November 2022

36 players made an appearance in the Fishermen’s first season in Marseille, not very many impressed the fans but here’s the low down on those that represented the new French club in the field in the first player review article.

Behind the Plate

Only two catchers appeared for Marseille in 2022, 33-yr-old Norihide Yamamoto and 26-yr-old Dani Mendoza. Yamamoto was in his sixth year for Gloucester / Marseille and although he started as the undisputed #1 he lost his place as it became clear that the team would not extend his $10 million contract. He finished hitting .255 in 137 appearances with seven homers and 44 RBI. He walked 65 times and scored 58 runs. Dani was in his second year in the organisation and appeared in 62 games hitting .227, two homers and drove in 16 runs. He finished the year as the team’s first choice behind the plate despite not impressing but he did allow only two passed balls and threw out four of nine would-be base stealers against him (44.4%),

The Infield

30-yr-old James McJannett and 31-yr-old Riley Cole shared the bulk of the work at first. It had been planned for Cole to be the starting first baseman but injuries to Crabtree meant he spent 38 games back at second base. Cole still made 119 appearance at first and was a reliable defender posting a +2.8 ZR there, McJannett made 41 appearances at first but his defence was poor with a -2.1 ZR. Second base turned out to be a bit of a mess, 34-yr-old Jason Crabtree was selected in the Rule 5 draft from Crystal Lake to become the second base starter despite being three years since his last PEBA appearance but injury limited him to only 118 appearances and his defence was less than stellar posting a -4.3 ZR. Riley Cole made 38 appearances to replace Crabtree with passable defence and 28-yr-old Glen Hendricks was promoted from Beantown to make 12 appearances but both he and 31-yr-old Truman Thompson who made eight starts failed to hit hardly anything. Thompson did though record the only positive ZR at second. 26-yr-old Sophomore Sul-shik Im was projected to be the third base starter but his poor -7.2 ZR and 13 errors led to him only starting 107 games there as 27-yr-old Eric Cartier replaced him at the hot corner. His defence (+4.1 ZR) was better although he too made 10 errors and his prowess with the bat wasn’t near as good. At shortstop 29-yr-old free agent Leon Brunelle made 158 starts with a superb +7.6 ZR with 22 homers & 70 RBI but a disappointing .214/.282/.406 triple slash line

The Outfield

33-yr-old Keith Farmer was the undisputed left fielder making 82 starts before a torn back muscle in mid-July finished his PEBA career and forced him to retire after seven seasons and 512 games. It then became a mish-mash as player after player filled in. 33-yr-old veteran Juan Marquez made 31 starts with sound defence but a bat that only managed a .187 average, 31-yr-old Jeffrey Thomas (19 starts) and 27-yr-old Mike Messer (20 starts) shared time in left but in a repeating story neither were able to put bat on ball. The Fishermen’s #2 prospect, 24-yr-old  Kelvin McDonald, eventually arrived late September to make 10 starts and although he too struggled with the bat he at least produced a +2.5 ZR, the best since Farmer. In Centre it quickly became evident that the duo of Messer and Thomas couldn’t hit and were barely adequate in defence leaving the Rule 5 pick from West Virginia, 28-yr-old Don Chapman, to make 110 starts in centre field in his PEBA rookie season. He too struggled with the bat eventually hitting just .168/.207/.271 but produced All Star quality defence with a +17.6 ZR. In right field 30-yr-old Robin Baldwin was in his sixth year there with a solid +6.2 ZR and 15 HR/ 56 RBI. He made 125 starts but there will be a new man there in 2023 after the club refused to lay out $10 million plus to extend him. Thomas made 27 starts in right but he too was released and more than likely the starting role will fall to the #1 prospect, 22-yr-old Clarence Carpenter, who made nine starts as a late-September call-up without disgracing himself.

DH

36-yr-old Carlos Guerera started 120 games at DH passing 2,000 hits on September 13^th in a 12-year PEBA career spanning 1757 games but this will be another vacant slot in 2023 as Carlos is another of the players that would have required $10 million to extend.