June 26th, 2008 by Admirals GM
Overall
Grade: B. Last year we gave the Admirals a B+ grade prior to the
season, but with the offense underachieving in 1990 together with the
fact that the offseason saw more significant losses than additions, we
figure it's appropriate to knock them down at least a half grade this
year. There's a reasonable chance they'll make a run at the wild card
spot, but we have a hard time seeing them seriously compete with Los
Angeles for the division title.
Catcher: George McFarland continues to have a solid
(though no longer spectacular) bat at the age of 34, posting numbers in
the vicinity of .280/12/70 for the third straight season in 1990. The
Admirals will be satisfied if they can get the same production again
this year. McFarland, the longest seriving Admiral, is the team
captain but is too quiet in the clubhouse to be a true leader. His
defense has slipped badly recently, with teams stealing at will against
him last year. His backup Carlos Lopez is a defensive whiz, but his
horrible bat has guaranteed that he never became a starter in his
career. If McFarland goes down, look for Washington to turn not to
Lopez but to Baseball America top 100 prospect Leo Kennedy, who will be
getting playing time in AAA. Grade: B.
First Base: There have been trade rumors circulating
around Dave Tyler all offseason, but nothing has happened yet. Admiral
officials acknolwedge that they are especially frusturated with Tyler's
strikeouts -- they think he strands too many runners to bat in the
middle of the lineup any more. They also question his desire to win.
Look for the rumors to continue through the season. The biggest new
acquisition on the entire team is backup Daniel Smith. Smith was a hot
prospect for Los Angeles a few years ago, but at 27 years of age,
his star has dimmed recently. The Admirals would be thrilled if Smith,
who will get time at both 1B and 2B, could give them production
projecting to .280/17/75 over 162 games (Smith himself won't actually
play this much). Grade: B-.
Second Base: Roy Abbott, acquired at the trade deadline
last year from L.A., won a surprise batting title for the Admirals last
year. The Admirals are realistic enough to know they can't count on
the same production from him again this year, but they hope the 35 year
old can continue to be a solid, middle of the order bat for awhile,
especially since they're on the hook for nearly $6M a year to
Abbott through 1992. Abbott is adequate defensiely. Daniel Smith will
see a good deal of action here in backup work. Grade: B+.
Third Base: This could be a make or break year for 25
year old John Boggs. Boggs, a defensive whiz at all infield positions,
has the glove and speed to stick around the league for years as a
utility man. The question is whether he has the bat to be a starter.
Last year he went .256/1/41/26 in 118 games, but Admirals insiders
point out that he batted almost .300 after the all star break
(after hitting around .220 prior to it). The Admirals know Boggs will
never be a power threat, but in their best case scenario he would hit
aroun .280 and steal in the neighborhood of 40 bases. Some within the
organization worry that he lacks the intangibles required to push him
to this level though. Abbott will also get some action at third. Look
for him to move there fulltime if Boggs struggles. Grade: C-.
Short Stop: The Admirals handed out a big 3 year
contract worth $13M to All Star shortstop Oliver Cole. Cole is
a perrenially underrated performer. You can expect a stat line around
.265/10/65 from him, together with adequate defense. Somehow, he
always seems to play a part in every Admirals rally though. Backing up
Cole is the charasmatic South Korean Min-chul Pak. Pak, a capable
utility man, showed great leadership in the Admiral clubhouse last year
as a rookie, organizing a vigil when hitting coach Bob Washington's
father passed away and confronting former Admiral Roland Ward about his
bad attitude. The fact that the Admirals otherwise lack team leaders
counted heavily in Pak's favor when it came to sorting out who made the
major league team this spring and who didn't. Grade: B.
LF: Some experts expected the quiet, cererbral Mike
Robinson to struggle back in 1989, when he first made the transition
from the EWB backwater of Portland to the main stage of Washington.
