Georgia Roadkill
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Georgia Roadkill |
| Exclusive Interview! 6 Burning Questions with Johnny Miller |
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Q: OK, the hardest thing to do in sports is repeat. It’s safe to say GRK learned that lesson last year; how is your team poised to bounce back?
A: I have a solid nucleus of players returning including: J-Roll, Helton, Mags, Vlad & the rookies Rios & Markakis. SP is suspect but hopefully the Roadkill will produce enough offense to keep us in most games.
Q: GRK has been one of the league’s most successful teams this millennium, what do you attribute that to and how the heck did you acquire all that top end talent – Helton, Edmunds, Vlad, Magglio, J-Roll all on the same team, it’s just not fair!
A: The early years of the franchise the Roadkill scouts were on a tear with Delgado, Helton & Vlad all taken in the 1st rd. Mags went in the 5th the same year as Helton. J-Roll was acquired in a trade when the GRK front office realized Cristian Guzman wasn't going to lead them to the promised land of a NASBL title. These moves didn't come w/o a cost when GRK was forced to trade future stars Erik Bedard & Justin Morneau to "Do The Deal".
Q: Any early thoughts on your plans with the #2 pick that you’d like to share? With only three pitchers on the roster, will you be able to avoid the temptation from the bevy top end positional rookies, or might we see Tim Linecum in the Red and Black this year?
A: There are four players that the Roadkill scouts are focusing on. At this point we're not positive the direction we are taking.
Q: What player on your team are you the most excited about when looking at the next five years, and why?
A: It's a toss-up between the two young OF's Alex Rios & Nick Markakis with a slight edge to Rios. Last season the front office felt the urgency to reload the OF expecting a decline in Edmonds, Mags & Vlad performance. After Ordonez career season & another solid one from Guererro it's unlikely that's a concern for the Roadkill in the near future.
Q: Do you put more stock in established veterans or heralded rookies destined to become the next big thing with all their dreaded “tremendous upside potential”?
A: You must have a balance of the two but I would lean toward the vets...especially at SP. I've always heard it's best to go with a combo of hitting prospects and veteran pitchers. All it takes is to check the draft archives of the last few seasons to see how difficult it is to gauge a prospects potential.
Q: What do you enjoy to most about NASBL?
The competition is great. Only one duplicate winner (Red) in 10+ years. Very stable ownership. The format allows you to rebuild through the draft and trades and teams are not allowed to stockpile top prospects like so many other leagues.
With former Commish Brendan the website was always a strong suit of the NASBL but the current Commish "knocked one out of the park" with the Blog. (Steve will this help GRK move up in the 2009 Draft Rds #3 & #4 :) |
2007 Year in Review
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The Numbers |
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Record:
57-105 (15th in the league) |
What went right?
Vladimir Guerrero (.354/39/122) was Vladimir Guerrero. The Roadkill received
excellent debut seasons from outfielder Nick Markakis (.279/12/50) and swingman
Fernando Nieve (9-4, 3.27). 34 year old Ray Durham set a new career high with 28
homeruns. The Roadkill committed only 76 errors all season, the 3rd
best total in the league behind (ironically) OJW and VFS.
What went wrong?
Rookie Enrique Gonzalez (0-11, 8.54) couldn't have made a less favorable
impression on his new employer if he had been caught photocopying his butt on
his first day at work. Noah Lowry (2-9, 5.70) pitched reasonably well, but
somehow managed just 2 wins in 26 starts. Like Pamela Anderson, Jason Varitek
(.232/10/40) hit the wall hard and all of a sudden just doesn't look so hot
anymore. GM Johnny Miller traded his closer Justin Duchscherer (2-4, 2.77, 18
saves) for a dead guy (Josh Hancock).
