Reno Aces Offseason

The offseason in Reno has been a lot slower than last years offseason. The Aces did move David Wright for Carlos Santana as we have an abundance of thirdbasemen. Now with the trade for Geovany Soto we have an abundance of catchers. The one thing we don't have is an abundance of draft picks as we now only have our 3rd and 5th round picks remaining early in the draft.

Based on what we are seeing going into 2012, we do still have some capable role players that can be had for draft picks.

Our 2012 lineup versus lefties is looking pretty nice as usual with Youkilis, Santana, Swisher, and Soto all holding over .950 OPS.

Our 2012 lineup versus righties is not looking as great; however, we still have Bruce and Cabrera with .800 plus and Hamilton just over .900 OPS.

We have some interesting availables still including Chris Heisey who had an .865 OPS against righties and Jon Jay who will bat .300 in a 3rd or 4th outfielder role and only in his second full season has shown consistency at the plate. Scott Sizemore is another that found a new home in Oakland and started putting up some decent numbers. He is a career .300 hitter in the minor leagues and should increase his batting average in 2012. He has an excellent eye at the plate, walking 53 times in 368 at bats in his first regular playing time in the bigs. And we have Melky Cabrera who once again gets the 2 in left and can help cover center as well. He had an outstanding season with the aforementioned .818 OPS versus righties and just under 700 plate appearances. He's in San Fran now in case you are a fan and need him more than I.

We also have some guys that could have bounce back years. We have Rod Barajas and John Buck who couldn't duplicate previous great seasons that they had, but are still capable of putting together something similar. Buck to his credit increased his walk total in 2012 from 16 to 54. He also now gets to hit in a lineup including Jose Reyes and whatever stud first basemen the Marlins decide to sign. Orlando Hudson and his now 2 at second base may be useful as well. He still managed a .719 OPS versus righties. Jayson Werth is another player who currently doesn't have a role on the 2012 Aces. Though he struggled with his average in 2011, he still managed to post 74 walks and with the possible emergence of Bryce Harper in 2012, may move to centerfield. This can also be said about Adam Dunn who couldn't hit American League pitching like many stars when they change leagues. He did still manage to walk 75 times. And finally, we have a flurry of pitching prospects that either didn't do it 2011 or were injured. Brian Matusz just didn't have it last year, but posted impressive numbers in 2010 for a second year player. He can't have lost it overnight, could he? Also, Jennry Mejia had Tommy John surgery, but is it worth waiting on a potential number 1 starter. Mike Pelfrey once again put up the innings, but not the stats that go with a number 1. In Strat he's more of a 3 or 4 guy and if the Mets could some pitching and put him in that role, his stats might start to reflect that. Brad Lincoln finally got some innings and looked good at times. And my last two starters that don't really have roles in 2012 are Chris Capuano and Jon Garland. Capuano put together 186 innings and a not wholly terrible 1.35 WHIP. Garland posted under 190 innings for the first time since 2002.

Needless to say, like everyone else we are hurting in the middle infield. We have decent glove and on base guy Jamey Carroll, who unfortunately can't play second base and shortstop at the same time.

We definitely won't win as many games as we did last year, but with stud starters Tim Lincecum and Mat Latos as well as a strong season from Matt Harrison and a bunch more innings from Jeremy Guthrie we should be alright.