Monday, May 16^th, 2011
An American Baseball Perspective Exclusive

Ahhh, everyone’s dream in life is to have our cake and eat it too.  But exactly what does this phrase mean?  Some use the phrase in a negative sense, as to imply that the person doing the eating is engaging in an unnecessary act of self-indulgence.  Others fire off the phrase to friends and loved ones trying to convey that the recipient should make up their mind between one choice and another.  The implication is that one cannot have everything in life, so choose one path and be happy with the results.  I have a unique take on the phrase and it doesn’t involve self-interest or humility as mentioned above.  My interpretation of this American “proverb” is a little more positive and pertains, surprisingly, to the West Virginia Coal Sox and their beloved General Manager, Tyler Babcock.

Mr. Babcock is the head honcho of the Coal Sox at an insanely young age!  The scrutiny he suffered when he took over his current position has not been publicized, but has been frequent and heartfelt by Tyler himself.  Aside from the lack of trust for this young and sharp mind, Mr. Babcock has had to persevere through some very troubling events for Coal Sox fans…

First off, let us travel back to a warm September 29^th, 2008 where there was as much sports electricity in the state of West Virginia as there had ever been.  After finishing off their inaugural season at 82-80, the Coal Sox ironed out the wrinkles in 2008, improved, and stood at 89-70 with one series to go.  They were deadlocked with the Gloucester Fishermen, also at 89-70.  Both teams had great seasons; the only problem was there was only one spot available to make the Imperial League playoffs.  The Hitmen and the Trendsetters had already won their respective divisions and the Bureaucrats only needed to win one of three to make the playoffs and were sitting pretty with 92 wins on the year.  Fresh off a much-needed day off on Sunday (the first in 12 days), West Virginia was pumped and ready to take it to the London Underground and grant themselves their first ever PEBA playoff berth!

The Coal Sox split the first two games hosting the Underground, with beyond-spectacular starting pitching from Mathys Crête and Hamilton Cole.  The two starters combined to allow a single run and just 2 hits in 14.1 IP while striking out 22!  The Fishermen were battling in the neighboring state Kentucky against the Thoroughbreds and split their first two games as well.  Young Tyler Babcock was as nervous as a father expecting his first born child as the team he built had just 1 game left in the 2008 campaign to make it to the playoffs.  The West Virginia team was a resilient bunch – they fought off the Statesmen during the season to be in this position.  Yet they were – as all teams are after playing a grueling 161 games in the summer sun – tired!

It was the first day of October at a packed house in Allegheny Field and the Coal Sox hoped to ride their super strong starting pitching right on into the playoffs.  Seven innings passed and, just as expected, West Virginia was coasting, as was starting pitcher Rocky Reed, giving the Coal Sox a commanding 5-1 lead in the top of the 8^th inning.  As well as this game was going, West Virginia’s worst fears came true as they heard that the Fishermen won their game 5-3 thanks to a 4-hit game by superstar Vicente Bernal.  Interestingly enough, both of these two games started just after 3:00, but the game in Kentucky wrapped up 2 innings earlier.  Despite the incredible intensity of the situation (being in a must-win situation), members of the Coal Sox organization must have been quite confident with a 4-run cushion and just 2 innings to play.  In fact, the West Virginia pitching staff as a whole had only allowed 3 runs in 27 innings thus far in the series to a tune of a 1.00 ERA!

What would happen next would have defied logic if predicted by any baseball fan worldwide.  The Coal Sox would send 4 pitchers to the mound that inning alone and face 11 batters.  It was a complete nightmare for the Coal Sox and I cannot even imagine what was going through Mr. Babcock’s mind while London amassed 7 runs!  It was as if the Coal Sox staff forgot how to pitch.  They walked 3 batters in the inning and actually hit a batter with the bases loaded!  The Coal Sox hitters were so stunned at the inexplicable collapse of their pitching teammates, they promptly responded with 6 straight outs and failed to recover from their sudden 8-5 deficit.

The mighty Coal Sox were devastated and the fans were terribly disappointed in missing the 2008 playoffs by just one horrific inning of relief.  As most insecure Americans do, they were looking for somebody to blame.  Fingers were pointing firmly in the direction of GM Babcock, as West Virginia’s 162^nd game of the year didn’t offer any other plausible explanation.

Young Mr. Babcock took the blame very seriously and engaged in an offseason transaction flurry that was intended to secure West Virginia’s 2009 playoff appearance.  After 2008, the Coal Sox were dead last in the IL in HR with 91 and had a 10^th-ranked bullpen ERA of 4.16.  These stats weighed heavily on Mr. Babcock’s mind, and he intended to immediately resolve those issues by engaging in the following moves:

• 12/03/08 – Landed a huge free agent bat in 1B Ernest Kaufman to a tune of $40 million over 4 years.
• 12/07/08 – Claimed RF Jack Campbell off of waivers from Canton.
• 12/09/08 – Extended MR José Ferrer for 2 additional years.
• 12/11/08 – In another effort to bring in some additional offense, WV’s GM pulled of a trade with Connecticut, landing them RF Bernardo Marín, who had 2 years left on his contract for about $12.3 million a year.
• 12/17/08 – Acquired MR Whit Andrews from Tempe.

