2017: The Season in Review

We began this season with great expectations and a dream of bringing an end to the New Milford Blazers ridiculous streak of division titles. If you had told us at the beginning of the season that we would finish with 99 wins, I would have assumed that would be good enough to win that division title. Instead, we finished 21 games behind. Needless to say, we didn't envision the utter dominance of the Blazers' 120-win season.

We managed to keep it a tight race for at least the first half of the season. We even enjoyed a (very) brief time as leaders of the division. But then something happened to the Blazers in the second half. They kicked it into a higher gear and won 62 games in the second half -- seventeen more than we did. So much for the pennant race.

Among Ozzie League teams, only the Blazers and Infidels scored more runs than we did (846) this season. Our 3.89 team ERA ranked fourth in the OL.

We now look forward to taking on the 113+ game-winning Los Altos Undertakers in the OLDS. Our pitchers will have their work cut out for them, as Los Altos led the entire BDBL in runs scored (903) and home runs (272) this season. Every batter in their lineup is a weapon. They have four aces in the rotation and bullpen filled with an endless array of closers. Should be fun.

The Good:

Avisail Garcia ranks 23rd in offensive WAR in MLB 2017. We had him signed for a cool $2.5 million in 2018. Instead, we shipped him off to Kansas City in exchange for Martin Prado. Only days later, Prado injured himself for the season, leaving us with no option but to pay $2.3 million just to get rid of him at the end of the season. On the plus side, Prado has done nothing but hit the snot out of the ball (.449/.513/.643 in 98 AB) since becoming a Cowtipper. If he single-handedly wins the trophy for us this year, it will all be worth it. If not, what an incredible waste of resources.

Rookie sensations Andrew Benintendi (.337/.388/.467 in 92 AB) and Gary Sanchez (.288/.373/.679) helped to justify our trade of Kris Bryant a year ago. Another rookie, Trea Turner, hit .334/.358/.563 on the season, with 11 triples, 37 extra-base hits, and 63 RBI's in only 323 AB's. Those core three youngsters will be joined by Rafael Devers in 2018, giving us a solid foundation for our franchise's future.

Jose Ramirez (.315/.369/.457, with 66 doubles), Jose Altuve (.308/.354/.456), Elvis Andrus (.308/.354/.456), and Miguel Cabrera (.293/.376/.519) gave us consistent solid performances all year long. Jayson Werth (.297/.391/.658) added another power bat against southpaws. Alex Dickerson (.275/.347/.508) also provided some pop in limited (244 AB) time.

On the pitching side, Ruddy de la Rosa (2.19 ERA in 53+ IP) and David Phelps (2.43 in 85+) provided us with two solid middle-inning arms throughout the year. Matt Shoemaker (15-7, 3.56 ERA in 172 IP) was probably our staff ace -- and he won't be on our 25-man playoffs roster! Steven Matz (15-5, 3.60 in 145 IP) and Jon Gray (10-9, 3.75 in 182+) were solid in the middle of the rotation.

The Bad:

Needless to say, when we traded Aaron Judge for Junior Guerra last winter, we were hoping Guerra would not only provide us with an above-average starter this year, but for years to come. Instead, Guerra posted a mediocre 4.06 ERA and 8-7 record in 130+ innings and was so ineffective in MLB that he will be cut in the winter.

Odubel Herrera hit half as many doubles and home runs for us as he did for the Phillies a year ago, and only one-third as many triples. Granted, we expected his performance to suffer a bit given the differences in ballpark factors between Philadelphia and Salem. Still, we were hoping the drop-off would be a little less drastic.

The Ugly:

Miguel Cabrera hit just .203/.333/.331 against left-handers this year. This is compared to his MLB line of .302/.409/.517. Those numbers aren't even close. I can't even begin to explain that discrepancy.

Kyle Seager hit .307/.394/.538 against right-handers in MLB 2016. For us, he hit .237/.324/.425. He barely hit half as many home runs for us as he did in MLB 2016: 17 vs. 30. His usefulness to us is so razor-thin that he's on the bubble for our 25-man playoffs roster. His greatest asset is his Ex range in the field.

Another player on that bubble, incredibly enough, is the man who was supposed to be our "ace." Our "franchise pitcher", Stephen Strasburg. In what has to be the most bizarre and inexplicable underperformance in recent memory, Stras posted a 5.09 ERA on the season (vs. the 3.60 ERA he posted in MLB 2016.) He allowed nearly a base hit per inning (vs. 7.3 hits per nine in MLB), and coughed up 28 longballs (vs. 15 in MLB.) Nothing about his record makes a lick of sense. He surrendered 17 home runs to left-handers (vs. 9 in MLB), and nearly doubled the number of homers to right-handers (11 vs. 6.) Maybe his player card is faulty. Maybe Diamond Mind just sucks. I have no idea how to explain it.

The third player vying for that 25th roster spot was supposed to be our "closer," Nate Jones. We had pursued Jones in the winter, as he seemed like a terrific, and yet unheralded, candidate for the position. He posted stellar numbers in a very tough MLB ballpark. We figured he would thrive in our pitcher-friendly park. We were wrong. In only 37+ innings, he allowed six home runs. He managed to blow five saves in only sixteen opportunities. Most inexplicably of all, his walk rate nearly doubled (3.6 vs. 1.9) what it was in MLB. Maybe it's time to fire our pitching coach.