2014 In Review

2014 started and finished in true D-Bag fashion.  After a 16-0 Opening Day loss in Dan Macias first ever Jersey Shore start, the season ended with the same Macias shutting out Greenville for his first career 20 win season and the first ever in Jersey history.  The year contained 4 winnings months, including a 21 win September, 2 losing months including a 12 win August and finished with the D-Bags notched a team record 94 wins and falling 2 games short of their first playoff spot.  This marked Jersey's 5th straight winning season where they have compiled a 440-370 record, good for a winning percentage of .540.  

Before the season Jersey built arguably their most talented team with bringing in of Macias, the emergence of 2nd year up and comer Mike Bryant combined with a young core group of players in their 2nd or 3rd seasons.  At the end of the year it was the veteran Macias combined with the bullpen on the pitching side and a young offensive core that drove Jersey's drive for a playoff spot.  5 of their 6 top offensive performers were all in their 1st or 2nd full season which creates an amazing buzz of hope for the future.

Offensive MVP - Mike Bryant

Unless you have been living in a cave, this is a no brainier.  Not only did he finish near the top of the league in every category, Mike "The Monster" Bryant also shattered nearly every record in the Jersey Shore record book.  His batting average of .329 bested the prevoius best by 1 point, his slugging percentage of .600 shattered  the old record of .567 set by Leon Foster.  His offensive VORP of 72 best Mason Bonniface's old record by 11.5, and his OPS was short that only of Bonniface's 2011 season.  He also set team records for hits (209), runs (113), total bases (381), HR (37), and RBI (130).  He won the CL player of the week award 3 times and player of the month award once.  He was selected as a starter at the All Star game and finished 2nd in MVP voting only to Morales of the 84's.  It was a season for the record books and it came in Bryant's full official season after playing 91 games his rookie year.  What else does Bryant have in store for us?

Runner Up - Matt Doyle (see below)

Pitching MVP - Dan Macias

Again like Bryant, another no brainier.  This 34 year old who came over in a trade with Orlando in the off season found his youth again pitching his best season since the 2008 campaign.  He became Jersey's first 20 game winner, the only 20 game winner in the CL, as well as the first Jersey starter to have an ERA under 4.00 for a full season, which he shattered by putting up a 2.82 ERA.  25 of his 36 starts were quality ones, including 2 shutouts and tying a career high of 227 strikeouts.  Despite finishing 2nd in Cy Young Voting to "Prince" Clemente of Madison, Macias's WAR this season was 9th all time since the inception of the VBL/BSA in 2010, only trailing seasons by the names Hill and JTF.  His VORP of 74.5 also ranks 9th all time. Both marks of those that Clemente posted, but it came down to the voters.  The only categories Macias trailed Clemente eas ERA and WHIP, but led him in W, K, FIP, VORP and WAR but regardless Macias had an amazing season.

Runner Up - Rob Goodship

Although Goodship's season numbers do not scream anything positive, he did finish 14-14 with a 4.44 ERA.  His overall season was a down step from his "rookie" year as a Jersey starter.  But not everything was negative.  Goodship won his last 7 starts in a row, beating 4 playoff teams in the stretch. His ERA for his last 12 starts was around 3.25 showing much promise on being a solid #2 on this staff.  If he had pitched nearly that good earlier in the season we might be talking playoffs. 

Rookie of the Year - Matt Doyle

#Call Up Doyle becoming a trending sensation in the early goings of the season while Doyle ripped up pitching in AAA during the first month of the season.  What Doyle did with the time he did have in Jersey was nothing less of sensational.  He finished with a line of 33 HR 108 RBI with a slash line of .326/.389/.570 with a VORP of 51.2.  He played 4 months in the big leagues and won the Rookie of the Month award for the CL 3 of those months.  Despite leading all rookies in the CL in OBP, SLG, OPS, wOBA, HR, RBI, BB and ISO he finished runner up in ROY voting to LuGo of Toronto.  Doyle also finished runner up to only LuGo in Avg, WAR, hits, runs and total bases.  Bryant and Doyle emerged this season as one of the most feared duos in all of baseball.  Combined they have played in only 380 games total, be prepared for the duo to bring fear to pitchers for the next decade.

Runner Up - Al Ryan

In a trade just days before the season started, Jersey acquired Al Ryan from division rivals greenville in exchange for MR Gabriel Barrentez. Ryan had showed some power promise hitting 16 HR in 294 AB for Greenville's AAA affiliate last season and figured to be a 4-5th bench spot.  Ryan played in 90 games, getting 273 AB's and fully took advantege of them .  He belted 20 HR combined with 50 RBI on way to a VORP of 12  giving Jersey another prominent lefty in their lineup.  In a normal year Ryan probably would have been a ROY candidate.

