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Offseason Thoughts
Pitching Staff
· The starting rotation of: Aquino, Higgins, Campbell, Wilder and Juarez are all under contract, with Higgins, Campbell & Wilder up for arbitration. The rotation excelled in 2009, so I don’t see any changes to be made here.
· We need to some strength to the bullpen. We will exercise the final year of Howell’s contract at $7 million and offer a contract extension to Barrios. Any replacement for Howell, will be cost at least $7 million and we don’t have anyone ready to take over the closer role. The rest of our gaps will be filled through free agency or trades.
Offense/Defense
We need to improve at the plate, defensively, we finished first in the National League, this did provide a big boost to our pitching staff. Somehow, we need to improve out batting average and decrease our strikeout rate while maintaining our current level of defense. I think that the best way to improve this is through coaching; there are not strong alternative on the market for hitting coaches and we let the contract expire on Nolan Meredith, despite the emotional attachment.
Offseason Changes
The following changes took place this week:
· Sacramento has a new owner: Juan Moran, who immediately changed the name from the Sacramento Atomic Bombs to the Sacramento Kings
· New York has a new owner: Joe Myers, who immediately changed the name from the Mudfish to the Highlanders
· Memphis has fired manager, John Finley
· Kansas City has fired manager, Carl Rollings
· San Francisco has fired manger, Justin Casey
· Phoenix has fired GM, Johnny Kelly
· San Antonio has fired manager, Domingo Gonzalez
· Long Beach has fired GM Robinson Espinoza
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