Marsein is a surprise to me. They've got more talent than you'd expect out of a last place club.
I think the offseason trade of shortstop
Robbie Isenhour to Elliott Springs for starter
Greg Williams has been the major issue here. Isenhour is a major talent at shortstop:
Code:
Year/Team Age G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
2014 MAR 26 67 250 74 13 3 8 40 34 23 24 18 11 .296 .355 .468
2015 MAR 27 69 270 95 14 2 9 50 44 21 28 13 8 .352 .396 .519
2016 MAR 28 46 190 58 13 2 6 36 25 12 22 10 4 .305 .347 .489
2017 MAR 29 97 375 126 23 3 14 83 58 32 44 21 14 .336 .385 .525
2018 ESP 30 52 218 66 5 3 6 27 42 15 33 16 7 .303 .345 .436
He hasn't hit well this year, at least not up to his usual standards, but that's a big chunk of offense to replace, and it's been replaced by
Chad Ball, who's hitting .198/.246/.374. Of course, they didn't just give Isenhour away, they got what they were thinking would be a surefire ace at the top of their rotation:
Code:
Year/Team Age G GS W L ERA IP HA HR BB K CG SHO WHIP
2014 ESP 26 11 11 7 4 4.04 91.1 68 16 38 98 4 0 1.16
2015 ESP 27 19 19 6 11 3.37 157.2 114 15 63 156 13 0 1.12
2016 ESP 28 19 19 12 4 2.91 151.2 106 19 42 182 8 1 0.98
2017 ESP 29 32 32 14 10 2.85 262.1 200 22 91 261 14 1 1.11
Those are his numbers with the Tornadoes. No reason to think he'd be anything other than that ace the Knights needed. Here's what he's done this year:
Code:
Year/Team Age G GS W L ERA IP HA HR BB K CG SHO WHIP
2018 MAR 30 15 15 7 7 3.90 120.0 111 10 46 110 7 0 1.31
A lot of that can be chalked up to an absolutely miserable opening month for his new team: 0-2, 7.58 ERA. And he's certainly been better since, posting ERAs of 3.38 and 3.06 in the months since, but it put the team in a hole they haven't been able to dig out of. There's something to be said about the wisdom of swapping big stars with the team you and everyone else is chasing. It's a very risky proposition. Clearly the Knights thought they needed that big time pitcher, but other teams have proven that you can go out and find those sorts of players surprisingly cheaply, giving up young players mired in the minor leagues. Players such as
Matt Roy, who's still moving very slowly through the Knights system. The Tornadoes have such depth that they likely would have accepted such a deal. Not only is owner Carroll Edwards
not much of a businessman, he apparently doesn't hire the sharpest baseball minds either.
Can the Knights climb out of the cellar? I don't expect them to be in last place all season. They're too good and there are other teams with far less talent. But it won't be another upper division finish for the Little Team That Could.