Then, in a seemingly brilliant move to bolster the offense, Mr. Babcock landed CF Jeff Patterson and a 3^rd round draft pick from Reno.  They did have to cough up SP Ralph Dean and newly-acquired RF Campbell.

Here we are at the second action that doesn’t sit pretty with Coal Sox fans.  CF Jeff Patterson busted onto the PEBA scene in 2007 and was one of the game’s most talented hitters.  He astounded SL pitchers in 2007 and enjoyed a sensational season, hitting .361, amassing an amazing 229 hits, launching 35 HR, stealing 20 bases and collecting over a 1.000 OPS!  If that wasn’t enough, he accumulated 5 different Player of the Week awards, 1 Player of the Month award, and became a 2007 All-Star in the process.  Patterson’s season was truly remarkable and still stands as arguably the best offensive season by a PEBA hitter in history.  Unfortunately, in May of 2008 Patterson suffered a horrific fractured skull and missed the rest of 2008.  Jeff Patterson was exactly the kind of premier offensive talent that West Virginia needed, and he needed to produce, as he was owed over $16 million a year from 2009 to 2011!

Sadly, Jeff Patterson, as talented as he was/is, never clicked in West Virginia.  He was healthy in 2009 and 2010 and put up pedestrian numbers…

• 2009: .285 AVG – .357 OBP – .427 SLG – 13 HR – 14 SB – .785 OPS and 139 Hits in 157 games.
• 2010: .252 AVG – .331 OBP – 417 SLG – 20 HR – 15 SB – .749 OPS and 146 Hits in 150 games.

Coal Sox fans that criticized the trade claimed that it was simply silly to expect that a player would continue his offensive dominance after an injury as severe as a fractured skull.  Babcock backers argued that Jeff Patterson was merely suffering from ballpark effects and nothing further could be done.  Although acquiring a talent such as Patterson was obviously a positive move for the organization, even a neutral party would argue that paying a player over $16 million a year is ridiculous.  His production over the last 2 seasons caused some to argue that $5 million would be excessive, let alone over 3 times that amount.  Overall, the average West Virginia fan views the acquisition of Mr. Patterson as a bust.

Thirdly, we have a more subtle change that was detrimental to the Coal Sox nonetheless.  West Virginia’s near playoff appearance (and best season effort to date) in 2008 was basically due to the strength of their starting pitching.  Starters Mathys Crête, Rocky Reed, Hamilton Cole and Ralph Dean combined for 721 innings in 2008 and a 3.10 ERA.  None of these pitchers are with the team today.  Furthermore, the original franchise player, LF John Wood, was traded away despite his career numbers being just under .300 in AVG and .400 in OBP.  These players were the faces of the organization and fans associated these names to the identity of the Coal Sox.  However empty the association is in reality, it leaves the fans with a sort of void due to lack of familiarity with the current players.  That feeling was evident in tangible numbers that did not bode so well for the Coal Sox bookkeepers.  Which brings me to my last unfortunate truth about the West Virginia Coal Sox organization… money and success.

After the gut-wrenching ending of the 2008 season, Tyler Babcock tried mightily to win it all in 2009 and, in turn, increased the team payroll by just shy of $14 million!  One would think wins and attendance (and eventually revenues) would all increase due to this one cause.  Sadly, none of those measurable effects came to fruition.  In these terms, 2009 was a disaster!

• The Coal Sox lost $8.5 million after turning a $6.3 million profit in 2008.
• Their team AVG decreased and their team ERA skyrocketed.
• 370,000 less fans showed up to Allegheny Field in 2009.
• Most importantly, the Coal Sox ended 35 games back of first place and won 14 fewer games than in 2008 despite a 14% increase in payroll.

Basically, in 4 years of PEBA baseball (2007 through 2010), the Coal Sox have played exactly .500 baseball at 324-324, have finished higher than 4^th in the Dixie division only once and have never made the playoffs.  For a team that has great loyalty amongst their fans and plays in a large market, fans have been craving more and slowly getting unruly.

Despite most Coal Sox fans thinking 2011would not be any different than the last few years, GM Babcock has become infinitely wiser in his early adult years and has turned that knowledge into cold, hard results for the entire state of West Virginia to enjoy!

2011 season transactions:

• 12/18/10: Signed extraordinary manager Pedro Castellanos to a five-year deal.
• 3/24/11: Signed free agent C Yukinaga Toyota to a 3-year, $18 million contract.
• 4/02/11: Acquired SP Chris Croker from Crystal Lake.
• 4/11/11: Signed free agent SP Anthony Cox to a 1-year deal worth $4 million.
• 5/02/11: Signed free agent RF Bernardo Marín to a 1-year deal worth $5.25 million.

