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Vero Beach owner speaks out on pitching, other owners' comments
The Vero Beach Bums now have seven players injured, more than any other PVBL team. Despite this, they continue to hang onto a one-game lead over Binghamton in the DL's Picard Division and a .603 winning percentage, third in the league.
The Bums also still have the league's leading batting average by a hair over Duluth (.338 to .330). Eight of their regular players are hitting over .300, with five over .360. Vero is one of four teams with a sub-5.00 ERA in the pitching-poor DL.
"I'm not all that satisfied with the quality of our starting pitching so far, with the notable exception of Albie Lopez," stated J. Lee Gohlke, Vero Beach CEO. "However, compared to the rest of the DL, we're not too far from the front of the pack."
Gohlke also commented on trade offers he has recieved. "We do have a young group of pitchers with a lot of potential. I know that and a lot of other owners do too. Still, I don't know why people keep offering me position players for my young starters. They apparently don't know that we're winning not because of any surplus of pitching, but because we have the best offense in the league. Any trade I make will have to result in Vero Beach getting better pitching, with only a few exceptions I can see. Maybe some of those EL clubs with good pitching staffs would like to trade some aces to our league." Gohlke noted that despite his comments, he is considering a trade offer from Washington, but trying to think of a way to sweeten it up.
Gohlke also responded to the comments of other owners. "I remember reading in the paper that Hartford's owner [Jeremy Chrabascz] said Spokane blew a huge division lead because of an unwillingness to deal. That may be part of it, but we've taken over first place on our own merits. Chrabascz may not appreciate what a good division we're in. Also, the average of all my position players' speed ratings is 52.83 [54.5 if you include Omar Vizquel]. Speed is a big part of my team's offense as well. We may very well be the most under-rated, overlooked .600 team in the PVBL, to paraphrase Andy Lund."
In yesterday's action, the Bums beat division rival Sacramento 8-6. Shawn Estes got the win but pulled himself out of the game in the sixth, complaining of a sore shoulder. Team physicians verified that, yes, Estes has a sore shoulder. Estes is listed with a 5% injury.
Vero had a cushiony-soft 6-1 lead at the seventh inning stretch, but Sacramento kept the game interesting by scoring 4 runs in the seventh off of Billy Wagner and 1 run in the ninth off of Trevor Hoffman. However, Hoffman held on for his ninth save, a league-leading total. Mark Guthrie pitched a perfect eighth to set up Hoffman's save. "Guthrie's been great in limited action since we picked him up off the waiver wire. I'm giving him a chance at the setup job," commented Gohlke.
Written by Jason Gohlke