In-season trades made a big difference for
Diamonds so far. Future looks good.
As I write this, the
Diamonds have compiled a 63-44 record (all July games concluded) and haven
opened up a 6 game lead on second-place Virginia (54-47, 6 games left in July;
thanks to Mike for the latest update). This, to say the least, was quite
unexpected, at least at the beginning of the year. While the team was built
mostly with an eye to be a contender next year and beyond, the idea in the
start-up draft was to still try to make the team competitive this year, with an
eye on possibly making the playoffs. The draft provided the nucleus for a
competitive team, but there were two problems before the season began: (i) the
lineup was heavily slanted to the right; (ii) the bullpen was weak.
The team tried to
remedy this with in-season trades, all the while trying to keep the cost of
such improvements as affordable as possible, that is, with players who did not
have outrageous contracts, even if it meant making concessions on quality. The
idea was not to jeopardize the team’s future with costly financial additions.
Before the season
began, the Diamonds acquired a much needed lefthanded utility bat in Brian
Daubach from Buckeye. A month into the season, the Diamonds acquired Rodrigo
Lopez (aka The One Year Wonder) from Silver, and later on, traded for two more
lefthanded bats, Geoff Blum and Damon Minor.
Lopez has been very
useful both as a starter and out of the bullpen, while Looper has done a very
good job in late innings. Daubach, Minor, and Blum provided the needed LH punch
that the team could use as pinch hitters, against tough righthanded pitchers,
or to spare some of the regulars.
Those five players
have so far contributed significantly to the team’s success. Here are the
numbers they have put up with the team (Blum, Minor, and Looper over one month,
Lopez over three, and Daubach over four):
AVG. AB HR RBI OBP SLG OPS
Blum .339 56 3 6 .439 .571 1.100
Daubach .333 153 8 38 .405 .588 .993
Minor .224 40 2 8 .373 .425 .798
ERA W-L SV IP
Lopez 2.91 2-1 2 21.2
Looper 3.32 8-2 0 105.2
The performance of
these five players is comforting now that the Diamonds embark in their most
difficult part of their schedule in August. The question now is whether or not
the team can keep this up for the rest of the year.
Next year should also be
interesting. Apart from Ellis Burks, David Justice, and Al Leiter (who, if
nothing else, will free up a considerable amount of money), all the regulars
will be back, thus creating logjams with up-and-coming young guys at three infield
positions (Blalock/Lowell at 3B, Vidro/Roberts at 2B, and
Lee/Choi/LeCroy/Wilson at 1B); in other words, there will be trades in order to
fill holes in the OF and perhaps behind the plate. The pitching staff looks
fine for now with Wade Miller, Kip Wells, Kaz Ishii, and Carl Pavano as
starters, and Braden Looper and Jamie Walker in the ‘pen, although we may want
to upgrade some here. With a healthy
bank account and a projected payroll that looks reasonable and, as far as I can
tell, won’t be higher than this year’s, the team is in a good position to make
a run at the Aaron Division pennant..
The team also has some
promising payers who should help in the near future in SS Bobby Crosby, who
will take over for Tejada when his Miguel’s contract runs out two years from
now (when he’s more likely to be 32 rather than his the alleged 29), OFers
Xavier Nady and Chris Snelling, C Justin Huber, 3B Brendan Harris, and Ps Joel
Hanrahan and Ben Kozlowski (who’s undergone TJ and is out for the year), with
the anticipated return to form of Tony Armas (damned labrum tears, partial
though they may be … ) and Dewon Brazelton (praying for Roy Halladay II) somewhere
down the line, and the re-emergence of once highly touted Matt Riley, another
TJ survivor. Now, if only the Florida Marlins could free C Ramon Castro …
Given all this, I
think this team should be fine for at least the next couple of years. That is,
of course, if Lady Luck collaborates.