Omaha...2008 Version Outlook

[felipe]

Drugs.

That’s the first reaction one has when one hears that someone has willingly relocated themselves to Nebraska.

Harsh and heavy, long-term drug use.

Especially when we learn that that someone is originally from New Jersey.

It’s an inescapable conclusion.

In an wholly unrelated story, New Jersey native, GM Stever, accepted the Omaha Barnstormers GM position in November 2007.

The moribund MBBA franchise was fresh on the heels of another losing season; a paltry 73-89 record, continuing their two year spiral descent into the bowels of the league also-rans. The only thing standing between Omaha and the JL Midwest basement was the hapless Chi-town Black Sox (in the midst of adding yet another year to their remarkable 8 year run of last place and sub .500 finishes).

GM Stever knew it would take a deft touch to win the angry Nebraskan fans over to his side.

“I ask you if you're dense” were his first words to the Omaha faithful, endearing him to many.

He followed that up by signing California starter Coy Davis, (in return for a pair of inconsequential minor leaguers). Davis is a MBBA fan favourite, a noted connoisseur of the most exciting play in baseball – ‘the walk’, followed closely by his traditional mastery of ‘the wild pitch’. In between plunking batters, and tiring out his catchers as they race to the backstop to retrieve his errant pitches, Davis will strike out the odd player. Luckily for Omaha, he tires quickly.

GM Stever was not done there however. He recognized a lack of depth at starting pitcher when he saw one, and so stepped unwittingly into the spider’s (errr…Recte’s) lair. Luis Luna was his haul for bullpen magician Kenneth Secor, and star outfield prospect Jacob Brown. Luna could be one to watch this season. He performed exceedingly well in his only year as a starter (2006), and was perhaps mismanaged by Recte in 2007 by coming out of the bullpen. It was a lot to give up by Omaha – but good starters are hard to find, and Luna is a four year MBBA veteran already at the tender age of 26. The addition of Luna gives Omaha a solitary left-hander on their pitching staff, so load up on those LHB when you play Omaha! But, expect there to be a lot of ‘Luna-tics’, (as his fans are called) in the Nebraska stands by mid-summer.

GM Stever then turned his sights to the free-agency class of ’07. From the many delights on display – he plucked starting pitcher Gary Lammond. Lammond may be the unsexiest pitcher in all of MBBA baseball. But he should be a decent innings eater, and he came at a decent price. The biggest problem I have is whether to nickname him ‘Ladies Love’ or ‘Old man’. Although, ‘Lemon’ Lammond has a nice ring to it.

So Stever has added 3 starters (let’s call them a hopeful #2 a #4 and a #5) and they replace Eric Sweet(aging and getting older last season), Jose Perez(simply brutal – no offence intended, California), and Gunnar Davidson (brutal and hopefully returned to Halifax this year, forever).

They are joined in the Omaha rotation by incumbent former ‘ace’ Jay Lee(36 years old and rapidly dropping velocity – look for him to start to stink it up this year – luckily he’s in his last year of his contract – so he should be able to retire gracefully as a Barnstormer). Of course, ‘stinkin it up’ for Jay Lee is still pretty good for the rest of the mere mortals in the MBBA.

Mathew Krieger would appear to be the #3 man, but due to his overwhelming superiority against righties and ordinariness against lefties, one wonders if he wouldn’t be better off converting to a RH setup man.

Whenever Vincente Martinezcomes back – assuming he comes back from injury – and assuming he comes back as good as he left – the rotation will be much improved.

A wildcard in the rotational mix is newly signed free-agent Manny Alfonso. Alfonso was inexplicably released by Phoenix following a decent season split between AA and AAA, where he was named to the AA all-star game. Alfonso has got four decent pitches, and was signed to a team friendly one year deal. One assumes a decent spring will see him as the swingman/long reliever on the staff. He’s out of options – so he may be one to watch out for on the waiver wire.

It’s a standard mid-range MBBA rotation, warts and all, old guys and question marks. I’d expect the rotation to be better than last year. But let’s check out the bullpen, and see if that’s changed.

Hmmm…stellar closer Arturo Garza retired after suffering an arm injury and missing all of 07…kind of like Martinez might end up….and Stever has traded away last year’s closer…Secor…and the only other guy who had any saves last year was lost on waivers to Montreal…Aurelio Miller…so it looks like a two horse committee of unproven closers…Joey Stevensand Chase Pack…Stevens throws hard, but he’s wild…Pack has great control, but he’s old…and these two guys ate the most innings out of the pen last year...who’s gonna replace those important mid to late innings?

Apparently Rule V pickup from Montreal,Andres Ramirez; that’ll teach Montreal not to snag Miller…no wait, it probably won’t. Miller was horrid last year, but is superior to Ramirez in every conceivable way. I’d return Ramirez to Montreal as fast as I could!

That leaves Jacques Viens who was quite good last year when not on the training table; the twenty-eight year-old Canadian was picked up on waivers an astounding 4 times last year. Apparently he has a lot of promise, but keeps disappointing people. That said, he is intriguing – Omaha might expect to get 50 innings of 4.00 ERA out of him this summer.

Then there’s Spaniard Anastasio Acosta, an EBA reject rescued from the bowels of EBA AAA by Omaha’s previous management team. Hmmm…he’s twenty-nine years old and has pitched a grand total of 2 innings in the EBA…and…he unimpressed in both Halifax and Omaha last year. That said, he seems to have some talent – maybe he’ll put it together this year.