The analysis: Babcock’s moves this season have been nothing short of brilliant!  The GM had become increasingly frustrated with the lack of production from his players over the last few years and arrived at a decision of improving the coaching.  Pedro Castellanos is one of the world’s best at handling personalities in the clubhouse and his knowledge of the game of baseball is difficult to surpass.  Babcock seized the opportunity and quickly signed the Dominican to a 5-year deal.

Yukinaga Toyota is a very talented professional and was one of the best free agent catchers available upon his signing.  Thus far in the season he has yet to start hitting, but he has well above-average offensive and defensive skills, as evidenced by his 2009 BBG Gurabukin Award at Catcher and his 2008 All-Star selection in the LRS.

Nobody expected too much from SP Chris “Skip” Croker when Mr. Babcock landed him in a trade from the Sandgnats.  The verdict isn’t in as to whether he’s benefitting from Allegheny Field or thriving under the tutelage of manager Castellanos.  His cutter and changeup seem to be working the best they ever have, and he is turning heads so far in 2011 by leading the Coal Sox in wins with 5.  Not too shabby for a pitcher earning the league minimum this season.

The signing of SP Anthony Cox was absolute genius on the part of GM Babcock!  Not only did Cox just win the 2010 IL Golden Arm Award, sporting a sensational 2.15 ERA in London, but he has a reputation as being an excellent student of the game and lacking the greed of most of the players around the PEBA.  Not only did the Coal Sox snag this gem, they are only paying the IL’s best pitcher last year $4 million!  This move may be looked upon at the end of 2011 as the transaction of the year and might just land young Mr. Babcock GM of the Year.

Bernardo Marín was just sitting there out on the free agent market and many eyes were upon him.  Marín is a very talented hitter, and he was demanding a lofty sum for his services in 2011.  Babcock waited until just the right time to land him – and at a terrific price tag of $5.25 million!  How has Marín responded in his second tour with West Virginia?  I think his .364/.533/.636 numbers answer that question pretty strongly.

So far in 2011, the Coal Sox are easily the PEBA story of the year.  They have the best team AVG and ERA in the entire Imperial League.  West Virginia’s IL-leading 27 wins have even the 2010 champion Statesmen looking up in awe!  The Coal Sox recently took on the IL’s best opponents in Charleston and Manchester and went 4-2, telling the baseball world they are for real in 2011.  Everything is just gravy this year for the Coal Sox, and it shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

• 2B George Riley has never hit .300 for WV, yet is batting an astonishing .355 through a quarter of the season.
• RF Edgardo Sánchez has not yet eclipsed .260 in the AVG department with WV and is somehow hitting .322 with a + .900 OPS in 2011.
• SP Harumi Yamamoto has never had an ERA with WV under 4.35, yet is pitching like a Golden Arm Award recipient, sporting a miniscule 1.62 ERA.
• SP Samuel Reed (who?) had a lifetime PEBA ERA of 6.18 and has thus far earned a sparkling 2.40 ERA this season.
• The biggest story for the Coal Sox in 2011 is the arrival of long-touted stud prospect 2B Rafael “Bingo” Suárez.  Many teams tried to pry him away from Mr. Babcock, but the GM would have none of it.  His decision surely has paid dividends through the first quarter of 2011.  Suárez, in his very first taste of the big leagues, is hitting to a tune of .328 and a .900 OPS while collecting 14 2B – in the cleanup spot, of all places!  I think this young man is a keeper.

Rafael Suárez has been the prize young possession of the Coal Sox organization for years and is the sweet and tasty frosting on a 2011 season that is pure cake for all West Virginia fans!  I think the shocking success of the Coal Sox thus far in 2011 is due basically to two people (neither of whom plays baseball).  Coal Sox skipper Pedro Castellanos is the easy early season choice for Manager of the Year, as he has maximized the talents of rookies and veterans alike and has this team firing on all cylinders.  Secondly, GM Tyler Babcock has deserved all the praise that’s being thrown at him around professional baseball circles.  Not only has he masterfully pieced together stars for the Coal Sox, he has done so with a brilliantly frugal mind.  Just observe their 2011 performance and then take a look at their 2011 payroll, and I think you will be shocked to learn that is actually less than it was in 2010!

There is no need to tell you, the readers, that Tyler Babcock is having his cake.  That is blatantly obvious by his team’s IL-best record of 27-11 and thwarting of all challengers thus far.  What many of you don’t know is that young Mr. Babcock may soon be eating his cake, too.  In 6 short months, Mr. Babcock will be enjoying his 23^rd birthday and may just be full of that figurative cake while bragging about how the Coal Sox earned the Planetary Extreme Championship of 2011!