TN 63.05 Identifying the Problems and Fixing the Shredders Pt. 1 The Offense.

[Chuck V]

AUSTIN, TX As the season rolls into its final regular season month it is time to take a look back at how the Shredders did,
: OPENS DOOR AND SEES NOTHING BUT FLAMES AND TORNADOES. SHUTS DOOR:
Okay, that was fun.

The team is 48-86 and currently holds the worst record in the BBA. In fact, all three parts of the game have been an abject failure. The team is last in runs scored, batting average and on base percentage. Pitching and defense are not much better. The team is 15th in runs allowed, with the 11th ranked rotation and the 16th ranked bullpen, which would be ranked lower if there were more teams in the league. Finally, the defense has the 11th ranked Zone Rating and the number of errors, 86, is only two less than the Crawdads who are last in the league.
So, lets take a look at what the possible solutions may be.

First the offense.
To start I am going to officially declare the 2063 an offensive aberration. The whole team started off slow and the same players who were batting around .280-.300 last year with 30 HR are batting twenty points lower with half as many home runs. Even slugger Jorge Hererra has dropped almost 90 points off of his average from his breakout rookie season, though, as another GM pointed out, banking on an almost .400 BABIP every year was a little much to hope for. Herrera has started to pick it up and is hitting .268 and is projected to hit 40 HR. This may actually be the new normal for Herrera and that would be just fine. The other two disappointments have been DH, Brent Gilbert, who suffered an injury that kept him out for more than a month and he has been slow to regain his swing and will likely put up the worst numbers of his eight-year career. However, he is being paid 13 mil a year through 2066, so the hope is that he will bounce back. Takanobu Komatsu hit .273 with 33 HR last year but played an epically poor CF. This season he is hitting .255 and is projected for 21 home runs. A bit of a drop-off, but not as much as you might expect. He is getting on base at a better clip and his OPS is about 40 points below last year. The final culprit is 1B Felix Cabral. Cabral was a nice reveal in 2062 when he hit .283 with 29 HR. This season he is projected for 24 HR and a ten-point lower average. He is also getting on base at a slower clip, so that hurts. Other positions that failed to produce were catcher, where Heydar Syeda still calls the best game in the BBL (+19.2 FRM Rate, tops in the BBL) but who's bat has slowed down so much that his average has sunk to .142. It is one thing to have an elite signal caller behind the plate, but with weak bats up the middle in Woodall and Madrid, it may be time to cut bait on Seydar. If he is let go, I hope Austin brings him back as a coach when his career is done. At third base, not much is expected of the 'The Old Philosopher' (NOTE: I added the 'Old') and he is delivering as expected. He still pokes some ground balls through the hole and can even get on base at times, but this is the last year of the 37-year old's contract and it is time to hang them up. At 2B Bill Irvine has been part of an infield upgrade that allowed Cabral to move to 1B and he has done fine at the plate, or at least fine by this year's standards, but has mysteriously left his glove at home. While his ZR is positive, he has an astounding 19 errors, not expected from somebody with his tools. At SS and CF, the jury is still out. Both SS Jorge Madrid and CF Jerry Woodall were brought in for their defensive prowess, not that their bat, but the offense was not that great at SS to begin with and while Woodall continues to hit from the ladies' tees, his defense has been a vast improvement. Offensively, the player who lost out on at bats was Luis Rubio, a solid LF who is probably good enough to start for many teams, but has to rely on occasional starts in Austin to spell better hitters and defenders.
What can be done?
Well, it depends where GM Chuck Valenches wants to sacrifice. He has three holes in the lineup now at SS, CF and C, though Jorge Madrid is hitting well. Don't expect that every season out of the career .226 hitter. The most likely bet is that when Seydar departs a better hitting catcher takes his place. Possibly through the draft, possibly via trade. But that is too many swings and misses to ignore. As for the rest, I have already stated that the subpar years from LF, RF, 1B and DH are being chalked up to aberrations and they should be expected to improve next year. They better, because outside of Hector Hernandez in AAA, there really is not a lot of prospects in the cupboard. The other area that will have to be addressed is 3B. Socrates Kazantzanikas will be leaving after the season and a new 3B will need to be found. Internally, the best hope is Felipe Hernandez who, I guess, can do in a pinch. He can play 3B reasonably well and has a little pop. but he is a short term fix. This may need to be addressed in FA next year with Socrates contract coming off the books.

Next we will look at the pitching.