Instead Robinson thrived, capturing the MVP award in his first season
and leading the Admirals to their first World Championship in 11
years. Surprisingly, Robinson struggled badly in 1990 during his
*second* season in Washington. His .286/13/87/31 numbers were still
better than most players are capable of, but they were the worst of his
career. He broke his streak of 3 conseuctive batting titles, and fell
below .300 for the first time in his entire career. Robinson, just 29,
should still be in the peak of his career, and the Admirals would like
to seem him rebound to something like .315/20/100/30 this year. In
fact, they are very much counting on it, given the large sum of money
they still owe him. Grade: A-.
CF: It tells you how bad the Admirals offenses was last
year that Gerald Rimfire Latham, with his .235/9/60/17 stat line, was
regarded as one of their better contributors. Latham, 28, plays
exceptional defense, but Admirals worry that his offensive game might
actually regress quite soon, which is why he'll be pressed by 23 year
old rookie Jim Smith for playing time. Smith was a stolen base king in
the minors, racking up 74, 75, and 65 steals his last three years.
There are questions though as to whether he will hit or walk enough to
use his speed in the majors. Grade: C.
RF: Mark Jackson, 28, continues to blossom for the
Admirals, being their best offensive player last year with stats of
.321/24/113. Jackson lacks the power to be a true cleanup hitter, but
no one in the organization will quibble with what he gives them from
the slot. Ranked by scouts as one of the top 20 position players in
the game, the question is whether Jackson can elevate his game to yet
another level in 1991. The Admirals hope so: they would like to see
him contend for a league RBI title. Roy Wilson is an adequate backup
for Jackson and Robinson at the corner outfield spots, even though he's
among the dumber Admirals. Grade: A-.
Offense Overall: B-. They have some talent, but given
the horrible offensive numbers they put up in 1990, even a B grade
seems a bit high.
Rotation Grade: B+. Down a notch with the loss of last
year's ace Daniel Pena, and the underachievement of the big names in
1990.
SP1: Sergio Garcia has been a disappointment in his
first 2 years in Washington, going 12-14 and 3.45 in 1989 and then
13-12 and 3.08 last year. Garcia has a cocksure attitude which makes
him a natural leader, and so the Admirals have decided to challenge him
by making him the #1 starter in 1991, instead of the #2 role he filled
last year. They hope that the challenge of going against other #1s
will lead Garcia to elevate his game back to the level it was when he
won the Bob Gibson Award with Cleveland in 1988.
SP2: Scouts say that 25 year old Ty Moore is one of the
5 or 10 most talented starting pitchers in the game, but his 12-9 and
3.24 record last year indicate that he hasn't quite gotten there yet in
terms of production. A strikeout master (240+ last year) with a 95 MPH
fastball, the Admirals would like to see Moore develop into a 17 win,
2.75 ERA sort of pitcher sooner rather than later. It may be that no
player's development is more crucial to Admiral success in 1991 than
Moore's. The Admirals hope that bumping him from the #1 spot to the #2
spot in the rotation will ease pressure off of him.
SP3: Roger Wright took a bit of a step back last year;
his win total dropped from 17 to 14 and his ERA rose from 3.50 to
3.91. The 25 year old Wright gets by with guile more than natural
stuff. The Admirals are resigned to the fact that Wright looks like
he's destined to not be more than a -- solid -- third starter.
SP4: After spending almost all of 1990 in the bullpen,
28 year old Doug Kelly won a spot in the rotation with a solid spring
effort. Kelly, who had a 3.23 ERA in 93.2 IP last year, consistently
seems to get results better than his stuff would indicate. If he
falters, the Admirals will not hesitate to move him back to the middle
relief job that he excelled in last year, and give someone else a
chance to start. Possibilities include middle reliever Gustavo Chavez
and AAA pitchers Carlos Moreno and Dan Fulton.
SP5: Antonio Aranda was continued a longshot to win a
major league job this year, but with a spectacular spring he has earned
the chance the season in the rotation. Aranda can be dominate at
times, as the no hitter he threw last year in AAA attests. The
Admirals see Aranda as a third starter kind of talent, though they
aren't counting on him reaching that level this year. They are
committed to givin him a real chance to find himself this year, so even
if he struggles early, look for them to stick with him for awhile.
