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WASHINGTON--Washington Sea Dogs General Manager Aaron Weiner has traded away all of the starting lineup he could in the last few weeks, and there are a lot of new faces on the team.
The starting lineup at the beginning of the 1996-97 season was a formidable one, with Jose Offerman at the leadoff spot, 3-4-5 being Tino Martinez, Sean Berry and Cal Ripken.
But a combination of trades and injuries have sent away everyone in that lineup but catcher Jason Kendall and second baseman Chuck Knoblauch. Gone are Offerman, Martinez, Berry, and now Marquis Grissom in the latest Sea Dogs deal.
Replacing them has been impossible. Since the major 9-player deal that sent Berry, Conine, Bragg and Karkovice to the Springfield Panthers, the SEa Dogs are 2-12. Their pitching has been fine, but they can no longer seem to create offense.
"There's nothing I can really do to try and make the bats go," said manager Aaron Weiner. "Basically just hope they get over this spell. We've still got some legitimate hitters, and we're anxiously awaiting the return of Warren Newson."
While the starting lineup has changed, the pitching staff has stayed surprisingly stable. Other than the addition of Todd Stottlemyre and teh subtraction of Willie Adams, the rotation looks much as it did to start the season.
"We didn't want to sacrifice any of our pitching," said Weiner. "We think we have a really fine rotation for next year."
The Sea Dogs's identity over that time has changed dramatically.
"We're trying to win now on pitching and defense," said Weiner, "but so far it hasn't worked for us. We think it will. Newson will provide better defense than Damon when he gets back, and Johnny'll probably DH against righties when Warren's back."
GM Aaron Weiner had a few words about the team as well.
"I think we've built a strong pitching staff, veteran pitchers and youngsters both. Shawn Estes is one of the best prospects in the major leagues, period, and we recently drafted a kid by the name of Mackenzee Leefenhaufenhauz who will probably be our 5th starter next year."
When asked whether he thought the pitching staff was done, Weiner scoffed. "What's done? We'd like another front-line starter, if possible."
Weiner refused to comment seriously on whether Chuck Knoblauch would be traded, but added this:
"We're looking at a couple deals right now for Knoblauch," Weiner said, "and it's not out of the realm of possibility he'll be traded. At the same time, he's the best contact hitter in the league and a stellar player, and we're also thinking about him batting leadoff next year."
Weiner also added that the identity of the team would definitely change next year.
"We're going to score a lot of runs next year," Weiner said. "Look at the players we got in the trades; J. T. Snow, Matt Stairs, Damon Easley. These are players who are just about to come into their own, players we can build a team around. Lieberthal, Deshields, Russ Davis; we're a very young team who will only get better with time."
While a string of losses such as the Sea Dogs have endured might cause some general managers some pain, Weiner stayed surprisingly optimistic.
"When I took this team over," Weiner said, "I didn't feel like it was my team; I felt like somebody else had just sort of thrown this team together. This is a team on the rise - just not this year."
Notes and Quotes:
Weiner mentioned that he's still looking at Deadwood's Tony Gwynn and Randy Johnson, but added, "We're not sure we want to trade Ogea right now, but we're getting closer."
Additionally, the Sea Dogs have been looking around the league at Tampa's Pat Hentgen, North Spokane's Charles Nagy, and Brooklyn's Andy Benes.
Written by Aaron Weiner