[IBL] Baltimore Sand Crab Season Preview

[Larry Selleck]

Howdy,

Any consideration for this as a team sponsor?!  (Be good for the annual
Firearms and Alcohol night!!)

http://www.crabbiesgingerbeer.co.uk/

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 6:42 PM, Doug Palmer <aeronutty43 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> According to the Chinese calendar, 2016 is supposed to be the year of the
> monkey.  But we here in Baltimore gracefully disagree.  We believe that
> 2016 is…
>
>
>
> *THE YEAR OF THE CRAB!!!!!!*
>
> Yes, after 6 long years of toil, the Baltimore Sand Crabs believe that
> 2016 could finally result in a season where the Crabs not only finish above
> .500, but may actually……shhh……..make a playoff appearance!  Yes people,
> there is a chance that postseason baseball will displace the annual Cow
> Tipping Championships that normally occupy Sand Crab Memorial Stadium and
> Fish Mart come September!  And while this may cause some concern in the
> bovine community, Sand Crab fans are elated at the potential of seriously
> Bonus Baseball!
>
> Why the optimism?  The Ouija board and planetary rotations have finally
> aligned to provide the Sand Crabs with talent in important positions (and
> not just the commissary for a change).  Let’s take a look at why they’re
> so excited in Sand Crab Land
>
> *The catchers*: BAL Joseph and MIN Suzuki will be joined by first round
> pick CHA Schwarber this year.  And while Schwarber isn’t a full time
> catcher, the fact that he can be penciled in behind the plate in an
> emergency is a nice bonus.  Joseph will get the majority of the playing
> time and while he doesn’t have the great arm this year (so long -3 arm),
> his 6/F/0/Av/2 isn’t all that bad.  Suzuki is around for emergency and
> his card isn’t problematic.
>
> *The infield*: Youth is finally served and should be coming into their
> own.  BAL Machado, NYN Tejada, HOU Altuve and KC Hosmer make up the
> everyday lineup with perennial Sand Crab CHN Castro hanging around to spell
> Ruben and Jose up the middle.  After an injury riddled season, Manny
> Machado has a great card (although….a C range?  Manny?  Seriously?).  The
> Crabs offer up one of the better IBL infields with these 4 without
> sacrificing defense.  The bench isn’t deep with regards to infielders,
> but with this crew, it shouldn’t be needed.
>
> *The outfield*: The one weakness for the Crabs this year will be a lack
> of a big bat in the outfield.  The only “constant” if you can even call
> it that is ATL Markakis who will again patrol right field for the Crabs.  A
> year without Nick in right is like a year without highly inappropriate
> bobbleheads.  New acquisition SEA Trumbo will get time in the outfield
> (although will be primarily DH) but was really picked up for his
> (hopefully) rejuvenated bat.  The rest of the outfield will be made up of
> DET Davis, HOU Rasmus, HOU Tucker and NYN Lagares.  One can only hope
> that Lagares finds a bat to go along with his great glove.
>
> *The Pitchers*:  Here’s the crown jewel of the Crabs this year, and their
> ultimate success will be a direct result of these guys and their arms.  The
> rotation of CHN Arrieta, PIT Cole, DET Sanchez, BOS Porcello, SD Ross, BAL
> Gausman will be able to eat up the innings and should keep the ball in the
> park (Arrieta’s card is SWEET!!, but I digress).  And the starters aren’t
> going to have to go deep as the bullpen is solid.  CLE Anderson, BOS
> Kelly, BAL Brach, BAL O’Day are the long men as the bridge to get to the
> setup and closers.  BAL Givens, PHI Giles, CHA Robertson, TOR Tepera and
> SD Kelley set the table for BAL Britton to come in and shut them down in
> the 9th.  At least, that’s how it’s looking on paper.  But games aren’t
> played on paper…except when they are….in the IBL.
>
> So is all of that enough to get the Crabs over .500?  Will they get to
> the last week of the season before being mathematically eliminated?  Will
> they be playing ball after week 27?  Only time and a generous Dice God
> know for certain.  But one thing for sure, at least Sand Crab fans will
> have more than Jack Cust Bobblehead and Nacho Night to be excited about
> this year! (not that Jack Cust Bobblehead and Nacho Night won’t be exciting
> in an of itself…..I mean, a Jack CUST bobblehead!!!...we might finally get
> rid of them all and finally get to break into the Tyler Colvin Bobbleheads
> that we bought 3 years ago!).
>
> 2016….Sand Crab Baseball……*Let’s Get CRABBBBIE!!!!!!*
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ibl.org/pipermail/members/attachments/20160311/02c0ab0a/attachment.html>