Virginia Colonials: 1987 Year in Review

[Clay]

Virginia Colonials (82-80) Season Review

WHAT WENT RIGHT:

- Wins - Sounds over simplistic, but 82 is out franchise record for WINS. We'll take it!!

- Bullpen - Vernon Simmonds anchored easily our best bullpen in team history. Simmonds was great. Jayson McQueen was a workhorse and downright nasty. Both guys should be in the IL Last Call Relief discussion. George McSwain was steady and new young gun Artie Montgomery came out and gave more than we could have hoped for. This group is intact and should only get better. #2 BP ERA in the IL.

- Welcome to The Show, Rook! - The '87 Colonials put up their best record in Francise history while leaning heavily on a large number of rookies. Maeda, Rhodes, McQueen, Montgomery, Herrera and Takahashi
all some varying degrees on notable playing time this season. We're building something here.

- Nate Magness - The best thing that ever happened to this kid may have been the explosion of Denver Brode and Conan Wilkerson. Something woke the former #1 overall pick up after the All-Star break and he played great baseball. 4 Complete game shut outs. 8 consecutive wins to end the season. 16-10 overall. Just a streak? Maybe. But he's finally starting to look like that Ace we drafted in '82.

- Quiet Cool - Dale O'Hegarty is developing into one of the best all-around players in the BLB. A 4th All-Star game in 5 seasons and his 3rd straight Stolen Base title, O'Hegarty moved into the #3 spot late
in the season and looks to have found a new home. With an OBP that once again hung around the .400 mark, the kid enters his last arbitration year in '88. Look for the Colonials to make it their top priority in the off-season to lock this 27 year old down through his prime.

- Backstop - Alberto Hernando, though injured late in the year, took a ratings boost and had another nice season. Hernando looks like he'll continue to improve as he holds down the spot for '87 1st round pick Ruiz.

WHAT WENT WRONG:

- Vincent Nino - Paid too in the trade and too much money in the extension to lose that much season. I think it's an anomoly because Nino has not been an injury risk, but with the Harcourt burn last season,
it really stung to lose our biggest gun again.

- Fan Favorites Walking Into the Sunset - Sadly, some of Virginia's favorite Sons are starting to look more and more like they are not part of the team's futures and must either except smaller roles with the team or move on. Former big names like Danny Nelson and Delmar Oyos are expected to be part of the '88 team, but their roles may not be what they hoped for.

- Out of Outfielders - Have developed gaping holes in the Outfield. Artie Rhodes was good for a rookie, but he was injured quite a bit. Llombart was good, but was moved at the deadline. Dardon and Medine were brought in as 1 year stop gaps and both players were just decent. Florian Tosselli got a late season call up, but I don't see him living up to his 1st round pick status. The off-season will be key to fill some spots covering the National Park that IS Colonial Park at Williamsburg.

- M*A*S*H Unit - Too many significant injuries that seem to plaque this squad every year!

OUTLOOK FOR 1988

If Opening Day 1988 were tomorrow, the Colonials would likely roll out a lineup of:
1) Rhodes (RF)
2) Maeda (1B)
3) O'Hegarty (SS)
4) Nino (3B)
5) Poling (2B)
6) Hernando (C)
7) Takahashi (LF)
8) Nelson (CF)
9) -Pitcher-

Takahashi is not a LF, but if he is still a Colonial and not traded for a corner OFer, he'll need to get his ABs.

Rotation:
- Arrendondo
- Magness
- Herrera
- Morgan
- Franklin/Jolley

Bullpen:
- Montgomery
- McSwain
- Perez
- Boyd
- Oyos
- McQueen (S/U)
- Simmonds (Closer)

All in all, very few changes going into '88. We're just counting on HEALTH and DEVELOPMENT!

[Carlos]

O'Hegarty is definitely looking like the type of guy I want on my team. Really developed his hitting and continues to find ways to run like a mad man. His lack of overall power makes him a dynamic player, and I say this seriously. He can leg out triples and swipes bags at a great rate and it's because of his speed. It's what I'm hoping Orlin Montero develops into.

At the same age (23) Montero swiped more bags, but O'Hegarty was already a great gap hitter and set that single season record for triples with 17. Also, O'Hegarty has a great eye and is great anywhere from 1-3 in the lineup. Again, I can only hope that Montero comes close to that production, but he's never walked more than 31 times in his professional career (in the minors at that) so it's highly unlikely.

Good season for your team. Arrendondo definitely developed into a true ace (still the worst trade I ever made) and you have a nice nucleus of relief pitchers.

[Clay]

O'Hegarty is definitely looking like the type of guy I want on my team. Really developed his hitting and continues to find ways to run like a mad man. His lack of overall power makes him a dynamic player, and I say this seriously. He can leg out triples and swipes bags at a great rate and it's because of his speed. It's what I'm hoping Orlin Montero develops into.

At the same age (23) Montero swiped more bags, but O'Hegarty was already a great gap hitter and set that single season record for triples with 17. Also, O'Hegarty has a great eye and is great anywhere from 1-3 in the lineup. Again, I can only hope that Montero comes close to that production, but he's never walked more than 31 times in his professional career (in the minors at that) so it's highly unlikely.

Well, if you track O'Hegarty... his first two full seasons he was not walking nearly as much as he was striking out. 64/133 and 72/118. He came around about 24-25 so your guy may still get there when he's fully developed. Not sure he's a 100 BB guy, but he's a nice player.

Good season for your team. Arrendondo definitely developed into a true ace (still the worst trade I ever made) and you have a nice nucleus of relief pitchers.

Yeah, we like Arrendondo. He's like that old reliable starter that leads the staff of young question marks. If all of my young guys hit, Arrendondo slowly moves down the rotation. In the meantime, he's been really solid. He'll probably go into next season as my #3 in terms of talent, but he's keeping the #1 spot in the rotation.

As far as Relievers... man... I've missed on so many guys who I thought were going to be studs, but I just keep taking them. I spend a lot of picks... early ones at that... on relievers.