Oops. Wrong pic. My bad.The Zou has outscored everybody in The League by more than 400 points,but yet they still have a losing record. How is that possible? Well, The Zou is so dependent on pitching that when none of their starters have two starts in a week or favorable match-ups, the team is a little week. Anyway, on to how they would do as a real team.
Line-up (including DH)
1. Grady Sizemore – CF - .279 AVG, 15 HR, 46 RBI, 25 SB
2. Michael Young – SS - .280, 4, 51, 6
3. Alfonso Soriano – DH - .308, 16, 36, 13
4. Lance Berkman – 1B - .261, 15, 60, 5
5. Ryan Braun – 3B - .349, 13, 36, 8
6. Hunter Pence – RF - .334, 11, 43, 8
7. Carl Crawford – LF - .281, 6, 52, 26
8. Jorge Posada – C - .330, 10, 50, 2
9. Robinson Cano – 2B - .271, 6, 41, 2
Pitching Staff
1. Dan Haren – 10-3, 2.33 ERA, 104 K, 35 BB, 1.03 WHIP
2. C.C. Sabathia – 12-4, 3.78, 125, 20, 1.20
3. Justin Verlander – 11-3, 3.26, 103, 40, 1.16
4. John Maine – 10-5, 2.91, 96, 43, 1.17
5. Tim Hudson – 9-5, 3.35, 79, 30, 1.19
Bullpen
Middle Relief – James Shields – 7-5, 3.98, 118, 20, 1.05
MR – Jered Weaver – 6-5, 3.36, 65, 32, 1.42
MR – Tim Lincecum – 4-2, 4.63, 79, 32, 1.25
Set-up – Jeremy Accardo – 2-3, 2.63, 39, 17, 1.22, 13 Saves
SU – Oliver Perez – 8-6, 3.13, 91, 40, 1.18
Closer – Mariano Rivera – 2-3, 3.41, 36, 5, 1.08, 13
Summary
For The Zou, it’s all about pitching and speed. There is probably not
another team out there that could match the starting five of Haren,
Sabathia, Verlander, Maine and Hudson. With that starting five, The Zou
will be in every game and has a legitimate chance to get 7 innings and 2
runs out of their starter every night.
The best thing to match with great starting pitching is great defense.
Unfortunately, The Zou does not have the great defense. On the infield,
only Berkman wields an above glove. Posada is a solid defensive
catcher, but his arm is no longer what it once was and he has problems
throwing out potential base stealers. At third, Braun is rapidly improving
with the glove, but his glove was so bad in spring training that his bat
was put in the minors for the great Tony Graffanino (nothing against
the guy, but his bat doesn’t compare to Braun’s and he’s a natural
second basemen). Michael Young mans short for The Zou, and while he has
improved every year since moving from second, he is still not an above
average shortstop. At second base is Cano. Cano is just an average
defensive second basemen. Overall, the infield is not very good. The
outfield however is another story. Crawford, Sizemore and Pence are all
above average outfielders and with their collective speed, I’m not sure a
ball would ever drop in the outfield. Add to that the arms of Sizemore and
Pence, and you probably have the best defensive outfield in the league so
far.
The Zou’s line-up features speed, speed and more speed. Sizemore
leads off for The Zou and he is 25 for 28 this year in stealing bases.
Sizemore also has above average power and is the perfect lead-off man for
this type of team (minus his excessive strikeouts). Behind Sizemore is
Michael Young who won’t wow you at the plate but he can hit the ball
to the right side and move runners. In the heart of the line-up are
Soriano, Berkman and Braun. Soriano would return to his 40-40 type numbers
hitting in the three spot in front of Berkman. Berkman isn’t the best
number four bat in the game but he has solid power will have to do for
The Zou. In the five spot is Ryan Braun. Braun still hasn’t hit the
half way mark of a full season (he was called up about a month into the
season) and he has already hit 14 round-trippers and is hitting close
to .350. Following Braun is his twin, Hunter Pence, with a little more
speed and a little less power. After Pence is Crawford, who can create
runs on his own at the bottom of the line-up. Posada and Cano round out the
line-up with bats that will probably average in the .290’s with 15 homers.
Every player in The Zou’s line-up is a real threat to steal a base
sans Posada.
In the bullpen, The Zou feature a very solid middle relief crew of
Shields, Weaver and Lincecum. Shields, a strikeout artist with a great
change-up, has been one of the top pitchers in the AL this year and if he
played for a good team he would have 10 wins already. Weaver has solid
stuff but has yet to really put it together this year (he still sports
good numbers). Behind Shields and Weaver is the kid with the electric
stuff. Lincecum is starting to find his groove in the majors, as
evidenced by his last three starts, and would make a great middle reliever with
his 97 mph fastball, devastating curve and ever-improving change.
Behind the middle relievers, it gets a bit more sketchy. In the set-up
roles are Jeremy Accardo and Oliver Perez. Accardo has been solid this year
but has yet to put a whole year like this together. Perez has the
stuff and is starting to show the consistency to where he could be a great
late-innings lefty; however, he’s never done it before. At the back
of th
e bullpen is Mariano Rivera. Rivera had his yearly early season
struggles but has been lights out of late. Over the last month he has an ERA
of 1.13 and a WHIP of 1.00.With the game on the line, I’m not sure
there’s anybody else I’d rather give the ball to.
