New Jersey Trash Heap

New Jersey Trash Heap


2009 Year in Review


The Numbers


Record: 97-65 (4th in the league)
Expected Record: 100-62 (1st in the league)

Runs Scored: 825 (6th in the league)
Runs Allowed: 631 (1st in the league)
Run Differential: +194 (1st in the league)
What went right?
Two words: Tim Lincecum. With a 19-10 record, 3.20 ERA, and 307 k's (tied with 1998 Pedro Martinez of the Pocono Woodsmen for the 9th highest single-season total of all time), The Franchise not only brought home memories of Randy Johnson's heyday, he also brought home his hardware. Lincecum's Cy Young award was the 4th for a New Jersey pitcher (Mark Mulder won in 2002, and Randy Johnson won 2 of his 5 Cy's in Trash Heap optic orange in 2003 and 2005). And although Tim Lincecum was busy bringing home the Randy Johnson Award....errrr....Cy Young Award, it wasn't like The Big Unit himself was resting on his laurels. Unit tied for 10th in the league with 16 wins, and added 186 strikeouts to his career total. RJ now lies #1 in all time in both categories, with 191 career victories and 3185 career punchouts, over 800 more than #2 Pedro Martinez. But NJT's success was not all centered on the mound. Rookie Joey Votto (.298/25/98) brought home the first ever Rookie of the Year Award for New Jersey.

What went wrong?
For a team that traditionally leans more heavily on its rotation than any other (62 CG's, trailing only the sadistic LVI's 95), it's not surprising that the one weakness of the 2009 Trash Heap was their bullpen. NJT went 6-12 in extra innings, and 20-26 in one-run games. Trash Heap relievers combined for a 12-13 record. No doubt this contributed to NJT's slight 3-win underperformance relative to the Pythagorean projection of 100 wins. Still, even this minor quibble with the Trash Heap pen is relative. In terms of bullpen ERA, the best run-prevention team in the league (631, 17 better than World Champion Outlaw) only had one opponent who was better: OJW's bullpen ERA of 3.07 was the only figure lower than NJT's 3.27.

In retrospect, the critical decisions were:
1. A blockbuster draft-day trade with VFS. Trash Heap GM John Moscariello sacrificed hugely to move up into the middle of the first round. He traded 3 prime picks, MSU #2, SPR#2, and NJT #3, all for the right to draft 9th overall. The player he got with that pick? None other than Rookie of the Year Joey Votto.

2. Hiring a new fielding instructor? Or maybe just buying some Neatsfoot Oil and spending a little quality time with the team's baseball gloves. Whatever the cause, New Jersey improved most dramatically with the leather in 2009. The 2008 New Jersey committed 119 errors, 2nd only to the fumble-thumbed Cannibals 132. But in 2009, the Trash Heap cleaned up their act considerably, committing only 84 errors, the 5th best total in the league. While the apparent development of dexterity by Ian Kinsler (13 errors in 130 games, down from 20 in 81 games) had a great impact, perhaps just as important was the separation of man and glove (as well as the union of man and pine) that took place with Nick Swisher. Swisher's 13 errors at 1st base in 2008 were replaced by Joey Votto's much more palatable 4 miscues in 2009.

3. Trading for a high-profile closer? Really? John Moscariello? Sure enough, the patron saint of the complete game went out in Block 1 and dealt his 2010 1st rounder plus Brad Penny and prospect Delmon Young to the Georgia Roadkill. Coming back were an NJT-like player in solid OBA man Magglio Ordonez (.276/8/39 with NJT). But also key in the deal was fireballing Brad Lidge. And manager Mosco did not hesitate to put his new acquisition to good use. Lidge led the team with 16 saves in 18 opportunities, for a .889 save percentage that rivaled even that of the great Mariano Rivera of HHA (league-leading .900 save%).

Looking ahead to 2010

Gritty 4th rounder Skip Schumaker (.294/16/55) scored 70 runs, while playing a nice center field (2 errors, 13 assists).  But was it enough to earn him an invitation back to the big-league Trash Heap camp?


Three key questions

  1. Who will get voted off the island (or rather, off the Trash Heap)? Moreso than for any other squad, underusage is more of an intriguing issue than overusage. While the Heap rarely run afoul of the NASBL's AB and IP limitations, scarcely a year goes by without New Jersey's policy of reshirting young players creating a potential, shall we say, “situation” with regard to the <50% rule. This year's NJT Redshirt Freshman class includes some former full-time players (Nick Swisher, Felipe Lopez), a once highly thought of prospect (Jeremy Hermida) and a trifecta of relievers (Jim Johnson, Sean Burnett, and Scot Shields). Of these 6, at least 4 will be swiping their credit cards at U-Haul within the next few weeks...

    2. Can Tim Lincecum repeat as the TG Cy Young? Cy Youngster was hailed as The Franchise on draft day 2008, before he had ever thrown an NASBL pitch in anger. Becoming only the 5th pitcher ever in the league to crack 300 k's (joining Pedro and Johan who each did it once, Schilling who did it twice, and Randy Johnson who has done it 5 times), and doing it at age 24, certainly bodes well for Lincecum to potentially follow in the footsteps of his 6'10” hard-throwing mentor.

    3. Was Chad Billingsley's 2009 season for real? After struggling in his first two NASBL campaigns (0-1, 8.23 and 2-6, 5.07), Billingsley exploded onto the scene with a 17-7, 2.88 mark that propelled him to 2    nd place the Cy Young voting. While not quite as dominant as his teammate, Billingsley's 236 k's were good for 4th in the league. With both Lincecum and Billingsley under age 25, it's starting to look like it might be a long decade for the rest of the Tastes Great South.

    Projected lineup
    c – Chris Iannetta

    1b – Joey Votto

    2b – Ian Kinsler

    3b – Alex Rodriguez

    ss – JJ Hardy

    lf – Nick Swisher

    cf – Jay Bruce

    rf – Brad Hawpe

    dh – Johnny Damon



Rotation

Tim Lincecum

Chad Billingsley

John Danks

Kyle Lohse

Randy Johnson


Closer

Brad Lidge