2043.06 - The Long Beach Independent - Forecasting the Outfield

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THE SURF REPORT - PART 2

Today, we'll take a look at the outlook for the outfield and designated hitter in Long Beach. With the overall team offense one of the worst in the Frick in 2043, is there hope for them in 2044?

Center Field

Let's start with one of the more positive stories from the '43 campaign. Wilson Ford had a bounceback season, posting an improvement of 2.9 WAR over his disastrous 2042 season. He had the best offensive performance of his career, with a .255/.304/.353 season (77 OPS+). It's obviously not inspiring on it's own, but in combination with superior defense, is enough for him to be an every day player. Already having won two Diamond Glove awards ('39, '40) he put up another Zimmer-caliber season with a +4.2 ZR, an astonishing 24 outfield assists, and perhaps most shockingly, committing no errors in his 428 chances in 1,191 innings of play. He's under contract for one more year, and if he repeats his 2043 performance, an extension is more than likely. He's no superstar, but if you care about defense up the middle, he's one of the best.

Corners

Umm...wow. After a couple of highly disappointing seasons, Pedro Avila was shipped off to Chicago, and, well, there's not much else to speak of in the outfield corners.

Gualtiero Crisci plays pretty good defense but hasn't been a good hitter since 2040. He'll likely be non-tendered.

We're all crossing our fingers that Carlos Gonzales retires, because it's just too sad to imagine watching the 39 year old struggle as much as he did this year.

Ricardo Torres (acquired from Chicago as part of the package for Avila) looks to have some potential but is completely unproven at the BBA level. Rated 7/7/7/6/6, he's certainly not projected to be a superstar, but could grade out as league average.

If the Surfers want to go all-out on defense, they could put Brandon Howeth-Arneson, Jr. in center, and shift Ford to right field. Howeth-Arneson is a near clone of Ford, not only on the field, but at the plate as well.

It's likely that the Surfers will have to turn to the Free Agent market in order to fill at least one corner OF position for 2044.

Designated Hitter

We've saved the best for last here, as Gonzalo Martinez is one very bright spot on offense for the Surfers. He's coming off of another solid year, hitting .295/.351/.542 with 37 HR, mostly playing as the DH. Martinez does his best work against left handed pitching, but has be well above average against righties as well. He's eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason, and sources within the organization say that he's asking for a multi-year extension. In a lineup full of question marks, it's good to know that there's at least one hitter that Long Beach can count on.