How about those Padres
Jan 25, 2018 0:31:11 GMT -5
Texas Rangers, Tim_KCRoyalsGM, and 6 more like this
Post by Commish_Ron on Jan 25, 2018 0:31:11 GMT -5
I know it might be bad form and it is definitely bad luck to write about a team when they are playing well. But damn. I keep waiting for the hammer to fall but this is getting to be a pretty big sample size. I am at the point in Major League where the construction worker says "You know these guys ain't so fuckin bad".
You can go back and look at my preseason outlook. I had no expectations of being in the playoffs this year. In fact we were so resigned to waiting out the development of the prospects we traded away Carl Holmes, the player with some of the best ratings we had ever seen. Yet there I sit on top of the power rankings and still hold the best record. And, honestly, I am looking at the team trying to figure out what the hell?! What is really weird is that the guys that are supposed to be leading the team are off to really slow starts. I was targeting a huge breakout season from left fielder Melvin Price. He has been pretty awful with a batting average below .200 and a negative WAR so far. 3B Allan Hawkins has not been terrible, but his stats are fairly pedestrian and you have to start wondering if he is ever going to be the super star I expected him to be. Staff ace Felipe Carrillo also is not bad but he has the second highest ERA of anyone on the team with more than 3 innings pitched. Out of the group of players with super star caliber ratings only catcher Antonio Lopez is standing out. And man what a tear he is on! There are some teams that need to be kicking themselves for letting him fall to me at the 18th pick of the 2039 draft.
So where is all of the production coming from? On the mound, who is this guy wearing Miguel Cruz's uniform??!! 10-0 in 12 starts with a 2.00 ERA a 0.98 WHIP and 64 Ks/10 BBs??!! I mean, desperate times called for desperate measures a few seasons ago. Padres were starved for pitching when we he popped into free agency at 28 years old out of the Dominican Republic. $30 million over 6 years was a stretch but at best we hoped we bought a middle of the rotation and inning eating guy. This dude is out there looking like Nolan Ryan. At the plate, again calling the uniform wearer into question, who is this RF Marvin Martinez? The past two years he was batting around .240 with an OPS at about .670. Pretty meh. All he has done so far this season is batted .333 and belted 12 HR. His OPS out of nowhere is suddenly a beefy .967. Hello! The other Antonio Lopez (1B) came over in the Carl Holmes trade. He barely won out the competition for 1B in spring training, and again was pretty much out there for lack of a better option. Yeah, about that. He is on pace for 57 HR. That doesn't suck.
We have virtually no representation on the leader boards and yet this band of misfits and place holders are second in the NL in runs scored and second in runs allowed. Offensively they are first in batting average, on base percentage and have the least strikeouts. That is a great combination. Not many HRs outside of Lopez but they just have guys on base and get productive outs moving guys around. Defensively it is really all about that starting rotation. Everyone is pitching so good they just keep the team in games.
I am still not sold that this can be sustained. But it is Hella fun right now.
You can go back and look at my preseason outlook. I had no expectations of being in the playoffs this year. In fact we were so resigned to waiting out the development of the prospects we traded away Carl Holmes, the player with some of the best ratings we had ever seen. Yet there I sit on top of the power rankings and still hold the best record. And, honestly, I am looking at the team trying to figure out what the hell?! What is really weird is that the guys that are supposed to be leading the team are off to really slow starts. I was targeting a huge breakout season from left fielder Melvin Price. He has been pretty awful with a batting average below .200 and a negative WAR so far. 3B Allan Hawkins has not been terrible, but his stats are fairly pedestrian and you have to start wondering if he is ever going to be the super star I expected him to be. Staff ace Felipe Carrillo also is not bad but he has the second highest ERA of anyone on the team with more than 3 innings pitched. Out of the group of players with super star caliber ratings only catcher Antonio Lopez is standing out. And man what a tear he is on! There are some teams that need to be kicking themselves for letting him fall to me at the 18th pick of the 2039 draft.
So where is all of the production coming from? On the mound, who is this guy wearing Miguel Cruz's uniform??!! 10-0 in 12 starts with a 2.00 ERA a 0.98 WHIP and 64 Ks/10 BBs??!! I mean, desperate times called for desperate measures a few seasons ago. Padres were starved for pitching when we he popped into free agency at 28 years old out of the Dominican Republic. $30 million over 6 years was a stretch but at best we hoped we bought a middle of the rotation and inning eating guy. This dude is out there looking like Nolan Ryan. At the plate, again calling the uniform wearer into question, who is this RF Marvin Martinez? The past two years he was batting around .240 with an OPS at about .670. Pretty meh. All he has done so far this season is batted .333 and belted 12 HR. His OPS out of nowhere is suddenly a beefy .967. Hello! The other Antonio Lopez (1B) came over in the Carl Holmes trade. He barely won out the competition for 1B in spring training, and again was pretty much out there for lack of a better option. Yeah, about that. He is on pace for 57 HR. That doesn't suck.
We have virtually no representation on the leader boards and yet this band of misfits and place holders are second in the NL in runs scored and second in runs allowed. Offensively they are first in batting average, on base percentage and have the least strikeouts. That is a great combination. Not many HRs outside of Lopez but they just have guys on base and get productive outs moving guys around. Defensively it is really all about that starting rotation. Everyone is pitching so good they just keep the team in games.
I am still not sold that this can be sustained. But it is Hella fun right now.