60.10- My Guys, And How They Did

[chicoruiz]

With another season wrapping up, let’s end this year’s Gambler team news with some quick evaluations of the players who made it...another season.

In descending order of WAR:

RF CARLOS ALLEN- .296, 31 homers, 106 RBIs at the tender age of 22. He’ll be a key part of whatever success we manage in the future. I love it when one of my first-round picks turns out to be actually good.

3B BILL KUHN- Unexpectedly dropped into my lap in the Rule 5 draft. He’s never going to win a Gold Glove at third, but here’s another 22-year-old who can mash and will only get better. 26 homers and 70 walks. Might be better as a DH, but there’s already a logjam there.

DH-LF OKYAY NISANCI- When I gave a rich long-term deal to Okyay with his injury history, I was afraid everyone would think I was the dumbest GM in the BBA. Well, everyone still thinks I’m the dumbest GM in the BBA, but it’s not because of Okyay, who lasted for 474 PAs with an .851 OPS. Next year I might risk playing him in the outfield more.

C HOLLIS O’HARA- He hit the hell out of the ball in April and May, then he remembered he was Hollis O’Hara and it was “look out below” for the rest of the year. Still brings elite framing skills.

CF KHAYYAT ISA- Missed a bunch of time with injuries, but still managed to steal 39 bases and play a good defensive center field when he was able to answer the bell. Needs to get on base more.

SS JAVIER AGUILAR- Rushed to the majors at the tender age of 20 after injuries shredded my middle infield. I think he’s going to be really good, but in a perfect world he’s more a 2B than a SS.

1B TYLER OBER- He’s my “Mr. Consistency”; every year he hits about .240 with 25-30 homers and good defense. It’s nice to be able to count on that, but I can’t help dreaming of more offense from my first baseman.

OF JIM REDMON- The very model of a modern fourth outfielder, he joined the starting lineup when Okyay was the DH. If he could hack it in CF he’d be Hot Stuff; he can’t and so he isn’t.

DH-1B MICHAEL PEDARZOLLI- On the one hand, I feel bad for Michael; he’s never had a full season as a regular, and I planned to give him that and see what he could do. Then I chickened out and played Okyay at DH and Pedarzolli ended up with only about 400 PAs. On the other hand, I can’t feel TOO sorry for him; he didn’t perform all that well, especially considering what I’m paying him.

I don’t want to talk about my pitching. I still have hope for a couple of them; that’s about the best I can say.

[BaseClogger]

Aguilar cooled off after exploding out of the gates.

[RonCo]

Couple of nice young players in the core. And Nicansi is elite every moment he can play.