Vermont Fighting Sioux

Vermont Fighting Sioux


2009 Year in Review


The Numbers


Record: 91-71 (tied for 5th in the league)
Expected Record: 93-69 (4th in the league)

Runs Scored: 834 (4th in the league)
Runs Allowed: 707 (4th in the league)
Run Differential: +127 (4th in the league)
What went right?
LF MVP Albert Pujols (.372/33/104) was all-world. He won the NASBL slash-stat Quadruple Crown, leading the league in BA, OBA, SLG, and number of on-air arguments between Tim McCarver and Jack Buck about who had the bigger Pujols Man-Crush (.372/.440/.652/47). Prince Albert's .372 BA was the 6th highest all-time single-season mark in league history. On the mound, Sioux ace Ervin Santana (16-8, 2.85) posted the 2nd best ERA in baseball, behind only MSU's unhittable Derek Lowe. Sioux rookie Ubaldo Jimenez (14-8, 3.84) brought Vermont its 2nd ever Rookie of the Year award, and its first since Pujols in 2002. The Fighting Sioux won the Less Filling Central by 16 games, and earned a 1st round playoff bye.

What went wrong?
Up until Game 4 of the Less Filling Championship Series, precious little. Having not been especially challenged during the regular season, it looked for all the world like they were going to summarily dispense with Frank Pennylegion's Seattle Pilots and walk into the World Series largely unopposed. But “walk” at that point became the critical operative term, as the Seattle skipper apparently decided at that point that Albert Pujols was not going to be the guy to defeat him. Over the course of the 7-game series, Pujols drew 12 walks, no less than 11 of which were intentional. With McCarver patiently explaining the subtleties of the strategy (“an intentional walk is a walk that is intentional”), the FOX-TRAX(TM) display time and time again showed 4 high and away. While the rest of the Sioux offense did a more than solid job throughout the series (.329/.435/.548 as a team), the gelding of Vermont's war horse slowed down the Sioux just enough to allow Seattle to send a stunned Vermont squad home in one of the greatest come-from-behind victories in NASBL playoff history, a 4-3 series upset that included two 1-run wins and an extra-inning victory.



In retrospect, the critical decisions were:
1. Making a major draft-day trade to broaden the Sioux talent base. Sitting at #3 overall, and with ultra-hyped 3b Evan Longoria on the board, Vermont GM Justin Rabidoux felt confident enough in his in-house 3b solution Ryan Zimmerman (.262/8/39 in 183 ab) that he dealt the right to select 3rd for the rights to select twice in the 2nd round, plus once in the 3rd. Ultimately Longoria did go #3 to LVI, and posted a solid if unremarkable .249/12/51 rookie campaign. And the Sioux snapped up Jody Gerut (.293/11/37), Kelly Shoppach (.234/17/52) and BJ Ryan (2-2, 2.29, 19 saves). While the long-term effects of the deal may one day yet draw comparisons to the famous “trunk of beads for Manhattan Island” swap, there is no doubt the Sioux won big in terms of 2009 player value.

2. Mortgaging the 2010 draft (only 2 picks left in the first 7 rounds) to pay for a shiny new 2009 Luxury Roster with Twin Turbo-Charged Rotation (3-4, 3.63 Ben Sheets and 3-5, 4.04 Jesse Litsch), Dual Overhead Setup Men (0-0, 3.00 Cory Wade) and the Luxury Chrome-Spoked DH Package (.307/12/36 Aubrey Huff). While it was tremendous fun when it still had that “New Lineup Smell,” it may not be long before GM Rabidoux starts to realize the payments on all those fancy players last longer than the warranty.

3. Drafting Adam Jones (.234/5/33) in the 3rd round (40th overall) of the 2009 Rookie / FA Draft. While so many VFS moves this past season were directed at Winning Right Now, it's interesting to note that at least two Sioux selections may well have an impact long after the sting of the 2009 postseason is forgotten. The obvious one is Rookie of the Year Ubaldo Jimenez. The ground-pounder's sterling rookie season (only 9hr in 189.2 ip) clearly show he is ready for primetime. But the pick who flew under the radar all year, and yet may end up having even more long-term impact than Jimenez was an athletic young center fielder whose name thus far only carries the power to get him mysteriously barred from nightclubs he's never been in, searched for weapons at airports, and to draw hate mail from NFL fans and commissioners across the nation: Adam Jones.

Looking ahead to 2010

Joe Buck:  "How do I love thee Albert, let me count the ways..."


Three key questions

    1. How many more great seasons does Chipper Jones (.382/6/18 with VFS) have in him? The long-time Cannibal currently sits on the top-10 all time of virtually every NASBL career leaderboard. It is apparent that Vermont GM Justin Rabidoux believes his 37 year old but “new to the Sioux” minder of the hot corner still has considerable fight left in him, as VFS not only bypassed one highly touted 22 year old 3b when they dealt what Sioux Fans hope will not go down in history as The Longoria Pick in the '09 draft, but also traded another well thought of 24 year old 3b in Ryan Zimmerman straight up for the likely future NASBL Hall of Famer.

    2. HSH has gone to the Bret Saberhagen Well several times over the years to analogize players up/down performance cycles. But in the case of Ervin Santana, Sabes holds no ability to fully illustrate the viciousness of his highs and lows. What can you compare with a series of record swings like this: 2-6, 12-8, 3-5, 16-8? Or of ERA swings like this: 7.43, 4.43, 7.16, 2.85? Perhaps the best way to currently visualize the beautiful swing / ugly swing so inherent in being Ervin is simply to picture the two most famous swings in golf flashing back and forth in your mind: Tiger / Elin / Tiger / Elin...


3. Vermont has 1 pick in the first 6 rounds of the draft – but it's a good one. VFS owns the 11th overall selection. But how is this a key question? Well, remember back to just 12 short months ago. Last year at this time, few if any analysts were posing the question: “What 3 players will VFS take with the #3 overall pick in the 2009 draft?”



    Projected lineup
    c – Kelly Shoppach

    1b – Albert Pujols

    2b – Robinson Cano

    3b – Chipper Jones

    ss – Jack Wilson

    lf – Raul Ibanez

    cf – Adam Jones

    rf – Coco Crisp

    dh – Carlos Quentin



Rotation

Ubaldo Jimenez

Ervin Santana

Aaron Cook

Jeff Suppan

?


Closer

Hideki Okajima