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Wilmington Wildcats: 2061 Season Review
Season - 88-74, #2 WC: Lost in Wild Card round 2-3 against Pawtucket
Preseason Predictions - 87-75, #2 WC
Daily Keg Predictions: Losing in WC round
WHAT WENT RIGHT:
Pitching and Defense: Wash, rinse, repeat. The Wildcats finished with arguably the best pitching and best defense in the entire league. #1 in ERA, #1 in ZR and #1 in CS%. Not really too much to add here as this has been our calling card since I took over the team.
Rookies: Quite a few rookies were major contributors to the teams success. Catcher Chandler Freeze was a DL All-Star, finished with the 3rd highest WAR of all BLB catchers and has a chance to take home a DWI after leading the league in CS% and frame rate. 2B James Little, while only a platoon player, hit .285/.775 vs. RHP, had 27 SB and a 1.2 WAR in just 61 GS. Starting pitchers Bryce Garton and Langdon Bica showed enough in smaller sample sizes that they will be in the rotation next season.
WHAT WENT WRONG:
Hitting: Wash, rinse, repeat. Wilmington finished 9th in the DL in runs scored, again, our calling card. IF Dusty Cahue struggled almost the entire season. A list of other players I was expecting a lot more from where either hurt or just underperformed. Hitting has been our downfall and for long stretches of the season (and playoffs), it seems we only win if the pitching staff is nearly perfect.
Considering I was getting significant contributions for a bunch of cheap vets that no one else wanted (Amonte Raper, Tyson Dodd, Rodrick Madhubuti, Cody Zimmerman, Damien Sidamon, etc), will give you an idea of the lack of hitting talent in the lineup.
IFA...Bust? Really, the story of the season was probably the off-season signing of Marquis Alagna to a 5-year, $140M contract. At this point the signing seems like a bit of a miss. He had a good season, second amongst WIL hitters with a 3.0 WAR in just 127 GS, but when you factor in the cost, I'm not sure he's been a good signing. Costing a whopping $36M this year and next year, has taken up all of our budget room and made it impossible to sign any other decent FAs last year and will likely do the same this off-season. Even further, his signing will likely force us to let talent walk out the door. He's only 23-years-old and still has potential left but for 2061, it was probably a bad decision.
PLAYOFFS:
Lost to Pawtucket in five games: W 3-1, W 4-1, L 3-5, L 4-5, L 4-7 - See what I mean about the pitching having to be perfect? We lost every game in the series in which we gave up more than just one run. In the decisive game five, my only top 20 pitcher Rick Robertson gave up five runs in the first inning and the game was over. I went back and forth on whether to go 4-man or 3-man rotation, but thought it had a good chance to go five and wanted my best pitcher, 100% rested on the mound. Didn't really work out.
OUTLOOK FOR 2062
Well, as of today, eight of our fourteen highest paid players are set to be Free-Agents and we don't have a lot of money to bring them back. The biggest "casualty" of the IFA signing is probably going to be SP Cole Good. The former #2 overall pick has FINALLY reached his potential at 28-years-old and posted a career best season where he lead the league in WHIP and BB/9. Had I not been projected overbudget for the 2062 season, he was willing to sign for about $6M per year at the start of the season. He now wants more than double that and we have a few sims to decide if he's worth it.
With the talent leaving the door, regardless of the Good decision, I'm not sure what this team is going forward. Even if we add a piece here or there, call up more youngsters, get bargain vets to contribute, I don't think Wilmington is a true contender. The team also has a VERY shallow farm system and not a wiggle room financially. This team is probably headed towards a decline in wins and will be fighting to be .500 next season.
FINAL THOUGHTS
All in all, the season feels about what was expected. Pre-season predictions by OSA and the Daily Keg were basically spot on. It feels good to get back in the dance after going 80-82 last year but I thought we had a decent chance to make a run. We swept New Orleans the final three games of the season, when they only needed one win to take the division, and I thought we could ride that momentum against any DL team. Pawtucket bested us and makes our off-season a bit uncertain.
