Austin Deuce Droppers Season Preview

Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, the DD’s look to reclaim their winning ways this season. After nearly missing the playoffs followed by a quick first round exit, Austin’s GM had to choose whether to start the rebuilding process or add some talent and give a World Series berth another run. After fielding some early trade offers for ace pitcher Britt Swindell, the GM decided to go for it one more time. It remains to be seen if the Deuce Droppers can reclaim their past glory this year or if it will be another season of disappointment.

C – Danny Kinney & Pascual Cruz (Platoon): Both of these guys should be above average at the plate, however it’s behind the plate where they are below average. Kinney will get the starts against righties, while Cruz will be hacking away at the Southpaws.

1B – B.C. Bennett: Bennett’s offensive production dropped slightly last year, but he can still be counted on for at least 20 HR’s, 100 RBI’s, and a near .300 Avg. At only 24 years of age, he should be a fixture at first base for years to come.

2B – Blake Mathews: It’s tough to call a 48 HR, 143 RBI season disappointing, but Mathews slumped down the stretch and was a large part of the post All-Star break collapse. Perhaps he was depressed at not having made the All-Star team despite being the HR leader at the break. Perhaps a move to 2B, new 4 year $3.3 million/year contract, and his new Prozac, Zoloft, and Xanax prescriptions will motivate him to his peak performance this year.

3B – Jim Edmonds: Edmonds will be switching positions with Mathews this year in a move designed to try and improve the DD’s defense. Due to a brief stint on the DL last year, Edmonds barely missed becoming a 30 / 30 man last year with 100 RBI’s and a .300 batting average. He was rewarded in the offseason with a 5 year $7.5 million/year contract and will be counted on to keep the offense rolling this year.

SS – Will Yeats: While Yeat’s bat tailed off a bit in his first full season in the bigs, he is quickly becoming one of the best defensive SS’s in the MLB world. He will again be called upon to anchor the DD’s defense up the middle.

LF – Jorel Atkins & Ramon Dong (Platoon): Have no fear DD’s fans, the Donger will not be just a part time player this year. When not patrolling left field for the DD’s, he will be called upon to DH. Atkins is expected to see the majority of the action against lefties while it is hoped that Dong will regain his form after a lackluster season in Milwaukee. It is believed that the Brewers slow start contributed to his lethargic play and he was never able to recover. We’ll know after spring training if Dong’s bat is hard enough to cut diamonds or whether he’ll need to see Mathew’s doctors for a season long prescription of Viagra and Cialis.

CF – Jimmie Bergman: Former SS Bergman successfully made the switch to CF last year and prospered in his new role. Though is power production fell, he still managed 20 HR’s, 114 RBI’s, and a .304 Average while playing stellar defense. More of the same is expected this year.

RF – Vin Ibanez: Pencil this guy in for 100+ Runs Scored and a Batting Average near .315. Ibanez suffered a drop in SB’s last year, but that is the only complaint about last season. Mr. Consistent will be expected to set the table for the big sluggers again this year.

DH – Fernando Armas & Ramon Dong – It’s hard to say that one of the league’s all-time best players is coming to the end of the road when he still managed to post 26 HR’s, 98 RBI’s, and a .336 Average in only 428 AB’s last year. Armas is signed through next season and will easily go down as the DD’s best player when he decides to hang up the spikes. Enough about the future though, Armas is still looking to win one for the thumb (WS rings that is). He will be terrorizing the righties again this year, while Dong will be DH’ing against the lefties.

SP – The reason the DD’s GM was not yet ready to give up on the current version of the team is because he still feels that the starting rotation 1-5 is still one of the best in the bigs.

Brett Swindell will anchor the rotation, he has never had less than 15 wins or more than 10 losses in his 6 full seasons as a starter, posting a career record of 105-39.

Chad Sanders is a solid #2 starter who has posted a record of 60-30 in 4 seasons as a starter after being brought in from the bullpen.

Russell Spence is the #3, are you kidding me. He has a lifetime record of 119-55 in 8 seasons for the DD’s.

Nicholas Perry is the forgotten man in the DD’s rotation, yet he has posted a 103-64 record in his 8 seasons with the club.

Hipolito Palacios is the new face and #5 fireballer for the DD’s this season. After posting a 10-5 record coming out of the pen this year, he is a welcome addition to the rotation.

CL – Doug Cambridge has been named by management as the full-time closer this year and is expected to excel in his role; but should he falter the man closing out the 8^th inning, Mark Carew, is waiting for his shot at the job.

The DD’s don’t settle for anything less than World Championships so the past three seasons have been frustrating for them. Management feels that a return to the top is not only possible, but expected this year.