Hmmm…largely disappointing so far…but let’s turn over a couple of rocks and see what scurries out...ah...there you are Carlos Talavera! Talavera is decent enough…and oh…Armando Gomez……he’s got some power...in his neck muscles from watching those homeruns rocket past him! Nah, he’s ok, likely only gonna get better too. Hey, what’s a Carlos Jimenez got? Not a fastball, apparently. Actually, he’s rocketed thru the minors from Rookie league to the majors in only three years…he should be a part of the future in Omaha.

And I guess we should mention Darrell Puckett if we are to be thorough, he was picked up on the Rule V from Hawaii…he had a decent year in AAA last year…and he’s got tremendous make-up…I can’t really see what role he’ll play this year for the Barnstormers – but hell, he’ll tie up a 25 man roster position and make things awkward all year long!

So that’s our pen; oddly uninspiring. The moves that have been made this off-season amounts to putting a band-aid over the needle tracks on your arm. Err…maybe that’s not fair…maybe the first step is admitting that you have a problem…the Omaha pitching staff.

Hmmm…actually on second thoughts...there are some nice young pieces here to build on...and Stever has done a good job at spackling over some cracks to get thru the 2008 season. A lot of cash comes off the books after 2008, and a premium starter goes a long way to making a staff look better as a whole.

Let’s look at the rest of this train wreck…err…ball club.

Catcher – nothing wrong here…Omaha is set for the forseeable future with Tobias Kelly. His backup (not that it really matters) has been improved too. Brian Almy is set to enjoy life in Halifax after watching 2007 in Omaha…Bert Bourgouin comes in from Chicago’s AAA team on the Rule V draft to sit in the bullpen and eat sesame seeds.

First base –Ad Collins should be poised to breakout this season...he’s a decent talent…but rumours abound that Lance Pere will be moved from second to first base. Personally, I think I’d have Pere DH, but you never know how the greybeards are gonna take removal from the field. Then there’s Miguel Toro, perhaps an early favourite for Rookie of the Year…and he seems tailor-made to DH. It seems a nice problem to have. No matter who they go with, first base should be much more productive in 2008.

Second base – With Pere leaving for first or DH, Robert Sanders is being tabbed to take up second base, full-time. That’s a huge upgrade defensively, which should help the shaky pitching staff...and Sanders is no slouch offensively either, with significant skill bunting and stealing…eh could easily come up with a .750 OPS.

Third base – Bill Ewingisn’t gonna knock your socks off – but there’s nothing wrong with him. He’s a solid pro.

Shortstop – Still Kenji Masaki. There’s nothing wrong with the thirty-four year-old 2006 Zimmer Glove Award winner. He shows no signs of slowing down as he was statistically better in 2007 than 2006 in the field. His bat seems to be slowing, but really with defence like that, any offence is a plus.

Other notes in the infield – Rodney Sumlin was grabbed off of the waiver wire from Baltimore. He’s a decent backup up the middle.

The infield is actually pretty good – the outfield has to suck…there has to be a reason Louisville scored more runs than these guys!

Leftfield – Ian Botham…here is part of the reason for the dismal Omaha offense…this guy sucks…declined in the field and the plate last year…holy red flags! Good news is his contract is up after 2008. Grin and bear it, Omaha! But if he really starts to suck, there’s always Denny Thompson. No really…hey…stop laughing…

Centre-field – sucked last year because of Dash Kelly. Dash also started to decline both sides of the game in 2007…luckily he’s only got two years left on his mega deal! But this should be a better spot this year as last year’s left-field platoon mate, Jose Munoz is slated to take over in centerfield. He’ll be a welcome upgrade – expect him to excel with the increased responsibility. Dash will grow to enjoy his 100 at-bats a season.

Right-field – Eric Rouse…hmm…I can’t think of anything disparaging to say…not much power for a right-fielder? There’s nothing wrong with Rouse.

The outfield was pretty bad! And still is…but it should be better this year…and it is hard to throw out Omaha legends with the trash.

Outlook – This team is probably marginally better than last year’s edition. The additions are largely cancelled out by the predicted continuing decline of the resident greybeards. But given a year or two for the greybeards to retire and come off the financial books, a year or two of top ten picks to come onboard, and this team should continue to float around 70 wins, for a year or two, and be prepared to contend again, in a year or two. One painful step at a time.

[agrudez]

This piece definitely had me laughing as I read it - thanks for that. I especially like the metaphors of 'spackling cracks' and 'putting bandaids on needle tracks' as that was a thought certainly crossed my mind as I was trying to pull a ML quality rotation out of my butt this offseason.

PS. I moved to Alabama from New Jersey 1.5 years ago, so the transition to Nebraska should be a cake walk.

[trmmilwwi]

I better get spackling... great writeup!

[recte44]

Botham is one of the All-Time Underachievers in MBBA history.

[bigmike13]

Awesome!

[agrudez]

Botham is one of the All-Time Underachievers in MBBA history.

From his player history he looks like he is made of glass (and his ratings have regressed due to it, surely), but he has still posted a career .785 OPS.

[recte44]

Botham is one of the All-Time Underachievers in MBBA history.

From his player history he looks like he is made of glass (and his ratings have regressed due to it, surely), but he has still posted a career .785 OPS.

Hopes were much higher. I'm biased because I had him, but I had really hoped he'd become a .280/30/100 type player. And for a couple seasons, he was.

Good, but not great.

[recte44]

2004-2006 Omaha stats= that's what myself and Brad (former Marquette GM) were hoping for.