May 2024 - Roster Shake-up
Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2016 6:21 pm
May 20th, 2024
After a month-and-a-half of watching the 'Crats struggle to tread water, I decided a roster shake up was in order. To me it seems like the pitching and defense were in a good place, but the offense has been dreadful. Rob Raines has been hot-and-cold on his road back from a major knee injury, Pat Barry has been sub par, and my pair of LF sluggers have struggled to stay healthy.
The goal is to sacrifice a little defense while trying to bolster the offense any way I can. In recent seasons, the team tends to have low batting average, but high on-base and slugging percentages. However, the team average this season is ridiculously low coupled with (and helping to cause) a poor team on-base percentage. I've swapped out some players off to horrendous starts offensively with some fresh blood to see if that will help. I mean, the players I swapped out were doing so poorly even replacement level players would likely hit better. The trick will be to balance any offense gain with hits to the defense.
23-year-old catching prospect Marvin Hansen was called up so I could get a look at how he fares in the majors. He's got some plate discipline issues, but perhaps he can make enough contact to make up for that. I've been getting some complaints about selfish players causing problems in the club house and I suspect Samuel Kettley might be one of the main culprits. He's not been carrying his weight offensively, so I don't think it could hurt to try other options at catcher.
Minor league journeyman Rusty Foster will man center field for now because Dan Simpson apparently takes some horrendous routes that his speed can't make up for and has been atrocious at the plate. Jorge Guavara has turned back into a pumpkin sooner than I would have liked and may be losing a step in center due to age. Another case of "anyone but the incumbents is an improvement". Which is kind of depressing.
2B Bill Gibbs will be given a chance to sink or swim - he's been rated as a decent prospect but has battled injuries and has been ineffective in previous call ups. He's 27-year-old now though, so he's likely 'done cooking'. The good news is that he was a monster in AAA this season, posting a 201 wRC+. I'm hoping that maybe he's finally healthy and figured something out, but I'm also a little worried about his defense. I plan on giving him a good long look, health permitting.
SS Jud McCauley was also called up to fill the utility infielder role. He has trouble making contact but will take some walks and can walk into a home run now and then. He's got some defensive flexibility though he isn't really elite at any one position due to average-ish range. He's pretty fast though, so he'll probably be a useful bench player who can't be any worse than the player(s) he's replacing. He also seems to be liked in the club house which might help with the slight team chemistry problem their having. Neat fact: Jud hit 34 homers between AA and AAA back in 2022.
===
After one week, the jury is still out. Rains and Barry vanished so the offense still didn't do much without the cornerstones producing. Motoyuki Hatsutori was frozen by an overturned liquid nitrogen tanker and shattered, getting torched for seven earned runs. Of the seven hits allowed, only one was for extra bases (a double) so I'm slightly worried the reconfigured infield defense let him down a bit. He's definitely due a BABIP correction but I'm wondering if the air tight infield defense I blew up was keeping that down for him. Otherwise, I think the pitching was still pretty solid - if only the bats would wake up....
Going forward, I'm going to give Hansen some more playing time behind the dish. If he's at least somewhat competent, I think Kettley's days as a Bureaucrat are numbered...
After a month-and-a-half of watching the 'Crats struggle to tread water, I decided a roster shake up was in order. To me it seems like the pitching and defense were in a good place, but the offense has been dreadful. Rob Raines has been hot-and-cold on his road back from a major knee injury, Pat Barry has been sub par, and my pair of LF sluggers have struggled to stay healthy.
The goal is to sacrifice a little defense while trying to bolster the offense any way I can. In recent seasons, the team tends to have low batting average, but high on-base and slugging percentages. However, the team average this season is ridiculously low coupled with (and helping to cause) a poor team on-base percentage. I've swapped out some players off to horrendous starts offensively with some fresh blood to see if that will help. I mean, the players I swapped out were doing so poorly even replacement level players would likely hit better. The trick will be to balance any offense gain with hits to the defense.
23-year-old catching prospect Marvin Hansen was called up so I could get a look at how he fares in the majors. He's got some plate discipline issues, but perhaps he can make enough contact to make up for that. I've been getting some complaints about selfish players causing problems in the club house and I suspect Samuel Kettley might be one of the main culprits. He's not been carrying his weight offensively, so I don't think it could hurt to try other options at catcher.
Minor league journeyman Rusty Foster will man center field for now because Dan Simpson apparently takes some horrendous routes that his speed can't make up for and has been atrocious at the plate. Jorge Guavara has turned back into a pumpkin sooner than I would have liked and may be losing a step in center due to age. Another case of "anyone but the incumbents is an improvement". Which is kind of depressing.
2B Bill Gibbs will be given a chance to sink or swim - he's been rated as a decent prospect but has battled injuries and has been ineffective in previous call ups. He's 27-year-old now though, so he's likely 'done cooking'. The good news is that he was a monster in AAA this season, posting a 201 wRC+. I'm hoping that maybe he's finally healthy and figured something out, but I'm also a little worried about his defense. I plan on giving him a good long look, health permitting.
SS Jud McCauley was also called up to fill the utility infielder role. He has trouble making contact but will take some walks and can walk into a home run now and then. He's got some defensive flexibility though he isn't really elite at any one position due to average-ish range. He's pretty fast though, so he'll probably be a useful bench player who can't be any worse than the player(s) he's replacing. He also seems to be liked in the club house which might help with the slight team chemistry problem their having. Neat fact: Jud hit 34 homers between AA and AAA back in 2022.
===
After one week, the jury is still out. Rains and Barry vanished so the offense still didn't do much without the cornerstones producing. Motoyuki Hatsutori was frozen by an overturned liquid nitrogen tanker and shattered, getting torched for seven earned runs. Of the seven hits allowed, only one was for extra bases (a double) so I'm slightly worried the reconfigured infield defense let him down a bit. He's definitely due a BABIP correction but I'm wondering if the air tight infield defense I blew up was keeping that down for him. Otherwise, I think the pitching was still pretty solid - if only the bats would wake up....
Going forward, I'm going to give Hansen some more playing time behind the dish. If he's at least somewhat competent, I think Kettley's days as a Bureaucrat are numbered...