A wasted chance in 2018?
No better example of a wasted season than the rookie 2019 season.
They came in with all the swagger In the world and rightly thought they had the team to go all the way. The started off with a bang by sweeping the defending champions convincingly in week 1. But somehow, they had losses to teams like Empire, Outlaws, and Scorers in the season. For a team with so much talent, we sensed there were underlying issues that needed to be addressed this offseason if they wanted to compete for a championship.
The leadership of Jason Gregory and Sanjay Sharma still remains, with Jason taking a bigger role this year than previous years. One of the issues they faced that also plagues a lot of teams in the league: keeping calm when things are not going your way. This team got too high when things went well, and beat up on each other when things didn’t. There were times observers saw bickering amongst themselves and against other teams. Veteran teams knew the way to beat 516 was to get in its head and they would crumble.
Even with that, they had a golden shot to reach the finals when facing Mighty Ducks in the semifinals. In a back and forth affair, they came very close but eventually lost in 2 games as Ducks superior defense and clutch hitting got the job done. What was Jason and Sanjay going to improve in order to compete in 2019?
Off-Season Additions:
From the best we can tell so far, their biggest addition has been Saiful Ashraf, Pervez Khan and Waqas Ali from the now defunct Outlaws. All 3 are excellent depth additions. They are starters in the upper division for sure. Saiful, Pervez and Waqas are all capableof hitting .600+ and play multiple positions. Saiful is one of the better outfielders when healthy and Waqas can play all the infield positions. Pervez can play both infield and outfield, albeit not at an elite level. Solid additions to round out their roster.
Overall:
The team revolves around one of the most controversial players in all of SASL in Denen. Denen never finished with an MVP trophy even though he has multiple top 3 finishes. He is one of the, if not the best, pure hitters in the league. He can go to any part of the field with authority. He is surrounded by the enigmatic but hugely talented Rafael aka Yoba, Steve and Jason. Yoba can be one of the best players if he keeps his cool. Steve had a huge rookie season, and Jason was an alternate in the All Star game.
The key to this season will be the young guys. Kyle Bacchus, Chris Bacchus, Anthony Dindiyal, Tyler, etc needs to take that next step. They had an ok rookie season, last year, but this is the upper division. Ok doesn’t cut it. You need to step up and hit .550+ and play solid defense on consistent basis. Sanjay will be pitching and Wahid is always there as one of their good veterans.
The defense is solid with Jason, Yoba, Mauris in the outfield. The infield is played by Tyler, Kyle, Denen, Wahid, Anthony. Very, solid overall defense. Sanjay is an excellent pitcher. This team can keep up with anyone in the division as far as offense as seen in their runs per game production last year.
Off season Grade: C
The three new guys they added are all very good additions. But they didn’t add that one IMPACT player. They also cut a few guys that were not going to be able to cut it in the upper division as their skill level aligns more with the NL division. Overall it feels like an offseason that you just say ‘meh’ to.
Prediction:
Back to back year of semifinal flameouts. We can see them look dominant periodically in the regular season, followed by some lackluster defeats. They are their own worst enemy.
