Honolulu Hawaiians

Honolulu Hawaiians


2009 Year in Review


The Numbers


Record: 101-61 (tied for 1st in the league)
Expected Record: 92-70 (5th in the league)

Runs Scored: 875 (3rd in the league)
Runs Allowed: 749 (6th in the league)
Run Differential: +126 (5th in the league)
What went right?
Mariano Rivera (4-2, 0.98 ERA, 45 saves) won his 2nd Tastes Great Fireman of the Year award in the past 3 seasons. He allowed only 32 hits in 64ip, and posted an unheard of .625 WHIP. Catcher Yadier Molina (.307/12/69), once thought of as a questionable 1st round selection (16th overall in 2006) finally showed his bat may some day be as good as his glove (.847 catcher X percentage, 4th best in the league). Despite an atrocious .318 OBA, speedy centerfielder Shane Victorino (.269/14/60, 28 sb) scored 106 runs, 2nd most in the league. Pat Burrell (.260/35/106) took advantage of the friendly confines of Pietruska Park to post career highs in HR, RBI, and runs scored. On the hill, Roy Oswalt (20-7, 3.70) was 2nd in the league in wins, trailing only Outlaw ace Ryan Dempster's 21.

What went wrong?
HHA's 19 points of overusage (4 by Shane Victorino and 15 by setup man Jose Arredondo) were a critical miscalculation – one that pushed the Hawaiians from sitting in 1st place in their division and with the best record in baseball to sitting on the outside of the playoffs looking in.

In retrospect, the critical decisions were:
1. Leaving Jose Arredondo active for Block 4. Arredondo entered the final block with 60 innings pitched, against a season limit of 61. But rather than say “no way, Jose,” manager Stan Pietruska instead gave Arredondo perhaps his heaviest workload of the season in September. Arredondo pitched 11-1/3 ip in a 20-day stretch, capping it all off with a 3.1 inning save of a 10-5 game vs PCM on 9/26.

2. Trading CF Nate McLouth (.303/22/63 in 96 games with HHA) to GRK for Jimmy Rollins (.377/4/10 in 21 games) and a 2nd round pick. While Rollins certainly proved an upgrade to incumbent shortstop Yunel Escobar (.252/12/53) in terms of both offense and defense, one is left wondering “what if.” If McLouth had still been in the fold, Victorino almost certainly would not have been overused. Could the Hawaiians with Yunel at short and unencumbered by penalties held on to a playoff spot? Given that HHA was 66-37 (.641) and in 1st place on the day of the trade, and that they finished the season at .623, it could be that this move, at least in terms of the 2009 Hawaiian fortunes, backfired.

3. Finding the winning formula for a small ballpark, and sticking with it. While common wisdom might hold that a small ballpark would be the perfect haven for a lineup of, to paraphrase Ricky Bobby, “big, hairy American hitting machines,” the fact is the secret sauce in Honolulu's consistent winning ways is a mix of 12 parts pitching cards with little or no diamonds on them (thus reducing the home team's exposure to the elements) and 8 parts rangy defenders (the '09 Hawaiians featured four 1's and four 2's on defense), with just a dash of grizzly bear fat thrown in for good measure (in this case, former GCG slugger Pat Burrell and rookie Chris Davis – although he's not from Grundy County, the towering youngster's .702 slugging percentage clearly reveals the ursine anger in his swing).

Looking ahead to 2010

It's well known that HHA manager Stan Pietruska prefers strong defenders.  Could acrobatic rookie Asdrubal Cabrera (.325/6/27) leap past Placido Polanco (.302/6/65) in the Hawaiian 2b competition?


Three key questions

  1. As noted above, the Hawaiian's success is firmly tied to their ability to generate ground balls. Thus, the offseason arm surgery to all-time Honolulu wins leader Brandon Webb (18-11, 4.44 in 2009, 91 career victories) appears at first blush to leave a gaping hole in the traditional HHA strategy. Who will fill the hole left by Webb? Oswalt, Justin Verlander (7-4, 3.88), Carlos Zambrano (12-13, 5.37) and Jair Jurrjens (10-4, 4.66) should make a fine front 4. While the 5th slot could be filled by Chien-Ming Wang (8-4, 4.21) or 92-game career NASBL winner / forgotten man Andy Pettitte (1-0, 0.00 ERA) who pitched a complete game shutout in his only appearance of 2009, it is just as likely we will see a new face every 5th day in Honolulu.

    2. Who will play shortstop for HHA in 2010? As of this writing, Hawaiian GM Stan Pietruska states he has 2 franchise shortstops in the 26 year old Escobar (.281/.346/.432 in 2 seasons) and the recently acquired 30 year old defensive specialist Rollins (.249/.303/.394 in 8 seasons). But also as of this writing, the sport of baseball still only has one shortstop on the field at any given time. Might Rollins' 53 ab fall episode be his only appearance prior to being voted off the island?

    3. Could the thus-far extremely questionable Rollins acquisition turn out to be a long-term winner for HHA? While the loss of McLouth in the Jimmy deal thus far only seems to have served to harm HHA's winning percentage, and doubtless contributed to the usage penalties that kept the Hawaiians out of the 2009 playoffs, consider this: As the team with the best winning percentage that did not make the playoffs, HHA is awarded $3000 in FA Money. This not inconsequential sum will serve to help lift Honolulu from near the floor of the round 3 and 4 draft order to a slightly higher spot. More importantly, by missing the playoffs, HHA jumps up from a best-case draft position of 13    th (had they made The Show, they would've earned a 1st round bye) to 10th overall. And the GRK #2 acquired in the Rollins deal, at #17 overall, is tantamount to yet another 1st round pick. A method to the apparent madness? Perhaps: in chess, even a Queen sacrifice is the correct move, if in the end you win the game.

    Projected lineup
    c – Yadier Molina

    1b – Casey Kotchman

    2b – Placido Polanco

    3b – Scott Rolen

    ss – Yunel Escobar

    lf – Aaron Rowand

    cf – Shane Victorino

    rf – Jayson Werth

    dh – Chris Davis


Rotation

Roy Oswalt

Justin Verlander

Carlos Zambrano

Jair Jurrjens

Andy Pettitte


Closer

Mariano Rivera