Warehouse Wire 2047.06: Golfing Early Again

[bcslouck]

The team is back out of the playoffs, extending their streak of not making back to back playoff appearances. Not since 2031 to 2034 has the team made multiple appearances in a row.

Despite the offensive changes that worked well early, the offense once again fell off. Even after the fall off though, the offense put up similar number to last year. The pitching did regress some, mainly from the bullpen. It was a mix of new guys and team veterans that struggled. Mix all of the that with a strong year and the Johnson League and you have a recipe for missing out on the playoffs. 85 wins got last years Cartwright winner Calgary in as the last Wild Card spot. This year, 3 teams with more than 85 wins missed out on the playoffs. Just a brutal year.

Not all was bad or is lost going into next year. Tomás Guillén continued his rise as on of the best but underrated hitters at least in the Johnson League. He posted a career high 150 OPS+ and 7.1 WAR. ended up being a good get. In a down year, he still hit 30 HR's, drove in 100, and had a OPS of .864. Of course Bill Constable was great, but the story may of been rookie Dan Small, who made the All-Star game as a bullpen piece and threw a no-hitter after only a few starts.

The bad was, bad though. Long time Jimmies Quinton Lara and Bronco Rojas had career worse years combining for -0.5 WAR. Rojas was more shocking as the team was expecting pick compensation after years of being a consistent #2/3 type of SP. He's all but certain to not-opt out of his contract now. But it's all but certain the team will decline his team option. Lara is a little different of a story as he's been on a steady decline while also being locked into a contract for another 2 years. The team would like some more financial flexibilty but that contract is probably immovable at this point. The trade with Mexico City also did not work out at all.

Payroll going into the offseason should be around $90M so they will have a little bit of play money. And despite the lackluster on field performance, they made a ton of money so they will probably be players in the IFA market. Not so much to sacrifice the moves they want to make to improve the ML team. The team is still fairly young and talented with a couple more guys about ready. Some soul searching will be going on through the playoffs. They can't seem to get the right mix of players to be more consistent.

A lot of organizations would be happy to make 2 Cartwright Cups in the last 5 years. Not this one.

[Dington]

Meet ya on the 19th hole