[Westheim]

Cristiano Carmona showed me lots of silly tables and colorful graphs that looked like a toddler on sugar cubes had fallen into a bucket of crayons, but in the end he convinced me that the Raccoons should not part with Alberto Ramos. His defense was going to be a problem, yes, especially since the Raccoons’ pitching staff relief on defense due to overall low K/9 values. Where starters were concerned, Sparkes led the team at 7.3 K/9, and the rest of the flock huddled around the 6 K/9 mark.

But there was still the on-base threat, the speed, and that he gelled well with Cosmo at the top of that lineup.

Now here was a different thought, and one that involved Fowler as well. How could the Raccoons shift guys around in a way that their two expensive toys could be less exposed on defense? Both had a range issue. Berto was actually quick with the front, but not the hindpaws. Fowler had a decent enough throwing arm. Slotting both of them one spot to the left was probably a valid attempt to limit the damage.

Now, the Raccoons didn’t have a great defensive shortstop, at least not one that could bat his own weight. Dave Myers was *an* option, switching positions with Berto, although I’d prefer an actual shortstop if we made the move. There was none in the system that fit the description.

In the outfield, there were multiple options; the straightforward option was to switch Fowler and Fernandez in the field, although Manny was not a great centerfielder, either, but quite serviceable. Ed Hooge also played center fine.

We also had an elite level centerfielder in Jesus Maldonado, who had batted all of .235/.300/.348 during the regular season, but that was half the story. In the playoffs, the 23-year-old Maldonado had batted a whopping .411/.431/.571 – AND had won World Series MVP honors! On the losing team!!

How do you not play the guy that was World Series MVP, even if he was on the losing team??

By the way, the CLCS MVP? Manny Fernandez. And now they were competing for the same spot!? What is this madness??

Alright, back three squares. Maldonado had also played short during the regular season. He played a lot of positions, really, but he was generally a better outfielder than infielder, although our scout guy saw him well above Myers in defensive aptitude at short. He had played 337 innings at short in '37 (between AAA and ABL) and had been worth about 0.2 WAR on defense. That was not a lot – less than 1 WAR over the full season – but it was more than what Berto had. Center was the position where he’d likely shine most – but it wasn’t in play with Fernandez and Fowler and Greenway all on the team… yet. Fowler’s contract was up after ’38 and under the circumstances he would not get another one. (Berto’s was also up and I had terrible thumping chest pain for it.)

Did I mention we have very little money available?

So. Uh. Yeah. Lots of problems. We need all the experts to stick their heads together. (dramatically places Honeypaws on the table)