2056.2 - When It Rains It Pours

[DaveB]

When It Rains It Pours:

One of the things that we've been lucky with during our back to back championship run has been we've been relatively free of major injuries. Unfortunately the Injury Bug has returned in a big way for us recently. Players who have been injured were MR: Clarence Pritchard, INF: Asil Çölasan, SP: Carl Vincent, SS: Sammy 'Bumper' McNeill, 2B: Dave Ackerman, OF: Chuck 'Pip' Dickens and INF: Kilipaki Iugini.

Ackerman and Vincent were both lost for the season and possibly parts of next season. Both are key parts of our organization with Ackerman being arguably our best player and Vincent being one of our best starting pitchers.
Colasan would've been a player to see some major playing time with the Ackerman injury is expected to miss at least 3 more months.
Pritchard was one of our setup men coming into the year, we're hoping to see him back in the next month or so.
McNeill missed about 3 weeks earlier this year with a nagging abdominal strain will now miss another month with a thumb fracture.
Dickens missed about a week due to an abdominal injury.
Finally Iugini missed 1-2 weeks with a back injury.

So who steps in?

When it rains we will need some players to step in eat some innings, take some at bats, and help keep us afloat. Players who or will be tasked with stepping in are
INF: Kilipaki Iugini, UTIL: Danny Castillo, MR: Siua HoohenoUTIL: Tristan Colenutt, INF: William James 'Wames' Westwood, MR: Abdul-Muhaimin Muhsin, P: Rob Scott, INF: Matt Cashmann, INF: Dave Rainwater, and SP: Ty Vannatta.

I'm going to start with the easy ones here. Rainwater and Cashmann were promoted for the purpose of giving each player a cup of coffee in the BBA. I don't really expect to see either player as long term players in the active roster. Cashmann has exceeded expectations with a .894 OPS in 33 PA's while Rainwater struggled to zero hits in 8 at bats. Both these guys were designated for assignment for some new replacements.
Iugini is the player who I think will see the most action for us. He's slotted into the starting 2B position in place of Ackerman.
Danny Castillo was a player who I thought would make the opening day lineup, but lost out due to Iugini's lack of player options. I expect Castillo to bounce around the filed while seeing his most action vs LHP.
Hooheno is another player who I expected to make the opening day roster, but was squeezed due to option years for other pitchers. He's going to step into the setup role for Pritchard.
Colenutt is a player who I've worked with to be a very solid defender at various positions and it's helped him as he's seen 13 games at SS and 2 games in CF which are 2 of the hardest positions on the field.
Westwood was just signed as a minor league free agent. He's going to step into the starting SS job with McNeill being out. A veteran of 317 career BBA games we're hoping he can offer some steady defense and a better bat than Colenutt while McNeill is out.
Muhsin was acquired in a trade recently. He's got good stuff and solid control. The homer has been something that's plagued him in his big league career. He's going to be a long inning reliever to start and we'll see what happens from there.,,
,,,Rob Scott is a guy whose job is seriously in jeopardy. He lost the long inning relief job to Muhsin and will get one more look in the starting rotation with the injury to Vincent. Expect a short leash with Ty Vannatta ready to go if he slips up.

Final Thoughts:

I've been playing OOTP online since about 2005 and this has been the hardest I've ever been hit with injuries. I'm hoping the worst is over, but after being dinged up we signed some depth players. I will admit that I love these kind of situations because if a team can stay afloat it shows how much depth there is and how good of a GM you really are.

[RT60]

It's hard not to be jealous of a potential three-peater. But I wouldn't wish these injuries on even my friends in the Heartland!