Welcome to the Bourbon Street Baseball Blog’s first ever blog publication. The hope is to publish this summary of New Orleans Trendsetters happenings with a look at the PEBA club (Life in the Big Easy) and, since the PEBA club usually sucks, a look at the Trendsetter’s farm system (A Block Off Bourbon Street). We will try and feature a fan or two in each blog (Trendie Town Talks) and look at any notes that may affect the team’s future in Crescent City (Crawfish Politics).

So with all of that out of the way, lets hit the road with the first issue of the Bourbon Street Baseball Blog!

Life in the Big Easy
It would be easy and probably desirable to skip this part, but since this blog is about the New Orleans Trendsetters, we should probably make them a part of it. After being swept by the Hartford Harpoons in a three-game set, the Trendies are now sitting at 34-59, 25 games under .500 and 38 1/2 games out of first. The team is struggling in almost every aspect, but the real culprit has been pitching. With #1 starter Nathan Gallard out for at 3-4 more weeks, the rest of the staff has been abysmal. Except for “Slippery” Joe Arnold. While he will likely not have the wins to show for it, Slippery Joe is putting together a very solid season. Over 19 starts, Arnold is 5-8 with a respectable 3.37 ERA. He is also eating up innings like M&M’s and is expected to get back to his usual 200+ innings pitched this season. Unfortunately for Joe he is surrounded by a number of fill-in pieces. David Sanz and Shadi Ouakill, who both raised Trendie hopes with solid September debuts last year are both back in AAA. The pitching staff is ranked 16th in the league, the starters are ranked 16th and they are also ranked 16th in Runs Allowed, Hits Allowed, Opponents Average, and Home Runs Allowed. Tack on 14th in Walks Allowed and you have a recipe for pitching disaster.

A Block Off Bourbon Street
When GM Chuck Valenches joined the club prior to the 2038 season, the farm system was pretty barren. First round picks had not panned out, most levels of the minors had cupboards bare of prospects. Gallard, already in the big leagues was the top prospect and other than Li Zhu-Ho (currently on the IR with Single A Ensenada, there just was not much there. That has begun to change. The minor league system has moved up from 25th to 16th in the last year and that has been due to the additions of last years Number One pick Gabriel Santos, 2039 #1 pick Marcos Jimenez, the development of minor leaguer Hyung-On Che and the recent signing of 1B Keiji Shiroi. New Orleans has put a lot of their budget towards scouting and development and it looks like it may be starting to pay off. While the upper minors are still pretty lackluster, that may not be the case soon.

Trendie Town Talks
We asked local fan, 86-year old Tim Grubbs what he thought the best promotion he ever saw at a New Orleans Trendsetter game was:
Grubbs: I’d have to say it was back when the Trendies stopped winning very much. Probably round 2011-2012. They started trying every stupid promotion in the book. Fans were not showing up so they did an, of all things, an underwear giveaway! The first 10,000 fans got a free pair of Fruit of the Looms. The only problem was that they were all either small or XXXL. So you were either swimming in them or you couldn’t breathe! Fans started throwing them on the field or, since it was also Thirsty Thursday and this is N’awlins, started picking up the discarded ones and wearing them on their head. A promotion so stupid it became a classic.

Crawfish Politics

The Ballpark in New Orleans has been named New Frontier Park for as long as anyone can remember. However, the park itself is starting to show it’s age. While the park still has some life left in it, improvements are needed and the possibility of a ballpark without a permanent Pittsburgh Pirates logo does excite local businessmen and corporate sponsors. There may also soon be the opportunity for the naming rights to be secured. Owner Jack Cobb has been putting out signals that the money from a Corporate Naming Rights Sponsor would be welcome. Stay Tuned.

That is all until next issue folks.

Just a note, we are actively seeking submissions for a blog logo. And now we wrap it up with one of my favorite baseball quotes (Which I hope to do each issue).

“F**k You Shakespeare!” – Pete Rose yelling from the dugout steps to pitcher Jim Bouton during a spring training game following the publication of Bouton’s “Ball Four”