The Off-Season

Entering the off season Jersey will be short 3 players due to free agency.  Two of those players were acquired during the season in MR Gordon Brown and 3B David Paquette.  Paquette had the biggest impact, playing in 42 games for the Bags after coming over from Indianapolis hitting 7 HR, driving in 17 RBI hitting .297 with an OBP of .355.  The former All Star was asking for a big extension the Bags just couldn't sign at this point.  MR Brown came over from New Orleans after pitching a very good season could never get it going with the Bags.  In 19 appearances, he had an ERA arond 7.50.  He does carry a B-level compensation pick if he is signed.  The other FA the Bags are seeing leaving is MR Marv Williams.  Marv continued his Jekyl and Hyde performances this year after throwing a very respectable year last year.  Williams appeared in 14 games, sporting an ERA around 9.00 before tearing a muscle in his back ending his season.  

With only the 3 vacancies and 2 25-man roster spots don't expect much FA talk from Jersey this off season.  MR Jose Ruiz expects to challenge for the open MR slot in the spring and the combo of Adam Morrow/Alberto Perez plans to be a good one for the last spot on the offensive side of things.  

Rumors have it that Jersey is deep in talks with a couple of clubs to acquire another starting pitcher to pair up with Dan Macias and Rob Goodship, but nothing has been announced yet.  Stay tuned to the Bag Report for any moves, big or small upcoming the Jersey D-Bag world.

GO D-BAGS

Jersey Shore - September 2014

In another up and down season which Jersey finds themselves out of the playoffs, does it surprise anyone that September was their best month of the year?  Including their 11 game streak in the middle of the month, Jersey captured it's 2nd 20 win month in team history by going 21-6, falling just 2 games behind the eventual Wild Card winner, the Regina River Sharks.


Players of the Month:
With a big month like September, there will be several main players in the running for POTM, and this month was no exception.


SP Dan Macias 5-0, 2.14 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 42 K's. Aces are suppose to show up big in big situations and Macias did that in a month where Jersey needed every game. He pitched 6 quality starts, winning 5 of them and earning a no decision in the other.  He ended the season with 16 straight shutout innings picking up his 20th win on the last day of the year. It marks his first 20 win season and the first in Jersey Shore history.


SP Rob Goodship 6-0, 2.51 ERA, 2 CG.  Fans are hoping that Goodship has finally come to play. After a trying sophomore year Goodship finally put together a fabulous string of starts for a perfect 6-0 September.  Always thought of to have potential to be a legit #2 starter, the soon to be 28 year old might just be a late bloomer.


MR Jose Gomes 2-0, 2 Saves, 2.08 ERA, 21 K in 13 IP.  When Dog Pound is on his game, he can be one of the most dominating relievers in the game, and we saw that in September.  Gomes is very much a veteran to the POTM column.  He finished the season leading all relievers in K/9IP.  


2B Mike Bryant 6 HR, 29 RBI, .333/.398/.619.  Bryant rebounded from a slumping August to rake again in September.  3rd month of 2014 with at least 28 RBI.  1st round pick to standout rookie to legit MVP candidate.  The future is bright for Mr. Bryant.  Jersey Shore brass is also lobbying to get an official nickname change from "Coffin" to "The Monster"  Mr. Ulery, take note.


RF Peter Larson .333/.436/.444 11 wb, 18 BB, 20 runs scored.  Larson got better every month after putting on a Jersey uniform and September was by far his best month.  He was on base at a .436 clip and scored in 80% of Jersey's games.  Is there a better spot for him in the game than hitting in front of Bryant and Doyle?


C Luis Antonio Duran 4 HR, 17 RBI, .360/.436/.573.  Hitting mainly out of the 6 slot Duran showed what a valuable asset he can be with power and and and eye.  2nd straight season with 20+ HR and the front office has hinted about an upcoming extension.


Roster Questions, Changes and Answers
Since up until the last few days of the season Jersey still had slim hopes of a playoff spot we didn't get to see too many young players get AB's.  We did see OF Al Ryan get plenty of playing time this year and eclipse the 20 HR plateau.  We still have the 1B/3B candidates Adam Morrow and Alberto Perez looking for regular work.  Adam Morrow had a 4 hit game on the 2nd to last day of the season.  OF Harold Robinson was called up and hit a Grand Slam in his first AB.  OF Ken Taylor and OF Sergio Rodriguez both saw time recently and could be regulars in 2015.  MR Jose Ruiz who was hurt most of the season got a late season call up but never got to see the mound in a game.