In retrospect, the critical decisions were:
1. Trading for the future early and often. In Block 1 the Roadkill sent
veterans Roger Clemens and Jermaine Dye to SPL for Noah Lowry and Alex Rios
(.220/7/26 in 79 games with the Kill). In Block 2, besides the trade for the
dead guy and the draft pick (DFW #7), the Kill also moved ace Jason Schmidt and
spare parts for placeholders Joe Crede, Chris Britton, and MSU #2. The impact of
these moves was twofold. First, the exodus of talent allowed Georgia to somehow
fall out of the most eminently winnable division chase in the history of
baseball, (70 wins was enough to walk away with the Tastes Great South title and
accompanying playoff slot). But secondly, and more importantly Down Between the
Hedges, it set up the Roadkill for its strongest draft position since the epic
2002 effort that netted Todd Helton, Vlad Guerrero, and Jason Varitek.
2. Some of the decisions with the most impact on the 2007 Roadkill were
made during their 2006 Championship drive. Seeing a precious opportunity to go
for it, GM Miller dealt away his 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9 draft picks for 2007.
Being faced with picking last in each round is tough. But picking last in each
round, and having no picks when your turn finally does come around? That's
Really tough. Suffice to say, 5 of the 13 Roadkill rookies were the five very
last players taken in the draft. Not only did the Roadkill set a record by still
drafting in the 19th round of a 13 player draft, they also had the
last 4 rounds all to themselves.
3. The trade that was never made. While the Roadkill made a number of
moves to offload aging but still top-shelf talent such as Clemens, Dye, and
Schmidt, the audacious nature of those moves begs the question: Why not Jim
Edmonds (.289/28/65) and Ray Durham (.251/28/57)? With both players having great
2007 seasons, it's surprising that the Roadkill could not achieve at least some
sort of future return for a half-season of their services.
Looking ahead to 2008
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| Can Alex Rios replace the sterling bat and glove play of Jim Edmonds? |
Three key questions
1. How much does Todd Helton
(.278/15/62) have left in the tank? Helton's batting average and slugging
percentage have declined each of the past 3 years, while his RBI totals have
dropped for a chilling 6 consecutive years, from a high of 133 back in 2001 to a
barely functional 62 in 2007. If the Roadkill are to rebound, they're going to
need a dose of the Todd Helton of old, rather than just an old Todd Helton.
2. Who will replace Roger Clemens and Jason Schmidt at the front of the
Roadkill rotation? As noted earlier, Noah 'No Intagibles' Lowry has shown a
remarkable ability to not win games. Kelvim Escobar (7-14, 5.51) is the nominal
ace, a lofty mantle indeed for a career 54-74 NASBL pitcher. The Georgia
rotation is so thin that plans to move Braden Looper (19-14, 4.35 in 360 career
appearances, all in relief) to the rotation are progressing apace. The good news
for Georgia fan? They have experience in helping relievers make the transition.
Prior to 2002, Kelvim Escobar had worked almost exclusively in relief, and with
an ERA consistently in the 7's. Following his acquisition by Georgia and his
conversion to starting, his ERA dropped into the 5's and has remained there ever
since.
3. Is Aaron Hill (.231/3/27) ready to assume the full time 2b role? While
the release of veteran Ray Durham seems to indicate GM Johnny Miller believes
Hill is ready, the 2006 8th rounder has yet to show much with the
stick. His career totals of 535 ab, 5 hr, 42 rbi, 3 sb, and a .237 batting
average if measured on the inspiration scale fall somewhere in between sponges
and the pine cone. Sponges are nice and absorbent, and pine cones are nice and
minty, but neither one is going to help you score big either on Valentine's Day
or on the baseball diamond.
Projected lineup
C – Jason Varitek
1B – Todd Helton
2B – Aaron Hill
3B – Jose Bautista
SS – Jimmy Rollins
RF – Nick Markakis
CF – Alex Rios
LF – Magglio Ordonez
DH – Vladimir Guerrero
Rotation
Kelvim Escobar
Noah Lowry
Braden Looper
Closer
Brad Lidge