Some games give you a lot to write about. Some others, well...not so much. Today's game falls in the "not so much" category (although it did turn out well for Fleetwood). As such, you'll find only a short summary of the game in the space below.
However, in the interest of showing how this year's Fleetwood Walkers resurgence has come to be, you will also find some background on how Esteban Loaiza (the star of today's game) ended up wearing the famed orange-and-white flannels of the Fleetwood franchise.
The game itself featured Loaiza throwing a four-hit shutout, retiring the last 14 Yellow Jackets he faced in the process. With this strong pitching performance, Fleetwood won 6-0 and continued its winning ways in the friendly confines of Locke Field.However, given Loaiza's strong performance all season long, the bigger story is how he became a Fleetwood Walker in the first place. Here is that story...
In 2004, Esteban Loaiza was a star. He posted the best season of his career for Toledo (19-10, 3.49 ERA), helping lead the Mudhens to a 2004 BRASSball championship. Slated to enter free agency after this storybook season, his future looked bright indeed.
However, the one-year "crystal ball" that BRASSball owners benefit from during each off-season showed that this Cinderella story would soon see Loaiza revert back to a more pumpkin-like pitcher the next year. As such, he did not attract many strong suitors on the free agent market.
Meanwhile, the rebuilding Fleetwood Walkers were coming off their worst season ever. The team had posted a 49-113 record in 2004, and things didn't look much more promising for 2005. Simply put, this was a team with little left to lose.
Looking to add depth to its weak pitching staff, Fleetwood's front office noticed a few points that made them bullish on Loaiza's future.
First, during his breakout season with Toledo, Loaiza had posted the strongest strikeout rate of his career. In a career-high 222 innings, he had amassed 168 strikeouts against just 61 walks. This type of strikeout rate historically bodes well for a pitcher's immediate future.
Second, experts around the league credited Loaiza's breakout season to the addition of a cut fastball to his repertoire. If true, it helped rule out the performance as being merely a "fluke" and implied that it may well have been actual growth in Loaiza's underlying skill set.
Third, given that Loaiza had indeed pitched a career-high 222 innings for Toledo, it might be expected that he would suffer from fatigue and/or injury the following season. If true, perhaps all Loaiza really needed was ample time for rest and recuperation.
Since patience is one thing the Walkers were in position to provide, Fleetwood decided to make Loaiza an offer. But how much to offer him? And for how long?First, Fleetwood had to establish Loaiza's value for its 2005 ballclub. Looking in its "crystal ball," the Walkers knew he could provide approximately 30 starts and 190 innings in 2005.
These wouldn't be GOOD innings (Loaiza had posted a 5.70 ERA in his 2004 MLB season), but this was not a concern for the rebuilding Fleetwood franchise. Rather, the team was more concerned with: a) having enough innings to get through the upcoming 2005 season; and b) hoarding talented players that might one day form the core of a championship-caliber ballclub. Fleetwood thought Loaiza was a good gamble on both of these fronts.
In terms of 2005 value, then, the team decided that his 190 innings alone were worth approximately $1 million (as it would cost approximately that much to sign 2-3 free agents to match Loaiza's 190 innings of replacement-level pitching).
That was the easy part. The harder part was knowing what FUTURE value to expect from Loaiza. At a minimum, though, Fleetwood figured that Loaiza would be good for at least 200 league-average innings over the next two years. If true, that would provide the team with another $1 million or so of future value. Add that to the $1 million for 2005, and the total value was $2 million over 3 years.
With that math behind them, Fleetwood submitted a 3-year, $2.28 million offer (adding a bit to its bid for Loaiza's upside potential). And, for better or worse, that bid proved to be Loaiza's best offer. Having already done its due-diligence, Fleetwood finalized the offer and Loaiza was now a Walker.The rest, as they say, is history. Loaiza's real-life performance did rebound in 2005 when he posted a 3.77 ERA in 217 MLB innings (the season that Fleetwood is enjoying during our current replay). And although Loaiza has once again fallen victim to the injury-bug in 2006, it's safe to say that Fleetwood has already gotten its money's worth out of the Loaiza contract.
BOXSCORE: 2006 North Georgia Yellow Jackets At 2006 Fleetwood Walke 6/13/2006
Gm 1: Esteban Loaiza thows a four-hit shutout, and Fleetwood wins easily.
Yellow Jackets AB R H RBI AVG Walkers AB R H RBI AVG
M.Byrd LF 4 0 0 0 .269 M.Giles 2B 4 1 1 0 .260
E.Renteria SS 4 0 1 0 .231 D.Wright DH 4 1 2 1 .330
M.Teixeira 1B 4 0 0 0 .293 D.Lee 1B 4 1 2 1 .264
J.Kent 2B 3 0 1 0 .300 M.Cabrera 3B 3 1 0 0 .331
S.Hillenbrand 3B 3 0 0 0 .278 J.Edmonds CF 2 0 0 1 .240
S.Fasano C 3 0 0 0 .348 J.Dye RF 3 0 1 1 .285
M.Teahen DH 3 0 1 0 .250 R.Castro C 2 1 1 1 .286
C.Patterson CF 3 0 0 0 .255 A-N.Perez PH 1 0 0 0 .284
J.Gathright RF 3 0 1 0 .203 B-J.Valentin C 0 0 0 0 .269
B.Crosby SS 4 0 3 1 .316
L.Matos LF 2 1 0 0 .292
C-D.Dejesus LF 0 0 0 0 .271
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- ---
Totals 30 0 4 0 Totals 29 6 10 6
A-Pinch Hit For Castro In 7th Inning
B-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Perez In 8th Inning
C-Subbed Defensively (LF) For Matos In 8th Inning
Yellow Jackets.. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 0
Walkers......... 0 0 0 3 1 2 0 0 - 6 10 1
Yellow Jackets (27-30) IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA SCORESHEET
H.Ramirez LOSS(1-5) 3 2/3 5 3 3 3 3 0 5.01 A1 B8
C.Fossum 2 1/3 4 3 3 3 1 0 7.65 B9 D4
M.Belisle 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 4.79 D5
Totals 8 10 6 6 7 5 0
Walkers (39-22) IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA SCORESHEET
E.Loaiza WIN(7-2) 9 4 0 0 0 7 0 3.40 A1
Totals 9 4 0 0 0 7 0
ATTENDANCE- 37,862 DATE- Friday, June 13th 2006 TIME- Night WEATHER- Average
T- 2:39
LEFT ON BASE- Yellow Jackets: 3 Walkers: 9
DOUBLE PLAYS- Yellow Jackets: 2 Walkers: 1
ERRORS- M.Giles
DOUBLES- J.Gathright(4th), R.Castro(4th), B.Crosby(9th)
TRIPLES- M.Teahen(1st)
STOLEN BASES- M.Giles(3rd)
SACRIFICE HITS- M.Giles
SACRIFICE FLIES- J.Edmonds, R.Castro
WALKS- D.Wright, D.Lee, M.Cabrera, J.Edmonds, J.Dye, L.Matos, D.Dejesus
STRIKE OUTS- M.Byrd, E.Renteria-2, M.Teixeira, S.Fasano-2, J.Gathright,
D.Wright, J.Edmonds-2, L.Matos-2
GIDP- M.Teixeira, M.Giles, R.Castro
No comments:
Post a Comment