During his 17 year tenure at the helm. Elan Gilbert and company have made 11 playoff appearances, including 3 trips to the World Series and 2 rings. Let's take a look at the groceries Gilbert has to cook with in the 23 SSL season.
Knizner c 601 Cron 1b 783 Torres 2b 761 Semien ss 733 Stott 3b 653 Kiriloff of 651 Bader of 650 Isbel K. of 603
BENCH
Kelenic of 534 Marte 2b 727 Dalbec cr 652 A. Garcia of 507 K. Isbel of 603 Romine c 435 Mercedes dh 668
ANALYSIS
Kershaw, Luzardo and Kirby are a great trio for the playoffs but injuries will limit their usefulness during the regular season. Pablo Lopez and Kaprielian ooze with potential. The bullpen could be the best in the SSL and that's quite a compliment given all the great bullpens in this league. Nevertheless, I defy anyone to tell me who is a better closer than Clase. Rey. Lopez and Graterol are excellent and Jiminez, Strezelenski and Acevedo can fill in quite nicely. Even DeJong and Pruitt are above average long relievers.
Cron, Torres and Semien are solid performers. It's just too bad the rest of the lineup falls off the cliff. Granted, Gilbert needs to find a spot for Marte in the lineup but the outfield options are dreadful. I am sure if we recruited a DOD mole to look at Gilbert's master plan it would show Kelenic and Kiriloff hitting for much better OPS than actually happened and therein lays the problem. The lack of OF production keeps this team from realizing Gilbert's master plan.
The infield and bullpen are good enough for the playoffs but injuries limit the starting rotation and the young outfielders have to shake off the lack of confidence and realize their potential. For now, look for Chicos to finish 4th in a tough NL Central.
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