|
Bellingham Pilots
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personnel History Steve Forbes was the manager from 1994 to 2000 and managed three good teams (two playoff berths), one .500 team, and three rather bad teams. Up until 1998 it was generally successful. The era that featured Bernie Williams was the centerfielder, Randy Johnson the team's ace, and Trevor Hoffman the closer generally won more than they lost. Roger Clemens spent a couple of turns here, and the Pilots were contenders, made a couple of playoff series, even if they didn't win any. Then, the trade. The team got off to a 24-30 start in 1999 and Johnson and Hoffman were sent away for Sydney Ponson and Roger Cedeno. The franchise has never recovered. Forbes traded most of his draft picks for Jose Vidro a year later. A future #1 was traded for Jose Valentin, but the team still didn't win, and new management, in the form of Don Brake and his Greencastle Cannons, came in. New management rivalled the Stalinist purges in getting rid of anything that had been useful in the Pilots era. Most of the best players (Valentin, Moises Alou, Tino Martinez, 5 others) were sent over for Adrian Beltre, who disappointed while in a Cannons uniform. A second round of purges sent away two Jasons: Isringhausen (future River Dogs closer) and Bere (20 game winner in Rosehaven). Vidro was sent packing for the enigmatic Matt Clement. A little bit later they were able to use some of the proceeds (and a first round pick) to attract Curt Schilling. Schilling was successful, and he too was dumped essentially for Vincente Padilla. Juan Pierre, a rare solid draft pick, was sent away for Randy Winn. And the final straw was sending Adrian Beltre away for absolutely nothing. Somehow in the middle of this, the Cannons won 82 games in 2002, but the sub 60 win seasons are more representative of the Cannons' success. However, there was some progress in the draft with players like Jason Bay, Cliff Lee, and Lyle Overbay. In his first year back, Forbes put together a competitive bunch, picking up Shawn Green, Ryan Klesko, and Dmitri Young. A relative preference for veteran talent in the draft (B.J. Ryan, Bill Hall, Jason Jennings) helped the competitiveness and finally resulted in a return to the playoffs in 2006. |
2006 Bellingham went 25-9 between June 1 and the all-star beak, leaving little doubt they were going to the playoffs. At the start of the season Jason Bay was dispatched for young pitcher Josh Johnson, but his spot was filled by Bobby Abreu (.288/.413/.455). The versatile Bill Hall took over for the slumping David Eckstein at shortstop and produced 38 homers and 112 RBIs. The were a lot of veteran spare parts: Kenny Lofton, Dave Roberts, Jose Valentin, Scott Spezio. First round pick Jason Jennings had a superb year at the front of the rotation, going 17-9, 3.51. And B.J. Ryan and draft pick Jonathan Broxton were a superb ccloser/setup. Because the Pilots won only 19 of their last 45 games they eventually got passed by Scottsdale and Carolina, and drew Scottsdale in the first round. The Pilots went up 2 games to 1 but lost games 4 and 5 at home by a combined 17-3. They regrouped in game six but succumbed in game 7. 2005 Similar to the year before, the Pilots started well, and at the end of May had a 31-23 mark. For most of the summer they managed to hang around on the upside of .500, getting to within a half game of a playoff berth in a weak conference as late as 27 July, only 4 games over. But, sooner or later that wasn't going to cut it, as 5 games over at the end of August was then 5 out. September started with a 2-10 run, much of it at home against Kissimmee, a team they needed to beat, and Madiba, a last place team they should have beaten. And that was that. The end was an 81-81 record. Offensively, Jason Bay hit 34 homers and drove in 114, but also struck out 159 times. First round pick Bill Hall contributed with a .308 average and 78 RBI, while Mark Grace clone Lyle Overbay hit .323/19/85. The pitching staff was centered around Cliff Lee, who went 9-1 in his first 10 starts, but then won only 7 the rest of the way. The rest of the staff had their moments, but overall looked like a .500 club. 2004 On the heels of a strong 15-7 start, the Pilots stayed on the north side of .500 for most of the season, flitting around the edges of playoff contention in a weak conference. As late as July 26, the team was still 8 over, and 4 1/2 out of a playoff spot. After two losses in three to Nashua and a 4-9 road swing, including getting swept at then last place Texas, the Pilots were only 2 over and 7 back. The team held gamely to the .500 mark, but September contained a 2-16 mark they could not come back from. Safeco field played a large part in the fortunes of the Pilots. In addition to a 49/29 win differential, the park suppressed offensive performances and made an average pitching staff look a little better than average. Offensively, the only stat line to write home about was Jason Bay's .269/33/94, consequently the team was 23rd of 26 in runs scored. The pitching was in the top half of the league, with decent performances from Rodrigo Lopez Noah Lowry, and Joe Kennedy. 2003 An unmitigated disaster. The team made a strange series of trades before the season and then sunk immediately into irrelevance. The Cannons could win only 5 series all year, and had cemented the cellar very early on. The offense was 24th in the 26 team lead, with no regular hitting higher than .275 nor driving in more than 70 runs. Rondell White and Morgan Ensberg combined for 49 homers. though only 22 came with anyone on base. The pitching was better, finishing in the middle of the pack. The starting was fairly mediocre following Matt Clement, but some good efforts were turned in by an unheralded bullpen of Lance Carter, Terry Adams, Mike Fiore, and Kevin Gregg. 2002 The Cannons exceeded expectations. Scoring 16 fewer runs than their opponents, they still managed to post a winning record. The middle relief was very good, and the Cannons got remarkable performances from Paul Shuey, Mark Guthrie, and Danys Baez. Padilla, Lopez, and Clement all had solid, if unspectacular seasons, and kept the punchless team in many games. Punchless? Todd Hollandsworth was the team’s best hitter, and he could only manage 17 homers and 68 RBIs. Mostly mirrors. The team was at one time 12 under .500, but played well in the second half. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
