HSH: Ireland Invaders

2016 Record: 70-90 2017 Projected Record: 75-85 Key Additions: Josh Beckett (match), Sean Burroughs, Tadeshi Kawabata

Since winning 91 games and reaching the postseason in 2011, the Invaders have done neither since. Not only have they not reached the 90-win plateau in the last five years, they haven’t posted a winning record in that span, never winning more than 75 games.

How does Ireland intend to reverse this trend in 2017? With three words; Pitching, pitching and, oh yeah, pitching.

The Invaders entered spring training with a payroll of $62 million dollars. How much of that do you think will be spent on their offense (a unit that finished with a league-low .718 OPS last year, mind you)?

The answer? Less than $9 million. Granted, the Invader offense is headlined by guys still playing under their rookie contracts, but that is an amazingly low number, no matter how you slice it. The “big name” on offense is Sean Burroughs, resigned for the low, low price of just $200k a year in a deft auction-week move by General Manager Tony Blake. Burroughs is a career .309 hitter and likely a Hall of Famer, but you know what they say about those HoF guys – It’s better to have them at the beginning of their career than at the end. Burroughs is 35 years old and entering his 15^th year in the league. He also played in just 70 games last year and hit just .229 with four home runs.

First baseman Boog Johnson, shortstop Whammy May and catcher Earl Hickey all came from the Invaders’ 2013 draft and each has the potential to be a star. Johnson has had the most success so far, while Hickey, the second overall pick in 2013, has struggled at times but comes packaged with a tantalizing blend of power and contact. Backing him up is Al Murphy, who is a mirror image of Hickey with the bat, but is a much better athlete. Expect one of two to be eventually moved to the outfield.

Which brings us to the strength of the team, the pitching staff. Josh Beckett, Bobby Brownlie, Tadeshi Kawabata and of course, C.C. Sabathia head what is without a doubt one of the deepest rotations in the league. They also combine to make nearly $50 million a season. Pitching comes with a price, however, and good pitching comes with a hefty one.

Sabathia won a Cy Young award last year and Beckett set a new record with 260 strikeouts. Brownlie is on the backside of his career, but is a durable innings eater and a quality pitcher. Kawabata is the new guy, sliding over from Philly after posting a 3.08 ERA in 2016, his second in a row in the low 3s (career-best 3.00 in 2015). He had been merely average at best and downright bad at worst in the six years previous, so dedicating nearly $30 million to him when your offense needs help is a risky move. Of course, outside of Delmon Young, there weren’t a lot of top of the line hitting options available in the auction, so with the money burning a hole in his pocket, Blake spent it on another pitcher. We all saw what San Juan did with an unstoppable rotation in 2014, so I won’t condemn the move. Eventually Ireland is going to have to add a bat, though.

Of course, maybe it already has. Hickey has spent the spring pinch-hitting as he recovers from offseason knee-surgery. All Murphy has done is knock the cover off of the ball, hitting .434 with eight homeruns and 10 doubles through 20 games. Darren Lemming, Antonio Mule and Reuben Brown have been getting all the headlines during the spring, but it’s Murphy who leads the league in runs created. Either way, Ireland has to figure out a way to get both of them in the lineup. The Invaders finished ahead of just two teams in runs scored in 2016, and it would be an epic waste to leave one of these guys on the bench for 150+ games.

Of course, hope springs eternal in these early months, and it’s hard to tell much of anything with teams running out rosters full of 20-year olds and GMs get one last look at their young talent. One thing’s for sure, though, Murphy is incredibly talented – perhaps the most talented catcher in the league from a purely physical standpoint – and if he never becomes the player he was projected to be, it will be an upset on a Cap Jackson level.

So what does all this spell for 2017? Probably not a Euro division title, that looks like it’s headed to London once again, but also probably not a last place finish, thought it could be a dogfight with Scotland to stay out of the cellar.

Basically, the season hinges on the growth of those young players on offense. The pitching will be there –at least in innings one-through-six, your guess is as good as mine on the bullpen. If the hitters hit, Ireland has a shot, albeit an outside one, of making the playoffs. And with that rotation, there’s no telling what can happen in a short series.

Well, maybe there is, just ask Bill Gluvna.

Projected Lineup

1. May, Whammy -SS

2. Kearns, Austin - RF

3. Johnson, Boog – 1B

4. Murphy, Al / Hickey, Earl – C

5. Collins, Ad - LF

6. Burroughs, Sean – 3B

7. Nix, Laynce – CF

8. Orr, Geoff – 2B

Projected Rotation

1. C.C. Sabathia

2. Josh Beckett

3. Bobby Brownlie

4. Tadeshi Kawabata

5. Yoshi Sasaki