63.13 No Respect

[Bob Breum]

*** Sounds of breaking glass followed by a great deal of imaginative cursing ***

Erik is concerned. The sounds appeared to emanate from his dad's office. He walks over to investigate.

"Everything okay?"

"NO, EVERYTHING IS NOT OKAY!!!" exclaimed Bob. "Did you see this nonsense?" He waved the new BBA Media Guide over his head.

"I haven't looked at it yet. What about it?"

"DISRESPECT! BLATANT DISRESPECT!"

"In what way?"

"Their so-called projections. They have us winning 85 games and finishing 13 games back. That's ten games worse than last season."

"That's crazy."

"No kidding. It is insulting and illogical. Last season we added second baseman Jaime Serna in July, starting pitcher Luis Gonzalez in mid-August, and starting pitcher Umar Dogar at the end of August. This year we get them for the whole season. The BBN ranks Serna as the 3rd best second baseman in the BBA and Dogar as the 3rd best starting pitcher. Conservatively, that's worth at least 4-5 additional WAR among the three of them. What did we lose? We let a 40-year-old setup man walk after a career year that is not repeatable. We declined our closer's team option because he was declining as well. Together they represent 2.6 WAR. They're replaceable."

"Well, we did lose shortstop Reynaldo Serrano for half the season."

"That's very unfortunate. It'll probably cost us 2 WAR net with glove-first Maximo Gousto playing shortstop, but our defense will get even better.

"Do you think we'll score more runs this season?"

"I guarantee it. Last season we scored 717 runs, up from 675 the year before. Our youngsters on offense are a year older and a year better. We only have two starters in our lineup over 25 and they are each 28 and in their prime. The BBN ranks five of our eight starters in the top 7 at their position in the whole BBA. Serrano ranks ninth, and our team captain, first baseman Dan Wilkinson, ranks tenth. Our catcher, Qaseem Kahil, is a rookie but I think he'll be just fine. We are going to score a lot more runs this season."

"Well, from my side, I am confident that we will allow even fewer runs. We should have an even better defense than last season's Atlantic Division leading defense plus a clearly stronger rotation. I'll figure out the bullpen."

"You always do.

"You have to admit, though, it's a tough division."

"Absolutely. Every season I fantasize about winning the division. We came close in 2058 and last season. We led the division briefly in September. I think this is our year, Serrano or no Serrano. F*** the Media Guide!"

[BaseClogger]

Your pythag and base runs record were both 89-73 in 2062, for whatever that’s worth to you. So only four games less than those indicators.

[Bob Breum]

Your pythag and base runs record were both 89-73 in 2062, for whatever that’s worth to you. So only four games less than those indicators.

We are a better team than the 2062 edition. Our teams consistently outperform their Pythagorean.

[ae37jr]

Tough to put a prediction on Montreal. A lot of key players are injury prone. There is a lot to like, but a lot could go wrong too.