Overall, The Zou has great pitching and will put a ton of pressure on
the defense with their speed on the basepaths. This is the type of team
that would murder to coach against. With their pitching, it would be
tempting to try to play small-ball. But if you play small-ball, you are
playing their game and it will be tough to win. The lone downfall of The
Zou is their infield defense. Braun, Young and Cano are all improving
but together they make a rough unit. A trade for a gold-glove caliber
shortstop would put The Zou in a very strong position near, or at, the
top of The League,
another team out there that could match the starting five of Haren,
Sabathia, Verlander, Maine and Hudson. With that starting five, The Zou
will be in every game and has a legitimate chance to get 7 innings and 2
runs out of their starter every night.
The best thing to match with great starting pitching is great defense.
Unfortunately, The Zou does not have the great defense. On the infield,
only Berkman wields an above glove. Posada is a solid defensive
catcher, but his arm is no longer what it once was and he has problems
throwing out potential base stealers. At third, Braun is rapidly improving
with the glove, but his glove was so bad in spring training that his bat
was put in the minors for the great Tony Graffanino (nothing against
the guy, but his bat doesn’t compare to Braun’s and he’s a natural
second basemen). Michael Young mans short for The Zou, and while he has
improved every year since moving from second, he is still not an above
average shortstop. At second base is Cano. Cano is just an average
defensive second basemen. Overall, the infield is not very good. The
outfield however is another story. Crawford, Sizemore and Pence are all
above average outfielders and with their collective speed, I’m not sure a
ball would ever drop in the outfield. Add to that the arms of Sizemore and
Pence, and you probably have the best defensive outfield in the league so
far.
The Zou’s line-up features speed, speed and more speed. Sizemore
leads off for The Zou and he is 25 for 28 this year in stealing bases.
Sizemore also has above average power and is the perfect lead-off man for
this type of team (minus his excessive strikeouts). Behind Sizemore is
Michael Young who won’t wow you at the plate but he can hit the ball
to the right side and move runners. In the heart of the line-up are
Soriano, Berkman and Braun. Soriano would return to his 40-40 type numbers
hitting in the three spot in front of Berkman. Berkman isn’t the best
number four bat in the game but he has solid power will have to do for
The Zou. In the five spot is Ryan Braun. Braun still hasn’t hit the
half way mark of a full season (he was called up about a month into the
season) and he has already hit 14 round-trippers and is hitting close
to .350. Following Braun is his twin, Hunter Pence, with a little more
speed and a little less power. After Pence is Crawford, who can create
runs on his own at the bottom of the line-up. Posada and Cano round out the
line-up with bats that will probably average in the .290’s with 15 homers.
Every player in The Zou’s line-up is a real threat to steal a base
sans Posada.
In the bullpen, The Zou feature a very solid middle relief crew of
Shields, Weaver and Lincecum. Shields, a strikeout artist with a great
change-up, has been one of the top pitchers in the AL this year and if he
played for a good team he would have 10 wins already. Weaver has solid
stuff but has yet to really put it together this year (he still sports
good numbers). Behind Shields and Weaver is the kid with the electric
stuff. Lincecum is starting to find his groove in the majors, as
evidenced by his last three starts, and would make a great middle reliever with
his 97 mph fastball, devastating curve and ever-improving change.
Behind the middle relievers, it gets a bit more sketchy. In the set-up
roles are Jeremy Accardo and Oliver Perez. Accardo has been solid this year
but has yet to put a whole year like this together. Perez has the
stuff and is starting to show the consistency to where he could be a great
late-innings lefty; however, he’s never done it before. At the back
of th
e bullpen is Mariano Rivera. Rivera had his yearly early season
struggles but has been lights out of late. Over the last month he has an ERA
of 1.13 and a WHIP of 1.00.With the game on the line, I’m not sure
there’s anybody else I’d rather give the ball to.
Overall, The Zou has great pitching and will put a ton of pressure on
the defense with their speed on the basepaths. This is the type of team
that would murder to coach against. With their pitching, it would be
tempting to try to play small-ball. But if you play small-ball, you are
playing their game and it will be tough to win. The lone downfall of The
Zou is their infield defense. Braun, Young and Cano are all improving
but together they make a rough unit. A trade for a gold-glove caliber
shortstop would put The Zou in a very strong position near, or at, the
top of The League,
Rankings
Line-up
1. Zou
2. Alba
3. 300
4. Tones
Starting Pitching
1. Zou
2. Tones
3. 300
4. Alba
Defense
1. 300
2a. Alba
2b. Tones
4. Zou
Bullpen
1. Zou
2. Alba
3. 300
4. Tones
Overall
1. Zou
2. 300
3. Tones
4. Alba
Did I just pull a Ben (preseason rankings anyone?) and overrate my
team? Let me know what you think.
team? Let me know what you think.
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