Charm City 2056.6 - Deadline and The Final Stretch

[DaveB]

The trade deadline has come and gone. Your 2056 Jimmies made one trade acquiring P: John Dawson from Nashville. We'll go into the Dawson trade a little bit more later. The trade deadline for us was a bit of an enigma. The reason was that what we were looking to improve upon (backup centerfield) there wasn't much of an availability and what was available we couldn't afford due to the cap or didn't want to afford due to the asking price.

The Dawson Trade:

We acquired Dawson for the purpose of having him be a starting pitcher for our stretch run, but also with an eye towards 2057 and on. Dawson I don't believe is a long term answer as a starting pitcher. He's averaged 4 innings a start for us since being acquired and that's not good enough. The thought process for my team was that he would be able to provide innings for us this year and move into the bullpen next season. I'm envisioning him possibly pushing CL: Manuel Barrera in the closer role next season if we are unable to resign Barrera. Otherwise I can see him being a staple in the back end of the pen.

The Backup Centerfield Problem:

Injuries have been a problem for us this year, that's no secret. It's been an issue around the league as the rumored banishment of the anti injury stimulants have crippled teams across the BBA this year. If CF: Mike 'Tired' Cox goes down with an injury for an extended period of time I don't feel comfortable with our reserves. We have incumbent backup centerfield OF: Chuck 'Pip' Dickens who hasn't hit well this year and also has an injury history about a year long (He became injured with a day to day injury on a rehab assignment). After the latest injury to Dickens we turned to supersub Tristan Colenutt. The issue with Colenutt is that he doesn't hit very well. At the deadline we had negotiations with Chicago to try to acquire Aurelio Diéguez and with Phoenix for Jyri Kulmala. We failed at acquriing either as we felt the the asking price for each was a bit steep. So we're going to ride til we die with what we have on hand.

Looking ahead:

As we look ahead at the last month of the season I decided to start using a 6 man rotation. Ty Vannatta is going to be the de facto 6th man for the stretch drive. I decided to go with a 6 man rotation because honestly I wanted to know what we have with Vannatta to see if he could be an option for 2057 in the starting rotation/long man or if we are going to need another arm in free agency for that role.

Promoted for the September roster expansion MR: Lev Lutsenko and P: Qing-lai Ou-yang. I was hoping to bring in additional troops, but due to salary cap situations we couldn't afford to. If additional players are needed due to injury I have an idea on how to get some space.

Finally as we make the run towards the playoffs the battle for the 3peat will be a difficult road, but I feel we still have a good enough team to possibly get it done. The big thing for us is getting healthy and staying healthy the rest of the way. If we're able to do that I feel pretty good about our chances, but we shall see.