Seven Opening Day starters.
Seven.
It’s so many Opening Day starters Philly Cheese Steaks has to bench one on Thursday's awesome slate of 15 Opening Day games.
Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Noah Syndergaard, Danny Duffy, Jon Lester and Aaron Nola all get the ball on Thursday, as does Ivan Nova, who will be the lone starter benched.
Think that rounds out Jim Vaughn's Hall of Fame rotation?
Nope, think again. There's Ervin Santana — who likely would have been an eighth Opening Day starter were it not for an offseason hand surgery — King Felix and Matt Harvey are on this team, too. Felix would have easily taken the mound on Thursday making it nine.
It’s kind of scary to see this. I didn’t think it could get any worse for other National League teams than what it was a year ago, but it has happened.
Now, the biggest fear for everyone in the NL is what if King Felix and Harvey return to form?
If that happens, we all may as well just begin the 2019 offseason now.
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| New Cheese Steaks Logo?It may as well be. Only an octopus has as many arms as the Cheese Steaks. |
“The top-tier SPs are definitely nice,” Vaughn said, shining his JLB trophy. “Last year, those SPs carried me because my offense was around league average. I didn't think that would necessarily cut it this year, so my goal this offseason was to upgrade the offense while sacrificing as little of the SP firepower as possible.”
So with that goal in mind, he dialed up the general store that caters to just that kind of customer: Steroid.ERA.
And with little or no money down, he drove away with a brand new Lindor, the hottest wheels to absolutely not be available on the market.
That addition left him needing just one position to fill in the draft, catcher.
Heading into the draft, the outright No. 1 catcher was Salvador Perez, and when I mocked it up, I wondered, “Would JV go for that home run in the first round?”
He loves pitching, so I really thought he’d try to lock up the best pitching staff ever and go Perez in the second round.
But who am I kidding? It didn’t make any difference who he added first round; he would own that title no matter who he drafted.
So, of course, he went with Perez in the first round.
“Getting Sal was huge for me,” JV said, toying with his two World Series rings. “I guess you could say it was the plan, although I honestly didn't think he'd fall to me, so I was looking more at potential SPs who could be there at 10. But once he fell to me, it was the easiest decision I had all draft. The entire time I've been in this league, I've never really had a top 5, or maybe even a top 10 catcher. And catcher was the only offensive position I really needed going into the draft. So adding Sal has me pretty pumped.”
Great. JV has something he’s never had. It’s hard to believe because he’s pretty much had everything in this league.
The Cheese Steaks were first thrown on the stove in 2014 and they began to sizzle right away. In his first two months of JLB ownership, he made move after move to get himself into position to compete as a rookie GM.
Compete he did, posting 253 wins and finishing first in the National League. He fell in the NLCS that year, but went on to win two of the next three World Series titles.
The Cheese Steaks have never missed the playoffs.
Right now, he is the ultimate JLB team.
“This is the one area where I miss the Outs, because he always seemed to have the target on HIS back, so the rest of us could kind of fly under the radar a little bit,” JV said, ironing his Cheese Steaks championship T-shirt that he bought on late-night TV moments after his team won its second title. “That said, I don't really feel pressure to repeat, but there's definitely a lot of extra motivation in wanting to defend the title. We all put a ridiculous amount of time, thought and energy into this (which is what makes this league so great). So that makes winning all the more gratifying, and fuels the fire to try to go get it again.”
And there’s no reason he shouldn’t go get it again.
He is a clear favorite now that he has even more offensive firepower and a steady starting staff. Some of his offensive stars came in the draft and via trade, but one of the biggest pieces could be the guy he randomly snagged on the waiver wire last year.
To say this pickup was a home run is a pun-tastic understatement.
Rhys Hoskins is projected to hit 37 homers and drive in 102 runs.
That’s just nuts from a mid-season free-agent pickup.
“As a Phillies fan, I hope he hits those projections!” JV said while planning a parade route through his neighborhood. “But so many players have hit sophomore slumps as pitchers adjust to them that I’ve kind of tempered my expectations with Rhys a bit. That's a big reason I traded for Yuli Gurriel in the offseason, to get protection at 1B against either a Hoskins regression or an Encarnación decline.”
As a Phillies fan, I hope he hits those marks, too.
As a National League contender, I… I don’t think it matters for Jim Vaughn if Hoskins does or doesn’t.
The dude has seven Opening Day starters.
Oh, what? I said that already? Am I in repeat mode?
Make sense, because so are the Cheese Steaks.
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