Always a Bridesmaid. Never a Bride. '18 Birmingham Bandits

[7teen]

Here is a look at the 2018 Birgmingham Bandits....

History
2014: 87-75; 2nd place
2015: 95-67; 2nd place
2016: 97-65; 2nd place
2017: 78-64; 2nd place

Well there you go. I believe that little piece of information pretty much summarizes things in Birmingham. Always pretty good. Never quite good enough to win the Frick League Midwest. Such is the life when you are in the same division as the New Orleans Crawdads. I don't feel sorry for Birmingham though as I gave Phoenix, Chicago, and Omaha the same treatment throughout the decade of the 2000s. On a bright note, Birmingham did manage to claim 2 wild card spots during that run and even won the Landis Title back in 2015. So no, there isn't a lot of pity for the Bandits over all of those runner-ups. You can trace this team back to 2007 and realize they are either a 2nd place team or destined to finish dead last. Despite making the playoffs 4 times in the modern era, Birmingham has only won the Frick League Midwest crown once in the modern era (1995-present)

Last Season
Birmingham's pitching hurt its chances of competing. The Bandits attempted to keep pace with the top clubs in the Frick League, and managed to do so up through the All-Star break but then the powerhouses of the FL rose to the top and Birmingham faded from the playoff picture. It's pitching allowed 819 runs, the 3rd most in the league. Meanwhile, the offense was on par with a playoff contender as its 759 runs scored was good enough for 4th most in the league. Two of the three teams ahead of them (Carolina and Vegas) reached the post-season.

Key Additions
Jason Brooks (trade from Brooklyn)

Not much to note this offseason in Birmingham when it comes to additions. "Bun-Bun" comes over and instantly adds an ace starter to the club. He, combined with Paul O'Scullan will look to be the 1-2 punch the club needs to stay in the post-season race.

Key Losses
Lyenour Graves (traded to Brooklyn), Juan Gutierrez (free agent), Dexter Sheehan (free agent)

The biggest loss in this bunch would be that of Lyenour Graves. Aside from being an awesome song by Dave Matthews Band, Lyenour has the makeup to be a pretty good reliever. But with that said, Graves has yet to develop that second pitch fully which has caused him to have a very lackluster first 3 MBWBA seasons. Trading a shaky reliever for a proven starter was a move that Birmingham likely didn't lose any sleep over. The other big loss is Dexter Sheehan. Not so much over a production level (He provided just a .5 WAR last season) but over the fact he has been with the franchise for all 14 of his professional seasons. In fact, Mike wrote THIS PIECE on the loss of Sheehan to the Bandits.

Infield
C Peter McClure
1B John Francis McIntyre
2B Michael Gamble
SS Orlando Solis
Javier Alfonso

Not an extremely overwhelming group on paper. McClure will help fans forget about the Birmingham legend Sheehan. Based on the seasons McClure has already produced, some may have already forgotten anyway. McClure is a potential All-Star year in and year out. McIntyre isn't a traditional 1B with power and has had some up and down seasons. Don't expect a lot of power from him but he has shown the ability to hit for a high average and reach base. Gamble is a solid defensive 2B but has the wrong end of the L/R split to be an outstanding offensive force. The same can be said for Solis at SS. He's an average shortstop with an average bat. Alfonso is all glove at 3B. If he can produce a .700 OPS, then that's an added bonus.

Outfield
LF Freddie Rigsby
CF Kal El
RF Ken Murphy

It's no surprise the outfield (along with McClure) will help produce the offense. All 3 guys in the outfield can cover their positions just find defensively. The star of the trio and of the whole team is Kal El. El is a perennial Silk Award candidate who can hit for average and power. 2017 was a down year for El as he hit just .274 after hitting .350 in 2016. I expect a return to over .300 batting average with over 30 homers and 100 RBI. Rigsby is an outstanding top of the order guy who should easily score over 100 runs with McClure and El behind him. Murphy is...eh. He could be a guy that hits 30 homeruns, strikes out 200 times, and fails to hit over .220. If he doesn't produce the power, then he's a glove in RF and not much more.

Rotation
Jason Brooks
Paul O'Scullan
Mike Quinn
Nucky Thompson
Mario Pagan
Dale Noble

One of these guys will obviously be moved to the pen, and my guess is Noble. Brooks and O'Scullan have been talked about already and provide the Bandits with a solid 1-2 punch. Mike Quinn is what his record says he is. A .500 pitcher with a mid 4 ERA. I'd expect that and not much more from him this season. Nucky has been a huge surprise record wise, going 17-8 and 18-9 the last two seasons. His lack of movement should be a concern, but thus far, his amazing 4 pitch repertoire has allowed him to overcome that and still win games. His ERA has gone up in each of the last 3 seasons which is a concern. He'll need run support to produce another W-L record like that again. Pagan has suffered through a ratings roller coaster throughout his career. The Bandits would love to see him go 16-4 again like in 2015. But I'd expect more of the 10-10 with a 5.37 ERA like last season.

Bullpen
Cesar Martinez
Pascal Escobar
Jose Bermudez
Jesus Hopkins
Joe Vincent

This a decent bullpen. The young Martinez will look to take the experience he learned late last season and transfer that into his first full season. He could have some success this season and look to bridge the game between the starters to the end of the game as the main middle reliever. The club doesn't have a defined closer at the moment and may go with a closer by committee formula between Escobar and Bermudez. Both are hard throwing relievers that can top out at over 100 mph on their fastball. Bermudez has that dreaded 6 movement rating that some find to be too low to be a great pitcher in the league so we'll have to see how they perform over the course of the season.

Prediction
Birmingham is a solid club. But there are a few weaknesses I feel they have that may keep them from earning that brides status and winning the division over New Orleans. I don't know much about the Crawdads, but my first assumption is to state they are the favorites again to win the division. The addition of Bun Bun should help close that gap some, but that was a 20 game gap last year between NO and Birmingham. The addition of Brooks won't close that gap completely. There are a few pieces in the minor league cupboard, but those are still a year or two away from contributing. If everything falls together, I can see this team pushing the 86 win mark. That would be Brooks and O'Scullan leading the pitching charge and El returning to his form. If injuries occur to any of those 3, or the role players just don't produce, then it could be another sub .500 campaign for the Bandits.

[bigmike13]

Job well done! Very good, accurate summation.

I only hope you are off about 20 Wins or so

Thanks

[trmmilwwi]

Nice writeup! I am guessing Graves is Chris's favorite player on the Bandits! lol..