It looks as though the D-Bags will hit the offseason with 3 pending Free Agents.  3B David Paquette, MR Marv Williams and MR Gordon Brown.  With the budget the way it is, I would look for none of the 3 to be resigned.  Williams pitched poorly then was injured and Paquette is 36 years old.  Brown would be an interesting candidate even though he pitched very poorly since coming to Jersey at the deadline.  Ruiz is a good candidate to take one of the open MR spots next year, and look for a trade or FA to come in to fill the other.  


There will be some interesting decisions in the off season as far as contract extensions go as well. Next year will be the last year on the contracts for CL Daniel Morris, CF Scott Powers, 3B Parker Morrow and SP Kenny Stanford.  Also you had to wonder when players who will be hitting arbitration soon such as Duran, Bryant , Manny Romero and Greg Schaefer will receive long term deals or wait out their arbitration hearings.  Stay tuned for a season long break down as well naming the Batter and Pitcher of the year as well as minor league players of the year for the Jersey system.


GO D-BAGS

Jersey Shore - April 2013

Normally when a season starts the D-Bags stumble out of the gate only to rite the ship later on in the season.  Not this year as the Bags starter April out with a bang, compiling an 18-10 record including a 10-1 home record where their only home loss came on the last home game of the month to Denver.  The run included average starting pitching, great bullpen help and some new found power along with the TL's top batting average.

Players of the Month:

MR Marv Williams: 1-0, 1.98 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 13K's.  Though I could have chose a number of relievers from the bullpen, I chose Williams because of the shock value.  Selected with a high pick in the inaugural draft, Williams failed as a starter and a reliever with the D-Bags. After an ERA over 5.30 last year in 15 games it looked as if his time had passed, until this year came around.  Williams dominated in ST, earning him the last spot in the bullpen.  April he posted an ERA under 20, seeing time in 20 of the D-Bags 28 games. Maybe his time to contribute has finally arrived.

CL David Morris:  1-1, 9 Saves, 0.69 ERA, 0.85 WHIP.  I couldn't help adding him as a POTW once again, his stats are ridiculous.  He did have one BS, which came in his first game of the season and was perfect from there on out.  He is making over $7 million this year, and was an All-Star last year, but this is what to expect out someone of his caliber.

C Jorge Lozano: 3 HR, 20 RBI, .408 BA, 1.081 OPS.  After splitting time with Ramirez last season Lozano won the job out of spring training and took off. He led the TL in batting average was all over the base paths with 40 hits, 10 BB"s compared to only 5 K's.  Is it a surprise he is in a contract year?

2B Marvin Taylor: 3 HR. .373/.453/.640.  The super multi use player jumped onto the scene in April.  He played mainly 2B with Fred Ross out of the lineup and was quickly moved to the 2 slot where he scored 14 runs and was on base all the time.  After posted a time low -7.9 VORP last year, the 27 year old seems to have found himself a starting job.

RF/CF Leon Foster:  7 HR, 26 RBI.  In the offseason Jersey wanted a right handed hitting power OF, they seemd to have found it.  Foster led the team in HR and was Top 5 in the league in RBI.  His average and K's were down, but he was brought in to produce runs and did exactly that in April.  First month, first POTW!

Roster Changes, Questions and Answers:

Well on the injury front, so far so good.  But we know that will not last all season.  The only injury the team has suffered was the one to Fred Ross in the off-season and Marvin Taylor has stepped in more than likely better what Ross could have put up.  There is a lot of depth in the minor leagues, so if any injuries do take place, there should be adequate backups.  

Not everyone tore April up like the POTM's.  OF Michael Paul had an atrocious start to the season.  The normal OBP machine started out 3 for 45 with XBH and 8 K's.  He split time with Ramon Tavarez, who didn't hit much better but did have a HR and 5 RBI.  Manny Romero who won one of the last spots on the roster had ample opportunity in April but struggled at a .200 Avg while slugging 2 HR.  SP Alex Torrez also struggled with a 5.60 ERA but managed to win 2 games despite 0 quality starts in 5 starts.

Jerry Paige and Greg Schafer are waiting in AAA for their shot at the rotation and Torrez among others could be at risk to lose their starting spot.  There are 5 regulars hitting over .300 in AAA and 5 regulars with more than 7 HR's in Tuscaloosa.  A many number of players could see action over the next month.

There are a lot of division games and a big series with LAB coming up in May.  While a winning percentage of .643 might not be obtainable, look for Jersey to have continued success as long as the starting pitching does not completely implode.

GO D-BAGS!