Season - 88-74, #2 WC: Lost in Wild Card round 2-3 against Pawtucket
Preseason Predictions - 87-75, #2 WC
Daily Keg Predictions: Losing in WC round
WHAT WENT RIGHT:
Pitching and Defense: Wash, rinse, repeat. The Wildcats finished with arguably the best pitching and best defense in the entire league. #1 in ERA, #1 in ZR and #1 in CS%. Not really too much to add here as this has been our calling card since I took over the team.
Rookies: Quite a few rookies were major contributors to the teams success. Catcher Chandler Freeze was a DL All-Star, finished with the 3rd highest WAR of all BLB catchers and has a chance to take home a DWI after leading the league in CS% and frame rate. 2B James Little, while only a platoon player, hit .285/.775 vs. RHP, had 27 SB and a 1.2 WAR in just 61 GS. Starting pitchers Bryce Garton and Langdon Bica showed enough in smaller sample sizes that they will be in the rotation next season.
WHAT WENT WRONG:
Hitting: Wash, rinse, repeat. Wilmington finished 9th in the DL in runs scored, again, our calling card. IF Dusty Cahue struggled almost the entire season. A list of other players I was expecting a lot more from where either hurt or just underperformed. Hitting has been our downfall and for long stretches of the season (and playoffs), it seems we only win if the pitching staff is nearly perfect.
Considering I was getting significant contributions for a bunch of cheap vets that no one else wanted (Amonte Raper, Tyson Dodd, Rodrick Madhubuti, Cody Zimmerman, Damien Sidamon, etc), will give you an idea of the lack of hitting talent in the lineup.
IFA...Bust? Really, the story of the season was probably the off-season signing of Marquis Alagna to a 5-year, $140M contract. At this point the signing seems like a bit of a miss. He had a good season, second amongst WIL hitters with a 3.0 WAR in just 127 GS, but when you factor in the cost, I'm not sure he's been a good signing. Costing a whopping $36M this year and next year, has taken up all of our budget room and made it impossible to sign any other decent FAs last year and will likely do the same this off-season. Even further, his signing will likely force us to let talent walk out the door. He's only 23-years-old and still has potential left but for 2061, it was probably a bad decision.
PLAYOFFS:
Lost to Pawtucket in five games: W 3-1, W 4-1, L 3-5, L 4-5, L 4-7 - See what I mean about the pitching having to be perfect? We lost every game in the series in which we gave up more than just one run. In the decisive game five, my only top 20 pitcher Rick Robertson gave up five runs in the first inning and the game was over. I went back and forth on whether to go 4-man or 3-man rotation, but thought it had a good chance to go five and wanted my best pitcher, 100% rested on the mound. Didn't really work out.
OUTLOOK FOR 2062
Well, as of today, eight of our fourteen highest paid players are set to be Free-Agents and we don't have a lot of money to bring them back. The biggest "casualty" of the IFA signing is probably going to be SP Cole Good. The former #2 overall pick has FINALLY reached his potential at 28-years-old and posted a career best season where he lead the league in WHIP and BB/9. Had I not been projected overbudget for the 2062 season, he was willing to sign for about $6M per year at the start of the season. He now wants more than double that and we have a few sims to decide if he's worth it.
With the talent leaving the door, regardless of the Good decision, I'm not sure what this team is going forward. Even if we add a piece here or there, call up more youngsters, get bargain vets to contribute, I don't think Wilmington is a true contender. The team also has a VERY shallow farm system and not a wiggle room financially. This team is probably headed towards a decline in wins and will be fighting to be .500 next season.
FINAL THOUGHTS
All in all, the season feels about what was expected. Pre-season predictions by OSA and the Daily Keg were basically spot on. It feels good to get back in the dance after going 80-82 last year but I thought we had a decent chance to make a run. We swept New Orleans the final three games of the season, when they only needed one win to take the division, and I thought we could ride that momentum against any DL team. Pawtucket bested us and makes our off-season a bit uncertain.