2009 Year in Review

Gertrude Stein once wrote “there's no there there.” This is a statement you could expect of the suburb of Oakland Ms. Stein was writing about. But of Gotham? Never should such a statement be made. One expects the Bright Lights / Big City thing from New York – flashy stars, bigger than life moments in baseball history. It's not that the top Knights slugger, Xavier Nady (.293/31/75) wasn't really good, it's just that he was so.... workmanlike. And a committee of 6 closers, none of whom reached double-digit saves? The City that Never Sleeps expects to be awakened by the late night booming of “Enter Sandman.” But more often they got the fluttering sounds of a few thousand fingers on a few thousand program pages: “Who is that guy, looks like his number is fifty?” “I think it's Chad Qualls.” “Is he good?” “Not sure...I'll check the program….(flip flip flip)...”


In retrospect, the critical decisions were:
1. Jettisoning 3/5 of the historically awful 2008 Knights rotation. Never has there been a better case of addition by subtraction. Cutting loose Doug Davis (6-20, 6.28), Dontrelle Willis (3-11, 7.39), and the now legendary Barry Zito (0-23, 8.46) was the equivalent of a medieval warrior cutting off a wounded and festering left arm (or in this case 3 wounded and festering left arms) before the infection could spread to the heart.

2. Drafting southpaw John Lester (12-10, 3.86) with the #1 overall pick. In a shocking draft-day move, GM Mitch Pak passed over highly touted New York native Joba Chamberlain, plus a number of nominally “can't miss” hitters (Geovany Soto, Justin Upton, Jay Bruce, Evan Longoria – none of whom hit above the .250's). All cancer survivor Lester did was put together a fabulous 12-10, 3.86 season in which he led NYK in innings (216.2) and finished 2^nd in the Less Filling Rookie of the Year voting.

3. Trading long-time Knights slugger Hideki Matsui to LCC for Corey Hart – and then allowing Hart to languish on the bench (.211/2/7 in 71 ab). While Matsui was no great shakes for the Cannibals (.312/4/41 in 295 ab's) and therefore perhaps no great loss for the Knights, one must wonder a) what the intent in trading for Hart was in the first place, and b) what the loss of virtually an entire age-26 season might do to the future development of Hart as an NASBL hitter.

Looking ahead to 2010

Three key questions

1. Will Vladimir Guerrero (.314/15/41 in 245 ab's for NYK) be the middle of the order offensive star the Knights were lacking in 2009? By all accounts, the answer should be yes. If Guerrero can duplicate his .300/35/105 line earned in 157 combined games with the Roadkill and Knights, he would become the first .300/30 man in New York since 2006 Michael Young's epic .349/29/121 campaign.
   
   2. Can 2007 1^st rounder (4^th overall) Matt Cain pitch up to his potential? While his 2007 rookie record of 15-10 was flashy, Cain's peripherals have been anything but candy-sweet. Cain's walks year by year: 101-110-108. His HR's: 36-37-30. His K's: 201-168-148. And finally, his ERA: 5.33-5.74-6.42. For New York to succeed in 2010, Cain needs to make a quick U-turn.
   
   3. Who will replace Mike Mussina (11-14, 5.49) in the Knight's rotation? When the Iron Mike retired following the 2009 NASBL season, the Knights lost more than a Moose – they lost a horse. Number 4 all-time in innings with 2275, Mussina made 31 solid starts for New York in his final season. With the departure of (blissfully) forgotten man Adam Wainwright (0-4, 8.47 with NYK prior to leaving in the Guerrero deal) it appears we will not find out the answer until the 2010 NASBL Draft...
   
   Projected lineup
   c - ?

   1b – Adam Laroche

   2b – Clint Barmes

   3b – Michael Young

   ss – Christian Guzman

   lf – Jason Kubel

   cf – Grady Sizemore

   rf – Matt Kemp

   dh – Vladimir Guerrero

Rotation

Jon Lester

Gavin Floyd

Joe Saunders

Matt Cain

?

Closer

#50 (or does it say #56, or was that #58?)