The Gameday Gamblers were right there, a win away from the World Series, but Crox ousted him and made the American League regular-season title nothing to brag about.
It would have been a disappointment if it weren’t for the fact that the Gamblers came from last place the year before. The AL basement, where Choo ridicules are aplenty.
Now, Parker's added some fresh talent and depleted some pitching to do it, but the Gamblers feel like he’s on the right track for 2017.
“There are a lot of people that excite me on my team this year and I had no choice to shake things up,” Parker said. “You have stay relevant and young to win in this league. I went with younger high upside talent with sticking with my stable, consistent veterans.”
Two players he’s really excited about are Jean Segura and Willson Contreras. Segura re-emerged as a premiere shortstop a year ago and I personally couldn’t be happier to see that happen after what he has gone through in life. As a father myself, I couldn’t imagine it.
So I’m happy that he’s playing well and now he has a new challenge of playing strong for Seattle.
“Dare I say he can become a top-5 shortstop this year,” Parker said, “with above average power, speed and batting average, hitting in front of Cruz, Cano and Seager, I think so!”
Contreras has a decent lineup surrounding him, too, and his hit tools as a catcher will certainly be big in the fantasy world. The only question there may be playing time, but when he’s in, he’s an impact player.
And that’s what Parker got in one trade, a pair of impact players for a starting pitcher.
“All it cost me was a broken David Price,” Parker said. “Thanks CROX!”
Gamblers doesn’t have much room to talk about broken pitchers. He still has a few of them there. In fact, now that I think about it, he traded Price, injury; he traded Kershaw, injury.
In the meantime, buyer’s beware: Parker’s carrying broken pitchers. Some of those pitchers cost him the World Series run last year. They were a staple of his team, but Stephen Matz and Stephen Strasburg both missed time when he needed them.
“Hey, injuries happen,” Parker said. “I’ve found pitching is such a crap shoot, even the best get injured, sorry Choo, remember when I traded you a 1 for 5, and then Kershaw got hurt that year for the first time in his career… It happens. It doesn’t scare me, that’s why there’s a draft and you have to get depth to overcome the injuries.”
If they do come, perhaps Parker can cash in that prospect chip, Gleyber Torres.
“Ah, Torres,” Parker said. “I remember when I picked Torres off the waiver wire when he was traded to the Yanks. My hope is that Choo would be a homer and want to trade big pieces back to me. … But then I get a ‘No thanks’ text. Then this year’s a different story, as he continues to crush in spring training, the offers keep flooding in! Although, I wouldn’t call them offers with the players he tries to give me… I usually only give him one response, Nolan!”
He says that now, but when July rolls around the pitching depth is zilch, perhaps “Nolan” will turn to “Anyone.”
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