2008 Seattle Storm preview

Team, Division, League, Playoff, and all other comprehensive previews go here.
User avatar
trmmilwwi
BBA GM
Posts: 5220
Joined: Mon May 07, 2012 5:05 pm
Location: Chicago
Has thanked: 238 times
Been thanked: 213 times

2008 Seattle Storm preview

Post by trmmilwwi » Sat Dec 08, 2012 2:55 pm

For Seattle the best of times were in 2003 when the team finished in 1st place with 104 wins. Life was grand. Then the free fall started. The next 4 seasons saw wins dwindle from 80 to 76 to 71 to 61. Yes, that is right. The Storm was more of a slight breeze in 2007 when they lost more than 100 games, 101 to be exact. The Storm hit .276 as a team in 2007 but posted a mind boggling 5.73 ERA bolstered by a .368 babip. It is safe to say the team has struggled with unstable ownership ever since jumpmancol left 2 years into the rebuilding project. During the 2005-2006 offseason the league brought in SeattleGM to run the club. That lasted a grand total of 2 seasons when dekonn was brought in to guide the Storm. Let’s take a look at what happened this offseason.

Yep, that’s right. Nothing has happened. The team has been on auto-pilot and players worth a total of 6.9 WAR value were allowed to walk while no new players were brought in. SS Silvio Garcia was allowed to sign with California for a total of $24M over 4 years. Silvio, you had a hell of a season when we asked you to start 113 games and logged 450 atbats, almost 150 more than the next closest season while batting .320. Adios to your 3.5 WAR.

C – Ron Lipp, Lipp was drafted by Hawaii with the 4th overall pick in the 2004 draft. After spending 3 years in the Hawaii farm system Lipp was acquired by Seattle and spent the rest of 2006 in AAA. He was brought up for good in 2007 and posted a .272/.312/.417 line with 15 homers and 100 rbi’s. Lipp looks to have a break out year in 2008 and is the best Seattle has to offer. Only 26 years old he is expected to be the center of the rebuilding effort.

1B – 30 year old Michael Kern has no right to be in Seattle. That’s not to say that Kern isn’t a good player. He has shown great power and hit 29 dingers with 102 ribbies last season. It’s just that at his ag he doesn’t figure to be a long term solution for this rebuilding team. He figures to hit 30 homers and drive in 100+ regardless.

2B – George Madocks had a very productive year by providing a .304/.422/.408 stat line playing 158 games. He overachieved and at 33 years old will likely not have a season like that again. Still, there are no viable options at 2B and Madocks will likely get 450 ab’s again. Look for .270 out of this guy in 2008.

3B – Shawn McClure, after a great sophomore season in 2006 when he hit 16 homers and batted .285 McClure slumped last season and hit .257 with 7 homers in 202 atbats. McClure will get most of the reps at third this season and will need to have a solid bounce-back season for Seattle to improve from last season. McClure should be trade bait for prospects at the deadline for teams looking to improve for the stretch run as he provides a decent bat and just awesome defense at third.

SS – Trey Williams. Acquired in 2006 from Montreal it may be Willis’s time. He has only played in A ball thus far but it is entirely possible that he’ll have a Storm cap on for opening day. Better suited at 3B defensively the 21 year old Williams will have to play at short until the McClure situation resolves itself.

LF – Chris Terry. Terry came over in the Armando Santos deal 2 seasons ago and has played very well in Seattle. Last year he hit .321/.377/.491 with 27 homers and 111 rbi’s. Signed through 2010, Seattle needs to think about trading this star player immediately. At 37 he doesn’t have many years left in the tank. He’ll provide a .325 avg with 30 homers and 120 ribbies for any team willing to pay the price.

CF – Austin Gibbons. The young 27 year old Gibbons will be asked to play outside of his natural right field position and tend center for the Storm because there just isn’t anyone else even remotely qualified to play there. Gibbons has 2 years under his belt and can be counted on to hit .280, slug 20 homers and drive in around 90 rbi’s.

RF – Will Simmons. “Skates” will be asked to play right this season and will supply above average defense while hitting .320. Expect this 30 year old to be sent elsewhere at the trade deadline.

DH – Not sure who plays in this role. They really don’t have a 9th offensive player. You’d think they would have picked up a defensive minded outfielder to play center and moved Gibbons or Skates to DH. But then again they haven’t done anything this offseason.

Pitching staff – Veteran starter Cedric Ayers anchored what proved to be a veteran underachieving staff last season. Ayers went 14-13 with a 5.06 ERA last season. The rest of the starters were average and played worse than average. John Leary has a career 5.14 era. Morgan Ackerman was too inexperienced for action the last few years but could rebound this coming season. With prospect pitchers Johnson Walter, Estaban Benitez, Allen Howse and Felix Ramirez the future will be bright.

Seattle has some great pieces both young and old. They need a dedicated GM who can obtain additional pieces by trading the old talent so that they can rebuild that win total. Who knows, maybe they are good for 100+ wins every tenth season!!

Look for the team to go 65-97 if a reliable GM is not found. In the right hands the team should be trading away their current stars for young future stars. Under that premise they could exceed their loss total of 101 from last season but actually be better off for it.
trmmilwwi - GM San Antonio Outlaws
MBWBA Manager of the Year FL 2010, JL 2016, JL 2018

User avatar
trmmilwwi
BBA GM
Posts: 5220
Joined: Mon May 07, 2012 5:05 pm
Location: Chicago
Has thanked: 238 times
Been thanked: 213 times

Re: 2008 Seattle Storm preview

Post by trmmilwwi » Thu Dec 27, 2012 3:53 pm

Well, Lipp has been the man in Seattle thus far. Gibbons is playing an aweful centerfield, Skates is still wearing a Seattle uniform (as is Kern!?), Terry saw his trade value vanish when he was placed on the 60 day DL (of which he'll waste away for 30 days since he's almost healthy), Orm is a defensive whiz at SS and has done amazingly well at the plate, Madocks is still overachieving at 2B and all of the starting pitchers have generally sucked again. The Storm is on pace to win 69 games this season... better than I had originally thought.
trmmilwwi - GM San Antonio Outlaws
MBWBA Manager of the Year FL 2010, JL 2016, JL 2018

User avatar
recte44
GB: Commissioner
Posts: 43001
Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2010 12:14 pm
Location: Oconomowoc, WI
Has thanked: 141 times
Been thanked: 1608 times
Contact:

Re: 2008 Seattle Storm preview

Post by recte44 » Thu Dec 27, 2012 7:25 pm

-11.3 in CF. Ugh.

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Previews”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests