LOUISVILLE COLONELS (July 7, 2008 – 81 games)
The lineup is producing runs at a decent rate, but Orcin is concerned about the balance. There is a shortage of power due to Hartman in center field instead of Dominguez. The solution to the problem is CF prospect Rafael Valdez; however, Orcin wants Valdez to finish the year at AAA. So, Dominguez will get his chance to unseat Hartman in the second half. Simon continues to slide toward the Mendoza line, which is very troubling.
Orcin believes the pitching will be fine if he can get a good second half from Alexander. He is keeping his fingers crossed, but he is also working the phone. There will be one last call to Orlando toward the end of the month, but he will not trade Valdez. Hartman is another matter, but let’s see how Alexander does in his next few starts.
I include everyone on the 40-man roster in this list, even if they have not seen any time with the big club. I sorted the charts high-to-low based on VORP. It is easy to see who the contributors and slackers are. The pitching really is self-explanatory with the two poor starters showing up at the bottom. The rest of the staff looks great.
The offensive leaders are the 3-4-5 hitters, which makes sense. The surprise is Cristo Rodriguez at #4. Add in his defense and you have a high WAR. Have fun picking a center fielder from among Dominguez, Hartman, and Sweeney. It is pretty easy to see that Mooney needs to be in the lineup somewhere. That somewhere is third base for now, but he can play any of the infield spots.
Down near the bottom of players with at bats is the second base duo of Simon and John. You can choose between a good batting average and nothing else (John), or a poor batting average with everything else (Simon). If you combine these two players, you have an all-star. You can’t, so instead you have a dilemma. Simon is too expensive to be a platoon player so this issue will be coming to a head if his batting average does not improve over the second half of the season.
Paula Dunlap for Otto Orcin