Frozen Stiffer
Posts: 1059
Joined: 8/19/2005 From: California, USA Status: offline
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Bustoff, I do the same thing with "aging" pitchers when they start heading into their 30s; I look at the asking price for a contract renewal and do the 1-year thing. In the case of Ferguson though, I see the value of trading him off while he's "hot" and attractive to other teams as well as the gain in retaining him with year-to-year extensions, failing to renew it after I begin to witness obvious signs of deterioration. One little detail that may have gone overlooked by most is the in-game date; August 17th. It's too late to trade him for this season. I can consider that as an option after it's all over, but as we all know, players just don't seem to trade as well after the season ends, when their stats are all zeroes. Thus, with the trade option off the table, I'm going to go ahead and ride him out to see what he does. It's like the case of Orioles outfielder Brady Anderson- he hit 50 home runs in 1996 but never hit more than 24 any of the other 14 years he played. I think that with Ferguson, I'm going to go with whatever principle Anderson's manager at the time probably adopted, "I don't know and I can't explain what's happening, but I'm not going to touch him". On the matter of Mazella, whatever little drought or slump or funk he's going through cannot last forever with numbers like this. I'm keeping him and there's no doubt about it. Perhaps the two of them would be the foundation, the bastions of stability for an entirely revamped and reworking pitching staff? About defense, I must agree with what you are all saying. I have been blinded by the offensive power from my other fictional association and the team I manage there. Focusing on players' defensive abilities over their offensive abilities is something that I have not only underestimated, but (embarassingly enough) publically admitted I underestimated, and then still failed to do nothing to improve on it. Before sending him down, I had a starting SS by the name of DeWitt who was a really good fielder, but he couldn't hit the ground if he fell. As offense-challenged as he may be, perhaps its time for me to make book the flight and bring him up to the majors. I'm going to start really looking at defensive capabilities and pitching, as KG suggested. Then, I'll build around that. I really loved the winning 2-1 vs. winning 11-10 comparisons and I completely see the logic and sensibility in this. At the end of the season, I'm going to rework the infield and look close at our outfielders. Priority will go to Mazella and Ferguson and 1 or 2 others on the pitching staff, while everyone else is getting shipped or traded out. I'm going to look at our minors and see put added weight in fielding capability; a detail that I have allowed to slip too long in favor of a heavy bat. I'll continue to post here as time goes on to share interesting changes and events, but it looks like a major renovation of the Key West Rum Runners is coming; even if the new end-plan differs from the original one. Thanks again, everyone!
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"It ain't braggin' if you can do it." -Hall of Fame pitcher Jerome 'Dizzy' Dean
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