The 2002 All-Star Break sees our Conspiradores mired in last place at 40-49 and, if there's been any improvement on 2001, it has been only marginal.
Once again it is our pitching causing most of the damage, although our .310 BABIP tells me we've been unlucky as well.
Our young hitters continue to shine, however, with Shotime living up to his star billing already with nearly 4 WAR (5 if you combine it with his pitching) and Juanjo (302/424/528 slash with 17 homers and 54 RBI) advancing his claims as a truly elite hitter.
Fantastic news on that front, with Señor Soto signing on with us thru 2012. We also tie down Kiké Hernandez thru 2008 and Turkey Stearnes thru 2010.
That leaves only Elly de la Cruz and Shotime among our "cornerstone" players unsigned. Shohei is on the min again next year and that's when we'll sit him down to talk extension, will Elly is expensive and may be the one we can't afford to keep out of this nucleus. We'll see. Things are frustratingly tight, handicapping not only our ability to sign more guys but also to give some a run at the top flight, as we want to avoid unnecessarily starting clocks.
Not long until the Draft and we again expect to have among the first shots to fire. It will target an elite pitcher, and I'll give a full rundown shortly.