76 - 86, .469 pct.
4th in Effa Manley Division, 23 GB
Overall
So much offense. Like … so much.
But only 2 pitchers had ERAs under 5.00. OK, 3 if you count Billy Koch‘s 3 innings. So that’s the issue.
But 7 players hit over 30 homeruns (and Rusty Staub 29), 6 full time (or nearly so) players had OPS’ over .850, and the peaks–Gary Carter, Roberto Alomar, Larry Walker, all 3 of whom both drove in and scored over 100 runs–were shockingly high.
So the question for Ottawa is relatively simple: how does a franchise maintain the offensive performance and get something approaching league average pitching.
What Went Right
Virtually everything related to the offense. We can take this by position.
Gary Carter was the 2nd best catcher in baseball.
Roberto Alomar was the best 2B in baseball.
Álex Rodríguez hit 46 homeruns as a 22 year old SS.
Tim Raines stole 115 bases and scored 119 runs.
Carlos Beltrán hit 35 homeruns, posted an .865 OPS, and went 42-3 in steals.
Larry Walker hit 54 homeruns with a .998 OPS and 126 RBIs.
And that doesn’t even mention the Rick Monday conundrum: Monday slashed 272/364/604 and just relentlessly demanded more and more playing time, most at DH. There is really no space for Monday in Ottawa, but how do you ignore that level of performance?
In 100 PAs, Josh Donaldson was similar: a 269/366/718 slash line, but somewhat blocked.
And then we have the pitching. Um … yeah.
Roy Halladay is quite good, and his 15-9 record and 1.26 WHIP are more reflective of his performance than his 5.17 ERA.
Bill Smith was every bit as good as Halladay while missing some time through injury, finishing with a 10-3 record and a stellar 3.77 ERA.
Tom Henke had a bumpy return from injury, but overall established himself as the closer for the team.
And that’s about it. Johnny Podgajny ate up innings and BJ Ryan was reasonably effective from the pen.
ALL STARS
Roberto Alomar
Álex Rodríguez
Larry Walker
MAJOR AWARDS
Roberto Alomar, NL All-Rounder Award; NL 2B Silver Slugger
Larry Walker, NL RF Silver Slugger
RECOGNITIONS
Gary Carter, Mel Trench Award 3rd Place; All NL 2nd Team; NL 25 & Under Team
Josh Donaldson, NL All Rookie 2nd Team
Rick Monday, All NL 3rd Team; NL 25 & Under Team
Álex Rodríguez, All NL 3rd Team
Rusty Staub, NL 23 & Under Team; NL 21 & Under Team
Sam Thompson, NL All Rookie 2nd Team
Larry Walker, All NL 2nd Team; NL 25 & Under Team; NL 23 & Under Team
ORGANIZATIONAL AWARDS
Roberto Alomar, MVP
Roy Halladay, Pitcher of the Year
Roberto Alomar, Heart & Soul
Gary Carter, Fan Favorite
Billy Koch, Minor League Pitcher of the Year
John Olerud, Minor League Player of the Year
What Went Wrong
The Mounties used twenty-four pitchers. Twenty-four. And while there were injuries a plenty (only Halladay had more than 30 starts, only Podgajny more than 20), there were also an overwhelming number of poor performances. Some of the lowlights:
Randy Johnson continues to struggle, posting an ERA over 8 in just over 100 innings. Johnson’s stuff is electric, but something has to shift or Ottawa needs to give up on him.
Atlee Hammaker was pummeled, allowing 40 homeruns in 89 innings. Read that again. That made Hammaker one of six Ottawa hurlers who averaged giving up at least 4 homeruns per 9 innings. Five pitchers averaged over 5 walks per 9. Max Scherzer did both.
I could go on, but it just hurts so much.
You may have noticed that 1B and 3B weren’t mentioned in the what went right review. Rusty Staub and Adrían Beltré weren’t bad, but they also were below league average for sure.
