Last year was a "poor you" kind of season for the Main Line Gamblers. For once a team in the AL had to suffer the horrible feeling of having a better record than a team that made the playoffs in the NL.
Been there, done that. (Several times.)
But with the missing playoff part aside, 2022 was the beginning of a new for the Gamblers. A new team name, a new logo, and a new face of the franchise.
Julio Rodriguez was the clear choice for Rookie of the Year, and he's going to be a clear choice for MVP at some point in the near future. J-Rod batted .284 last season with 28 HRs and 75 RBIs. He also scored 84 runs and stole 25 bases, and he did this all in 132 games. And this also came after a horrendous start to the season that had him batting .205 in his first 73 at-bats in April.
This year, he's projected to put up nearly the same numbers, but in 20 more games played.
That doesn't make too much sense to me. I fully expect him to be even better this year, so add that with the 20 extra games, and you'd expect to see a bigger jump in stats.
It will be something to monitor. And Parker will have to stay up late to do so. He also has newcomer Manny Machado on the team, so the West Coast games are going to be on all the time in Main Line.
When will he ever sleep?
"No sleep, no sleep at all," Parker said with bloodshot eyes. "Not only JRod and Manny but Kirby, Garcia and Jon Gray… it’s going to be hard to stay up. But come 6 a.m., I’ll be ready to go every day so no worries about waivers! Im actually thinking about buying the MLB.TV package this year because of it! That way I can watch it in bed, might need to buy a new MyPillow…"
Wait, you haven't been buying MLB.tv?
What kind of fan are you?
And if you do that, you're definitely going to be losing a lot of sleep. At some point, you'll hit a wall and it will affect your performance.
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| No lie, this photo from NBC Sports has a file name of: "Eloy Bad Defense.JPG" |
"Speaking of pillows, can we get some pillows on the outfield wall so Eloy is safe?"
We haven't talked pillows in several paragraphs. You're ruining the flow, but go on, what's your Eloy point.
"Eloy is going to be a beast IF he can stay healthy, 35/100 is possible with a .270 average," Parker said. "If he can give me that in the DH spot I’ll be looking at a playoff spot!"
If, if, if.
Speaking of IFs, Yoan Moncada was drafted in the 15th round, and he's only 27 years old. Is there still hope that he can take his game to a new level?
"I was driving at the time — yes, driving and drafting and I saw Yoan still available but at the time he wasn’t even on my radar as a backup to Manny," Parker said. "I saw him and thought to myself if he can replicate 2019 and even 2021 which was pretty solid, it could be the steal of the draft. Every year there is a player to give off first round production after round 12 of the draft per twitter, could he be it? We’ll see!"
We will also see if the Gamblers can match the rotations above him. As mentioned multiple times, AL pitching is strong.
Shane McClanahan and Max Fried are easily the Gamblers' top guys, and George Kirby has looked special at times, but it's going to take some steps forward for guys like Michael Kopech, Tanner Houck and Graham Ashcroft to match the veterans on the team trying to recapture their better selves.
"Clearly the top rotation is Sam but I don’t think we’re too far from him," Parker said. "When you look at the overall staff and production, I think we can match up nicely with any team in the league. Tiedemann is someone to look out for, there’s already comps to Manoah and could even be better, he’ll be up by summer to help give us the push we will need. Next year, he’ll be an Ace for the Gamblers. After sniping Graham Ashcraft from Choo, which by the way made it much more sweeter of a pick… he’s going to have a monster year, 100 mph fastball and already reports of better command, the Reds have them a three-headed monster in their rotation and at the end of the day Ashcraft may be at the top by the end of the year."
With long-winded, exaggerated, wild statements like that, Parker could be the head of a company that makes special pillows.
But believe him. It's true. His pitching isn't too far away. He has the evidence. And it will be released on Friday in limited theaters in a documentary called "Absolute Proof."
It reportedly shows all the facts on his pitchers that will prove that they are all No. 1 starters.
Or, it's just a re-airing of his keeper video he made in Movie Maker with photos and music back in 2013, when his franchise was 9-3 in the playoffs. Since then, he's 1-6.
Speaking of hitting walls...
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