Can You Truly Go a Bridge Too Far?
Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 10:31 pm
Well, the season's lost folks. We tried. We held on as long as we could and as long as we were allowed to. With the reintroduction of the Manchester Maulers, it seemed like we'd get the chance to catch West Virginia for playoff hopes. And yet, it didn't. So, what happened?
It might come down to many things. To begin the year, Motoyuki Hatsutori was injured in his first outing. While his absence wasn't the definitive end to our season, it clearly had an impact. Ernest Singleton was lights out to begin the season, dropping his ERA down to 2.19 at its' lowest (5/18/2029). Even after his ERA drastically rose, others rose to the occasion, like Darren Jackson. Jackson had a rough go of it last season, he did put on one heck of a show this season. Having to take on more of the load due to Hatsutori's absence, he did the best he could, getting the same ERA as last season, but with more innings, thus being a better performance. He also won player of the game 17 times! That's incredible for 32 games, and he has a 3.2 WAR to show for it.
And what about the bullpen? Evidently, nothing remarkable from Jose Paz, who was our longtime closer. To Jose, we here at the Bureaucrat's Triplicate have to ask, "Que Paso?". How do you go from 5 consecutive sub 3 ERA seasons to posting a 5.57 ERA? What exactly happened here? Did the league figure you out? Is your stuff not as good anymore? We have him for one more season, so only time can tell. Most of the bullpen did their job, so who's to officially blame?
Some can say it's the front office. They allowed a hitting coach to stick around when the team was hitting a .206 average. That was fixed, but it might have been too late to really make much of a difference. The pitching coach staff was also replaced, and they produced slightly better results. Other issues are the outright release of several players. This compounded to their budget, and now they're deeply in the red that will affect their spending for the next season at least. But we here at the Bureaucrat's Triplicate with our completely unbiased opinion think they tried. They brought in several trades and tried to make the overall roster better. The most impactful has been Donald Allen. In the 61 games he's been with us, he's hit .315/.388/.396 and has contributed greatly to the leadoff spot. Wanna know who hasn't contributed offensively?
EVERYONE ELSE
Starting with our #1 culprit, Cal Thomas. Golly gee a man who barely plays in 1/3 of all games isn't reliable? Color us f***ing shocked! A .083 average! How the absolute f*** do you accomplish that?
Anyway, mini rant over. The offense could have been better. Scratch that, they should be better. They had the 2nd worst average in the IL and when mixed with the decent ERA of the pitching staff, it ends in a (at best) 79-83 record. It's officially time to look to the future, as it is already here. Torcall Penrose, the 1st round pick from 2028 has already made his debut. The future looks bright, and it's time to wear shades
and blinders to the past
It might come down to many things. To begin the year, Motoyuki Hatsutori was injured in his first outing. While his absence wasn't the definitive end to our season, it clearly had an impact. Ernest Singleton was lights out to begin the season, dropping his ERA down to 2.19 at its' lowest (5/18/2029). Even after his ERA drastically rose, others rose to the occasion, like Darren Jackson. Jackson had a rough go of it last season, he did put on one heck of a show this season. Having to take on more of the load due to Hatsutori's absence, he did the best he could, getting the same ERA as last season, but with more innings, thus being a better performance. He also won player of the game 17 times! That's incredible for 32 games, and he has a 3.2 WAR to show for it.
And what about the bullpen? Evidently, nothing remarkable from Jose Paz, who was our longtime closer. To Jose, we here at the Bureaucrat's Triplicate have to ask, "Que Paso?". How do you go from 5 consecutive sub 3 ERA seasons to posting a 5.57 ERA? What exactly happened here? Did the league figure you out? Is your stuff not as good anymore? We have him for one more season, so only time can tell. Most of the bullpen did their job, so who's to officially blame?
Some can say it's the front office. They allowed a hitting coach to stick around when the team was hitting a .206 average. That was fixed, but it might have been too late to really make much of a difference. The pitching coach staff was also replaced, and they produced slightly better results. Other issues are the outright release of several players. This compounded to their budget, and now they're deeply in the red that will affect their spending for the next season at least. But we here at the Bureaucrat's Triplicate with our completely unbiased opinion think they tried. They brought in several trades and tried to make the overall roster better. The most impactful has been Donald Allen. In the 61 games he's been with us, he's hit .315/.388/.396 and has contributed greatly to the leadoff spot. Wanna know who hasn't contributed offensively?
EVERYONE ELSE
Starting with our #1 culprit, Cal Thomas. Golly gee a man who barely plays in 1/3 of all games isn't reliable? Color us f***ing shocked! A .083 average! How the absolute f*** do you accomplish that?
Anyway, mini rant over. The offense could have been better. Scratch that, they should be better. They had the 2nd worst average in the IL and when mixed with the decent ERA of the pitching staff, it ends in a (at best) 79-83 record. It's officially time to look to the future, as it is already here. Torcall Penrose, the 1st round pick from 2028 has already made his debut. The future looks bright, and it's time to wear shades
and blinders to the past