Scott Plack breaks down the Trendsetters’ 2013
Part 1 – Staff Ace and Closer

12/8/2013: New Orleans, LA – With the ghosts of championships past firmly in their rearview mirror, the Trendsetters mired through another year of low achievement and fan disappointment.  The good news: They finished with 11 more wins than last season.  The bad: If there is a light at the end of this tunnel, it’s still awfully dim.  Cooper Scott made good on his promise and the offense was better, but not good enough.  Sure, the diehard fans will offer up the usual excuses – injuries (Otis Watts and C Tsuyoshi Konishi were the only regulars who didn’t accrue any extended DL time), it just wasn’t our year, the team made strides – but the reality is that climbing out of this hole is probably an inch by inch prospect rather than a dynamite explosion of success.  With that in mind, let’s take a look at the past and hopeful future of the Trendies.

Ace of the Staff
2013: Frank Helms
2014: ????
Future: Glen Dixon

Helms, a rare mix of craftiness (throwing six pitches with proficiency) and flame (hitting the gun at 94-96 MPH), has always relied on his ability to strike hitters out, easily surpassing the 100 strikeout mark even in injury-shortened seasons.  His inability to pinpoint his pitches, however has led to a rise in hits,a portion of those being long balls.  Helms’s decline can definitely be chalked up to injuries; he has never been able to escape the injury bug since coming to New Orleans.

Helms’s Injury History since acquired
04/18/2011 – Injured (strained hamstring), out for 2 months.
06/12/2011 – Suffered setback in recovery from injury, will miss another 5-6 weeks.
04/30/2012 – Injured (back tightness), day-to-day for one week.
05/23/2012 – Injured (sore shoulder), out for 5 days.
07/29/2012 – Injured (sore shoulder), out for 2 months.
04/18/2013 – Injured (hamstring strain), out for 3-4 weeks
08/22/2013 – Injured (partially torn labrum), out for 3 months.

2013 was actually Helms’s best year in terms of number of games pitched and also marked his Trendsetter career high of 133 innings.  However, it seems that Helms’s injuries caught up to him, making it one of his worst years as a Trendsetter.  Scott has made no secret in wanting to trade him, but his value has plummeted and it will probably take awhile for the feeding frenzy on pitching free agents to ebb before anyone even glances Frank’s way.  The silver lining is that he is only owed $1.7 million for the final year of his contract, a year he may spend working with youngsters in the minor leagues.

With Helms no longer considered the ace of the staff, the position is up for grabs in 2014.  Hopefuls include Ed Mitchell and Chet King, though it is rumored that Cooper is also looking to dip into the free agent market for another option.  There were some rumors of New Orleans being interested in Pedro “Rival” Barrón, but Scott has recently indicated that those rumors are baseless.

Mitchell burst onto the scene in 2011 as a rookie and seemed to be poised for greatness.  Unfortunately, his career path has been more of a regression than a progression.  In 2012 and 2013, Mitchell’s H/9 jumped by almost two, leading to more runs scored.  In 2012, he led the Imperial League in home runs against.  Mitchell’s name has also been tossed around in trade rumblings, but if he does manage to stay on the roster, it is more likely he will be at the back of the rotation rather than the front.

King is young (23) and the Trendsetters are hopeful that the experience he is gaining now will translate into dominance later.  King suffered from what ails most young pitches – inconsistency.  At times he was brilliant, including pitching back-to-back shutouts and becoming the first pitcher to win a PEBA Player of the Week Award.  However, he also struggled with finding the plate, leading the Imperial league with 118 walks.  Surprisingly, he did drop his BB/9 by almost two from 2012.  If he can do that again in 2014, he will make an outstanding number 2 or 3 in the rotation.

Another name that has an outside chance is Jesús Costa.  Costa had an accelerated career path when he jumped from pitching 19 games in the minors in 2012 – only one a start – to making the starting rotation for the Trendsetters.  Scott is obviously not immune to media stunts and trying to fill seats, and Costa is an exciting young player.  Unfortunately, he also proved to be an extremely unlucky player.  Opponents racked up a BABIP of .345 off Costa.  It seemed like seeing-eye singles and broken bat hits were following Costa around all year.  That being said, 2014 will surely hold better things for the talented youngster and he should be challenging for a top spot in the rotation within the next few years.

Glen Dixon is without a doubt the future ace that Scott dreams of at night.  To put Dixon’s pedigree in perspective, one needs only to follow the trail of traded players.  Dixon was traded for Danny Hendricks, who had been acquired for Darryl Lewis, who had been one of the main prospects received in exchange for Conan McCullough.  No pressure there, huh?  But Dixon is a live arm and the organization is progressing with care.  He spent last year in AA after practically skipping Hi-A and looked like he felt right at home.  The Trendsetters are reportedly happy to see him pitch a few more innings at his current level, looking for him to show a little bit of dominance before a promotion to AAA is in order.  Will he be an anchor for a future Trendsetters staff?  Who knows?  But he is off to a pretty good start.

Closer
2013: Miguel Lozano
2014: ????
Future: ????

Lozano, labeled a “Debbie-downer” by Scott, was traded at the deadline for SS Kenneth Bridges.  He was New Orleans All-Star representative and racked up 21 saves in 24 opportunities.  Scott didn’t like the complaining about playing for a losing team and shipped him out.  The save duties were handled by a myriad of people, including Costa, Franklin Browne, and Roberto Guerrero.

The closer position for 2014 currently sits vacant, although Scott has indicated that he won’t sign another free agent to fill that hole.  Instead, he will look to a few of the usual suspects, as well as a few unusual ones.  At the top of the list of the usual suspects sits reliever Joe Baker.  Baker came over via trade with Reno last year and saw action in 45 games.  In his second year, Baker allowed only six more runs than his first year, but pitched 31 more innings.  He is a fireballer, regularly hitting 97-99 MPH on the gun.  On the flip side, he is the very definition of wild – not necessarily a great combination with the game on the line.

A couple of the unusual suspects could be Danny Williams and José Rivera.  Williams spent time bouncing from starter to reliever and Rivera started 21 games for the Trendsetters.  Both have live arms and pretty decent control, and both are on the cusp of being pushed out of the starting rotation ,making them candidates for filling many of the roles in the bullpen.

The Trendsetters’ future closer is anybody’s guess.  Edgardo Rodríguez is highly touted, but injuries have limited his ability to play with any consistency.  If Baker is able to step into the role, being on the young end of things, he could possibly fill the void for quite some time.  But most likely, the Trendsetters will be seeking an upgrade through free agency or trade in the next couple of years if they want to stay competitive late into games.