A nasty little finish to the first half of the 1992 season for us, as we lose five games in a row (and counting...) hot on the heels of Dave Fleming being forced out for two months with acute elbow soreness. A shame, too, because up until then things seemed to be going our way. But that losing streak has moved us from first to fourth, although only three games behind the Senators, and it does seem as if the wind has definitely gone out of our sails for now.
Nothing much wrong in general with our offence, although Denzel Clarke stubbornly refuses to contribute more than replacement value or thereabouts. Carl Armstrong has been huge, same with Jeff LaMarr and good old Vic Ramirez after a bit of a cool start. Kitty Wickham is another who has come good after a poor first month, while Kmet and Kingery have been handy again, Kmet in particular (see below). Happy to report that our K/BB problem has improved, and this has helped us to score the most runs in the Skylobby. The D, also, has continued its upswing so I am generally happy with this area of our game.
BALLS
If only the same could be said about our staff. Some highpoints there - most notably Garland Braxton, who despite the historical aversion to pitchers winning the award must come into serious RoY consideration. Eddy Fernandez has been superb, Jarrod Parker much improved, and Fleming really solid before he got hurt. But John Cerutti has been horrendous and is now part of the BP, which has been our main problem as that 7th-ranked ERA tells you. Rawly Eastwick, so good for us just a couple seasons ago, is on his way out - $4m arb estimate for a 4.50+ ERA will earn him a trade or at worst a non-tender. Mark Clear is the other problem child, at Buffalo most of the season so far after posting a 6.75 ERA early on. He, too, is on thin ice. All in all, a bit of a mess.
INS, OUTS, UPS, DOWNS
Such a precarious tightrope walk trying to keep the squad improving with the ultimate goal of promotion always at the forefront of one's mindset while simultaneously not leaving yourself vulnerable to the dreaded regression, one at which I fail abjectly when I make this trade in mid-May...
... only to have DeGoti's replacement Ken Jensen go down for a month-long injury in mid-June. DeGoti was being used off the bench and wanted $3m+ per from here on in, so the trade makes sense and we got a solid RP in return, whom we subsequently extend on a reasonable 2/$3m deal.
I get us a bit more middle IF depth whilst tidying up the rosters a bit with three other low-key moves:
The DeGoti trade and Jensen injury lead to both Stanley and Whitehouse joining us at the big club. I've also somehow managed to switch the confusion of having two
J. Wrights on our books for the confusion of having two
J. Stanleys on our books. Genius, through and through.
The following players have been extended:
- IF Carl Armstrong 1/$1.45m
- IF Tim Torres and IF/OF James Rich 1/$3m - still no interest in longer-term from either
- OF Denzel Clark: 3/$8.55m
- P Johnny Magliozzi: 2/$3m - as mentioned above.
As good as Jeff LaMarr has been and continues to be, his demand of 3/$25m won't fly for me. I'd rather pay a bit more for a slightly younger guy of comparable quality for a year while we see how the two young guns develop. Were Joe Kostelac distinguishing himself, he might have been a cheaper version of the bridging option we are after, but a 196/219/275 line to this point kind of rules a line through him. He'll probably get moved on, with LaMarr here until the end and then allowed to walk unfettered. That would also give us the chance to have a closer look at one of the prospects, almost certainly Stephen Platt, who has done well at Buffalo, even though I believe Simeon Lucas to be the better of the two.
As I said, Eastwick is gone at season's-end and Clear very much on the precipice. Larry Brunke will get his chance to justify his $2m price tag while Flem is out of action. We may keep Neck Stanley as a cheap backup option, but Charles Smith will have to go as he will attract at least $1.5m in arb.
That leaves just Ken Jensen, who I am almost certain will be extended, and the virtually rhetorical question that is Michael Kmet. Yet again, he is making it almost impossible not to keep him here, with a 300/359/494 line and 6 HR / 34 RBI to his name. But that $4m or so outlay for a 1B without the traditional HR pop just sticks in my craw. The two most likely outcomes here are a prospect shop as late as possible if we aren't competing for promotion, or a first-day-of-offseason trade if we are. Of course, given my utter fascination with the dude, he may end up a Blue Jay for life...
Our projected payroll for '93 looks to be in the vicinity of $65m vs a budget around $90m, and with $26m still in the current kitty we are looking fairly comfortable both for this year and next in this regard. I'll be trying to parlay some of the unwanteds into players who might help us get over the hump down the stretch if that's what's needed, or if not then prospects for rainy days ahead.
AAA Buffalo has turned things around nicely this year, and currently lead their div by a couple games. With six Top-20 prospects on their books, I wouldn't expect anything less.
Magown is a gun who plays both ways and is slashing 353/446/472 with only sparing use on the mound to this point. He's not far off joining us, although I am reluctant to do so unnecessarily or prematurely. If we decide not to re-up with Kmerce, in Ken we have the replacement ready to slot in at 1B.
The boss is generally pleased, although still at me about this stupid Staff Cohesion. I'm just going to pretend I never got that memo.