunga Oogalagunga

To New Orleans:
Las Vegas #1 1996
P Greg Ganzfield (AAA)
1B Larry Wilkes (AAA)
CL Tim Carlson (A)

By adding Powers and the legendary Gunga Oogalagunga, the Hustlers may now have the best backend bullpen in the MBBA. "And those of us who've been around the block a time or two knows that the difference between winning playoff series and losing them is often in the strength of your late inning relievers," an ecstatic Matt Rectenwald said after the trade.

Powers, age 32, is having a career year at just the right time. A free agent to be, Powers made the All-Star team and has posted a 2.50 ERA with 17 saves for a putrid Crawdads squad that has been on auto-pilot most of the year until the recent hiring of new General Manager Jim Roberts. Powers refusal to negotiate a contract extension with the Crawdads made his departure a certainty.

If you are in the MBBA, a fan of the MBBA, or have even remotely heard of the MBBA, you probably know who Gunga Oogalagunga is. With 456 career saves, he is atop the All-Time Leaderboard for Saves and the annual Reliever of the Year Award is named after him. A true living legend, Gunga took his demotion to set-up man in style, and has actually had a bit of a career resurgence in this role. Looking back at his career, it's easy to say that he's been overrated because of a single counting stat. His career 4.19 ERA and 137 HR's allowed in 1079.2 innings pitched by themselves do not make a legendary reliever. But since there is no real definition of "clutch", it just shows in his save total.

The Hustlers expect to make some decision upon bullpen roles in the upcoming hours. Incumbent closer Washington "Toothbreaker" Jones, with 30 saves to his credit already this season, may be headed to the starting rotation. In another school of thought they may keep Jones in the closer role, place Powers as the set-up man, and Gunga as the #1 middle reliever. All of these decisions bank on the desires of said players and management needs to dig into that before making any further decisions.

On a related note, when we looked at our numbers and realized just how great our pitching has been this season, we also realized just how subpar our offense has been:

Team Batting Stats & Rankings
Batting Average .258 - 9th in FL
On-Base Percentage .316 - 8th in FL
Slugging Percentage .400 - 10th in FL
On-Base + Slugging .716 - 8th in FL
Runs Scored 465 - 8th in FL
Hits 945 - 9th in FL
Extra-Base Hits 316 - 4th in FL
Home Runs 90 - tied for 9th in FL
Bases-On-Balls 307 - 2nd in FL
Strikeouts 726 - 2nd in FL
Stolen Bases 86 - 4th in FL

Throughout the evening in the final hours approaching the Trade Deadline, the Hustlers will continue to explore the trade market and now will try to continue to add to the offense which has already been augmented by Dave Manzanillo and Jonathan Noon.

[mad0die]

I think Powers could probably start.

[recte44]

I think Powers could probably start.

With his weak third pitch and low stamina he's ideally suited for the pen. Jones is more of a starter, if his control was a little better (20 EN).

[lynchy34]

I had gotten into talks for these two with Jim, but just didn't have enough prospects to get all my deals done.