Chmura's Take: 2028.1

[Malts]

On Chmura’s Take

Chmura’s Take will be the ongoing blog for the Amsterdam Lions. The questions will be phrased with “On ______”, which I will then give my “take” on that topic. Some of these may be short, some may be long. They will range in many different areas about the league and the Amsterdam Lions.

On PEBA

Overall, the league has been great. There is a learning curve and it will take a while to get adjusted to the pace & the setup, but it is an exciting learning curve. With Amsterdam, there is a clean slate where we can build a team from the bottom up, which is exciting as there isn’t a huge history of maintaining a winning tradition and I can make the team my own way.

On Amsterdam Lions

Our team has a long way to go until we are competitive. We have between 11-13 free agents leaving the team and only $31.6 million committed to salaries next year. That is exciting to think about, but at the same team it means we have limited assets to acquire talent. This will force us to find creative ways to bring in talented players to make us competitive. I do not want to put a timeline on when I expect us to be competitive, but I do think we will develop the right processes right away and hopefully create a positive trend into 2029. We have a large hill to climb and this is not going to be a 1-2 year project.

On Strategy

My vision for the team will be strong pitching, strong defense. Offense is important, but we will never put a focus on offense over defense. We want to have a speedy team, with a goal of leading the league in stolen bases every year. We feel this will help us create runs. Pitching wise, this will be a huge focus for us. Pitching is going to be the way we win and it will be our #1 priority every year.

On Victor Bruno

Victor has been our manager for 3 seasons and is on the last year of a contract. He is an experienced manager, with over 11 years as a PEBA Major League Manager. With that said, he has only made the playoffs once. Personally, I like Victor and feel he has been dealt an impossible hand in trying to build a winner so far. He is in the last year of his contract and we are not sure if we will extend him. That decision will not come until end of the year and will be based on whether or not we see him leading us for years to come. We plan on hiring a new staff in regards to Bench Coach, Hitting Coach & Pitching Coach, but the manager hire is still up in the air.

On Trading

We are not going to be extremely active in trades. We have limited assets. In general, we will build through the draft and trust that process. One of the most important factors for our success will be to draft and develop the right players.

[Fishermen]

Wow ! That’s great Kevin, Amsterdam does deserve a fair shake of the whip and it’s really sounding like you’re the one to do it. It is a steep learning curve, being in PEBA, it takes time to settle in and even more time to feel comfortable sometimes.
When I first learned of PEBA it seemed a fantastic league but the standard of the writing, the depth & bredth of it, was frightening. It took me ages to pluck up courage to apply and one rejection from John before I finally got in. I’ve never regretted since. Life & the pressures of a spell as Commish cost me a few ‘game years’ but now I’m back and enjoying every minute. . . . and above all looking forward to more excellent writing like this