TN 63.01 What Has Happened to Austin?

[Chuck V]

Just over two months ago the Austin Shredders were wrapping up a 15-11 Spring Training. The roster had been set and many of the needs the Shredder's faced after last season had been addressed. A need for more range at 2B had been addressed with the free agent signing of 2B Bill Irvine, which not only helped the team defensively, but allowed Felix Cabral, who bashed 29 HR in 2062, to slide over to 1B, which improved the defense there as well. And, finally, the pitching was ready to enjoy a full season of Harry Bransington, their number one pick in last years draft (#6 overall).

OOTP had projected the team to finish 84-78. An over .500 team that would have eight of the last ten first round picks on the roster, including a Slugger's Row of outfielders that included Jose Herrera, Takanobu Komatsu, Luis Rubio and Julio Blanco. There were still holes. Austin was really just hoping that Blanco could be an improvement in CF over the -24 ZR burdened Komatsu. Jack Wesman was still a subpar solution at SS and the rest of the starting rotation was really hit and miss.

So. What happened? The team has not had a winning sim all year long and are firmly ensconced in last place of the Frontier Division. Blanco has already been sent back down to AAA, Glenn Hargrove has been moved to the pen and the new CF is hitting just .208, which is still 25 points better than Blanco was.

It is hard to say where the fault lies. It's everything's fault. The team is last in runs scored, batting average, OBP and OPS. On the mound the team is 15th in runs allowed with the worst bullpen in the Johnson League and even the defense, which GM Chuck Valenches did spend 17 million on to fix, is near the bottom in Zone Rating and Defensive Efficiency.

What will the club do? What can they do?

Two measures have already been taken. Glenn Hargrove, the perennial disappointment has been moved to the pen. Julio Blanco, who managed a measly .167 batting average, has been sent down to AAA Odessa. In Hargrove's place, the Shredders signed castoff Juan Cruz to a minor league deal and promoted him to the big league club. In CF Austin called up Mick Scott, an all-glove, no-bat outfielder who hasn't exactly solved of their defensive struggles in the outfield.

There is a bit of good news. Jose Herrera has begun to come around to the form he displayed in 2062 when he won the Johnson League batting title. As of this writing, Herrera is batting .273 with 13 HR and 39 RBI. Mus'ad Amr has pitched fairly well, for a change, and Harry Bransington is not as lights out as last year, but still has kept his ERA in the mid 3.00's, even if he is only 1-6, which can happen when you average only 1.8 runs per game of support.

Is there hope for the Shredders in 2063? Not really. The Shredders are already 18 games out behind the Talons. The best hope is that this is an aberration year. Hopefully Brent Gilbert will be fine when he comes off the IL in a couple of weeks. There has been talk of sending Bransington and Nelson Middlebrooks down to AAA to try and devlop their pitches some more, but neither is pitching horribly so they may just have to grin and bear it.

[BaseClogger]

Irvine is second on the team on the position player side in WAR. That was a nice signing. The defensive problems are SS and CF.