Roy Sievers and Bob Watson were bad, with each of them unable to get close to .700 OPSs.
Transactions
March
OF Ken Griffey, Jr & 4th Round Pick to POR for IF Adrián Beltré, OF Denard Span, P Atlee Hammaker, P Pedro Ramos, & 2nd Round Pick.
Portland looks to have won this on pure talent, but you have to remember this also allowed Carlos Beltrán to be the everyday CF, and Beltrán was excellent.
July
The Mounties stood pat at the All Star Break, as much for a lack of partners than a lack of desire.
August
The Mounties wanted to do something here, but their valuable pieces are too young–this nucleus holds promise, but may need to be broken up in the quest for pitching.
Positional Overview
C
No idea if Gary Carter can keep doing this, but what a treat The Kid was this year. Look for Emil Gross to return as his backup.
Milt May holds some long-term promise (but of course, it should be remembered that, at 21, is only 1 year younger than Carter and Gross).
1B
The Mounties have a lot of talent here, and its not clear what the right move is. It’s tempting to move Larry Walker here and deal with the surplus in the OF. In the meantime, look for John Olerud to be given every opportunity to seize this role in Spring Training.
But John Mayberry, Rusty Staub, Bob Watson, and Tino Martinez all have their supporters, and are likely to be useful WBL players at some point, either here or elsewhere.
2B
Very few people had Roberto Alomar supplanting Eddie Collins as the best 2B in the WBL, but that happened. Especially with that development, look for Tim Raines‘ occasional forays into the infield to become more and more rare.
Jimmy Dykes and Joey Cora each hold some promise in the system.
SS
Nobody is wishing Ottawa kept Freddy Parent now … Álex Rodríguez is not very far from being the best SS in the league: 46 homers at 22 will do that.
The system is pretty barren after that, with Henry Easterday and Dick Bartell offering some defensive options, but little else.
3B
Adrian Beltré has some detractors, but he’ll be here for a while, although Josh Donaldson is giving him some competition. Larry Parrish and Art Devlin are the most likely options if needed while Kyle Seager will push for playing time at some point.
It’s assumed that, eventually, Rodríguez will shift here, but that’s a problem for a future day.
LF/RF
Tim Raines in left and Larry Walker in right feel very set, although Walker’s continued injury struggles are worrisome (and part of why the move to 1B could be attractive).
There are options: Wee Willie Keeler is turning heads throughout the system; Rusty Staub, while slow, isn’t too slow for the outfield yet; and Sam Thompson has done nothing but hit when given the opportunity.
And that’s ignoring Ryan Klesko, Jackie Jensen, Terry Puhl, Jason Heyward, Warren Cormartie …
CF
Giving Carlos Beltrán the fulltime job was a great decision in hindsight. But it does nothing to help Ottawa figure out what to do with Rick Monday, who will be taking as many reps in RF as possible during Spring Training.
Others can play the position, but the only dedicated CF worth noting in the system is 20 year old Denard Span.
DH
Rick Monday, we guess?
SP
Health is such a cruel mistress.
In a perfect world, Ottawa would go with Roy Halladay and Bill Smith; Old Hoss Radbourn would step up, becoming more than an innings eater; Bill Smith or Bob Moose or Bob Brown or Gary Peters or Dupee Shaw or Max Scherzer or, well, anyone, would step up; and, most fantastically, the immense talent of Randy Johnson would show up, like, at all.
It could be a bizarre Spring.
RP
There is reason for optimism, as the closing trio of Tom Henke, BJ Ryan, and Billy Koch could be quite good.
Beyond those three, look for the fallout of the starting competition to end up here. Greg Holland, Rick Camp, and Mark Eichhorn all have potential to help, but may be a bit far from the WBL at this point.
Draft Outlook
DRAFT PICKS
1st Round: 1
2nd Round: 2
3rd Round: 1
4th Round: 0
5th Round: 1
Look for … how many picks do they have? 4? … four pitchers to be selected.
