2009 Year in Review

Those Grizzlies could really pitch! Grundy County was 5^th in the league with run prevention. Former #1 overall selection Zack Greinke (10-11, 3.64) followed up his 2008 breakout with a very solid 193 inning consolidation season. After 2 seasons out of NASBL baseball, Odalis Perez (11-4, 3.05) came from somewhere way offstage left to plant himself firmly in the middle of the Cy Young discussion. Rookie “G.I.” Joe Nelson used his changeup with the kung-fu grip to pile up a 10-5, 3.57 record in relief. And over on offense, GM Jack Howard's cousin Ryan Howard (.221/37/103) had his 2^nd best season in terms of turning perfectly good baseballs into souvenirs.


What went wrong?

You might expect a losing team with a great ERA to point the finger at the offense right here. But believe it or not, GCG's biggest problem in 2009 was – pitching! Specifically the bullpen, who held leads the way a sieve holds water. Want to know how a team with a +16 run differential goes 75-87? Here's how: A 24-33 record in 1-run games. A 10-13 record in extra-inning games. And a mammoth 21 blown saves in 38 opportunities. That's right, a .447 save percentage. No other team in the NASBL managed to give away more saveable games than they nailed down in 2009. The chief philanthropist? George Sherrill (5-5, 5.24) who blew 8 of his 12 save opportunities.


In retrospect, the critical decisions were:
1. Not breaking up the perennial Grundy County traffic jam at 1b. For the past 3 seasons, the Grizz have had the most beautiful 4-man 1^st base platoon you could ever possibly imagine: Ryan Howard, Justin Morneau (.298/16/63), Miguel Cabrera (.240/12/55) and Kevin Youkilis (.278/12/69). But every year, it's the same story. Somebody gets to DH, somebody gets to play out of position (usually at 3b, but occasionally in RF), and every day somebody sits. The upshot to the players' numbers? Highly thought of Justin Morneau has yet to exceed 22hr or 65 RBI in a season. Kevin Youkilis has career highs of 13 and 69. Miguel Cabrera, who averaged 32hr and 102 rbi his last 2 seasons in Honolulu, has yet to exceed 20hr or 75rbi. Only Ryan Howard has achieved something approaching full-time play, and only he has been able to achieve the 30+ hr and 100+ rbi total that each of the ostensibly fearsome foursome should be capable of.

2. Sticking with Zack Greinke through thin and even thinner. There was a time when most of the shine had gone off of Zack Greinke's penny. His 2-23, 7.77 sophomore season in 2006 could well have gone down in history as the worst ever, but for the grace of NYK's Barry Zito in 2009. And Zack's 2007 season out of baseball could well have been his last, at least with Grundy County. But GM Howard stuck with the kid once thought of as a future ace. And ultimately, his loyalty paid off in spades.

3. Knowing when to fold 'em. On July 31^st, Grundy County was in 2^nd place in the Less Filling Central, 5.5 games behind VFS. But at 52-52, and with the division rival Sioux already embarking on one of the most massive talent scavenger hunts in league history, GM Jack Howard probably correctly saw that a division title was not in the cards. So he traded solid young RHSP Scott Baker (8-5, 3.89 with Grundy) to powerhouse Outlaw for Greg Smith (2-5, 7.71 with GCG) and OJW #3. But the real earth-shaking move was the trade of all-time Grizzly wins (48) and strikeouts (872) leader Ben Sheets in division to the Sioux, for a package of Braden Looper (3-5, 5.82) and draft picks.

Looking ahead to 2010

Three key questions

1. What is the ceiling for Zack Greinke? For a guy who once had a Boeing ERA (777), it would be both ironic and appropriate to state that perhaps even the sky is not the limit. But what's higher than the sky? Perhaps the Cy?
   
   2. Will this be the season the Grundy 1b log-jam resolves itself? It's becoming ever more apparent, especially from behind, that Miguel Cabrera's years sitting on the bench have caused him to develop a rather embarassing “secretary's spread.” While initially the problem only manifested itself in a burgeoning non-parrallel geometry to the vertical pinstripes on his pants, and the occasional catty “does this uniform make my @ss look fat?” question, it became agonizingly apparent in 2009 that all that junk in the trunk was preventing Miggy from adequately manning the hot corner (20 errors in 54 games at 3^rd). As a result, Cabrera will most assuredly play exclusively 1b or DH in 2010. Even a move of the more athletic Kevin Youkilis to 3b (which would bite into the playing time of prospect Alex Gordon) would still leave Cabrera vying for time with Justin Morneau and the monolithic Ryan Howard, who are also locked in at 1b/DH. Barring a roster move, it appears at least one multi-millionaire per day will again be in charge of keeping the bat rack organized and sweeping up sunflower seeds.
   
   3. What is Grundy going to do about that bullpen? 2009 3^rd rounder Brad Ziegler (1-4, 2.22, 8 saves in 11 opportunities) may be the in-house solution. But even though Ziggy's fastball had pop, he still found a way to let the candy go way to often (19 of 49 inherited runners scored, for a team-high .388 IRSC%).
   
   Projected lineup
   c – Ivan Rodriguez

   1b – Justin Morneau

   2b – Dan Uggla

   3b – Kevin Youkilis

   ss – Stephen Drew

   lf – Matt Holliday

   cf – Vernon Wells

   rf – BJ Upton

   dh – Ryan Howard / Miguel Cabrera

Rotation

Zack Greinke

Matt Garza

Hiroki Kuroda

Braden Looper

Closer

George Sherrill