Blame the name?
We should have known what the issue was. Semifinals in 2017, semifinals in 2018. The team with the most All-Stars from a NL team. Two top 5 MVP candidates in one team. Basically the same team for 4-5 years running with some of the best chemistry in the league. Number 1 seed entering the NL Playoffs. But the reason they haven’t been to a Finals in their franchise?
Their team name and their team logo.
Gone is Breaking Bats. In comes …. simply the Bats.
Re-branded, with new leadership with Zimmad stepping in as a manager along with Sajeel, they look to rebound from a stinging loss in the Semi-finals to the Ones. We didn’t expect them to make too many moves as they already have one of the best cores in the league.
Additions:
Bats only made one notable addition in Naveed Ahmed. A tricky add to the Bats as he is a full time player in the AL Division. Crossover players are notoriously tricky to manage due to the scheduling conflicts. But Naveed is a perennial .600 hitter usually as a lead-off guy, and a table setter. He should fit right in as a quiet player but lethal hitter at the top of the Bats lineup.
Overall:
The big move that happened in their offseason, was the departure of their starting SS Zeeshan Shaikh who was the vocal leader of the team. That will be a big hole to plug, but they have in house candidates that can play a solid SS in Salman and Imran. Another big question must be, will Nabeel and Zimmad regress from their career years after years of playing league average? They both had monster years and if Bats want to finish atop the standings again, those two needs similar performances.
They still feature one of the best Outfield defense in the league with Shumail, Fazeel and Sajeel leading the way. Kunal, the 2017 SASL MVP, anchors the lineup surrounded by Naveed, Sajeel, Nabeel, Zimmad, Usman, and ever underrated Ahmer. This is a deep team with a lot of depth. But are they just a regular season team? They led in many offensive categories last year, but absolutely went cold at the worst possible time in the playoffs. Fellas, remember, stay loose and have fun. When you play tight, bad things happen.
Offseason Grade: C-
Besides the failed launch of their new brand, they didn’t do anything to really improve their team this offseason. They are banking on repeat years from a lot of players that had career years. They lost Zeeshan and added Naveed. At best, that is a slight downgrade because Naveed doesn’t play defense as good as Zeeshan.
Prediction:
They will make the playoffs again but we do not think they finish as a top 3 seed this year. We expect some of the Bats players to regress slightly which will be the difference of 3-4 wins. The division overall has improved and has caught up rapidly to the Bats.
