This year is quite the different year for Mr. Choo.
You see, every year, Choo makes great offseason moves and even better draft picks to create a team that is destined to dominate.
And then, by mid-July, 80 percent of his team is flipped for other players.
Maybe it’s just what Choo needed, a pandemic and a set of rule changes for 2020 that makes him play with the team he drafted, and according to the Slammers ‘S’ Scale, it’s one to fear as the favorite to win the American League.
“Am I?” he asked. “That’s surprising. I don’t feel any pressure to be honest. I feel like any team can get hot and win it this year, so I’m taking a realistic approach that I’ll more than likely lose my fourth JLB World Series this year.”
At least, if that happens, he’ll lose the squad he built — and there are some big names on this team, but the biggest name for 2020 could be the one that made Choo scratch his head on St. Patrick’s Day a few years back.
Luis Robert could be the real deal, and if he is, Choo will once again have the greatest OF ever assembled — at least until the trading season opens again in November.
“Luis Robert is a dark horse MVP candidate,” Choo said. “And to be the first since Ichiro in 2001 to not only win MVP but to also win ROY. In order for that to happen, he’ll need to get lucky with BABIP and bat at the top of the order for more ABs, but he has a true shot at 12 HRs and 12 SBs in a 60-game season. That would be one sweet Story...”
That would also mean that Choo would have a real nice chance to go for the clean sweep in major awards.
He has several former Cy Young winners — and one "Should-have-won-Cy-Young" — on his team right now, including his offseason additions of Gerrit Gole and Clayton Kershaw, but the one guy that could do it and win his first is Shane Bieber.
“His first few games are scheduled to be against teams with the highest strikeout rates,” Choo said, dipping into a bucket of knowledge, “and Bieber will be one of the few studs who’ll toss a complete game this year. Assuming 10 starts, he can easily put up a line of 7-1 with 8 QS, a 2.50 ERA and a K/9 rate of over 10.”
Talk like that would make me believe he was due to be traded very soon, but this is quite the different year for Choo.
Note: Yes, Choo made one trade last week, but to be fair, that deal was made verbally before the draft was complete, so he in essence left the draft with the team he will take into 2020. … Unless, of course, he makes a trade after the time this was written (July 19, 8:57 p.m.).
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