38.2 Rallying the Troop

[crobillard]

I've been meaning to write about this for a few days now, but I love the acquisition of Jubal Troop. He's not really my type of pitcher to be honest. I'd prefer someone with high movement like Maxime Manceau (more on that in my next writing). However, it's very clear I need more left handed pitching on this team which was evident in the Jackrabbits' recent demise to the San Fernando Bears. A slight shake up was in order to ensure that I field not only a competitive team next year, but one that can beat these super teams in the Frick and have a shot at the Landis. Making it to the Cartwright is just not enough and I felt this team is only a few pieces away from really making a true run for the cup.

Jubal Troop is an interesting acquisition for this team as well. First, Edmonton doesn't allow a lot of homeruns. Troop allowed 37 in 232.1 innings pitched between Montreal and Las Vegas last season. He allowed 1.7 HR/9 with Vegas and 1.2 with Montreal. Vegas has a homerun park with settings well over 1 in their park while Montreal has settings under 1, but not quite to the level of Edmonton at .830 Home Runs Overall. So, I'm expecting homeruns allowed numbers closer to what he had with Montreal. Which btw, would end up being very similar to fellow lefty Bobby Lynch at 1.1 HR/9. He had a 4.47 ERA with Montreal too with 137 innings pitched there so if Edmonton can get those type of numbers out of Troop, I would feel good about this deal.

Acquiring Fernando Cruz cut Declan Crauen out of a job as the DH on the Jackrabbits and made him expendable. He has very good ratings so I tried selling him as despite is injury woes last season, he's showed he can really crush the ball. He'll probably has a fantastic year in Las Vegas' hitters park, so it's a good home for him. Dealing Senzo Kobayashi in the same deal hurt a little bit, but it was necessary to secure Troop.

The concern now is whether we can resign Troop to a longer extension. I'll talk about this a little more in a future installment, but I am making moves currently to try and clear cap space so I can try and tie him down. I'd like to see how he performs in the Edmonton uniform first, but I don't want him to do well and then all of a sudden his asking price ascends to the stratosphere.