What happened to the 2040 New Orleans Trendsetters?
New Orleans, LA –
What happened to the 2040 New Orleans Trendsetters?
Nobody expected the 2040 New Orleans Trendsetters to set the world on fire or compete for a title. But, there was a hope that the Trendies could approach .500. The team improved by nine games to 67-95 after losing 104 games the previous season, but the team put up identical numbers the last two years by hitting .250 and carrying a staff ERA of 4.57 in both ’39 and ’40. Frankly, this team should have done better. What happened?
Well, a lot of things; but the bulk of it boils down to a horrible September with the team finishing 7-19 and imploding offensively and on the mound. Let’s take a closer look:
Offensively the team faded down the stretch. While Michel Bastide did have a breakout year, finishing in 4th place with a .310 average and Tenshin Kudo managed a career high with 28 HR at the ripe old age of 37, much of the rest of the lineup failed to perform. Barry Wallace was fine defensively, but offensively he struggled until a last burst in September. Center field was a problem for most of the year as a rotating AAAA cadre of John Slater, Ricardo Rojas and somebody else that still fogged up the mirror put up paltry numbers.
On the mound, Nathan Gallard struggled yet again to fully develop and he is now transitioning from prospect to suspect as he led the league in losses with 18 and wore a 5.44 ERA. Many of the starters could not get over the hump to ten wins. Cornelius Merkelin, Joe Arnold and Alonso Hernandez all remained stuck at 9 wins. Only Alfredo Vargas notched double digits in the win column going 10-14. By the way, Vargas becomes the only New Orleans pitcher to notch ten or more wins since Jorge Medina picked up 11 wins in 2037. That is pathetic.
The real culprit was the bullpen. GM Chuck Valenches usually managed to cobble together a good bullpen out of expired mayonnaise and some old gum, but this year it all went boom. The rotation finished 13th, a spot or two better than they normally do, but the bullpen, usually 6th or higher, finished 15th with normally dependable bullpen arms like Keizo Arai falling flat on their face. Even closer Josh Cheney, who recorded 32 saves, finished with a 4.90 ERA. The pitchers walked too many (#1) gave up too many homers (#4) and too many hits (#3).
The question is hanging out there. What changes will the Trendsetters make? They do have a little bit of money for Free Agents, but the team is more likely to plow that into development and scouting (already near the top of the league) and possibly some IFA. There are a few arms possible for the big leagues down in AAA in #1 prospect Hyung-on Che. Che may be a midseason callup if he dominates in AAA as he has in all other levels. Tony Mendez has a live arm and quite a bit of upside and may also be due at least a cup of coffee. Other then that the rest are more likely bound for New Orleans in 2042 and 2043 than this year. Especially as the latest Scouting numbers show drastic talent reductions from many of the prospects. The team is still looking for a true #1, even though Joe Arnold did put up good numbers with a 3.45 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. The rest have just not panned out so far. Hopefully Che and Mendez can make the leap this year and start to give the rotation some real hope. As for the lineup, the team is looking for a viable catching option but none of the prospects are either ready or have the game to start every day. Not much is available in free agency so the team will likely try and go with the best defensive catcher they can find and sacrifice that spot in the lineup. Other positions will likely have placeholders until the prospects develop such as Harry Belafonte, Gabriel Santos and Marco Jimenez.
In other news, the Trendsetters did earn a ring when the Ensenada Las Brujas Malvadas won the Single A title. It was the first minor league title for the team since Bridgetown Flying Fish won the IBC title in 2032. It was also only the second title in the minors for New Orleans in their 33-year history.
Trendie’s Talk: This time we ask Trendsetters Traveling Secretary Owen Anderson if he can recall the weirdest game circumstances he ever saw. “Oh, that is easy”, said the 64-year-old. I was working in the old Pacific Coast League and we went to Des Moines, IA four a four-game series with the Cubs affiliate, the Iowa Cubs. It was the height of summer and there had been a ton of flooding in Iowa and the Cubs played in old Sec Taylor Stadium which is at the confluence of the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers. The first game had been rained out and we managed to get games two and three in, but the final day looked pretty iffy. Levees to the north on the Des Moines had begun to fail and the Des Moines city levee ran right through the stadium parking lot. They city was preparing an evacuation order just in case. The Iowa Cubs convinced the city to let us play the final game because the race for 1st place was so close between the two teams and they were not scheduled to play again that year. The city agreed under the condition that no fans be allowed to attend. The game, which had originally been scheduled for night time was moved to 11:00 AM. There was no P.A. Announcer allowed, Iowa could not broadcast the game on radio (our team could), no fireworks were shot after home runs. It was to be kept as quiet as possible and a s a final condition, a bus for each team was to be kept outside the clubhouses and kept running throughout the game in case an emergency evacuation was needed. Our players got a kick out being able to hear our radio broadcaster call the game all the way in the dugout and especially when they could call a home run and you could hear no cheers but could hear the sound of the ball rattling around in the right field seats. The only people there were the teams and coaches, the broadcaster, the GM and the groundscrew. Official attendance? ZERO. The lowest official attendance in minor league history.
Front Office Follies: Any big changes coming for the Trendsetters? Well, according to GM, Chuck Valenches, the organization continues their rebrand of the farm system. The next target will be either the Delaware Diamonds or the Fayetteville Braggarts. Both teams have expired stadium lease deals and other cities have expressed an interest. Keep the channel here for more details.
And finally another one of my favorite quotes:
“The workout is optional. Whoever doesn’t show up, gets optioned.” – Bobby Valentine.