Bullpen Grade: C+. The Admirals bullpen was one of the
best in the game last year, but the loss of closer Herman Thomas via
free agency hurts a lot. The team plans to start the season with a
bullpen by committee until (hopefully) a single closer emerges. If
that doesn't work out, the Admirals may consider promoting AAA closer
Carlos Hernandez and his 96 MPH fastball and giving him a chance to be
a rare rookie stopper.
Closer: To start the season at least, the Admirals will
go with 25 year old righty Ken Milligan to finish games. Enterring his
third year, Milligan had a 3.77 ERA last year, but he was much better
in the first half than the second. Some within the organization doubt
that Milligan has the psychological makeup to be a closer, but he'll
get the chance to prove them wrong.
Set up man: 25 year old Tokaji Yamashita was horrible at
the start of last year, blowing saves left and right until he lost
his closer job to Thomas. Eventually he recovered though, and posted a
respectable 3.52 ERA in 53.2 IP of work. Scouts say that Yamashita has
lost a good deal of movement on the slider he needs to be effective.
This troubled Admiral execs enough to keep him out of the closer's role
to start the season, despite the fact that Yamashita has history
playing the part.
Set up man: Eric O'Lenahan spent most of last season in
AAA Tacoma, but when he was added to the major league team as a
September call up, he quickly emerged as one of manager Doug Slavin's
favorites. The Admirals see O'Lenahan ideally as a workhorse middle
reliever. This year he might get the chance to pitch in the 8th and
even 9th innings though. Injuries have been a nagging problem for him.
Middle reliever: Lefty Ben Fleming had a nice come back
story in 1990. After missing almost all of 1989 with an injury,
Fleming was horrible at the beginning of last year, leading him to be
demoted to AAA. There he got the chance to find his groove again,
leading to a midseason call up and a successful finish to the season.
That being said, it would be surprising if Fleming spends the entire
season on the ML roster in 1991. Instead, look for him to shuttle a
bit between Tacoma and Seattle.
Middle reliever: 33-year-old free agent signee Kenny
O'Neal has always gotten by in his careeer with unbelievable control.
Thanks to that control, he has posted a 2.93 ERA in his 10 year
journeyman career. The Admirals would be satisfied if he could repeat
his 3.66 mark from 1990 with World Champion Dallas. (Sign of concern?
O'Neal was horrible in the playoffs last year, posting a 16.21 ERA.)
Middle reliever: For whatever reason, executives around
the league always make a point of telling the Admirals that Gustavo
Chavez isn't very good. Admiral management doesn't doubt him though,
viewing Chavez as the sort of solid contributor that good teams must
count on in addition to their stars. Chavez will start the year in the
bullpen, but probably will get the chance to start here and there
before it's all said and done. As is well known, Chavez is remarkably
intelligent, leaving Princeton after his freshman year after the
Admirals drafted him.
Manager: Doug Slavin is now enterring his 7th year at
the helm of Washington, and it's tough to argue with his results: 4
playoff appearances and 1 World Championship. Still, he does have his
quirks which sometimes draw the ire of both fans and Admiral
executives. For instance, it's supposed to be a cardinal rule of
baseball that you never make the first or third out at 3rd base.
Slavin adamantly disagrees: he wants his players to be agressive no
matter what. Sometimes the results are good, but just as often
Admirals end up getting caught stealing 3rd or thrownout trying to
stretch a double into a triple or etc. This becomes especially
controversial when Slavin has his baserunners try to steal third with
either 0 or 2 outs in the late innings of a close game. The Admirals
ended up blowing several opportunities last year in this way. Another
quirk is that Slavin loves to steal bases in blowouts. Check the
boxscore the next time you see a 11-2 Admiral win, and you'll probably
see 7 or 8 stolen base attempts by Washington on the day. Some see
this as poor sportsmanship, but Slavin doesn't see it that way.
Finally, some think that Slavin likes to push buttons just because he
can. He often pinch hits or inserts defensive replacements in spots
where it's hard to see the rationale. Last season rumors leaked that
new GM JTT might let Slavin go when he has the chance, but
it's hard to see him making a move before Slavin's present contract
runs out in 1992. And at that point, the 64 year old Slavin may opt
for retirement anyway. Grade: B.
