Here we are in August and the Mustangs find themselves outside looking in despite mile high expectations going into the season. The front office is admittedly a little perplexed about how to produce some runs. Developing and trading for hitting have not yet yielded results. So this year the strategy was to go buy them. Eric McSwan was given $100 million over five years to be the DH and increase the teams production only to hit 51 points below his career batting average. As insurance the Mustangs gave a duplicate contract to Juan Ramirez. He has decided to under perform even more impressively by hitting for an average a full 76 points below his career.
However if you want to put on the rose colored glasses and look ahead to next season there is a lot to be excited about. McSwan and Ramirez are tied up for 2-4 years depending on if the team picks up all of the options. You have to think they will break out of their slumps and see a correction in their numbers at some point. In that time there is good reason to believe the young talent that has been acquired over the last couple of years will be able to develop. 3B Mashashi Kogawa, LF Josuke Sato and RF Patrice Delhaye were brought in via trade. All have big potential and now get to step into big roles for the club and hopefully take the final step towards reaching it. The recent departure of Jeff Wade was an extremely unpopular decision with the fans but it does give Tim McCreary the opportunity to take the reigns at 2B. The sky could be the limit for this kid.
Only Francisco Morales and Callum Ritchie are likely to remain from the 2014 starting lineup. Both have proven to be quality ABL starters.
Young gun starting pitchers Cliff Stevens and Kevin Landry are throwing like they are ready for the majors. 2017 should see them in the rotation with proven starters Manual Ruiz, Scott Wilson and recently acquired Jesse George.
The bullpen as always should remain a strength.
Every year around this time Mustang fans agree that next year will be the year. This time though it's probably true!
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