Bureaucratic Babble Season in Review Volume 1

[DanD]

11/14/2007: Arlington, VA - For most of the season, the Bureaucrats looked playoff bound. The last month of the season was a slow crawl to the finish. There were several great accomplishments. RF Travis Bunch, SP Víctor Matos, and SP Michael Bender were All-Stars. Bender also was IL Rookie and Pitcher of the Month for May and June. 3B Kiril Nijenboer was Player of the Week in June. However, the team only hit 102 home runs.

We were able to pry GM/Owner John “Whitbrenner” Whitacre from his dark room office for thirty minutes to get his opinion on various topics. Here is his synopsis of each position:

“We feel catcher is very solid. Ronnie Johnstone is the best defensive catcher in baseball. The 33-year-old is slightly below average offensively and has a job for at least a year. Douglas McElroy and über-prospect Gabriel Camacho will battle it out for backup catcher. Draftee Larry Brown will be ready in another year or two.

“The infield is another strength. 1B Rod Borrell and SS Tom Franks had solid yet unspectacular years. We would like for them to perform at or above these levels for these guys to make it through their entire contracts. Ernest Cunningham is a true trooper. This guy still wants to play well into his late 30’s despite the fact that he is coming off of a serious back injury and this is the last year of his contract. Kiril Niijenboer is waiting in the wings and will hold down 2B until Cunningham’s retirement. Pablo Souza will be the utility infielder and Frederick Craig should be the other. 3B José Herrera, 3B Allen Robinson, 2B Juan Ríos, and 2B Putra Simbolon will be the infield in AAA and the first call-ups in this order. Draftee 3Bs António Carbezola and David Teague will be watched closely as they repeat A-ball.
“Outfield was a disappointment. RF Travis Bunch did well and got the contract extension he deserved. António Alfaro had a huge season; we traded him for no other reason than age. I think I screwed that one up… if I could do that one over… but we did get some good prospects out of it. Mario Hernández was brought over on a whim and it paid off for like a week. He’s a reasonable CF and we will keep him there for this season at least. LF Larry Hoskins was an extreme disappointment and will need to get going early next year to keep his job. Ignacio Carillo showed he’s a 5th outfielder and got way too many at bats. He’s a minimum-paid OF with minimum potential. Jesús Suárez showed excellent speed and defense and hit very good power in AAA. He will be taking at-bats from Hoskins and will get most of Carillo’s. CF José Ortíz is the first call up. We will need to prioritize our draft at this position.

“Overall we were good offensively driving the ball to the gap and being patient. But we definitely need to get more aggressive and hit more than 102 home runs.”